EXPLOITING THE CHILDREN.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue LX, 21 November 1913, Page 1

EXPLOITING THE CHILDREN.

A correspondent writes:—Some people will do anything for mtney. The old Roman philosopher who advised his flo ; ck to get money honestly if they could, but to get oconey has a great many followers in the present day. Sharp business acumen and ordinary every day honesty are some-

times inclined to sheer apart in life's journey. The laws under which we live set a limit to the divergence and we may tßke it for granted that those who administer the laws and see that they are not broken are doing their duty. Tne above reflections have been called forth by the results of my investigations into the wave of juvenile wrong-doing that has overwhelmed our usually moral township. Cases of theft of petty cash, of breaking into and stealing from dwelling houses and from shops are becoming far to frequent and if we have not heard of any parents who have missed various Bmall sums of money it is perhaps because one does not like to expose the weakness of one's own children and not because there has been none missed. The fact that boys and girls seem to have an unusually large supply of cash for this time of the year caused me to make some inquiries into the reason for Buch a lavish display of wealth and I found that the reason wasTiblers. Now I do not want te give the enterprising firm of chocolate makers a cheap ad., but Ido think that parents Bhould be put on their guard against allowing a state of affairs to continue that might prove embarrassing or ev9n dishonournig to them. This firm has Bet on foot a scheme which shows & keen insight into child nature. They know that emulation and the desire to get something for nothing are among the most powerful motives that actuate children. On baying a packet of their manufactures a boy can obtain the picture that is enclosed. On the receipt hy them of a book full of tbese pictures, some 180, a boy obtains 10s worth of the delectable Btuff. Our boys are too immature to see how they are being exploited and their emulation or greed having been once roused it is easy for us elders to Bee how the trouble has arisen. Children are only in process of having their moral natures formed. By the very nature of things there must be a breaking point which in Ihe case of children comes sooner rather than later. The ardent desire to get more money to buy more packets, to get some pictures for the purpose of exchange or pasting in the album, haß in a great many cases proved too strong for the present stage of mor al growth and these children have stolen money wherever they could get access to it. The ordinary circumstances of life aie qiute sufficient to enable us to train our children in habits of bonestv and truth and the other moral qualities. There can be no sense in making the process mere difficult either for them or for us. My advice is to burn all the tobler albums that can be found for fear of more happening.—Verb Sap.