Detroit evening times., 1945-04-02
By JAMES LEE ELLENWOOD

BY JAMES LEE ELLENWOOD
Executive Secretary tho New York State YMCA
T SUGGESTED in previous article that any adequate
dealing with the problem of delinquency calls for two
things. Keeping the environment wholesome as pos
sible and building up resistance in youth. Keeping
the environment clean desperately hard and have
never known of a community that is willing to pay the
price.
plain fact of the matter is that EVERY
TOWN OR CITY places and things that make deln-
quency rather attractive There not enough police
and enough laws and enough regulations to make
ANY CITY IMMUNE.
TT SEEMS to be about impossible to paddock all the
it would be to carpet all the streets so
people could go about in slippers
You and l, parents, might as we'll face the fact
Our kids will have plenty of opportunity to go wrong
After society has done all it can or wants to- there still
comes the CHARACTER OF YOUTH ITSELF.
That's where the home and the school and the
church and lot of other organizations come in.
Take for instance, your city The police any social
agency could show you now map on which you can
mark just where the most delinquency will occur in 1945
It's and accurate as if the city were planning
it. In effect the community says:
I'm l945 in such and such place we vii will, rear so
If you to 60 to those districts today you would
find breakdown exactly at the two points have indi-
Gated
You uuouid find there were too many attractive
spots for breeding delinquency and you .Douid find
that the agencies for building boys and girls ncud-
ing the home, are inadequate.
ANY ONE who has spent any time at all this prob
~ lem knows these simple facts They also know how
difficult it is to get at them.
They are discouraged because the public seems so
compacent about the whole business and they welcome
the encouragement that is being given now by such
campaign the New York Journal-American is con-
Quoting
You can get an idea of the confusion in seeietys
effort to combat delinquency by listening to complaints
that you hear every side
The church is losing out.
longer
The schools not facing the problem. They are
regimened and deal only in scholastics and keep too
short hours.
The homes are breaking down and parents no longer
control their children.
The other agencies pretty good but touch only
few and get the scene too late with too little.
And the police interested in CATCHING
crook than in PREVENTING one
Thus, say people who know little OF the conditions.
Often they right Anyway these complaints give
idea of how wide and far-reachng carefully planned
attack would have to be.
ONE reason for the complacency with which this prob
~ lem is often concerned is that do not visualize
the enormous waste and cost of it.
Of course, every and then are face to face
with it.
gang of Youngsters starts out to rob gas stations
France caught grating stolen cigarets and
few days there account Of bizarre murder by
youth. Then we all gasp.
But actually these only the spectacular incl
thousands of s and the hundreds of prisons and the
crowded calendars of city and county courts and the
activities of veritabe armies of police that you begin to
get picture of what delinquency costs.
This believe, be cut down. AS matter of fact
efforts cutting down already We will consider
these efforts later.
(To be oontinued)