The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 12, 1916, Page 10

arters tha e ‘'t the school. Their home is sanitary -and well protected: against fire’ and they ‘ihave ample facilities for their mental . improvement.” The state is trying to I ‘reform” them and spendmg more- per { capita in the process than it is spending ! ‘on the children at the Mandan school. The case is worse than this, however, Besides the_children who have been: sent i to Mandan because they made themselves - ! ‘‘unpopular with the neighbors there are - :others—little, unfortunate, neglected I g ,youngsters—who are there just because - itheir parents were adjudged unfit to care *for them because their parents’ died and fi . the community had nowhere else to send | : "them.. So they were sent to a “reform - school.” i The Mandan school; in fact, is a kmd | ‘of dumping ground for children nobody fi wants. And nobody seems to care par- i _ticularly what becomes of them after they get there. There are three prmclpal -buildings at- “the Mandan school, the central and older i one of which is a schoolroom; messhouse R ‘sleeping quarters and general home for the older boys. It is a miserable anti- quated structure.’ Its sanitary facilities are inadequate and bad. Unpleasant odors fill it unless with all doors-and windows open a summer breeze. cames them away.’ . The two: other b\nldmgs were con- . strlwted largely by the labor of the hoys B at the school. They are built of cement ! { 'blocks and on-the. outside appear to be i fairly modernstructurés. Their appear- ance is deceitful, accordmg to Superin- '~ " ~tendent Devine, They were not built on archxtect’ plans, he says, but simply were put together by . the carpenters who were employed on them. The construction is oor, ‘the roofs leak and the _plaster is- alling from the walls, Each has. but. .one toilet and that on the interior, with- ‘out ventilation, These facthtxes are nothing else but reason; * * * for then we are said to- lcnow the law when we apprehend the i reason of the law.” ;- In the above language the learned Coke . begins his first institute of the laws of . England. In the quaint phraseology of Lord Coke, of which the above quotation “is ‘hardly a fair example, we learn that “‘the common law of England is but~an « expression of the attempts of reason to formulate in_ principles - and - maxims found it most convenient and most agree- able to their consciences to follow. X It is but a truism to say that the law v of this state, aside from statutory enact- England was, in turn, an interpretation exemplified in customs. «.grew up and acquired the force of law under . eéonomic, social, and industrial conditions peculiar to the penods of time - in which the customs arose. LAWS THAT COURT’S MADE IN ANOTHER AGE Thxs common law, then, ‘is| traceable thousand 'years. The bare mention: of - this long period-of time suffices to con- . vince the most unimaginatiye person : that the economie, social and industrial - - conditions were radically and fundament- Lally. dlfl’erent from those of tbe present 'day. S those precepts' of natural justice which " men in their relation with one another ments, is taken from and built upon the" old common law of England as a source ‘and' a foundation. :The”common law of .| of the life of the English people as. These customs. ‘back in English -history at least ‘a’ no opportumty to: 1solate.-cases ‘of thig sort. - ¥ The gu'] b ldmg faces on a slough into which tf:e “drainage. from ‘all the . buildings ‘is turned: 3 : The boys = sleep togethe" rooms, the superintendent ‘says;-.There are no fire escapes on the buildings”; and -“An” instance of our needs and the neglect of this institution by the state is the fact that we haven’t such a thing as a hospital of sick room about the place,” said Superintendent- Devine. “Yet it is a fact that nearly’ every child sent to us is dental attention. Here are our clnldren constantly exposed to infectio 1 disease. “Since T.took charge here I have physician, but we have not had anywhere near enough funds to give them‘the the ‘ventilation is poor.’ SE in need of immediate“medical - or. in., attnc s l:eans, 50 bushels of red beets, 250 bushels of onions, 75 ‘bushels of ‘carrots - .and .30 bushels of salsify. Besides these _vegetables “the -school farm- raised and’ matured 22 .acres of. flint and dent corn, filling the 100-ton silo on the place, and raised also 3,000 bushels of oats, which - ran 62 bushels to the acre, 1500 bushels of ‘ barley, 400 bushels of flax, -and 200. ~bushels of wheat.. All this. calls for'a great amount of . labor in farm’ work, a large proportion of- which: was performed by the boys, As'a farm' the institution is developing | into a success, but that is:hardly the real object for - which the mstxtutlon was built, “%The fact is,” sald Supermtendent “Devine; “that alt of us are working early : -and:late on:the necessary ‘work about:the . place. -No'‘one ‘Has:‘the proper time:to hfid instruct: the -boys: .Our carpenter shop . ‘every child that came examined: 5y a; is poorly.equipped--and .we are making : - things rather. than' teaching. - There: are : " _boys -who work in the engineer's " depart- ‘proper care.. -All that we have been-able - todo is to take care “of ‘the most urgent or dangerous cases in [ "makesluf Ways “This seems to me- to be- almost criminal when you consider. that in'many- cases the ailment which proper: atten- tion could- cure is‘the real causeor one- of the causes that sent the child:here. . Everybody that has had experience’in such places knows that bad children are . merely sxck cluldren m many mstanees i A SUCCESS AS A FARM i BUT NOT MUCH OF A SC}IOOL : " There are 480 acres in the state school .. property,.-practically:. all.. of .which .has " been pput under.. cultivation.. Supermtend- ent Devine takes some pride in_enumer- ating the quantity.of farm stuff; raised . - this year. It meludes three ~tons” of mangel wurzels,. two and one—ha]f,, tons ~ rather: than- instruction. <for- our officers -~ within' the last. y One of them took a;joh. at:$900 a year ment, but that is merely work;: too,. - “It is- very-difficult. to. obtain and shll more: difficult: to hold men who' are-com- : ‘petent -to. teach: the -boys. as lthey.ought‘ -to:be-taught, = We. only $60 a month ! svand Jnstructors. Twice | : teachers resigned. ; - and the other one-at.$1000, both as pnn- . of rutabagas, two tons: of cabbage, a ton . and a half of pumpkins and; ~Squash, There were no raxlroads, telephones, no-farm ‘machinery - ‘ wooden - plow and-a sharpened pxece 9f together with quantmes Jof canl;aloupes 8 A . steel to cut with, no cities, no ‘means of ti t ‘slow’ travel, ‘no copumnication; RECep XAy *.the light—or in the darkness—of some . commerce or tradé except the most rudl ‘mentary and entirely local, no news- papers and no books except -in Latin or some other foreign tongue. As time passed on, of course, these economic and- industrial conditions were Should rules of laW made a thousand years ago, ‘be ‘the sole guide under modern conditions in The rule of reason instead of the rule of -precedent now is being boldly advo- a new state? cipals of small town schools: GIRLS ALSO SUFFER (e FROM STATE'S NEGLEC] ‘“Here an mspector puts ina -work from 6 .o’clock in.the mommg unul_. 8:30 at night.or even later.and he.is on : ‘duty seven..days in_the, week ‘and 365°¢ days in.the year. - With. the small, salary of $60a Tnonth ~that is mot very attrac- § tive ; compared - with. & public ’sc“hool; school posxt!on at higher, salary,. with two days m the’ week free, with short ¢ It’s Tlme to Move Out of t;he Wooden Plow Perlod and Come' Up to the Prese_x_ltr Says Grand Forks Attorney ‘ ‘ EASON is the hfe of the law, 5 R nay the common law itself is BLIND PURSUIT OF PRECEDENT MAKES JUSTICE IMPOSSlBLE Every decisnon that our court- makes of 'questions: submitted to it is made in’ rule or principle of this-old common law, unless a- modern statute has ‘defined the rule. % It will thus be clear that if the court faithfully follows precedent, old rules . cated by the keenest and ablest students of the law. N modlfied’ and yet up to 1760, they were will be mvoked ‘to dlspose of new essenflally and "radically dllferent from those with which we: are farmhar. P We are living in a new state, compar- ; atxvely. Our" supreme court. is con- stantly called upon_ to. decide controver- - ‘sies’ between mdlvxduals and to. apply the - rules and pnncxples 9;6 e common law, formulabed in, the ' past: and bqrn of: con-. . -ditions; . which - .our - imagination :.can _scareely picture } 80 the hfe about us, /issues’ under modern and altered 7 condxhons. : ‘Is it a reprehensible radxcahsm, is it . proof of a. contemptuous distegard of -ancient and venerable landmarks, to suggest. “that in - the _division ~of. controversxes that dmly arise in the com- ‘takes ch.lld)en away from: -thei “ga ) down the puildmge of. f ‘came fron‘ .. that 'the ‘protection’ to which property -5 and . vested - rights “are Justly entitled ;. Yequires that ‘the. judge -in_ writing the * daily ' presented to their consideration - ! clples to new conditions; tions that' court will best perform ‘its * interprets these principles in the light of - or the prmclple really is. two women‘ 1 hiead cook “and teaoher, and the other of “whom ' xs matron: and’ housekeeper. They divide the’ responsibility. of disoi- pline. In-character and knowledge the girls ‘vary as widely as possxble. Some ¥ i ‘have made scarcely ‘a startin ‘school; | ‘others require lugh school’ -work, A very & diverse demand: is made: on the: one EReT S |- -teacher’s” teaching: capacity, - [ What the superintendent has bo say seems to indicate that- the state; school- at - "tofore: . It surely.- wonld,be B dxsgréce E ,A' b if- such-:an- "in_stitufion;- were: ;allowed :to remain neglected in: the baekwaters:of - ‘pelitics and easb ont -of . the stneam of progress:: i -One: spasm of agltatmm will not cars - for the neéds of-a situation: of this sort . - and - one' legislature- can::not ‘solve. its . problems.--There; :ig +a: great ‘oppor- ! tunity. at Mandan-fo persons: .of unselfish - ‘ impulse and inquiring - mind—perhaps some assocxahon ‘of-mothers-of the state —to find' out-what is needed: there and to: take-up:the: work 0 ;gettmg affairs set nght There may not “ks - - A Having set up machmery y’ W 'ngltt ways of lmng:th:s thy . z lmown us:the state o forth .Ilaliota .and_send-the children. batk:w light of the complex fconditlo’n(s-df a new caaged st ¢ i I ‘It does not seem so." ‘It does not seem law’ should perpetually isolate: himself from: the present and live exc]usxvely in and face towards the past.- Our conclusion therefore, is that our highest court is. evety day determining the ‘public policy of a new and: ‘rapidly developing commonweslth; * that the numerous néw problems tl:at are almost call upon this court. to apply old prin- -apply- = e ing these .principles to these new condi~ ; duty and ‘render to its state the most. distinguished and lasting service which the new conditions, which searches: out. not -only the rule: and the: principle of the law, but as Coke: admirably states it, ascertains what the reaso; of the law ; WHY NOT SEEK REASONS INSTEAD OF RULES o " If our }ughest con xlublted industry in dnscovermg th T8, law ‘as they ¢ ; plicated life of our present socie y.the . erring - rules and' principles . which were golved' :frpm t.hese angient customs to .meet these ancient aml simple conditions ¢ indus- - dnferen rom . trial society, should be applied . With - 1 : cautlon and should ‘be scrutunzed in the - Cl‘ltl(!lse the co - for qudlclal tyra