needed haven of refuge for children removed by order of the magistrates from bad homes or depraved surroundings, whilst at the same time they afford an excellent industrial training, and with it a prospect of leading an honest useful life in after years.

First offenders-where the offence is not very grave-are frequently committed to the Industrial Schools, but the worst of the juvenile delinquents, such as would (if they had been older) have been sentenced to penal servitude, are sent to Reformatory Schools, which are and always have been, since they came under the law in 1854,1 penal as well as educational establishments.

Now that Local Authorities have power to establish and aid reformatories as well as industrial schools there is some danger of losing sight of the distinction between the two. Committal to an industrial school is intended to rescue unfortunate children, whereas detention in a reformatory (of which there are between 40 and 50 in England and Wales) forms a definite part of our system of correction for young criminals under 16. In both Industrial Schools and Reformatories, however, the training is such as to equip the children for useful occupations. On leaving, the boys often join the army, whilst the girls take very largely to domestic service. Some of the industrial schools for boys are training-ships, and here, of course, the instruction is intended to train the lads to become sailors. There is a movement at present to emigrate many of both sexes to Canada, where, in a new land, removed entirely from the old associations, and under the kindly care of various philanthropic organisations, the young people may make a fresh start with every prospect of a successful career. It is satisfactory to learn that by far the greater proportion of the children leaving the Industrial Schools and Reformatories pursue an honest life of work. Social workers can render material assistance in consolidating this reformation in character by taking a friendly interest in boys and girls released from these schools.

[During the Great War the boys from Industrial Schools and Reformatories showed a splendid record of war service. Over 30,000 such old boys were known to be in His Majesty's forces, 32 of whom were mentioned in dispatches; "4 the V.C.; 69 the D.C.M.; 19 received

66

1 17 & 18 Vict. c. 86.

commissions, whilst others were awarded decorations of many kinds. (Extracted from the Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools for 1916.)]

BORSTAL INSTITUTIONS

Though the law-breakers of whom we are now about to speak are not exactly "juvenile offenders," yet they touch so closely upon this class that they have been given by the police the name of "juvenile-adults." You will remember that the Industrial Schools and Reformatories are only for persons entering under the age of 16; and although the law regards a person of 16 as old enough to have reached years of discretion, and to be therefore punishable in the same way as those of more mature years, there has arisen of late a feeling that it is worth while making a strong endeavour to reclaim the juvenile-adult criminal, that is, the person between the age of 16 and 21. In 1895 a Committee on Prisons reported that "under the present system numbers of young prisoners came out of prison in a condition as bad or worse than that in which they came in." To amend this state of things an admirable voluntary association began (with the co-operation of the prison authorities) in 1902, to collect at Borstal Prison, near Rochester, those juvenile-adults who, it was believed, would prove amenable to remedial measures. Instead of the ordinary gaol discipline, the convicts were put to work in the fields, where they were taught market-gardening, flower culture, building, etc. Indoors they had lessons, and learnt carpentry, plumbing, blacksmith's and tinsmith's work, cookery, bakery, shoemaking, etc. They were spared also the ignominy of convict dress, and of association with the older criminals. They were, whilst well behaved, permitted the use of library books, allowed visits from friends, and other privileges. Remarkable success atttended the experiment, and the methods advocated by this noble society have now received the sanction of the law. In 1908 the Legislature passed the Prevention of Crime Act,1 which gives the Court power to pass a sentence of detention in a Borstal Institution, of from one to three years. There are at present four Borstal Institutions in England, three for boys, and one at Aylesbury for girls.

When the time for discharge approaches, the Borstal

1 8 Ed. VII. c. 59.

Association takes in hand the youth or girl and tries to secure work for them, and give then a fresh start in life by putting their feet in the right way to earn an honest livelihood. No greater service of citizenship can be suggested than preventive work of this character.

DECREASE OF CRIME

And what now-it may be asked-has been the result of this war against crime? Has compulsory education helped at all in this direction? Has the greater leniency of the law been attended with a diminution in the number of criminals? Have the self-denying, zealous, and persistent efforts of the numerous voluntary societies charging themselves with the care of young people been rewarded with any measure of success? Is our England of to-day better for these labours of love?

The answer to each of these questions must be an emphatic "Yes."1 Not only has the percentage diminished, but the total volume of crime is less than it was at the passing of the Elementary Education Act of 1870, even though the population of the Kingdom has increased in the meantime by over 40 %. In 1870 when, as you have learnt, the national system of education was inaugurated, there were in England and Wales over 100 prisons, all full; there are now about 60 half-empty! You may perhaps be aware, if you live in London, that a vast prison occupied-not so very many years ago—the site of the Tate Gallery on the Embankment, whilst yet another huge prison-the famous Clerkenwell Gaol-has given place in recent years to blocks of offices and workmen's dwellings. Upon the day that these lines were penned the author's eye was caught by the following lines in the Times of that date: "In his address to the Grand Jury at the opening of the Sessions, the Chairman said it was a matter of great gratification to all interested in the welfare and the prosperity of the County (of London), that during the last three or four years, the number of indictable offences had decreased by nearly 20 per cent." 2

1 On November 27, 1922, the Times stated that for the year ended March, 1922, 1188 children were charged [in the County of London] under the Children Act whilst the number in the previous year was 1630. Nine Industrial Schools and five Reformatory Schools were also closed.

2 This was written in 1913. It is satisfactory to note that the

A century has passed since Sir Samuel Romilly's first warning was uttered in Parliament against the making of criminals by the action of a too harsh law. His was indeed a voice crying in the wilderness. His appeals fell on deaf ears, and he died saddened and discouraged by years of unavailing effort. But his labour was not in vain, as we now recognise.

Let every social worker, therefore, who is inclined to fret at the apparent inefficacy of his self-imposed toil, draw fresh courage from Romilly's life and mission. Sooner or later, here or hereafter, as the prophet said of old," he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied."

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH

1. What ought the attitude of an employer to be towards a boy or girl of 16 who, having been in (a) an Industrial School; (b) a Reformatory; (c) Prison for a trivial offence, applies to him for employment?

2. Are there any Industrial Schools in your district where children attend during the day-time only? If so, what class of offenders are sent to such schools, and how far is the system found satisfactory ?

3. In the United States they have established a "George Junior Republic," to which young offenders are sent. Upon what principles is it conducted? Have we anything like it in this country? If so, where ?

4. If capital punishment were to be abolished here as it is in Switzerland and Italy, what would you substitute in its place?

5. How would you deal with (1) the habitual tramp; (2) the incorrigible idler ?

6. Some offenders are no sooner released from prison than they resume criminal practices. In this connection discuss the proposition, "Train the young and retain the old criminal.

7. Discuss the social problem arising from the fact that the children and young persons committed to Industrial Schools, Reformatories or Borstal Institutions, receive a better training for after life than the majority of poor children.

Commissioners of Prisons reported in 1922, that "the number of receptions on conviction, both absolutely and relatively to population, was still much lower than it was for the five years ended 1913-14, both with regard to convictions on indictment and summary convictions.”

CHAPTER XVI

MASTERS AND MEN

TRADE UNIONS

To give you in a short chapter any adequate picture of the "labour movement is quite impossible. The most we can do is to pave the way for your own inquiries when you come face to face in later years with the most difficult problem of our civic life; viz., the relationship of Employers to Employed or, as is often said, of Capital to Labour. Some main principles, however, you can easily grasp.

In the first place, you will readily understand that a poor man's capital consists of his strength and skill, and unless he can find some work upon which he can exercise his strength and skill in return for wages, he must starve. In his anxiety to obtain work he is afraid to haggle with an employer over the matter of wages, for fear he may lose the job altogether. Consequently, so long as workmen act singly, they are at a disadvantage in bargaining about wages and hours of work.

At a very early stage in our industrial history, working men saw that their only chance of raising their wages and of shortening the hours of labour was to combine together and act in unison. The mere instinct of self-preservation impelled them to some form of "collective bargaining." But this soon brought them into collision with the law, for severe restrictions had been placed by Parliament upon combinations among labourers for such purposes as raising the rate of their pay. From the reign of Edward I. to George IV. some 30-40 Acts of Parliament were passed, designed to prevent what we nowadays term the "organisation of labour." Combinations of workmen were not merely forbidden; they were held to be criminal. They were regarded as contrary to public policy, as being in restraint of trade, and the participators in such