George Junior Republic During 1910—The annual report for 1910 of the George Junior Republic, Freeville, N. Y., looking, with its pictures of open cottages and stretches of unwalled country, like a real estate company’s advertisement of rural sites, or the prospectus of a summer camp, is out. One imagines, as he reads, that he has in hand not the annual statement of an institution for delinquents, but a breezy report on the growth of a modern village, or a pamphlet boosting some “Summerville—1915” movement.
On October 1, 1910, there were 137 “citizens” in the George Junior Republic. A “citizen” is simply an inmate. During the year there had been discharged 89 boys and girls, and just the same number had been received. With the exception of four, concerning whom it is not stated how they were received, the report shows that these had been taken in either for delinquency or for improper guardianship, from poor officers, from parents or guardians, or by their own application. Eleven are listed as having been received for delinquency, and 15 by their own application.
The Republic is a training school for all classes of boys and girls. The only qualifications for membership are sound minds and bodies—no mental defectives or cripples, deformed or sickly children are retained—and an age of at least 14 years. The Republic is a big farm of 350 acres, having upon it a modern village with its own system of water, sewerage, steam heat, roadways, and cement walks. Perhaps the two main reasons for its interest to most people are its form of government, with legislative, judicial, and executive departments, and the independent basis of self-support which every boy and girl within its bounds is obliged to maintain.
It has often been said that a successful school in the George Junior Republic was an impossibility because of the heterogeneous character and training of the pupils. From 1896 to 1905, a school for elementary pupils was maintained. In the latter year was opened what is known as the Hunt Memorial School. Later a high school was added. In June, 1910, regents’ diplomas were awarded to the first class of graduates from this high school. Four of the students entered college without conditions. The examinations in 1910 showed a decided academic awakening among the students. In June, 1910, the first prizes in the Owasco Valley prize speaking contest were awarded to a boy and girl from the Hunt Memorial School of George Junior Republic.
Existing without State aid, and with endowments which give an income of only $1,151, the Republic faced, on September 30, 1910, a deficit of $14,647.75.
In January, 1911, was opened a large gymnasium, the gift of friends of the Republic.
Some Bad Conditions in North Carolina—That all the county convict camps of the state be placed under a state board of supervisors is a recommendation embodied in the annual report for 1910, just issued, of the Board of Public Charities of North Carolina. Thirty-nine counties maintain these camps. Reports of the county commissioners show that in 17 of these counties the prisoners in the camps are chained together at night. Sixteen counties report that whipping, administered usually by the superintendent or foreman, is resorted to as a form of punishment in the camps.
The report urges also that the burden of executing the conditional release, or parole law, be lifted from the Governor, on whom it now rests, and placed upon the prison board of directors, who should be made a parole board with power to release conditionally every prisoner except those sentenced for life.
Concerning the county jails in the state, the report says: