Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/156



it had been to catch two, was scornful of the Judge’s confidence of getting the rest, but he was invited to be present at the hour appointed for the “round up,” and he was not a little chagrined when his two prisoners returned with twenty- four other kids. The Judge lined up the gang on one side of the room, the policeman and his friends on the other. This was the Juvenile Court in session; let the Judge describe what happened:

“I proceeded to explain why it was that the owners of the station had a right to grant ‘concessions’ to the man who employed the boys with the red caps to sell papers and carry baggage to the exclusion of all others; why, if the company demanded it, they had a right to protection for their lawn; how all of this was justified by the Law, which secured the right of every man in the enjoyment of his property; how it was not the officer’s doings, but the Law that required him to perform his duty; how, therefore, they had no real grievance against the police- man — rather their sympathies should be with him. After the sympathetic admission by both the officer and the Court that if it were our station and grounds all boys could play on the grass and sell papers there, there was gained for the police- man sympathy and loyalty. As littl