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abolition of the boy police and judiciary, and the substitution of adult administration, by no means follows. The alternative is between orderly, law-abiding settlement of disputes through what is essentially arbitration, and disorderly settlement through
fights and "gangs." Resist- ance to an officer is punished as heavily as other offenses. But officers are amenable to the courts for abuse of power. The chief of police who first organized the force and held office for two years with high- est efficiency was at last re- moved by the commissioners on his first offense of striking a boy whom he was trying to arrest. I have seen a couple of cases where a citizen who, being unjustly assaulted, took the Faustrecht into his own hands, was as severely fined by the courts as the original
offender. Here the youngsters apprehend the inside rationale of police, courts, and law, namely, the protection of the com- munity. There is no honor in being condemned by a jury of one's peers. In more than half the cases the culprit pleads guilty, and the fine is imposed by the judge without trial. The entire administration of justice is such a matter of fact and so remote from the city police court that it is difficult to see how anything but a true sense of the dignity and responsibility of citizenship can be fostered by it.
The Republic is as yet plainly in the experimental stage. It has by no means been reduced to a system so that it could be put in operation anywhere by anybody and then be left to work itself. The experience of Mr. George with adult helpers has convinced him that not more than one or two of all who have
THE PRESIDENT
