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THE FOES OF OUR OWN HOUSEHOLD

CHAPTER 7

social justice; the brotherly court of philadelphia

SCOCIAL justice means the effort to guard women and children from evil and brutality, and, so far as may be, to secure them against grinding misery. It means also the effort to open the doors of fair dealing to those men who would otherwise find them closed.

We Americans are only on the threshold of the campaign for a better national life. We have only begun to consider our duty toward the child; to realize that the child-drudge is apt to turn into the shiftless grown-up; to realize that the child growing up in the streets has first-class opportunities for tending toward criminality; and, therefore, that playgrounds may be as necessary as schools. We have only begun to realize that the child's mother, if wise and duty-performing, is the only citizen who deserves even more from the state than does the soldier; and that, if in need, she is entitled to help from the state, so that she may rear and care for her children at home. We have only begun to realize that, as regards the father, the man, we must help him to help himself; help him to learn the vitally important and difficult business of cooperation; help him to learn industrial citizenship by beginning to exercise industrial power; and also help him along many different lines by outright governmental action—insurance against sickness, accident, and undeserved unemployment, provision for old age, provision against overwork and unsanitary conditions. To this end we shall ultimately need a system of nationally federated labor exchanges, co-ordinated with the schools, so that both the capacity of the pupil and the demands of industry may be considered. The experiences in the town of Gary, Indiana, have shown how much the right kind of industrial education can improve the efficiency and the character of labor.

Part of the program which includes such matters can be achieved by sheer growth of public opinion, and by many individuals, acting separately or in non-governmental organizations. Part must be secured by wise, moderate, steady action through governmental agencies, through the agencies that represent the people as a whole, that represent all of us. In taking such action we must, as always, remember that the demagogue is as dangerous a public enemy as the corruptionist himself, that the insincere radical is not a whit better than the insincere Tory, and that the enthusiastic fool will probably work even more mischief than the selfish reactionary. All of these men are among the foes of our own household! We must also remember that reforms cost money, and therefore we cannot go into them save in so far as we have the money. Excellent intentions are of no use if we cannot pay our debts. If we impose too great a tax on any business, whether this tax comes in the shape of money directly paid to the Government or of obligations and expenses imposed by governmental action, the business cannot prosper and must be abandoned. Therefore, while we have a right to require that each man shall contribute in proportion to his ability and his privilege, and that as to certain forms of taxation and obligation there shall be a heavy cumulative imposition of duty to go with marked increase in fortune, yet we must be scrupulously careful not to damage the general prosperity. General prosperity is conditioned mainly upon private business prosperity. Such private prosperity, if obtained by swindling in any form, represents general detriment. But it is essential, in the common interest, not to damage legitimate private business by either misdirected or over-rapid activity in securing, for the public at large or for the less fortunate among our fellows, benefits which ought to be secured but which can only be secured if the community as a whole is in a strong, healthy and prosperous condition. It is essential to pass prosperity around; but it is mere common sense to recognize that unless it exists it cannot be passed around. The wage workers must get their full share in the general well-being; but if there is no general well-being there will be no share of it for anybody.

These are excellent sentiments! How can they be realised, even partially, in actual practice? Well, here and there, over the country there are various communities and governmental instrumentalities which actually have in certain fields measurably achieved the purposes above set forth; and to study the practical working of one of these—I choose, as an example, the Municipal Court of Philadelphia—is worth far more than any amount of speculation in vacuo. As engineers put it, the only, and the final, test of theory is the service test.

The really valuable—the invaluable—reform is that which in actual practice works; and therefore the credit due is overwhelmingly greater as regards the men and women actually engaged in doing the job, than as regards the other men and women who merely agitate the subject or write about it—and a single study of a reform which is being applied is worth any number of uplift books which are evolved from the reformer's inner consciousness. Of course there must be agitation in order to get the reform started, and there must be some preliminary theoretical studies, and where the object is really worth while, the agitation sensible as well as zealous, and the studies capable of application, the early agitators and writers deserve well of the community. But under no circumstances do they deserve as well as do the men and women who in very fact make the machinery function to advantage, and who by constant test and trial and experiment eliminate faults and develop new and useful activities. Therefore an institution like the Municipal Court of Philadelphia deserves the study—and the cordial support—of all who desire to achieve something definite toward giving aid to those who most need it.

The purposes of the Municipal Court were admirably set forth, when it was established, by its nine judges in the following statement to the public:

"The civil side of the court will be managed to give prompt but equitable justice to creditors and debtors, brushing aside the legal crusts, the observance of which, while dear to those who admire the growth of the law, causes much unnecessary delay in settling disputes. The elimination of unnecessary technicalities will give a sane and effective settlement of the obligations between suitors.

"The delinquent and criminal side will be guarded to reduce the number of complaints by bringing together, as far as possible, those estranged, and to render a trial that will guard the right of the individual. We assume the right of persons to be equal to, or even paramount to, that of property, and, while protecting the one, we will strive to save the person to himself and society, recognizing that the value of a nation is based on unit life. We will not be theoretical, but practical. While dealing on this plane with those who should know right from wrong, we will try to save and protect those who may be redeemed, and we will utilize the corrective purposes of the law upon others whose acts and doings will benefit society by their absence.

"We will deal with the juvenile in a manner that will correct ills and reduce delinquency by removing the causes thereof, with the purpose of not only correcting the child, but using the child to correct the parents and make the home."

It was my good fortune to pass part of a day at the court, watching it in action; and even a superficial examination was enough to show how well the court was succeeding in its purposes.

The court has explicitly announced that it will eliminate from its action those legalistic technicalities so dear to the legalistic mind, so ruinous from the standpoint of justice, and so heartbreaking from the standpoint of humanity. The court has faithfully kept its promise. The court puts the protection of property high—and it is emphatically proper in so doing, for full protection of property is an essential to civilization; but it puts human rights even higher, laying down the rule that its duty is to save the individual both for himself and for society. The court draws the necessary line against foolish sentimentality with clearness when it says that it will endeavor to save and protect those who can be redeemed, to remove the causes of youthful delinquency, correct parents, preserve the home, and, where possible, reconcile those who are estranged outside of the court; but that it will use the corrective and punitive purposes of the law upon those whose segregation from society is necessary for the well-being of society.

This spirit is something wholly different from what any court would have shown even a generation ago; and it is as remote from the spirit of Blackstone as from that of Hammurabi. It represents, inasmuch as it has been translated into action, that ideal of service v* hich—in spite of the way it is often warped, by silly sentimentality as much as by selfish materialism—is here and there taking root in our governmental, social, and industrial systems.

While visiting the court I myself saw instance after instance of the way in which the court has humanized its procedure at the points which most concern the average citizen, the man or woman who most sadly needs an understanding and sympathetic justice and to whom mere formal legal-ism is a brazen wall, forbidding all access to justice.

In one of the rooms a most charming and capable woman presided as a court official—and, incidentally, it is nonsense to limit appointments of judges of the Municipal Courts exclusively to men when there are some women pre-eminently fit for the position. She had various women and girls as assistants; neatly dressed, attractive— pleasant, smiling assistants, with nothing of the awful and gloomy solemnity of the professional uplifter about them. One of these assistants, herself, I think, of Italian parentage, but looking like any bright American girl, was dealing with two rather forlorn, battered persons, a man and a woman, Italian immigrants of the lower laboring class. They had quarreled bitterly some months previously, had separated, and had then indulged in mutual recriminations of a type which would have made any one not accustomed to their habits of thought and expression abandon all hope or even desire to get them together. But the brave and experienced young girl who was getting them together possessed both an authoritative mind and an understanding heart. When I appeared the pair had been persuaded to "talk things over," each had admitted the loneliness caused by the absence of the other, and before I left a rather effusive reconciliation took place, and the reunited couple left court.

I was much interested, and in response to my queries I was told that already, during the court's short life, considerably over a thousand similar cases had been settled, each being promptly dealt with on a basis of common sense and sympathy, and each being carefully followed afterward so as to secure every opportunity for the settlement to be permanent.

Another branch of the court's work deals with small suits for damages and unpaid bills. People of means and leisure have no conception of the amount of misery due to the causes which lie hidden behind these small suits. They represent in the aggregate an extraordinary amount of bitterness, and they ferment into economic unrest, violent social revolt, and much individual crime and failure. Organizations such as the admirable Legal Aid Society have been created especially to deal with them. The Philadelphia Municipal Court settles them on the average in as many days as it formerly took months in the ordinary courts. As an illustration of the cases dealt with, take the following:

A salesman in a hat store brought suit for a week's wages. The defense of his employers was that he was not entitled to a full week's wages, having been discharged for cause, in that he had left their store to take a hat across the street to a rival concern to have a small repairing job done. That was considered so indiscreet by the employers that he was discharged at once, and paid only for the days he had worked. The salesman's reply was that he had been instructed by his employers not to accept small repair jobs. The particular job in question was brought to him by an old customer of the store, and the salesman thought he would retain the good will of the customer and his continued trade by having the little job done at once. The salesman had been with the concern for a number of years, which was evidence of his reliability and prior good conduct. The judge who heard the case suggested to the employers that they withdraw temporarily and talk the matter over with their former employee. The result was that the salesman not only received his week's wages, but was re-engaged by his employers.

A servant girl brought suit against her former mistress for wages. The hearing brought out these facts: The servant girl had a new pair of shoes which squeaked, and as she clumped around the floor, waiting on the table, the mistress became nervous and ordered her to walk on her tiptoes. The girl obeyed for several days, until one evening, when there were guests at dinner, she came clumping in with her squeaking shoes. The mistress thereupon discharged her without paying her her wages. The girl told the Court she walked on her tiptoes until the muscles of her legs were so sore that she could not continue to obey her mistress' instructions. The Court, in a friendly talk, pointed out to the mistress the unreasonableness of her demands, and she thereupon paid the girl her wages.

The Juvenile Court side of the work is, o* course, in many ways the most important of all. Thousands of boys and girls are dealt with. Formerly they were merely treated as "bad," and they were dealt with in ways that made them worse. This court, like other such courts, treats them wherever possible as having been warped, or starved, or misdirected, and with a mixture of sanity and good temper—and firmness! always firmness!—sets them on the right path, tries in some degree to smooth the path, and, above all, tries to put heart into them. Moreover, thank Heaven, the court thoroughly understands that while public institutions for the care and correction of boys are often lamentable necessities, where there is no home, or where the home is hopelessly vile, yet that even the humblest home, if it possesses anything of the right spirit, is a better place for right upbringing than the best equipped public institution. The "institutionalized" boy or girl is recognized as a rather uncomfortable problem even by those who also fully recognize the great service rendered by many institutions to children who would otherwise be on the streets or worse. Perhaps we shall ultimately realize the similar danger in the "standardized" child, or man or woman. •"Standardize" is one of the fashionable terms of the day; there are plenty of lines of human endeavor—notably in minimum wages and in minimum standards of comfort in the working and living conditions of laborers—in which standardization is eminently proper; but it is peculiarly easy to misdevelop it into a wooden and cramping formalism.

The Juvenile Workers' Bureau in connection with the Philadelphia Municipal Court represents the pioneer effort to run an employment agency of this kind. It meets a very real need; for all social workers, and almost all decent citizens who have tried to do occasional work for the neighbors who have been "in trouble," know how hard it is to place probationers. The bureau persuades the employer that the "bad" boy may really be good at heart and in purpose, but needs work and some one to take an interest in him. The practical success of the bureau has been striking, especially when it dealt with boys with whom the real difficulty was that they had too much steam and no outlet for it. Of course there are many obstacles to be overcome; one of the gravest is the fact that many of the boys who have special qualifications for certain kinds of work have no qualification for the work which is easiest to obtain, such as that of an office boy. In the very interesting report of the court, acknowledgment is made of the kind and helpful cooperation of many of the leading professional and business firm,s of Philadelphia. In the report is given an example of the way in which helping a given boy sometimes results in helping an entire family, thanks to the kindness of some outside individual whose sympathy has been enlisted:

"Michael, the probationer, was 14 years old, the oldest of five children and the only member of the family able to work. We obtained a position for Michael and delved into his history. We found that the father had been in ill health and was idle for some time and that the family lived in two rooms iu a tenement house in the downtown section. We enlisted the interest of a prominent Main Line physician, who needed a farmer, and though Michael's father knew very little about farming, the physician agreed to take him. The family moved to a cottage on the estate and the change has been most beneficial in every way. The earning capacity of the family was largely increased, with the result that the services of Michael as a wage earner are no longer needed and he is permitted to continue his school studies. From extreme poverty this family is now,enjoying a comfortable living. The father receives $30 a month and free rent. The mother is employed several days a week, and sometimes oftener, in the physician's house, earning $1.50 each day. The oldest girl of 12 years washes the dishes after mealtime and is paid ten cents for each service.

"This is only one case out of many. Early in the history of the bureau, when times were particularly trying and there were many probationers out of employment, we interested 108 persons in 14 families who were greatly in need of
assistance."

But the bureau never commits the dreadful fault of reducing all cases to the same test. It tries to keep the family together, so long as there is any possibility of good coming from the effort; but where necessary it unhesitatingly protects and separates the boy or girl from the drunken mother or brutal father. In other words, it always strives to act with common sense, and as the peculiar needs of the case in hand require. A large number of philanthropically minded persons of excellent intention need to keep themselves perpetually in check by reading books by such admirably practical workers as Miss Loame shows herself to be in that philanthropic classic, "The Next Street But One." The Philadelphia Municipal Court stands in no such need.

The court uses every agency to facilitate its purpose—playgrounds, settlement houses, and schools. The regular probation officers do work for which there could be no complete substitute; but it can be supplemented by the Big Brother movement, and the probation officers do all they can to help in the creation of a Big Brother organization. As in other divisions of the court, so in the Juvenile division every effort is made to settle cases without bringing them into court, and, if they have to be brought in, to deal with them promptly.

One of the most difficult, and most melancholy, features of the court's work is in connection with sex crimes. Special effort is made in the case of illegitimate children to secure from the father proper care for the mother and child. In the bad old days—and in accord with the principle upheld not only by men, but by most sheltered women, who were selfish, unimaginative, and free from temptation—the whole burden fell on the wretched woman. She had to care for both herself and the child, the man, even if committed, paying a mere pittance. Even yet this wretched inequality of duty and penalty has been but imperfectly remedied; the changes, however, are in the right direction. I was myself sufficiently under the rule of tradition to assume that the desirable thing was to secure the marriage of the parents; but the lady who was chief of the woman's division of the criminal department explained to me that in actual practice this had not been found desirable. What was needed from the father was that he should do his full share in supporting the child until it was of age. The so-called "forced" marriages usually cause much unhappiness and rarely result in permanent good. The maternal instinct is strong; the unmarried mother rarely deserts her child; while the father is only too apt to show an animal-like indifference to it.

The hearing is in private, and the suffering woman—she may or may not be a wronged woman •—tells her story to another woman, skilled to find out the facts, and to secure the best solution possible. The applicant is cared for until the birth of the child, and until she has recovered her strength; every effort is made to secure her work, so that she may keep her child; and every effort is made to get the father to pay his full share. If the father and mother desire to marry, they are of course encouraged to do so.

Some rather unexpected results were developed by the inquiries into the cases of illegitimacy. To my surprise I was told that the vast majority of unmarried mothers were of normal mentality; feeble-mindedness played a small part. Another surprise to me was the discovery that nearly half of the unmarried mothers were living at home, and were therefore supposedly sheltered; but relatively few of these came into court. Nearly a fourth were in domestic service. The remainder were in various occupations; and a much larger percentage of these than of domestic servants came into court to assert their rights.

This is the merest sketch of what the court is doing. Some of the work is of a kind never before attempted; for example, there has never before been an attempt made by court officials to secure a reconciliation between man and wife before permitting the case to come for trial. There is a constant effort to perfect the machinery; and with this in view the records are kept with extraordinary thoroughness.

But the distinguishing feature of the court is not the machinery, but the human factor. The court officers feel a genuine sympathy for the men, women and children who come before them, or whom they seek out. No machine is of use without men and women of the right sort behind it. In the Municipal Court of Philadelphia, as in every other really first-class institution, the human equation is of paramount importance; it is the sane, zealous, disinterested work of the judges and all the other court officials to which the striking quality of the success must be attributed.