n
account of the colour question, two-thirds of the children having negro
blood and a white boy being always preferred for a vacant situation.
Throughout, the action of juvenile courts in the United States has been
to bring each individual into "human touch" with kindly helpful workers
striving to lead the young idea aright and train it to follow the
straight path. It was the result always of the effort of private persons
and not due to government initiative, indeed the advocates and champions
of the system only established it by overcoming strong opposition from
the authorities.

Progress in the same direction has been made in England. The home office
had recommended London police magistrates to keep children's cases
separate from those of adults; the same practice or something analogous
obtained in many county boroughs, such as Bath, Birmingham, Bristol,
Bolton, Bradford, Hull, Manchester, Walsall, Halifax and others, and the
Children Act 1908 definitely established children's courts. This act
enacted that courts of summary jurisdiction when hearing charges, &c.,
against children or young persons should, unless the child or young
person is charged jointly with an adult, sit in a different building or
room from that in which the ordinary sittings of the court are held, or
on different days or at different times. Furthermore, provision must be
made for preventing persons apparently under the age of sixteen years
whilst being conveyed to or from court, or whilst waiting before or
after their attendance in court, from associating with adults, unless
such adults are charged jointly with them. The act prohibits any persons
other than members and officers of the court, the parties to the case,
their solicitors, counsel and other persons directly concerned in the
case, from being present in a juvenile court, except by leave of the
court. Bona-fide press representatives are also excepted. The main
object of the whole system is to keep the child, the embryotic offender
who has probably erred from ignorance or the pressure of circumstances
or misfortune, altogether free from the taint or contagion that attaches
to criminal proceedings. The moral atmosphere of a legal tribunal is
injurious to the youthful mind, and children who appear before a bench,
whether as accused or as witness, gain a contemptuous familiarity with
legal processes.

The most beneficial action of the children's court comes from its
association with the syst