Ballard’s War on 'Street Education'
A local councilman proposes a curfew to keep children off the streets, fearing the 'evil habits' they might pick up after dark.
Councilman H. E. Beach, of Ballard, is a candidate for distinction by proposing the revival of the curfew bell in that town for the protection of the morals of the young people. He introduced what he called the curfew ordinance at the meeting of the city council on Tuesday night. It provides that the fire bell shall be rung with nine slow taps at 8 o'clock every night during May, June, July and August, and at 7 o'clock during the other months, when all boys and girls under 14 years must absent themselves from the streets unless accompanied by their parents or guardian. The city marshal and other policemen are authorized to escort the offenders home for the first offense, and for the second offense they are to be locked in the city jail and not released until they pay the marshal $1. The object of the ordinance, as explained by Beach, was to prevent the acquisition of evil habits through 'street education.'
“The object of the ordinance... was to prevent the acquisition of evil habits through 'street education.'”
The anxiety over 'street education' and the moral regulation of youth is a recurring theme in civic life. While Ballard is now a neighborhood of Seattle, the tension between public space and parental control remains a constant in local politics.
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