Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1914 — KEEP BOYS OFF THE STREET [ARTICLE]

KEEP BOYS OFF THE STREET

Authority on the Subject Pointe Out How Playgrounds Help to Develop Useful Citizens. Addressing a Philadelphia audience, Ernest K. Coulter, who can qualify as an authority on child problems, declared that more than half the cases brought before the children’s court grew out of a thwarted desire for play. Very frequently the" craving for exeitement and adventure, which more fortunate youths may gratify in athletic Contests, drive the street boy to minor crime, then into the world of graft and gangs. So-called reformatories and prisons under the present system operate to keep him there, once he has been convicted.

The remedy is playgrounds, and more playgrounds. Philadelphia is doing some work in this field, with its recreation centers and playgrounds and gymnasiums. But the work cannot now reach half of those who need it. Money spent for its extension is a splendid investment, bearing interest in useful citizens rather than loafers and lawbreakers.