The Alaska Daily Empire

PROTECT THE CHILDREN
(Fairbanks Times.)

The disclosures of the past several days, resulting from investigations conducted by the grand jury now in session, should serve as a warning to parents whose children have not reached that age which enables them to distinguish readily between good and bad associates. It should serve as a warning to those parents who do not pay close enough heed to the goings and comings of their children; who place too much reliance in the character of those with whom the little ones come in contact or too much reliance in the ability of their children to take care of themselves.

Contributing to the delinquency of children of tender age is an unpardonable offense and should be dealt with severely; but such offenses would be rarer than they are if parents would devote more time and study to the proper care of their children. The mistakes of children usually can be traced to the home and it is to the home that we look for correction when those mistakes occur. If they are not corrected, the child becomes a menace to all with whom it comes in contact, teaching immorality to its associates and inviting attentions which every child should be taught to shun.

In cities of older experience than Fairbanks, places are provided for the training of children whose parents have shown themselves incapable of rearing them properly. The corrective influences of these places accomplish remarkable reforms, besides removing to a place of safety those children whose delinquency is a source of danger to all of their own age who associate with them.

The children of Fairbanks and throughout Interior Alaska generally, are allowed too many liberties. Because they are children in a land where children are much in the nature of a novelty because of the newness of the country, we are inclined to make over them too much for their own good. We should heed the warning. We should begin now, those of us who have not already done so, to erect about them safeguards which will insure protection in time of need. It is easy to do it now. A little later in life our efforts may be of no avail.