Some Questions About Cuba. 
Domesticated Lightning. 
Vol. LVIII. No. 2577. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 17, 1899. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
“Daddy’s Boys.” 
A NOVEL SOCIAL EXPERIMENT. 
A YI8XX TO THE GEORGE JR. REPUHLIC 
A Factory for Good Citizenship. 
Home of a “ Republic.” —Driving eastward 
from Cornell University, a distance of 10 miles over 
a most picturesque country road, we came to a hilltop 
crowned with a few structures which might pass for 
barns or outbuildings, save one which was a little 
brown cottage with trees about it, which wore a look 
of permanency and of homelike occupancy. For the 
rest, the broad hilltop was bare and unattractive, ex¬ 
cept for the outlook from it, and the semi-air of fes¬ 
tivity lent by the Stars and Stripes floating from one 
of the barns, and the presence of boys and girls of 
various ages moving about as though intent upon 
well-defined tasks. As we drove up the hill we no¬ 
ticed in the lowland a long ditch in which 15 to 20 
boys were making the “dirt fly” with hoes and 
spades ; but all in all there was little to indicate that 
we were in the domain of a most unique and so far, 
unparalleled social experiment, the George Jr. Repub¬ 
lic, for the reformation and salvation of young 
persons of the criminal class, an institution which 
sometimes has as many as 150 visitors per day. 
“Is Mr. George about?” I asked a broad-hatted lad 
POLICE OFFICER AND CHAIN GANG. Fig. 175. 
of 15 or 16 years. With a quick lift of his straw som¬ 
brero, he turned in the direction of a man of fine 
physique and shouted : “ Daddy, Daddy !” 
“And pray, who is Daddy?” I further queried. 
“Oh, that is Mr. George,” who rapidly advanced 
with extended hand, giving us a most cordial greet¬ 
ing—a young man, who in voice, countenance and 
manner, won our hearts at once. It was readily ap¬ 
parent why those misgoing young souis brought un¬ 
der the influence of a man like that, should instinct¬ 
ively call him by the affectionate pet name of father. 
As Mr. George was engaged for the nonce, he detailed 
the lad whom we had first accosted, and whom he 
very politely introduced as “Mr. Smith,” to attend 
us in a tour of the Republic, show us anything we 
wished to see and answer all questions. 
Looking Things Over.—As we proceeded, the 
significance of the few structures became apparent 
from the names they bore, indicating the aspirations 
of the young Republicans. One was the Waldorf, 
another the Court House, still another the Library, 
and so on. “ Mr. Smith ” proved to be a chatty lad, 
but with a certain gravity of manner and range of 
nomenclature in speech, that endowed him with par¬ 
ticular interest. He and an older brother, evidently 
of Teutonic origin, had been for several years in the 
Republic, and had naturally risen to be citizens of 
distinguished position. He first took us into a “ hotel ” 
and into a small room set with two tables covered 
with white oilcloth, where each diner had the 111x11^ 
GENERAL VIEW OF GEORGE JR. REPUBLIC. Fig. 176. 
of a coarse napkin. “ Here,” explained he, “ is where 
the aristocrats dine.” 
“ Who are the aristocrats ? ” I asked. 
“ The aristocrats ? Oh they are the dudes ! ” 
“ And who are the dudes ? ” 
“ They are the—the swells,” he answered. 
Being still in obscurity, he further explained that 
swells are those who earn mo3t money. 
“ Yes,” he went on, “we pay $5.50 a week in this 
hotel for board and room,” with an air of pride. 
Food and Work. —“ What do you have to eat ? ” 
“ Just what we pay for. You see we have to pay for 
everything we have—food, room and clothes. The 
more we earn, of course, the better we can live. Any 
fellow who won’t work has to starve.” 
“ Really ? Can’t he have anything to eat unless he 
first earns the money to pay for his food ? ” 
“ Not a mouthful. Daddy always has something 
for us to do and earn money, if it isn’t anything more 
than to bring coal up out of the cellar and then carry 
it down again.” 
We looked through the kitchen, where girls were 
doing housework with help from one or two boys for 
the heavier tasks. Young S. introduced them and 
informed us that the girl outside trundling a baby 
carriage (the George baby inside) was one of the nicest 
of the girls, and her name was “ Bashful Nell.” Then 
he took us upstairs to show us the bedrooms of the 
“ Aristocrats,”—tiny affairs, each with a single cot, 
with the simplest, crudest of appointments, but in 
good order, with touches here and there at adorn¬ 
ment, and indicating that, as the boys rose in the 
scale of civilization they valued personal privacy. It 
stood, crude as it was, for an improved social condi¬ 
tion. These little rooms had each a lock and key, 
and most of them were inaccessible except to their 
owners. 
Deep in the Law.— When S. learned that one of 
our party was a lawyer, he showed very particular 
YOUNG ARTISTS AT WORK. Fig. 177. 
interest, and said that he wanted to ask some ques¬ 
tions, as some of • their legal proceedings lately he 
thought bad practice and unconstitutional. When 
we reached the library, whither we next went, he 
immediately called attention to Blackstone’s com¬ 
mentaries, looking as though frequently consulted, 
which was the case. The familiarity with law 
and legal terms exhibited by this boy, were not 
only amusing but astonishing and explicable only, 
when later on, we learned that the laws of the State 
of New York govern in the. Republic, the citizens 
themselves interpreting, administering and executing 
these laws upon themselves. So it happened that 
they have their officers from president down to judge, 
lawyers, court officers, jailers, police, postmaster, 
etc. If a certain beautiful boy of 12 or 13 years 
had not died, there certainly would not have 
been a William F. Miller Memorial Library for the 
Republic. But here it is, with the lad’s portrait on 
the wall, 1,000 volumes on the shelves, and William’s 
father and mother with a bountiful purse open to pay 
for any and all books that may be desired that meet 
the approval of the Library Board. S. pointed to the 
shelves of Dickens, Louisa Alcott, Cooper, Scott and 
all the tales that boys and girls best like, with the 
other volumes that are better than mere stories. The 
library, evidently, was a happy and instructive place, 
the very best in the Republic. There hung copies of 
the Republic’s Constitutions—the old one and the new 
one—many curios from various quarters, a big placard 
with “ Silence ” on it, and when we were there Wil- 
THE GRAND JURY IN SESSION. Fig. 178. 
liam’s parents were in the library covering and label¬ 
ing books, also a young woman helping whom we 
rightly guessed to be Mrs. George. 
New Buildings ; New Boys.— A new cottage was 
in process of erection on the hill, and thitherward we 
were next directed. S. explained that this, the 
Rockefeller, was being built for the girls by a rich 
Chicago man, and was going to be so nice that the 
boys were half hoping that the girls wouldn’t be able 
to earn enough to occupy it, and so the boys might 
get possession of it! We found it approaching com¬ 
pletion, the inside walls and ceiling all wainscoted, 
with no plaster about it. There was to be a furnace 
to heat it in Winter, and in comparison with the 
“barns”, it was, indeed, palatial. However, a rich 
woman of Philadelphia had given money to build a 
similar hotel for the boys, and it was impossible for 
visitors with abundant means, who appreciated the 
unique work being done there by a big-hearted young 
man with a level brain and scanty fortune, entirely 
to overlook the Republic in its great need for money— 
and it is doubtful whether Mr. George ever asked for 
a dollar or a dime from any one, or even suggested 
that he needed financial assistance. 
Meantime we had heard about some of the boys who 
had been noted criminals, for their years, and as S. 
seemed well posted as to their record, he said he might 
manage to send some of them to us if we would like 
