boys have been committed, of whom 98 have been paroled or discharged, and 80 per cent. of these are doing well. The average age of these boys was eleven years, and the average time during which they were kept in the school was seven months. Twice as many boys will be received during the next year. From the psycho-physical examination, to which these boys have been subjected, we learn that they rank about midway between the John Worthy boys (delinquents) and the normal public-school children; that is to say, where the public-school children show an average of four or five growth and motor defects, and the John Worthy boys an average of eight or ten, the Parental School boys show an average of six or eight defects, and they rank mentally in the same order, the Parental School boys averaging not quite so high in mental capacity as the normal public-school children, but higher than the John Worthy boys.

The course of instruction given in the other public schools is given here, but in addition manual training in the shops and out of doors, military drill, and gymnastic work are specially emphasized, and the results are most encouraging. Thirty of the fifty acres of land are cultivated as a garden, a tenth of an acre being assigned to a boy, if he is large enough to cultivate it, or to two smaller boys. The teachers are among the best in the city, receiving a little more than the maximum salary paid in other schools, and the family officers, who live in the dormitory buildings, and take care of the children when they are out of school, are selected by a special examination and with a view to their peculiar fitness for the work, liberal salaries being paid them.

No corporal punishment is allowed, but the penalties inflicted for breeches of the rules consist of (1) deprivation of privileges, (2) assignment of extra duty, and (3) solitary confinement for periods not exceeding twenty-four hours each in a well-lighted and well-ventilated room, on a bread-and-milk diet. The military system prevails, and the marking system is in use. It is possible for a boy to work his way out of the school in six or seven months, but very few will do this, and the vast majority will remain from ten to twelve months. This is as

short a stay in the school as can reasonably be demanded, and in some cases more time is necessary in order to reform the

truant.

If no backward step be taken, it is safe to predict that the money spent in support of this school will in time save hundreds of thousands of dollars to the city of Chicago, and start thousands of boys and girls on the way to a noble manhood and womanhood.

For years "compulsory education" was a failure in Chicago, but now, owing to the existence of the Chicago Parental School, and to one of the most efficient compulsory-education departments in any city of the Union, the compulsory-education law is being enforced as never before. No department of school work is more important than this, and it should be liberally supported. The board of education and the people of Chicago are realizing more fully than ever the importance of compulsory education, and the good work will undoubtedly continue.

IV. THE JUVENILE COURT.

The legal agency by which boys and girls are committed to the above-named schools is the juvenile court. This court was established by an act passed in 1899, and by its establishment Illinois took a front rank in reform work. In counties having over 500,000 population the judges of the circuit court are required by the aforesaid act to designate one or more of their number to hear all cases of dependent or delinquent children, under the age of sixteen years, and this court is called the "juvenile court." A petition must be filed by a reputable citizen of the county; the parents or guardians must be duly notified of the proceedings about to be instituted; a jury may be demanded by the parents or friends of the child, or the judge himself may order a jury to try the case; the person having control of the child is summoned to appear at a time and place specified; and the court, after hearing the evidence, disposes of the case in a summary manner. The court is authorized to appoint a number of discreet persons of good character to act as probation officers, during the pleasure of the court, such

persons to receive no compensation from the public treasury. Any child found to be a dependent or a delinquent or a truant may be committed by the court to the care of some state institution or training or industrial or truant school, or to the care of some reputable citizen, or to some child-saving association. Such child becomes the ward of the association or individual to whose care she or he is committed, and may be placed in a family with or without indenture, or he may be adopted by any responsible person who may desire to adopt him. Such guardianship, however, does not inclnde the guardianship of any estate of the child. In the case of a delinquent the court may continue the hearing from time to time, and may commit the child to the care of a probation officer, and may allow the child to remain in its own home, subject to the visitation of the probation officer; such child to report to the probation officer as may be required, and subject to be returned to the court for further or other proceedings, whenever such action may appear to be necessary; or the court may cause the child to be placed in a family, subject to the friendly supervision of a probation officer and the further order of the court.

Whenever a delinquent or dependent child is arrested and taken before a justice of the peace or a police magistrate, it is the duty of such magistrate to turn such child over to the juvenile court, and in any case the juvenile court may proceed to hear and dispose of the case. The commitment of a child under twelve years of age to a jail or a police station is positively forbidden. If the child is unable to give bail, the sheriff, police officer, or probation officer must keep such child in some suitable place provided by the city or county outside the jail or police station.

Acting under this law, the judges of the circuit court of Cook county designated Hon. Richard S. Tuthill as judge of the juvenile court, and a wiser selection could hardly have been made. A corps of probation officers, six of whom were paid salaries from private contributions, was appointed, and a number of good people donated their services, and thus enabled the court more effectively to enforce the law. During the first

year (July 1, 1899-July 1, 1900) 2,200 cases were docketed and disposed of by the court. Eight hundred and ten dependents, 365 of whom were girls, were brought before the court, and 1,450 delinquents, III of whom were girls. One thousand and ninety-five of these children were released on parole, i. e., were allowed to return home under the supervision of probation officers, and the 1,175 were sent to various schools and institutions or committed to the care of child-saving societies. During the second year (July 1, 1900-July 1, 1901) 2,378 cases were docketed and disposed of by the court. Of these, 1,204 were delinquents, 126 of whom were girls, and 1,071 were dependents, of whom 528 were girls. One thousand and eightynine were placed on probation, 658 of these being children released from the John Worthy School. There were only 195 probationers, or 10% per cent. of the total number of delinquents returned to the court, and quite a number of these children had been paroled during the previous year; so that the result of the probation system is most encouraging.

The average age of the delinquent boys was 12.9 years, of delinquent girls, 14.1 years. The average age of dependent boys was 7.1 years, and of dependent girls, 8.4 years. The delinquencies consisted chiefly in petty thefts (374), vagrancy (169), disorderly conduct (261), and incorrigibility (153). The causes of dependency were chiefly lack of proper parental care, desertion, drunkenness, or death of one or both of the parents. Prior to the enactment of the juvenile-court law, 50 per cent. of the juvenile delinquents, or more than 500 a year, were sent to the county jail; but during the year 1901 only 1 per cent. of the juvenile delinquents were sent to jail.

The juvenile court endeavors in all cases where it is practicable to keep the original family together, and the family is broken up only in those cases where it appears to be necessary to the welfare of the child. The juvenile court is no longer an experiment. Its work is pronounced a success by the most competent and impartial judges. It is considered the most important step taken in recent years in reform work, and other -Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey,

states

Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, Colorado, and Washington, D. C.— have all established juvenile courts, and child-saving has been given an impetus which nothing can resist.

Now, the foregoing survey of the work of the reformatory institutions in Illinois suggests several important conclusions.

First of all, it appears that Illinois has, or will have when the new school for delinquent boys is completed, a well-developed system of taking care of her juvenile offenders. She has schools for truants, dependents, and delinquents, and a reformatory to which older and more hardened offenders may be sent. It appears, further, that of the 23,000 young persons who have passed through the above-named institutions, 75 per cent. have been so rehabilitated that they have become respectable and useful citizens. Unfortunately, these constitute only a small minority of the juvenile offenders who have been before our courts and in our corrective institutions. According to the records of the Chicago House of Correction, more than 50,000 minors were incarcerated in that institution alone between 1871 and 1900. But with the new schools which we now have and our new methods of dealing with juvenile offenders through the juvenile court, we may reasonably expect better results during the next quarter of a century.

But

It is evident, in the second place, that ignorance is a prolific cause of crime. We have seen that the vast majority of the inmates of our reformatories and schools for delinquents have little or no education when committed to these institutions. while book knowledge is important, the facts stated in these articles show that the hand must be educated. Our delinquents and criminals must be taught trades and the science of agriculture before they will become law-abiding and useful citizens. Manual training in our elementary schools and trade instruction in our higher schools is the great need of the hour. The problem of crime is at bottom largely an economic problem.

Third, poverty is one of the chief causes of crime. Of the 1,011 boys committed to the Illinois Reformatory between December 1, 1892, and September 30, 1894, 701 came from