The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 12, 1916, Page 9

Themotherha&togoontandwotk bythe day to feed the family. = Anthnswnsbadforthzehldren. The neighbiors theught “something ought to bedone"butthey&dn‘tknwvmstwhat to da. Thechkhmwere&howingthe Tlnswastoo ‘miuch to endure, ] neighbors ‘got tegether. and resolved to- take ‘these boys and girls ont of ‘the” hands of their parents. “We dor’t want to punish these children,” they said; “because we don’t believe they are really bad children. . The trouble is, they have never had a chance.| They haven’t had the right sort +of home—they never really have had any ‘home ‘at all." What they need is-home and schooling' and we propose to g1ve it to them.” This appears to have been good judg— ment on the part of the neighbers. One would say that this was the right sort of resolve to make in a ease like this. The question then became how to put’ it into effect. It is one thing to have ' a'good -and praiseworthy impulse. It is . :another-thing to. carry it through. = Lots of people -have the impulse to do noble deeds. " Unfortunately many speil them in the performance. You know the old saying about good intentions, GOOD INTENTIONS SELDOM EXLUSE BAD CONDUCT STIE, for instance, < these ‘neighbors we were speaking of simply asked a farmer to take charge of these children and agreed to'pay him something every year for their care; if they began to get tired of paying out sp much money and cut the amount down Year by year; if, finally they ceased paying any attention and ceased ecaring what happened to them <beyongd - kicking about ' the expense; if they said “Oh, let this farmer take care of. these boys and. girls; he’s paid for it; ‘we_don’t. need to worry about it what would think of ihs‘people of this community 7. Andmpposeyou d:moveredthatasa matter of fact this farmer had so many boys and girls en his hands, sent to him under similar that about all he could do with them was to keep’ thens at work shout the farm, Suppose - isdevelopedthattheyhvedmunsmt’ry bufldmgkwberefl:sdange:dfixewas alwayapnpentmdtheumhtflemm of protection. Suppose that these child- . renwerenotd!owedtolmethefamto About the Farm Where the State Sends Its Neglected Boys and Glrls and lees Them Less Attentlon Than Crlmlnals The_dairy herd st ‘he Mandan school “Everybody 8 cluldren are nobody’s children.” That seems to be a fact in North Dakota. If . the state’s wards are neglected the responsibil- ity rests with all the people of the state. the state afford to give Can its orphans and neglected children as good care as 1t gives to SUNR help he was' able to hire with the-funds available could not give them even the average. country school. £ Supposing all these things you'd begin to be a little indignant, wouldn’t you? Indignant at’ whom? Probably not at the farmer if you found ke ‘was doing about the best he could with limited facilities. More likely your indignation would begin to stir at the neighbors who took these children out of their parents’ hands and sent them to this farm, You would say: “Nobody has any nghttotakechldmawayimmthmr parents and: keep: them unlsess he nges says one instruction obtamed in t.he' crmunals" those children a real chance, 'a real home and a real education.” You might’ not criticise the action of the neighbors in taking the children away from their parents, but you certainly would condemn their failure to take ‘an active interest in these children after they were taken away. Now the fact is all -these thmgs have happened very much’this way in North Dakota. : They have happened in: the past and f;hey are happening still. Would you like to know what ‘cormmunity did this? "The answer is easy: the community 4s the whole sfate of North Dakota. The “neighbors” are all the people of‘the 7 “‘The state ought to be ashamed of itself for the way 1t is treatmg its dependent children,” ‘man who has visited the Mandan " school.: Is he nght" Maybe it would be a. *'good thmg ‘fo inquire and to distribute -the blame where 1t belongs. state. " deal " in schoel; where the real education takes -place. Cdidn’, o . REAL CRIMINALS GET L : MORE OF STATE'S ATTENTION Exght ‘orten ‘miles away from the stata v : ‘school—let’s snub the - legislature . by “to ‘call: it- a reform ,school—u ] You who read this are one of them. NORTH DAKOTA AND CHILDREN IN ITS CARE It is easy to dodge responsibility when it is uted among several hundred thousand people.- Everybody’s business is' nobody’s business. “Let the legisla~ ture attend to it,” or. “let the board of control take ‘the. blame,” or “let the superintendent look after. these children; H that’s . what he’s paui for”—that’s the way everyhody looks at it. Regularly complambs are being made about children in:North Dakota. They are “bad boys” or “wayward girls” the neighbors 'say. The court holds a hear- ing and then it sends them out to Man- dan, to an institution known by the rather unpleasant name of “reform school,” We speak of “reforming” boys 10 or 12 .years old -just as we speak of “reform- ing” thieves and murderers 30, 40 or 50. What the poys need usually is not to be ¢ “reformed but to:be taught. A boy or a girl can’t be taught a gl eat you know. Home is And of course if a-boy or girl deesn’t have a real home he or she ca.n't know much, The name “reform school” is going out of ' fashion, - for -these reasens. ' Other states have institutions known as “state training school,” -or “state farm for children,” or “state industrial sehool.” Our last legislature was_asked to change the name of: the. state institution near Mandan to “State Farm and Mechanie . Arts Schoolk” ‘But 'the bill failed: to pass. The legislature was too busy squabbling over whether the insur- , ance companies should be regulated and telling ‘the farmer to “Go home and slop the pigs” to care mueh about any sueh: trifiing. matter as the care of children ‘ who are ‘dependent on the state for their education and their matenal and moral * future. - And whet about the character of t}us institution ont . across the Heart nver N ; from Mandan’ There are b4 boys and 20 gn:ls at tlns : _ state institution, rangmg in age from.9 . years. to -21. A ‘Speaking - of 1ts eqmpment and ltlv capacity for the proper training of the . youth. committed to:it, Superintendent X M, Deyine shakes his head and groans, “It 8. fieme, * he agmits.. .He feels respom sibility ‘for these c}uldren—seVenty-fout Cof them=~whose only hope is in the statefl and what it will do for them. He is ‘hound to: have that sense of responsibil- ity. . He would be scarce]y human if he refusi e S R A e —