In the middle west side the child life is organized--yes, definitely and somewhat elaborately organized--into what amounts to a defensive secret league, with tens of thousands of members. This league is made up of small gang units, which are sometimes federated for brief periods, which war on each other, but are united against the common enemy--against the law and its agents, who are aliens, and generally against the adult community as such. This condition means that no investigator who is known as an investigator can find his facts. Still less can an “uplifter” find his facts or do his work if he is known as an “uplifter.” Twelve thousand children are arrested annually in New York. These are not exceptional children, and they are not a special problem. Rather, they are typical children. They are mere exhibits drawn from the mass of those children who live in the congested neighborhoods, a small proportion of the children who have done the same things and have not been caught. These children are not sub-normal, and they come from homes which are typical of whole enormous population districts. They are arrested for the only thing a child can do on the street, and they have no place but the street in which to do anything. These children represent the child population of half or more of the tenement districts of New York City. I made an intensive study of 193 out of the 12,000 arrests for the past year--all of them typical cases. All these arrests fall within the middle west side region. They were made on the following direct charges: Assault, attempt at burglary, begging, bonfires, burglary, disorderly conduct, destruction of property, fighting, playing football on the streets, gambling, intoxication, jumping on cars, kicking the garbage can, loitering, picking pockets, pitching pennies, playing ball, playing with water pistol, putting out lights, selling papers, playing shinney, shooting craps, snowballing, stealing, subway disturbances, throwing stones, trespass, truancy.