The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 22, 1917, Page 13

ANY things are being done for M community welfare, but the . greatest asset of any commun- ity, the child, has not had much of a chance to plead its own case. The Juvenile courts are comparatively new, Illinois being the first to pass.laws, es- tablishing them, which it did in 1889. Since then nearly every state has pass- ed some laws for this work, North Da- kota having passed them in 1911, Generally speaking, but little is known or understood of the inner workings of this part of our law, which is so successfully and effectively look- ing after the welfare of our future citi- zens. The North Dakota statutes are very broad and Jjust regarding the pcwer of any juvenile court eommis- sioner, thereby giving him a chance to do more effective personal work for those who are considered as dependent, delinquent or neglected children. The Juvenile court commissioners are ap- pointed by the district judges. They are paid a regular salary and each county of the judicial district pays their expensc.s. Many may be interested in knowing the process by which the juvenile court commissioner reaches or knows of these children. Various ways are permissable, but by petition is the most frequent way. Sometimes in places where thie commissioner may live, all formality is put aside and he is inform- All children which have dependent, de- ed by phone. been proven to be Judge Guptill of Juvenil_e Court linquent or neglected are in the hands of the commissioner. The attention of a commissioner may be called to a case incidentally, or by report of some proper person, Or on complaint of one who is really inter- ested in the child. The case investigat- ed by the commissioner; home visited; family history looked up; school rec- ords traced, if possible—in fact any- thing bearing on the case. A petition can be properly signed with or without consent of parents, according to the nature of the case. If all charges are proven to be true, the juvenile court commissioner can summon parents or guardians to appear in juvenile court, where the actions taken are according to the charge, the nature of the'case, etc. CLASSES OF CHILDREN COURT CARES FOR Almost all of us are familiar with the terms delinquent, dependent or neglect- ed children, but from a legal standpoint these terms are more closely defined. A neglected child is one which,is not in proper environment, that is, improperly fed, clothed and cared for; a dependent ° child is one which may be an orphan or thrown upon the public for support; a delinquent child may be well fed and clothed, but shows little regard for the rights of others, or resents restraint in any way. Generally speaking, the delinquent child is the biggest problem of the commissioners. Delinquency is the outcome of disobedience, feeble mindedness, wrong environment and the example of vicious older people. Many problems confront the juvenile court commissioners and much has been accomplished by them. The ques- tion of satisfactorily managing the boy or girl who just “hates” school; the Youngsters- who are “crazy” for a joy ride, whether it’s their own car or not; the boy who “loves” to see something suffer; the girl who simply “despises” house work; the neglected child whose parents regret its birth; the dependent child who has no one to look after its welfare—these are only a few of the things to be settled. JUVENILE WORK BEGUN LONG AGO [) Almost within the memory of some now living the first real effort was made to find out the cause of pauper- ism, vice and crime and an earnegt at- tempt looking to the purification of life streams from these sources started. The first humane ideas culminated in 1824 in the organization of the New York House of Refuge, the first juve- nile reformatory to be established in the United States. Less than 20 years ago the first American tribunal of Justice having exclusive jurisdiction in matters involving the welfare of chil- dren was established in Chicago. The conviction is gaining ground in the public 'mind that boys and girls do not follow evil courses from any in- born desire to be bad, but from lack of influence and authority of those who have failed to meet their responsibility. If society is desirous of developing a good man, it will do well to begin his development in the impressionable per- son of a well-bred boy. Society can not deny the fact that it is necessary for the state to take charge of delin- quents at some period in life. The pur- pose of this is to bring into active operation such remedial agencies cal- culated to work together for their and the public good. Judge Guptill of the third judicial district of North Dakota has success- fully settled many of the perplexing - questions of a juvenile court commis- sioner and secured the hearty co-oper- ation of parents, teachers and all who are interested in the welfare of these future citizens—the boys and girls who in nearly all classes want just a chance to make good. During the past twenty months the commissioner of the third district has made 854 investigations, interviewing personally 644 boys and 210'girls. Formal court hearing ‘were “Bleakridge,” Ayr, N. D., Feb. 4. Editor Woman’s Page: To the mothers and fathers who read the Nonpartisan Leader, I wish to ask through the columns of the Nonparti- san Leader if the mothers and fathers - approve of the whipping of children in the public schools of North Dakota. I think, for my part, it is. a brutal practice and should be stopped and at once. It does no good to whip a child. It only makes them hateful, spiteful and resentful. There is no child who can not be reasoned with and led to do right; and I never saw a child who would not respond to kind, loving treatment, no matter how tough they were. They can be won over and it remains for the teacher to find out how to win them. - I have been well acquainted with a gang of boys who were forced into a gang by the treatment they received at school. There was always one, and some times two or three, whipped regularly every day; and from a lot of bright, mischievous, fun-loving boys, they were turned into a gang of “rough- necks.” They gloried in being able to For the Boys and “Kindergarten” comes from two Ger- man words, meaning ‘“a garden of children.” “Kinematograph” is from the Greek, “kinema,” meaning “mo- tion,” and grapho, “I write.” We can see that the word truly means “motion written down,” so all may see and read. “Marmalade” is a Portugese word meaning “made from quinces.” The Portugese word came from two Greek words ‘“meli-melon,” which meant “honey-apple.” -“Martyr” first meant “a witness” or one who gave evidence. Now it is used only of those who have suffered death as witnesses of the truth in which they believed. ‘“Mys- tery” comes from the Greek meaning “to shut one's eyes,” so now it has the meaning of something dark and hidden. “Omnibus” is from the Latin mean- Some Ideas of Country Women held 195 times; 21 children were given out for adoption; 33 in family homes; 28 placed in institutions; 130 paroled by report system and 625 kindly ad- monished and given a chance to do better. Carefully looking .over the above re- port, we can see what a large per cent of our hoys and girls are saved from themselves and given all possible chance to become all that can be de- sired—a good citizen. LAWS ARE MADE TO BENEFIT ALL This is Commissioner Guptill's mes- sage to the boys and girls: “Law means order and we who live in a land which stands for freedom may do well to learn to be a lover of all good things and rather pity those who do not un- derstand the beneficent purpose of our laws made for your benefit—and mine. Never forget that a clean body and a clean mind mean clean thinking, and clean thought leads to clean words and good conduct. ‘“We are always happy when we know down deep in our hearts that eur conduct has been good, and happy children are usually not lawbreakers, but on the lookout to pass that happi- ness to others less fortunate. Teachers readily recognize the student who is obedient and thoughtful for the wel- fare of the smaller children. The re- gponsibility for worth-while things rests largely with the individual efforts of each child, that is when they are old enough to understand, and you can not begin too soon to be practical and helpful in your own way. We all like’ to be busy and to be properly busy means success. When you take pride in a well-kept school house, keep your books nice and clean, you are doing the part of a good citizen and good citizens make good laws to protect the unfor- tunate.” The Cook Tent in Harvest Time do something hateful to that man teacher to make him “wrathy,” as they said. Really if one-millionth part of the awful things had befallen that man that those same boys wished would happen, believe me, there would have been something doing in his immediate neighborhood, from ‘getting his neck broke” to having trains dismembering him, and to finally have to end up “shoveling coal down below.” I didn’t blame those boys. They had the “makings” of a lot of fine kids, had that teacher cut out the whip and tried to be friends with them. He could have started the “boy scout” idea, and got them all interested and his friends. ‘Why not ask that corporal punish- ment be forbidden in the public schools of North Dakota? "Why allow a brutal practice to be perpetuated? Why not ask that the present legislature pass a bill prohibiting corporal punishment in the schools of North Dakota? Stand up.for your boys and girls. They are immortal. Do not allow them whippc1 in schools. With love to all the chil- dren. o MRS, S. M. FRANCIS. Girls—Just Words ing “for every body.” We have short- ened it to “bus.” “Oval” means “egg- shaped,” from the Latin ovum, an egg. “Pantomime” is from the Greek pantomimos, “imitator of all.” It used to mean one who expressed his mean- ing by simply acting, or by dumb show.. “Paper’” is a 'short form of papyrus, a plant grown by the Nile river -in Egypt. It is this kind of paper upon which the books of the New Testament were written. ‘Parable” means “some- thing thrown alongside,” something else and so compared with it. When Jesus used parables, he was simply making comparisons. “Parliament” is the “speaking-place” from the French, “parler,” “to speak.” The speaker of the house of commons used to be called the “Parlour,” or “man who speaks.” THIRTEEN “Parlor” is from the same word as parliament so means'a room for speak- ing or talking in. “Peculiar” is from the Latin “pecus,” “cattle.” The earliest kind of property men had was cattle, so the word came to be used for any kind of property. Peculiar means “private property,” so when we speak of a man’s peculiar habits, we are just saying he has a habit of his own. It has quite recently come to mean odd or funny, “Pilgrim” means a foreigner, a traveler. It is interesting to see how words change. The Latin was ‘“pere- grinus” from ‘“per” “through,” and “ager,” “the land;” this became “pele- grin” in old French, “pelerin” in mod- ern French and “pilgrim” in English. We will now look at a few of the words which mean something very different from what they did mean, showing us the changes in languages as time passes on. “Blackguard,” which is pronounced “blagard,” now means a scoundrel. Formerly it meant one of the kitchen servants who had to look after the pots. “Idoit” meant simply a private person who took no part in public life. It is a Greek word and the Greeks thought all such people foolish, so it means now a foolish, weak minded per- son. “Pagan” means a heathen, one who does not worship the true God. It used to mean a person who lived in a village. People living in towns be- came Christians before the people of the villages, so a villager or “pagan” means a heathen. There are ever so many more words to think about, but all these are enough to keep.every one busy for a while and just try to see how many you can find for yourselves. It is very interest- ing to know that so many of our Eng- lish words are derived from other languages. We perhaps may have a little talk on poetry a little later. THE FARM THE PLACE Dear Editor: I would rather live on a farm than in town. How many women in town can hitch up their own driver, put the children in and go to visit a neighbor or take just a lovely drive when. they want to? It’'s really the only place to live. MRS. HARVEY C. SLUNAKER. N