Evening star., 1943-12-03
La Guardia Proposes
Ban on Racing Data
As Delinquency Curb
Continued From First Page.)

NOOAAoAAAaSa 4olll i IL OO Z dkC.J
projects "and we have got something
to show for it,"
Earlier today James v. Bennett
Bureau of Prisons director, told the
committee good family life is a pre-
ventive of juvenile delinquency. He
said not a single boy from homes in
the Chevy Chase area was under
commitment at the National Train
ing School for Boys here.
They do not come from that type
OF home he said, but from the
marginal areas" where the illegiti-
mate and defective child is to be
found.
Federal Council Proposed.
Emphasizing there is mo single
solution" to the delinquency prob
lem, Mr.. Bennett proposed creation
Of Federal council on juvenile de-
linquency, to work with State secu-
rity and local community councils
to offer practical means of co-ordi-
mating all remedial efforts. He said
very little" Federal cost would be
entailed
Like various other witnesses, Mr.
Bennett said the most of the job
must be done by the local COM
munities.
Improved Training Schools Urged.
Il think, perhaps. we should get
the mothers out of the culinary de-
partment and into community ef-
forts to find the answers She can't
do much if we keep her cooped up
in the Kitchen" Mr.. Bennett de-
lclared.
I! He said provision of improved
training schools and receiving homes
for juvenile offenders was most
urgent. The ordinary Jail" is a
/ "cesspool of crime" he added; to
keep boy there long makes him
so hardened or embittered it is diff :
ficult to break down his mental
barriers
After an examination of 1900 jails
over the country, the Bureau of
Prisons has found it possible to ap-
prove less than 500, Mr.. Bennett
said Of this number relatively
few were deemed fit to handle ju-
venile offenders, he added.
Yesterday Andrew Jackson Hig-
gins of New Orleans, ship and plane
builder, gave the committee point
ed warnings against more than
necessary" Government paternalism
and failure to plan for postwar in
dustry.
| The doughty manufacturer-Wh
uses many extraordinary welfare
and health programs for his work.
ers. including music, with emphasis
on The Star-Spangled Banner" ,"
but with a ban on Pistol Packing
Mama a'-sprinkled the record with
suggestions for answering wayward
youth questions.
Parting Advice.
His parting advice was:
We must insure every American
family the opportunity to earn a
decent living. There is no doubt
in my mind that poverty breeds
juvenile delinquency, among other
things, and while we do not have
as much poverty today as formerly
in the United States. we are going
to have much more after this war
unless the Government allows in
dustry to retain its operating initi-
ative
If the great production machine
which has been built up for waging
war is not converted to peacetime
utility, then We may see a return to
the depression days of the early
l930s. If there is a postwar depres-
sion with another WPA in this
country then the juvenile delin-
quency We have today will appear
small indeed"
His suggestions included call
for more vocational training-col-
lege graduates "a dime dozen -
but with shortage of mechanics
and insistence on the need for su-
pervision of Fairgrounds. He listed
extension and support of Boy and
Girl Scouts activities as among the
adults greatest opportunities.
Other proposals: Better housing,
more adequate school facilities, ade-
quate juvenile court personnel, bet
ter enforcement of truancy laws.
better equipped Fairgrounds and
more trained recreation and song
leaders, health centers and more
adult education.
Younger girls taking low paid jobs
to replace older women who have
left for war plant work. he said
might be described as part of a
vicious manpoWer circle which is
surrounded by official confusion, in
ertia and incompetency.'