| Show CURFEW legislation one of the saddest features of american civilization is the demor demoralization alt of children thousands of whom in the large and medium sized cities of this country become hardened in vice at a tender age profane and obscene language cigarette smoking pilfering lying drinking and even burglary are common offenses tenses of among boys in their teens and are not rare among lads ads who have not passed the age of a dozen domen years sexual degradation is able from the other forms of wickedness named and in this direction at least the vicious traits of boys con ta laminate minate the other sex parents who retain an instinct pertaining to the parental relation are impelled to seek some means of preserving their offspring from the moral and physical destruction which is threatened by conditions t that hat prevail in I 1 cities and out of this disposition has haa sprung a demand for what is called a curfew law that is a local law forbidding children under a given age to be upon the streets after a certain hour in the evening all parents know or ought to know that vicious thoughts desires and habits are extremely likely to spread among children who are allowed to be upon the streets late in the evening they axe are almost certain to encounter evil associations and the cover of dark ness seems wonderfully to endo encourage urage the childish mind in wrong directions hence the public sentiment in many american cities that justifies legislation which will authorize and require the police to take charge of children found orf on the streets at unseemly hours A few days ago a public meeting was held in a church in evanston ill III to consider and advocate the passage of a curfew ordinance col alexandea Alexan det hogeland principal of the boys ancel girls national home and employment association addressed the meeting and the following is ie a synopsis of what he be said the american curfew ordinance provides that children under the age of 15 years be taken home it if they arv are found in the streets after 8 tn in the winter or 9 in the summer before they be prosecuted the ordinance is in force at present tn in omaha lincoln kansas city st joseph and lawrence kans Last year not a halt half dozen children were arrested in all these cities officials certify to a decrease of fifty per cent in the number of arrests I 1 superintendents of schools report absence of truancy owners and proprietors ot of mills and factories report better services from apprentices and newsboys from the rest they secure sell more papers the ordinance Is not to vex or annoy hut but to enable parents who have children defying home restraints to keep them at home it is a matter of justice to police officers to have this ordinance because many boys without the curfew grow up to bf be desperadoes o murderers murderer 4 and thieves and are a menace to peace and good order in society there are convicts in the penitentiaries aries of the country whose time Is sold at four cents a day while they make articles of merchandise which are made by expert labor and as the curfew ordinance lessens crime by fifty per cent it is a protection for the mechanic there is no denying the cogency ot the reasons why children should h kept off the street at night but the influence and authority that should accomplish com this are those of the parents not of the police when the police power of the state is obliged to intrude within the family circle there to enforce ordinary and necessary discipline over the young children of the household a deplorable condition of society exists the love and reverence of children for their parents are among the most potent means an all wise creator has provided for the preservation from sin suffering and final destruction of the succeeding generations of humanity and when these agencies wane in effectiveness so tar far that they have to be replaced by the police power of the state a sad status has been reached but if parents cannot or will not keep their children off the streets at night in a given town or city then it is proper to have and enforce a curfew law it is better that the children should be saved by the police than not at all but the fact remains that the increasing need for and popularity of such legislation comprise one of the worst features of the civilization of the time |
