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Show Immm HAS 1ET WITH GREATSUCCESS I Judge McMaster Says Court Reclaimed Hundreds of De linquent Boys and Girls j in -1912. I! J PARENTS BEGIN TO : UNDERSTAND SYSTEM Hostility at First Apparent Nc Longer Exists; Suggestions , Offered -for Increased Efficiency, i By JUDGE ALEXANDER M 'MASTER r 4 1 juvenile court of Utah has I accomplished moro :md better L "cvork flu ring- tho past year than in any similar period before. Tho -reasons for this aro obvious: Tu the first place, the appropriation for tho maintenance of thn system wns more liboral than before, thus euab-ling euab-ling tho commission to furnish more ?iS5islauce; in tho second place, t our forces havo been much bettor organ-ised, organ-ised, tho work has been more cfiicicut, and, third, tho firm support of tho par-rnts par-rnts coming into the court, and the public in general, has been of wonder-lul wonder-lul assistance. A i'otv years ago, al-mot al-mot every parent cited into court came in with a"" chip on his shoulder" ready io opposo and light, whereas now, it is rare indeed for anyone to como in in audi a mood. Not only are parents anxious to uuito Tilth ns m onr endeavor to help the oluldren, but many como in whoao chil-drcn chil-drcn have not been complained of, to get help and advice. Even attorneys -who woro dnco wont to como in and put np a fight, now adviso their clients they don't ncod a law3or in tho juvenile court; one saying to a lady who hud Ik on asked io como in with her boy: "If I go thero, T will only agree with tbo court, and you will get a square deal without au attorney, ' and save 3our money besidos." H Case in Point. In a case where a boy had been in coart repeatedly for serious delinquency, vhon it finally became apparent he must go to the industrial school, his mother, a splendid woman, but blind to her boy's faults, r.amo in with a prom-meat prom-meat attorney. Tho latter made a strong plea for another chance for tho Hj boy. 1 l'I am well acquainted with the boy aud I believe there is much good in ltim," ho said. "and I think it would bo only fair to givo him another trial." "Are you aware, Mr. Blank, that 'Ms boy "has already been given ve fl h rials' and has broken his word and dirnrrointcd his friends each timo7" "Oh. but he will keep his word this time, judge. I will see that he docs, besides it will break my hcnTt if you take my son from me," sobbed the mother. "Well." said tho court, "I will fur-flier fur-flier suspend his sentence on ono con-dition con-dition " "'Name it," said tho lawyer, "and fl if within our power wo will comply with it." "It-is that you, Mr, "Blank, accept the responsibility of custodian of tho bov and ronorfc to tho court his conduct one a week." l The lawyer was rather taken aback, but after regaining his poise, replied: u "I will assume tho responsibility. i and if the boy fails to do as T want frm to, I will at onco turn him over to M. the court, and will make no further ap- B! peal in his behalf." fl The boy's conduct under tho super- Bj vision of thn lawyer wns splendid, and B he has made cood in every respect. Tbo lawyer stuck to his word with ten- B aitv until we released him from his B tr st. when he said:: B "If you over havo anothor case I B 'an help 3'on with, jusi lot mo know." H Public Support Necessary. Bj If thero is any court that must have B; ho support of tho press and public, it Bj is tho juvenilo court, and during the B past year it has had both. At tho ju- B venilo court division of the teachers' B association of tho stato, held recently, Bl tho hall was crowded and so many B were unable to pot inside that a larger fli hall had to bo secured. This also was Bj packed, many being compelled to stand. B' Great interest was manifested in the Bi yivenilo court, and discussions of vari- Bj ous jubjects woro general and animat- B! od. Among othor resolutions, aunani- H.' moufclv adopted, was ono favoring an B; amendment to our present school law, B' Tailing tho age at which children muy Bl lavo school before finishing tho gram- B ii.Hr grado from 16 to majority. Bj It must givo every person interested Hi n Ailif"i(in'n in lTiih m thrill nf nrtnn B to note the declaration of Dr. Claxton B that rhcro is lese illiteracy in Utah B than in any othor state in tho union. B Thrro is no one factor which will con-'ribute con-'ribute moro to pcrpetuatinc this rcc- Bj ord than the part taken by tho juvenile Bj court. The delinquent bov mid cirl are the- greatest menace to this kigh stan- Bl :ard confronting us. Many of thtMO a-o beond the reach tf the school. B t rtnirally bucauso their iKirenU arc 1 ppced to cxlucttUon pnrnt who 'Vnc more of a few dollars that their Bj l.nvH may ern than tie future welfare ft' thf child. Tho juvenile coart can and will in irceh cusec send such pnr-rnt pnr-rnt io jail If nectfataxr In order to their children into school. We havo 1 ludled many of Mirh twei, but the irr nts have' lven eonvrried tu averv Bj . ase, so that recourse to ueh drastic measures lite not been resorted to. H Every Child In School. Bj The school law should be amended so Uiat every boy or girl physically and mentallv able to do so mu$i finish ten grammar radea before leaving t-.hool. rogardleM of age. It is the do-hire do-hire -ot the jcveullo court workers to br:ng about sueh a condition that not a e:nslc child of school age in our - to can be JrcaHy permit t.i to be . p rf fbool. Wfaf? thi i-t ac amplib-1, amplib-1, t'iali will be oaic lainojH, a. one of the greatest educational centers of tho United Statos. Tho convention also adopted unanimously, unani-mously, u resolution favoring a widows' pension law, a aplcndid enactment, adopted ad-opted by somo states for tho purpose of furnishing poor widowa and invalid fathers a reasonablo sum to enable them to send their children to school, ! instead of taking thorn out as can now be done under our law, o help support tho familv. Parents frequently demand tho services of their children under this provision, and thus tho children who aro most in neod of an education, aro deprived of; this great boon. It would not requiro a great sum of money and the stato could not expend its means to better advantage. Juvenile Judges. Another matter of vital importance to the success of the Juvenile court system, was the creation of ono or more Juvenilo court districts out of the throo judicial districts in the southern part of tho state. At present there is a juvenile judge presiding over each of tho First, Second, Third and Fourth Judicial districts, while in tho throe southern districts the functions of the Juvenilo court are performed by the regular district judges, who though splendid men, owing to their numerous other duties arc entirely un-ablo un-ablo to do justice to tho children. This is especially true of the preventive work, bv far iho most importaut of all which includes the visiting and talking to public school cMldren, Sunday Sun-day schools, to parents and others interested in child welfare, visiting homes whoro through ignorance or sin. or both, children are being ill treated or neglected; to strengthening weak parents, and helping them to control wayward and incorrigible children, otc. Another serious objection to the district judges acting in this capacity, 's that theirs aro criminal courts, and the very csconce of tho fight for children's chil-dren's courts is that they should bo entirely separated from tho criminal courts with their prisons, jails and sordid atmosphere. Boforc the Juvenile courts can be the complete success they should be, this must i)e dono. It was tho unanimous opinion of all present at tho Juvenilo court mcetincs that this change should be made, the onthern representatives being especially especial-ly insistent in the matter. For Social Services. A resolutiou was also passed without with-out opposition that pressure bo brought to boar on the legislature to secure a sufficient appropriation to pay reasonable reas-onable Halarioa and make tho court a real, living force in every part of tho state. From the friondly feeling and deep interest taken by tho general public, and the complexion of tho incoming in-coming legislature, there seems little doubt that any sum withiu reason can be secured. If the proper detention homos can "bo established throughout tho state; largo enough salaries can be sccurod to obtain tho servicos of tho very bot men and women obtainable obtain-able to "work among tho children, thero is no reason why Utah should not enjoy tho distiuction of having tho very best jovonile court svstm in the world. Much Is expected by tbo Jux-onilo court officers of the effort to ostablish a social service society in the state. Tho character of tho mon and women working to accomplish this, is a guar antee that the work will be a success. Many good associations havo been formed in thn stale to aid tho unfortunate unfor-tunate members of our community, but most of thorn, owinc to lack of public interest, have dwindled awav aad are now onlv a memory. Ono of jhc rrm'iral objects of tho new organ! zation ia to foster such institutions by bringing tho workers logothor several tunes a year to discuss ways and means of making theso bodica actual and real help to the state. Detention Homes. Among tho very importaut aids to the Juvenile court is tho detention home. In some Bt.atcs these institutions institu-tions arc used only as tomp.orarj' expedients ex-pedients for the detention of boys and girls whom it is nocossary to placo in restraint until thoy can bo formally brought before the court for disposition, disposi-tion, but in Utah their sphere is much broader and moro comprehensive. Here they aro used for tho cars not only of children in tho early stages of delinquency, de-linquency, but for tho care and supervision super-vision of children having no homes. Chief Probation Officer Gaurdollo Brown is the superintendent of the boys' homo aud Mrs. Grace Mcttler, matron of the girls home. There arc no bettor managed homes in the country than those in Salt Lake county, and the results obtained in helping the students s little less than wonderful. Unfortunately litigation has aTtscn over tho liability of Salt Lake City to pay a pro rata of tho expense of maintaining these homes. This expense has always been paid by the city until this year, when the auditor of the city refused to honor the vouchers presented by the county for this cxpeusc. Feeling Feel-ing that it "was only just that the city should pay for the caro and keep of its own children, a great majority of those in the homes belonging to tho citj and that no taxpayer would raise an objection to Salt Lake bearing bear-ing its portion of this most just expense, ex-pense, the city commission was at onco appealed to. Mayor Park and all tho other members were present at the interview. in-terview. After explaining our Bide of tho question and urging the absolute necessity of continuing these homes, as their closing would mean the turning out of doors 35 or -10 boj's and girls, who arc desperately in need of this help. City Will Fin'd Way. Mayor Park remarked: "Mr. Varian our legal advisor has expressed tho opinion that tho law requiring Salt Lalcc City to pay a cerlaiu portion of the expense of maintaining main-taining these homes is unconstitutional and that tho city cannot legally pay this money, as it is taxation without representation, the city having no voice in tho manacement ot tho homes. Wo will say, however, the commission is heartily in favor of tho work the Juvenile court is doing, aud wo assure 3'ou. that no matter what the decision of tho courts may be in this matter, we will find somo way of maintaining these homes. They must not bo destroyed de-stroyed or their usefulness impaired." This view wns concurred in by all the members of the commission. An endeavor will be made to havc tho matter settled bv tho supremo court, so that if any change is necessary in our law. it may bo made bv the incoming in-coming lecialaturc this winter. Thero is a widespread demand from over the taie for an increase of those dotcntion homos, as they are absolutely necessarv to sccurintr the best results in Juvenile court work. Campaign of Education. ' Everything possible has been done to acquaint people with tbo fact that the juvenile court is organized for tho ex-nrcss ex-nrcss purpose of helpine boys and girls who havo stumbled in tho path of life to overcome evil with cood, to resume their normal relationship toward society, so-ciety, that wo aro their protector": and frienid and tot their enemies. Ecry ono who comes before tho court is going to get such treatment, so far as wo may have tho wisdom and discernment to givo it to them, and our best endeavors will bo used to assist them to grow up to bo good citizens and an honor and credit to their families and frionds. Somo people havo thought tho juvenilo juven-ilo court was an engine of oppression, whoso principal duty was to go into tho homo on tho slightest, provocation, tear it to pieces and scatter its members among training schools, detention homes, etc. From the dawn of civilization, civiliza-tion, the truest and best men havo realized real-ized that tho strong family organization meant tho strong nation. That the greater love of family and home, tho greater tho patriotism and lovo of country coun-try among a people. With tkis idea before be-fore them, jnrists, statesmen and lawmakers law-makers havo constantly used thoir influence in-fluence to inako tho homo unit strong and havo looked with jealous eyes upon everything that tended to disrupt the sacred circle. Preserving the Home. So that in overy civilized country iu tho world tho father and mother, as long as they are tit to have tho custody cus-tody uf tho children, arc secure in the family circle being preserved intact. When complaints are received as to unfitness of the home and unworthincss of parents to retain tho custody of their children the conditions aro carefully care-fully inquired into, and if it is possiblo to help tho parents improve conditions nnd placo themselves in tho proper shapo to do justice by their children, no effort is left undone, no matter how bad conditions may be, to keep the family together. However, after everything every-thing wo can do has failed, then in tno interest of the children and in compliance compli-ance with duty under tho law, tho children chil-dren aro taken and placed where they will havo some chance to bo properly cared for and becozne useful citizens. The Economic Side. In tho matter of dollars and cents the juvenile courts save tho state incalculable in-calculable sums in the preventing of children becoming criminals. Probably tho average cost of capturing, trvi;u:, convicting and caring for criminals tn the stato prison is not less than $1000 each. Therefore, if out of tho 500 or 600 childreu handled this year in the juvenile court of tho state, thirty-five have been saved from becoming criminals, crimi-nals, as much has been saved to the stato as was appropriated $35.000 to carry on tho work of thyi juvenile courts for two years, 1011-1012. Last year tho amount per capita for handling the boys and girls was somethintr under $1. This year it will be less. This bc-incr bc-incr true, as a money savinir concern, tho juvenilo court system of tho stato is a bonanza. It may be urged that many of the delinquents who como into the court would not be proceeded against in tho regular criminal courts anyway. This is true, but n vcrv larjo percentage percent-age of thorn would. and many a boy is now working out his salvation on probation pro-bation or in the dotcntion homes, who would, under the old regime, be serving time in the stato prison. Not Money, but Children. But the juvenile court ha3 not been established for the purpo-o of saving or making money for the state. It has been evolved to save tho boy or girl, to open the doors of hope and opportunity oppor-tunity for thoso acainst whom they had been "cruelly cjosed for cenerations past, to check tho ever-swelling stream of criminals flowinc into and glutting tho orisons and penitentiaries of the country, coun-try, and divert that -stream to tho workshop, work-shop, tho office, the field and thy farm, tho trades and profesMons. na,; ono bov befu sacd from becoming becom-ing a criminal and made a good cili?cn 1 by the juvenile court of the state?' If so. tho elate has been well repaid for money invested; for one good boy is worth much money. The name of many could bo given, if it wore advisable, who, there is no particle of doubt, havc boon won from ways if crm.' to tliro which b'd '0 ir a! ji.g thm go- l t r. ful citicc, x |