"Caught in the street by the truant officer, or by the agents of the Children's Societies, peddling, perhaps, or begging, to help out the family resources, he runs the risk of being sent to a reformatory, where contact with vicious boys older than himself soon develop the latent possibilities for evil that lie hidden in him... The risk of the reformatory is too great. What is done in the end is to let him take chances-with the chances all against him. The result is the rough young savage, familiar from the street." – Jacob Riis

"Caught in the street by the truant officer, or by the agents of the Children's Societies, peddling, perhaps, or begging, to help out the family resources, he runs the risk of being sent to a reformatory, where contact with vicious boys older than himself soon develop the latent possibilities for evil that lie hidden in him... The risk of the reformatory is too great. What is done in the end is to let him take chances-with the chances all against him. The result is the rough young savage, familiar from the street." – Jacob Riis