Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-16
NEARLY ALL lost
PERSONSLOCATED
New York Police Claim SO
Per Cent of City's Miss
ing Are Found.
BY LEMUEL F. PARTON.

soe-s n,srat,h - The sts~.
NEW YORK. February iS.-Modsrn
ro,,ce enclency FISTS on the scr'pfuraI
proportion o: ninety and nine to one
il -e,or;ias today that OF ZOO girls
Who disappear annually IN Ne" ON all
almost unyarv!ne proportion OF ss pei
cent arc found and returned SaIvis ~
their homes .,
.,,S,e,,-es To tears with ths!r hymn.
.Ni,etv and nine tha: safety lay ii
*l,e shelter o. t!lc fold. huI ono was
los. sY6 gone aStray. ;1:o ine nlSH' 3f0
eo56" Nov, as t,,cl. 1}ISt tbs one {
lamb q a hundred IS :1.ie>in
Recent sensational instances OF inc
6sscuea-ence O. Young persons nave
caused widespread pub,ic discussion AND
stimulated various inquiries in'o tne
ese--sticg1s q Youth Lists @ missing
re-so,s are broadcast nightly over the
radio anc there Is increasing co1nTlen.
cr tse instability Q: modern BOYS ana
e1-ls Nsv York City, Qa-Iic1tarE. HsS
beer pictured as ootto1.lsss PIT. INTO
which Grant ar6 creeping yoItG Is
los: - human ken
Parents Often to Blame.
c.7, ,Ton3 X A,res, head q the
Ner Yc-k CIV Bureau a. Missing Fer
sons, probably knows more aboU; tlEs
thar aarbc6v cl<>. He is kindly man.
gentle II his contacts Uiils trouble
In the homes and his understanding
IF the strange !npGiSlonS Of youth has
bros,cat many a boy and girl back 10
Their parents. He denies enlphaticahy
that you;h Of today IS on moral
toaogean.
for a ma lority o. the dlSappearanees.
said Capt. Ayres. In many. many
cases he blame rests sQuarely on the
about the obligations and rcsponIbih-
ties Of voaih. They have TOO little 70
say about their own responsiveness
NATURALLY. many of these disappear
aaces are from poor homes. 1t IS IN
oersfscoab!e n working On these
cases We often Had that SIX or seven
children I've With their parents IN two
or three rooms There is no cn2Tce
70. decent recreation and no standards
around which a Wholesome home lie
ma. be built In fact. we often find
thst II is tie superior child. with en-
te-prise ard courage. who gets out o.
q home Ike this.
Few Jewish Runaways.
"These parents 0. the poorer classes
are not 10 BE- TOO harshlv condemned.
L many cases they are foreigners,
struggling . establish themselves ii
this oouat-y. and their childrer's adap-
tstioa 70 our life becomes a battling
problem There Is comparatively
SINAI. proportion Of Jewish children
among runaway boys and girls. jew
:sh children are carefully nur-ured II
their home life.
Most Of the nelodra-na written and
tsike6 about the per:ls o. youth IS
plain nonsense In al M years IN this
work ! have never known a single IN
stance Of white slavery. The white
slsver is as extinct as the clnosaur
I have never known a single instance
q young girl being kidnapped. Such
ste-.es persist and people seem eager
70 believe ihen-but they are untrue.
Romantic entanglerents are only
minor cause O. the DISAPPEARANCE OF
girls. We have some Of these cases,
bis our statistics do not give the Slight
est ground for the belief that youth IS
lansing n its moral standards, Or that
juvenile delinquency IS increasing Here.
again, there is q iot Ct loose theorizing
about youth Eliminating wTetche6
bone life as. a leading explanation.
there are almost as many causes as
there are disappearances. More than
haE Of The missing persons are adults.
ard .hev include ore-thlrd more macs
thar females.
Average Seldom Varies.
"a tae end Of each year We find
tia, 3as. about 81 per cert OF lost per-
sons nave been found The succeeding
few months invariably bring the pro-
portion ot found up 70 go per cent.
This Uniform proportion keeps on year
after yea- II 1927. S730 persons we're
reported missing in Greater New YORK.
The usual g. per cent were located,
Since then. our figures are climbing 70
the .-s.1table 90 per cent. The num-
Der Of girls under u was about 1900.
This vas slightly mare than the figures
Of 1925. but We 2nd that the increase
In closely IN accord with the increase
b population,
The uniformity Of this proportion
over a PERIOD 81 years is pulling, and
should tn1nk that this alone would
be sufficient 10 discourage half-baked
opirIons abort youth. I have 10 pat
thec.!ex about IL. ard ! have been Al
this work 70 god many years. The
Only conclusion I nave is that parents
ought - tyy u .1akc ne kind O: home
o boy o. Cir! vii wan, ~ stay IN"