n
some, the use of drugs or cigarettes, the patronizing of cheap theaters,
or evil associates. I also required him for a time to report to me at
regular intervals, usually every two weeks, when a night session of the
court was held for such purpose, and to bring with him his wife or other
witness who could testify to his subsequent conduct.

_Four Hundred Able Probation Officers_

A serious difficulty then presented itself. I saw that as their numbers
increased, it would become impossible for me to keep in personal touch
with all these offenders. No parole law for adults, with its paid
probation officers, exists in Illinois, and no funds for this purpose
were available. I determined, therefore, to appeal to the business men
of the district to serve as volunteer probation officers. Through the
lawyers who practised in my court, I secured a list of nearly one
hundred business and professional men who gladly consented to visit one
or more defendants each month and report to me in writing upon blanks
which I furnished them. The number of probation officers was
subsequently increased to about four hundred, and their monthly reports
were entered upon our special docket, which contained the necessary
memoranda and history of the case made at the trial.

Certainly no more valuable object lesson was ever presented to hustling,
bustling, money-loving, pleasure-hunting Chicago than these doctors,
lawyers, manufacturers, and merchants going into the homes of their poor
and unfortunate neighbors and taking a genuine interest in their
welfare. Here was the ideal probation officer, whose feeling for his
ward was something more than chilly professional solicitude; and
splendidly did these men do their work. Many of them did more than show
a passing interest in the offenders assigned to them. They often gave
them employment and encouraged them by increasing their wages from time
to time. It was a common thing for substantial business men to appear in
court and offer employment to persons whom they wished placed on
probation, agreeing at the same time to report regularly as to their
subsequent conduct.

A typical illustration of this was shown in the case of a young man who
had an old mother to support, and who had fallen into bad company which
had led him astray. The gang had rented a flat where they caroused far
into the night and were then wont to prey upon their neighbors'
hen-roosts. Upon his promise to reform, he was placed o