The day book. [volume], March 12, 1915, LAST EDITION, Image 12

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

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treated Mm and his hatred will some
day strike at the very heart of both.
Judge Dolan was talking to me
the other day of this situation. "We
are accused of too much leniency
with these boys," he'saidi "but it isn't
the leniency that is at fault. We are
at fault in that we haven't provided
any different environment for the boy
who has committed an offense than
he had before he committed that of
fense; and, realizing it is unjust to
punish him, we can do nothing but
turn him loose back into the same
environment and trust to luck that
in the future he will keep out of
.trouble.
"Many of these boys are full of
healthy animal spirits, perfectly nat
ural to boys of their age. In would be
unnatural if they were otherwise, but
we provide no place in which they
can exercise these instincts. They
can't afford to join a gymnasium and
there is no place for them to go. Of
necessity they frequent the streets
and mingle with other boys who have
no place to go; and sometimes the
gang spirit springs up and they are
arrested. But can we truthfully say
it is the fault of the boy, or must we
admit that it is our fault that we
haven't taken care of him.
"We find that a number of boys
who come into this court are sub
normal, but that is as far as we can
go. The boy who is not normal men
tally is not wholly responsible for
what he has done, but if we turn him
adrift that same subnormal brain
will get him into further difficulty
with the law, yet we have no alterna
tive but to turn him adrift because
we have no place to send him.
"If we do not show leniency to
ward the boy against whom the evi
dence is not complete, we leave in
that boy's mind the injustice of the
law and he hates the law. If we give
him a chance at his freedom and turn
hi madrift without any further help
from us and he gets into trouble
again, the public cries that we should
nave punished him in the first place
and doesn't stop to consider what we
might have made of him had we pun
ished him. In one case there is a
blind chance that has experience and
our fairness may have taught him a
lesson, and a large percentage of
these boys do not get into trouble
again. On the other hand, we have
created a realization of injustice in
the boy sentenced on insufficient evi
dence and he is an enemy of the law
and of society thereafter.
"I am going to try to get a genu
ine Big Brother movement. The sen
timental movement does not accom
plish what it should. Many of these
homeless, hungry youngsters we send
to the Dawes hotel for lodging and
food, which does them more good
than ar talk would do, but it takes
money to do that work, and I ahi
going to get men who are willing to
go down into their pockets to help
these boys, even if it is only to give
$1 a month. That is the only help
that wfll give a boy a lodging and
food, and the boy with his stomach
full and a shelter is a long way on the
road to reform."
Society owes a debt to these boys
who have not had a chance and so
ciety should pay its debt.
o o
REVOLT AGAINST SULLIVAN
Washington, March 12. Walter
Niebuhr, editor of the Courier Herald
of Lincoln, DL, predicts a terrific re
volt of Illinois Democrats against
Roger Sullivan which will wrest the
control of the party from Sullivan,
the Chicago gas boss. Niebuhr, with
Ass't Sec'y of Agriculture Carl Vroo
man, was at the head of the revolt
which turned 100,000 progressive
Democrats against Sullivan in the
last campaign and defeated him for
the United States senatorship. Nie
buhr was the first Illinois editor to
come out for Woodrow Wilson, and
wants to see men of the Sullivan
stripe kicked out of the party.
o o
The Lincoln Park zoo will shortly
be howling out in the open air.