That the whole subject of prostitution and the law is a most difficult one to deal with, there can be no question. It needs the combined intelligence of both men and women engaged not only in theorizing over the problem, but in actual efforts to grapple with it. Until public opinion supports the single standard of morality, the courts will continue to discriminate against women.
Unfortunately, women of all ages, even very young girls, are arrested. Sometimes they are guilty, sometimes innocent, sometimes sinned against, sometimes only the victims of circumstances, but always unfortunate. Their misfortune and its results on their lives are more terrible than they need be, because they are usually deprived of the help of women in places of authority.
In the Chicago Court of Morals women are welcome, and there are women court officers, women police, and women probation officers who create an atmosphere entirely different from the usual court-room. There is also no division of sex; when it is a question of morality, the man and woman are both held. A physical examination is made by a woman physician. When a woman is found to be diseased she is sent to a hospital to be cured.
Some of the most progressive magistrates and judges are endeavoring to improve the methods of handling cases of women offenders, but it would seem that wherever the welfare and disposition of women are involved other women should be part of the machinery which deals with them. This is not so much because of sentimental considerations, for in some cases women would be less influenced by sentiment than men, but there are certain peculiarities, tendencies, and experiences common to each sex which only those of that sex can understand. In all cases of women offenders against the law other women must be concerned, and should be equally responsible with men for their handling and disposition.
XVI
PUBLIC EDUCATION
The best foundation for a democracy rests on free educational facilities for all the people. An ideal school system is one that reaches out to every child and prepares him for a useful occupation, that is also available for the further development of every member of the State, and that will give every individual the knowledge necessary for him to do his part in government. A self-governing people cannot afford a class too ignorant to vote.
In New York State, school attendance is compulsory for children between the ages of seven and sixteen years. An exception is made of children between fourteen and sixteen, who have completed the first six years of school, and have been to school 130 days since their fourteenth birthday. Such children may be employed if they have a duly signed work certificate. In cities of the first and second classes, boys between fourteen and sixteen who are employed during the day, who do not hold certain certificates, must attend night school sixteen weeks in the year. Truant officers must be appointed in every city, town, and village to enforce the law. Parents who fail to send their children to school are guilty of a misdemeanor.
The School District is the smallest division of the State, and must maintain a free common school at least thirty-six weeks in the year. In 1917, an amendment to the school law was passed which abolished the old school-district system, that dated from 1795, and which makes it possible for the children of the rural districts to have some of the facilities for modern education which have heretofore been confined to larger communities.
In place of the former school trustees for the separate school districts, there is now one board of education for each town, and this board has charge of all the schools in the town. There are 4,000 schools in the State which have less than ten pupils each. The value of taxable property in many of these school districts is very small. The school tax has been the only State tax which has been assessed in such small units. The needs of each school district had to be met by the taxation of that one district. For all other State expenses the county is the unit of taxation and taxes are assessed equally all over the county, and the apportionment made according to the needs of each district. Under the present law, by treating the town as a unit for school taxes, all property in the town is assessed equally, and the money raised is used for the benefit of all the town.
In this way the rich and poor districts share more equally in school facilities.