But society provided opportunities for evil.
Denver offered plenty of these, and the children
knew them all. “I was amazed to hear what
children knew,” the Judge says. “I talked to
them, and I walked with and among them; I
visited back alleys at night, hung around cheap
theatres, visited the tenderloin and the slums.
Standing in the shadow just outside of saloons,
I saw children come with pitchers in their hands,
sent there for beer by their parents, and while
they waited, I heard men tell obscene stories.
The children listened, boys and little girls. I
talked with the boys, and I found that they under-
stood everything that was vile. You see, I was
trying to get at the causes of criminality in chil-
dren, in children whom I found responsive to
the noblest sentiments of honour and fair dealing.
Well, I thought I saw what the causes were: the
problem is one of environment; manifold oppor-
tunity for evil and none for good; and then, back
of this, certain social and economic conditions.
What could I do to relieve these conditions ? I
asked myself that again and again. My Court
could correct the evil done, some of it, but how
could I prevent the evil from being done?”
Perfectly simple and logical, all this. The Judge had no answer ready, but he attacked the worst condition, one that stirred him to his depths.
