Evening star., 1931-06-16
\ 1ARIo DEL CoMERCIo. Bar
4 ranquilla.-When We find our
Il solves face fo face with an In.

IN 1AR1O DEL COMERCIO. Bar
ranquilla.-When We find our
selves face to face with an in
~ stance like the one We are going
TO relate, We experience q con-
vulsion OF feeling which stirs up our
us vibrate with ire. The citizen Asus-
tin Pereira has q mother, q sainted
mother, whose name Is Rosario H. de
Pereira. She was overheard imploring
few centavoS from her son with which
to buy food To whom should she have
appealed more Justly than to her son?
But AguStin Pereira, forgetful Of the
compassion and respect due TO the
author Of his days, forgetful of the love
owed forever to his gentle mother, who
once carried him upon her bosom, not
the alienation Of her hunger, but de-
rided and inSulted her with words as
we'll. Police agents who were given
report Of the distressing incident, the
counterpart of which we never heard
Of before, conducted Agustin Pereira to
the Southeastern Station to answer be-
fore the chief of the precinct for such
disgraceful unfilial treatment Of his
parent.
Let US hope, II Agustin Pereira is a
manifestation OF that recent product
called modern youth" that such juve-
nile characteristics may be checked. in
our land at least. before they become
the vogue.
Juvenile Delinquency
Creates Grave Problem In Chile.
Ell Mercurio, Santiago.-Among the
discomhtures attributed to the indus
trial and commercial distress OF the
last several years, not least Is q marked
increase In juvenile delinquency and
crime. More and more minors fall into
the nets OF the police and are brought
now these discouraging phenomena are
beginning to create q grave concern for
the future welfare Of the republic.
In some circles these untoward de.
velopments are considered but local
manifestation Of the general rebellion
against law and order in all other coun-
tries of the globe following the World
War. They say that men became &C.
cuStomed then to asserting their rights
by force and to obtaining their desires
at the point Of . pistol. They found
this method so much simpler tnan tne
orthodox practice Of working for their
livings that they continue to exploit the
perquisiteS Of crime rather than the
perspiration Of honest toll.
Human life was deemed cheap during
the war, and this new estimate has
persisted through the ensuing decade.
These are the reasons assigned BY some
investigators for the unwholeSome ana
hazardous conditions surrounding us.
Others believe, and We agree with them,
that this would not account for Juvenile
offenses, though 1t might explain the
outlawry of home-returnfng soldiers in
the countries affected by or engaged IN
the World War. But there are few
veterans in this country, and none Of
them, as far as any record goes, can be
accused Of setting bad example TO our
youth.
We are inclined to argue that the
seat of the trouble Is lack Of parental
discipline. with all the multitudinous
worries and distractions Of social, po-
litical and business life, too many par
ents have little opportunity In which
TO instruct their children In the gra-
cious amenities Of human relationships.
Many scions Of old and wealthy fami-
Hes are among those presented at the
bar Of justice, along with the progeny
Of the poorer, uneducAted classes, who,
abandoned to their own resources In
these times Of stress. have turned 70
robbery, theft and murder to maintain
their bare existence. Thus very differ
ent circumstances, widely separated in
strata Of bur society, work to produce .
common evil. Yet, after all, the rea-
sons for juvenile depravity are funda-
mentally the same, for where rich and
cultured parents have no time to guide
and improve their children in the ways
of good citizenship. the poorer classes
are so oppressed and handicapped that
they have no hope nor any ambition TO
reform their own lives or those of their
offspring. 80 both groups Of juveniles