Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1929-07-11
FROM OUR EXCHANGES
Editorial Comment From Other News.
papers, Which May or May Not
Conform With the Opinions
of the AskOv American.)
THE DIVIDENDS FROM BOYS
WORK
Duluth Herald)

Much work is being done for and
among boys in this country. The
Boy Scouts, boys clubs of various
kinds, the work of the Rotary and
other service clubs, supplement each
other.
Is it worth while? Does it pay?
Is it good for the boys and for society
they are growing up in? Listen to a
few fact that have direct bearing on
these questions
A crime commission reports, as a
result of a study of a hundred and
fifty-four men serving life sentences
as habitual criminals, that more than
half were under twenty-One when
they were caught, and that not a
single one had ever known contact
with any kind of supervised boys ac-
tivity.
William L. Butcher, member Of
the New York crime commission who
has spent years in boys work, says
that only one in a thousand of the
young people whose spare time is
supervised in Fairgrounds and clubs
gets into trouble, while among those
whose play lacks these influences one
in hundred lands in difficulties.
John H. Witter, superintendent of
the Chicago Boys clubs. says that the
average boy is thirty-five times as
likely to get into mischief as the club
product.
Grace Abbott, director of the Fed
eral childrens bureau. reports that in
Milwaukee there has been decrease
of twenty per cent in juvenile crime
in the last twenty-five years, while
the population doubled, and that this
is due directly to the spread of super
vised recreatiOnal activities and re-
sponsible boy leadership.
In Dayton. Ohio, districts with
supervised provision for the leisure
hours Of boys have a third less crime
than similar areas without such pro-
vision.
Three hundred playground directors
and school superintendent report a
great decrease in boy crime in the
last two years, which they ascribe to
increased facilities for regulating the
leisure time of boys, including the
simple expedient of opening play
grounds for a few hours every night
| under careful supervision.
Then there is story of section
| of great city that had been branded
as the worst crime-breeding section
in the country. This district, which
produced more boy criminals than
any other area of like size in the
| country, has a hundred and fifty pool
| rooms. A boys club was opened there
| and three trained young leaders were
sent in to run it. The result was a
| reduction of forty per cent in boy
crime in that district in one year.
Does boys work pay? Read the an
swer in these facts.
Boys have to be busy. They would
just as soon be busy at wholesome
| activities as any other kind. When
| they get busy at unwholesome activi-
ties, it is because neglect lets bad
environment and bad example do
their deadly work That neglect
nourishes a seeded of boy criminals
Boys work such as the Boy Scouts,
the Boys Y NJ c. A. and other agen-
cies are doing, turns boyish energy
into wholesome channels and lays the
foundation for useful lives.
Boys work, not reform schools and
jails, is the cure for the conditions
that have been flooding the country
with juvenile criminals.