This is the indictment on the score of duty. That on the score of economy is as strong, but duty should be a sufficient inspiration in the midst of a holy foreign war in which there is little prospect of reward except the honor of having championed a righteous cause. How is the indictment met by facts? The single case of the waif of our story, the waif of our especial plea, and the thousands of others of his deplorable condition, as well as the millions that are influenced unfavorably by the neglect that makes him and his fellow victims possible, is the answer on behalf of Chicago and other American and English cities where similar conditions prevail. But this one alone is, or should be, a stab to the conscience of every citizen. What is the merit of the Cuban, or any foreign cause, compared with the moral influence of an army of neglected waifs at home? THE COST. There is no present excuse for neglect of our Apprentice Citizens and helpless guests on account of cost or inability to reach them with effective methods of character-building. The success of the kindergarten system, when in the hands of trained teachers who analyze the hereditary equipment of their children and cultivate them accordingly, indicates a means for the latter and has proven the cost to be insignificant in comparison with other branches of government or education. That it should be considered _the most important branch of government_ we reiterate because it _actually is the nursery of good citizenship_. And, as to the expense, it seems so little that it will scarcely be believed in the light of the cost of the higher branches of education. Kindergartens have been conducted in Chicago by mission bodies at a cost of forty-five cents per pupil per month, including whatever nourishment was necessary to supplement that which the children received at home, and exclusive of the pennies brought by them. The room used cost little or nothing, for the school was established in the depths of one of the lowest slums of the city and wooden horses and boards served for seats and tables. This suited the children of the slum better than the elegance of a modern school building, and it taught the fact that character and good habits are as essential in mean, as in the most expensive and luxurious surroundings. It is a question, worthy of careful consideration, whether the effect of the teaching is not better by beginning with a school equipment in keeping with the home surroundings of waifs, adding, of course, the essential element of cleanliness, and graduating to better things as the instruction progresses, and whether this is not better for the children than initial installation in the best of quarters. Character should not be associated with elegance in the minds of children.