would from that time on become a ward of the court; that it would be brought into court from time to time, where its wants and necessities must be provided for. As the conditions which would be met with would cover a ground unlimited in its scope, the court must have powers quite as unlimited in order to be able to provide in each case just what the case might demand at the moment it was under consideration. The Circuit court was finally decided upon by those interested in the law as the court that should have jurisdiction over the children's cases.

Finally the law was shaped into a form that would permit being sent down to Springfield to be acted upon by the legislature. Here again it met with opposition and set-backs, small to be sure, but because of their very triviality more annoying to those whose very souls were bound up in the bit of paper upon which the proposed law was written. The Senate seemed to realize at once the importance of the desired legislation, but the House of Representatives kept up a running fight throughout the entire session whenever the Juvenile Court law was mentioned.

The measure was introduced by Hon. John C. Newcomer early in the session, and, in the regular order of business he had it referred to the Judiciary committee of the House. After being referred to the Judiciary committee it became necessary to amend the law in the hope that the determined opposition to the measure could be overcome. Then after aggravating delays, delays which were considered preferable to risking a negative vote in the committee, the Senate and House Judiciary committees met in joint session to consider its passage. Judge Harvey B. Hurd, Judge Carter, Ephriam Banning and T. D. Hurley were present at the joint meetings of the committees and explained every detail of the proposed law to the inquiring legislators. After this joint meeting of the Judiciary committees the bill was brought up in the Senate by Senator Case and passed upon favorably.

In the meantime it seemed that the measure must surely find an untimely death in the House. Mr. Newcomer finally asked the House committee to take the matter up and offer any amendments to the law which would satisfy them with it if they were opposed to the bill as it then stood. This suggestion was complied with. The proposed amendments were submitted to the Chicago persons who were interested in the passage of the law and then the same old grind of incorporating the amendments and still securing the things absolutely required if the work was to be intelligently carried on had to be gone over again. Upon being brought up before the House Judiciary committee for the third time, with the amendments desired by the representatives incorporated in the bill as much as could be done without injuring the parts the Chicago contingent was most interested in, it was carried by a unanimous vote and sent to the House with the recommendation that it be passed.

Then a new difficulty arose to check the progress of the bill. It was sent over to the House from the Senate so late in the session that it was apparent at once it would never be reached in the regular order of business if it were placed on the regular calendar of the House. Finally, in the last week of the session, in fact, on the afternoon of the last day of the session, Mr. Newcomer succeeded in getting unanimous consent to having it taken out of the regular order of business and considered. very brief discussion a vote was taken, and the bill was passed. At last the long strain was over, the work of years was about to bear fruit-Chicago was to have a Juvenile court, and the agencies interested in child-saving work had the strong arm of the law back of them in any action it might be necessary for them to take in order to save a child and make a man.

After a

Then began the formative period of the Juvenile court in Cook county. The child-saving agencies had cried for help in the way of legislation that would aid them in their work; now it became necessary to make intelligent use of the law which had been passed in answer to their appeal. The Juvenile Court law became a statute of the state of Illinois, going into effect July 1st, 1899. Upon examination it at first seemed that it would be utterly impossible to enforce it, as it had failed to provide the means to carry it into effect.

However, in the face of countless difficulties, the interested and determined ones forged ahead. By the terms of the law it was made the duty of the judges of the Circuit court in Cook county to designate one among them to preside over this new branch of the Circuit court. Judge Richard S. Tuthill was named, and has since then been known as the judge of the Juvenile court, or as it is more familiarly and lovingly called, "The Children's Court."

This choice of a judge to preside over the Juvenile court was not made by chance. It was realized by all concerned that the entire bench could not furnish one more ideally fitted in every way to take charge of this most important work. Judge Tuthill is a father and grandfather. He realizes all the exigencies that are likely to arise in the life of a child and is able to arrange them just in the order in which they should come. Most important of all, although he is not juvenile in any respect, Judge Tuthill has not forgotten the motives and emotions that governed him before he reached man's estate, and because he has not forgotten, he is able to place himself in the child's place and intelligently arrive at a conclusion as to just what was most likely to

have led up to the line of conduct which the youngster has pursued. When dealing with the little dependents and delinquents who are brought before him he drops entirely the role of avenging justice. His face warms into a fatherly smile and when he pats a youngster on the head and offers words of advice which sound as if there was a storehouse of love back of them, the little one is more than likely to burst into tears and "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," because he feels in his heart, although he could not explain to you why he feels it, that he may dare to tell the truth to the judge, and that the judge will understand the situation exactly as it happened.

But more than a judge was needed for the intelligent workings of the new Juvenile court. In order to carry out not only the letter but also the spirit of the law, it would be necessary to appoint probation officers and there was no fund provided from which these officers of the court might be paid. It was realized that intelligent, practical and effective work on the part of the probation officers could not be secured from those who might volunteer their services without making any charge for the time they might put in. Volunteer work is always desultory work. To bring about results from the administration of the law the very hardest, most untiring work on the part of the probation officers of the court would be necessary. It is more than likely that the framers of the law did not, themselves, grasp the scope of the law or realize what its workings really comprehended. While in a vague way they realized the importance of the measure, they did not expect that the work of the court would either be so great at the very beginning or that it would increase with such startling rapidity and assume such stupendous proportions. The probation system is looked upon by all as the very greatest force in producing the best results from the operation of the Juvenile court, and while those who framed the law had thought people could be secured who would be willing to give at least a part of their time without pay, it was soon apparent that it would be necessary to provide pay for the probation officers.

Mrs. Lucy L. Flower, who had been an enthusiastic helper in securing the passage of the law, and who had mothered it from its very inception, interested the Chicago Woman's club in the matter, and they tendered to the court when it opened the services of Mrs. Alzina P. Stevens of Hull House, themselves pay ing her for her services as probation officer. Mrs. Stevens' death before the court was a year old was greatly lamented by all who had been associated with her in the work. Other women's clubs of Chicago, as well as churches and charitable institutions, employed and paid for the services of probation officers, and thus another difficulty was met and conquered. Mayor Harrison, on behalf of the city; the superintendent of police, the state's attorney and others tendered their services and aided materially in making it possible to at once put the Juvenile Court law into intelligent operation in Cook county. The Mayor appointed Timothy D. Hurley, who had been one of the most active workers in bringing about the passage of the law, an assistant in the law department of the city, and detailed him to render service in the Juvenile court. Mr. Hurley, who was conceded by every one to be rarely fitted by nature and experience for the work, was appointed Chief Probation Officer, and held this position until just recently, when his duties as justice of the peace and police magistrate forced him to give up his work in the Juvenile court.

But, although the court now had helpers to aid it in carrying on its work, still another difficulty was confronted. The provision is made in Section II of the Juvenile Court law "That no court or magistrate shall commit a child under the age of twelve years to a jail or police station." Neither the city or the county had a place of detention for children, pending their appearance in court, such as the law contemplated for them. It was necessary to continue caring for the dependent, neglected and homeless children at the Detention hospital, although it was realized this was no place to confine babies and children of tender years, surrounded as they were on all sides by the cursing and raving of the unfortunate insane who found here a temporary shelter until their cases could be disposed of by the County court. However, as no other place was available, it became necessary to care for the dependent children in the Detention hospital, on the theory that any port in a storm is better than a grave in the angry deep. It was decided that the operation of the law should not be killed because there was no place to care for the children -time would straighten out the tangle and the temporary makeshift must be employed.

A still more serious difficulty arose when those interested in the law cast about for a place of detention for delinquent children. A delinquent, before he has undergone the smoothing process of the court, is as slippery as the proverbial eel, and a place of detention where this class of children could be cared for pending the disposal of their cases by the court-a place where they could be watched, and where there was a reasonable assurance that they might be found the next moment if for a moment the back of the one in charge was turned to them. The Board of Directors of the Illinois Industrial association, through its superintendent, Mr. A. C. Dodds, tendered its cottages at 233 Honore street, to be used as a place of detention for delinquent children. After great effort the city and county were induced

each to pay one-half of the expenses incurred in feeding and providing beds for the children during their stay in the home.

So, at last, after weary efforts and the constant complaint that it would never be possible to enforce the Juvenile Court law until it was materially amended, chaos finally gave way, under determined effort and the application of trained minds, to cosmos. The Juvenile court was finally opened July 1, 1899, and has been increasing in its activity and the volume of work accomplished until, at the present time, twelve District officers and sixteen Police probation officers are working under the direction of Chief Probation officer, and twenty approved and well managed and active institutions are represented in court. To utilize the forces of the juvenile court to the best advantage and at the same time to systematize the work, the county has been divided into twelve districts, and each district assigned to what is known as a general probation, or a district officer, who devotes his or her entire time to the work. All children coming before the court, if paroled, are assigned to the district officer of the district in which the child resides. The number of children in some districts exceeds 500. The district probation officer works under the direction of the Chief Probation officer, and he in turn is subject to the direction of the court. It is not expected that the district probation officer shall visit every child in his or her district. The district officer is simply responsible for the work of the court in the district in which he has been assigned, and in a general way oversees and systematizes the work of the probation officers in that district. The work of visitation is assigned to the probation officers or to churches, social settlements, societies or individuals in the district which desire to co-operate with the Juvenile court. Thus it will be seen that the real work of the district officer is to keep track of what is being done in the district and report to the court what has been accomplished by the forces at work.

Perfection comes through practice. What if the path of the Juvenile Court law was strewn with thorns, that its wheels were blockaded and its progress impeded at every turn? Like a revolution, it gathered force with every opposing obstacle in its track, and to-day Illinois stands the pioneer state in child-saving legislation, and the eyes of the entire country are intent upon studying the perfect workings of the Juvenile court of Cook county with a view to copying its methods and accomplishing in every other state in the Union a share of the great work that has done more to make Illinois famous than any other one thing she ever accomplished.

An old English adage reads that "The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it." Going a little further back in history, our Master said, "For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." And so long ago that even tradition is unable to settle the date, the Book of Good Counsels advises us that "Good things come not out of bad things."

Those interested in the Juvenile Court law have been more than gratified: they have been heartily enthusiastic over the results which have been brought about by the operation of the Juvenile court. The highest hopes of the earnest people who framed the law have been more than realized, and the end is not yet in sight. The law is being interpreted day by day in a way that reaches right down into the heart of evil and promises to tear out, in time, the roots which cause the growth of bad citizenship. Illinois being the pioneer state to provide a court where children's cases may be considered apart from the civil and criminal cases of adult petitioners, the eyes of the whole world are fixed upon the Juvenile court and definite results are being eagerly sought for.

Judge Murray F. Tuley, the Dean of the Bench, has been quoted as saying, "This is the greatest law ever enacted by the state of Illinois. I have such a high appreciation of the lasting benefits that must follow the judicious administration of this act, it would be with great reluctance that I throw anything in the way of its operation. I believe that it is effecing more good in this city and county than all that the Criminal court could possibly effect, and that it will effect more good in one year than the Criminal court can, by punishment, effect in ten years, or even twenty." Judge Tuley made this statement while the Juvenile court was still a young child, before any definite results could be pointed to as having been obtained through the working of the court.

A short time after Judge Tuley had expressed himself as favorably impressed with the theory underlying the Juvenile Court

law, Assistant State's Attorney Howard O. Sprogle, who has watched the cases coming before the Cook County Grand Jury for years, spoke as follows regarding the results of the operation of the Juvenile court as he had observed them in the Grand Jury room: "The effect of the Juvenile court upon the number of cases coming before the Criminal court is very patent," explained Mr. Sprogle. "About 2,000 cases a year are handled by Judge Tuthill of children between the ages of ten and sixteen. Of this number, perhaps ten or twelve a year are sent to the Grand Jury by Judge Tuthill for indictment for the purpose of having them sent to Pontiac, when that institution seems to be the proper place for them. These ten or twelve cases which invariably come to the Criminal court from Judge Tuthill's court and from no other sources, are the only cases of youthful criminals handled by the Grand Jury. It would be safe to say that two hundred cases a year less are handled by the Grand Jury since the existence of the Juvenile court than came under its notice before the new law went into effect.

"Before the Juvenile court was established all cases of boys detected in crime came to the Criminal court in the regular course of events. Not less than fifteen cases of boys under the age of sixteen years came before the Grand Jury every month. The crimes usually charged against the lads were burglary, petty depredations upon freight cars, candy or bake shops, or stealing pigeons or rabbits from barns; hoodlum acts which in the country would be considered boyish pranks rather than crime. Not less than seventy-five per cent of these cases were regularly thrown out by the Grand Jury because of the tender age of the boy. The deplorable fact must be admitted, however, that most of this seventy-five per cent turned loose by the Grand Jury eventually were returned and indicted later for repeated offenses. The cause of this was not difficult to locate. The poisonous effect of the police station and jail experience clung to the boy after he was turned loose by the Grand Jury. The badness he had learned while under confinement he rolled under his tongue as a choice morsel, and retailed it to his companions, thus spreading

the infection and also starting other youths upon the same path of crime in which he had, himself, left several footprints. Almost before the fact was realized he had developed into a criminal and drifted back to the Criminal court, which knew him frequently from that time on."

Perhaps in no other place outside of the Juvenile court itself can the good results brought about by the operation of that court be observed to better advantage than in the County Jail, where for many years previous to the enactment of the Juvenile Court law the officials endeavored to care for the youth so unfortunate as to come under the ban of laws then in force, in such a way as to prevent him, as far as possible, from being harmed spiritually and mentally by having his heart hardened and his spirit broken by his enforced confinement for weeks or months with vicious and degenerate adults. It was the constant attempt of those in charge of the County Jail to enable the youths under their care to retain their self-respect and self-confidence, and to teach them such lessons that they would be able after leaving the jail to more easily withstand temptation and to lead better lives. Long before the Juvenile Court law became a reality, the agitation of the women's clubs and other societies interested in child-saving work for reform along the line of caring for the unfortunate little ones who came under the ban of the law, caused the jail officials to open a school in the County Jail, where the small offenders were compelled to learn lessons, whether they desired to do so or not. This agitation also brought about the building of the John Worthy school, where the young children sent out to the Bridewell could be kept separate from the older criminals. But this only provided for the care of those who came under the attention of the jail officials in the regular order of sentence and commitment-it had no deterrant effect upon the source of the evil. In March, 1901, when the Juvenile court had been in existence only about a year and a half, Jailer John L. Whitman, of the Cook County Jail, made a written statement regarding the influence of the court upon the number af cases of small boys coming to the County Jail. His statement is copied in full, as it gives a better and more definite idea of the good results arising from the administration of the Juvenile Court law than anything that has been said regarding it. Mr. Whitman wrote as follows:

"I am a firm believer in preventive measures for doing away with social ills rather than pin those cure-alls which are the delight of so many reformers. It has been evidenced by the operation of the Juvenile court that the most good can be accomplished by making the effort to reclaim our wayward boys and girls from the career of crime which too soon opens its alluring arms for the friendless and homeless of our cities, who, by the inevitable vicissitudes of metropolitan life, are early cast into swift contact with the terrible temptations of their environments.

"Previous to the enactment of the law governing the cases of juvenile offenders there were committed to the jail each year an average of five hundred and seventy-five boys under sixteen years of age. These boys were arrested on criminal charges, tried as criminals, and if convicted, sentenced to serve time in penal institutions under the same laws that governed the cases against adults. The Juvenile court does not denominate offenders of minor years as "criminals," and it cannot be properly said that those whose tender years are incapable of deliberation shall be denominated criminals when the very essential elements of crime are impossible to their immaturity of body and mind. The word criminal, and the suggestions engendered in its employment rather convey the idea of deliberate and rational devotion of life and faculties to the commission of crime. So the Juvenile court rightly denominates the youthful offenders as delinquent, and with kindly advice and a mild restraint in some cases carefully leads them from the path of crime, diverts their young minds from evil and educates them. Many will be found who, after such treatment, courageously enter highways of truth, honesty and self-help.

"Since the Juvenile court has been in operation not over twenty boys under the age of sixteen have been sent to jail, and they were boys who had, early in life, started upon a career of crime, and their environments were such as to justify the court in inflicting more permanent reformatory measures. Some of these were sent to Pontiac. Practically speaking, however, there is now no one under the age of sixteen years committed to jail.

"When, under the law, they were committed to jail, every effort was made by the officials to better their condition if possible. A school was established within the jail, and the moral influence of the teacher over them as well as the educational advantages derived from the school was a source of benefit to many. But now that the Juvenile court has relieved the authorities at the jail of the care of this class of boys and are benefiting them in a more substantial way, we have the opportunity to do for the older class of boys what we did for the younger class before the Juvenile court was in operation, and the result of our efforts has been very gratifying in the older class as well as in the younger class. With the large majority of the boys-in fact, I might say, without exception-it will be found that they are susceptible to the melting influences of the teacher's patient, win

ning ways. They learn rapidly and are eager for the stimulus of education, and oftentimes leave the jail with a new ambition in life.

"The Juvenile court is most effectually caring for the delinquents. I know that they do not develop into criminals, otherwise they would be brought before the Criminal court and into jail as they reach or pass the age of sixteen. What is being done for the delinquents by the Juvenile court and what can be accomplished by our best effort at the jail for those just past the age of delinquency will, in the near future, prove to be the most potential agency for the suppression of crime that has yet been projected, and will hasten the day when the crime disease, so far as the youth is concerned, shall have been cured away."

At the same time the above statement was writen by Mr. Whitman, Miss Nellie J. Flood, the teacher of the jail boys, wrote as follows upon the same subject:

"For the past four years I have had charge of all boys who have come under the ban of the law and have been placed in Cook County Jail. From daily experience, close observation and study of the juvenile offender, I am where I can see the effects and advantages of the recent enactment passed for the benefit of th juvenile offender.

"I think these boys may be divided into three grades. First, the boy who, in a spirit of mischief rather than wickedness, breaks windows, steals a few pigeons or flips cars. To the second grade belong the first offender who, perchance, by reason of dire necessity or having fallen into bad company, wilfully breaks the law. To the third grade belong the chronic offenders who are steeped in crime and are better acquainted with the dark side of life than the average man.

"My position in the jail previous to the enactment of the Juvenile Court law was that of investigation committee, probation officer, counsel ministering to their temporal needs, and teacher, all in one. All these various grades of boys, ranging from eight to sixteen years of age, were brought to the jail, where a separate department and school was established and maintained for their benefit. The average attendance at the school varied from thirty to sixty. During the three years previous to the enactment of the Juvenile Court law there were 1,705 boys brought to the jail school, none of whom were over sixteen years of age. The number was so large that the boys sixteen years old and over could not take advantage of the school and its benefits. Since the enactment of the Juvenile Court law-that is, during the past two years—there have been brought to the jail 799 boys, not more than a dozen of whom have been under sixteen, who were sent from the Juvenile court. Now the school attendance is composed of boys over sixteen, whom I separate into the same grades as I did those of younger years-that is to say, the mischievous, the first offender and the chronic offender.

"Every boy has lying dormant in him a power for great good and possibilities for either good or evil. If the course is evil, the duty is to divert it, if possible, by such treatment as the case may call for. This the Juvenile Court law aims at, to encourage the good and restrain the evil in the juvenile delinquents. The effect of the Juvenile Court law has been a protection to the first and second grades of offenders of whom I have spoken before, and it gives them an opportunity of immediate trial, when their cases are passed upon by judges experienced in dealing with children."

But the vast majority of children coming before the Juvenile court are dependent children, and in lifting them from their dependency, by taking them away from a homeless life or from so-called homes which were worse than unfit-homes where drunkenness and poverty, and evil and crime, rendered the atmosphere positively mephitic to the young lives which were forced to breathe in it, by removing these hundreds of little ones from their awful environments and placing them in homes or institutions where they will receive exactly the care each individual case demands, the Juvenile court has stepped into the lives of numberless human beings at the most critical period of their existence, saved them from lives of shame and crime, and lifted them to a plane where they can grow and expand in God's good sunshine and become happy, useful, law-abiding men and women. The beneficial effects of the probation system are everywhere apparent to those who are making a close study of the workings of the Juvenile court. One of the most important things to be remembered in studying the probation system is the fact of its value from an economical viewpoint. Since the Juvenile court has been in existence, over 4,000 cases have been turned over to the loving, watchful care of a probation officer. It has been estimated by the superintendent of the John Worthy school that an expenditure of sixty cents per day is necessary to properly care for the boys under his charge. Had it been necessary to care for these thousands of children in institutions instead of placing them in charge of a probation officer and forcing their parents to provide for them, the enormous amount of money necessary to carry on the work under such circumstances can be readily figured out, especially when it is taken into consideration that the estimate of sixty cents per day for each child would not cover the cost of the buildings necessary to house this vast number of little ones.

Juvenile Record

Published by the Visitation and Aid Society.

T. D. HURLEY, Editor, 79 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill. Eastern Office, 53 W. 24th St., New York City. Western Office, Portland, Oregon.

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The Juvenile Record this month starts the publication of a quarterly edition. The first number describes Juvenile courts, the laws under which they operate, scenes in the court room and the accomplishments of the first year in Illinois. Succeeding numbers will treat of subjects of current interest in connection with Juvenile courts in the United States. Copies may be secured by addressing the Juvenile Record.

A bill is now being prepared by the Juvenile Record to be presented to the next legislature to regulate the transfer of children. Children in Illinois now have no protection in this respect. A child can be picked up from the street or given away by its parents without the slightest formality. Property can not be transferred as easily as can children. As we have announced before, the Juvenile Record's bill will provide that no child can be transferred or adopted into a home without the written consent of the parents or sanction of a competent court of jurisdiction.

Summer Outings.

The parents whose children live in the country or even in homes that have a little grass plat do not realize what is lacking to the child of the tenements or poorer quarters of a large city. Though they may not recognize the cause, children instinctively feel happy when playing near shady trees, running water and under a bright sky. The country child has all the blessed heritage of nature around him. He may roam the fields, pluck flowers, dabble for fish, and his work only gives zest to his play. With the city boy or girl all is different. House after house takes possession of vacant lots and the size of the school ground is limited by the value of the land. Usually no play ground is left except the

street. These in the congested, quarters where the land is high and playgrounds most needed, are crowded with busy traffic. The same influence has crowded the house and contracted the size of the rooms; there are no porches and the living rooms, eight or ten feet square, afford no romping ground for children. The rays of the hot summer sun strike down into these narrow tenements and the temperature rises to a degree fatal to all except the most rugged. Under such conditions it is not surprising that there are delinquent children and mothers and sickly babies abandoned by those who should be their protectors. The summer outings of the social settlements, charity bureaus and other organizations have done much in recent years to alleviate this condition. There is much more which can be done. Movements have already been started to give the tired mother a few days or a week in the country. It is one of the most practical methods of assisting the unfortunate. The time should be past when a child can reach maturity in any large city and admit that he has never seen the growing flowers or trees or any cattle and sheep except those driven through the city streets to slaughtering houses.

National Conference and Juvenile Courts

The National Conference of Charities and Correction has again met, spent days in discussing economic and sociological subjects and again failed to consider the vital question of Juvenile courts for the nation. Its only notice of the phase of child saving was to appoint a committee to arrange for possible discussion of the subject next year. The National Conference apparently overlooks the fact that the Juvenile court is the hub of the social question. There is no question that a Juvenile court is the essential factor in effective child saving. There is hardly less doubt that a Juvenile court is necessary to benefit the fathers and mothers who are to be reached by charity.

It is interesting and instructive to consider papers and debate on how to construct and manage institutions. The direction and regulation of people within walls has been reduced to a science and is worthy of extended consideration. It is still a problem how to immure a child in an institution and still raise it filled with the aggressiveness and reliance of the home raised child. It is an unsolved problem how to separate children from parents without heart rending on both sides.

But a better problem is how to keep the children and parents together. This question simmers down to the consideration of the merits of the Juvenile court law. The Juvenile court is primarily opposed to breaking up the home until there is no other hope for the child's redemption. Where state conferences and charity workers have discussed the Juvenile court law there has been one invariable result and in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin and other states Juvenile courts have been established in consequence of such discussion.

If the National Conference would devote a day and an evening to this vital question, there is no doubt what would be the result. Such a spirit would go forth that Juvenile courts would be established in every state in the Union. The most popular topic in the hotels and lobbies where the members of the last two conferences gathered was Juvenile courts and their work.