The upbringing of children depends largely on three leading factors: the family, the school, and the environment in which the child spends its leisure time. In our previous articles, we blamed, and severely criticized, the Russian organizations for neglecting entirely the cause of the young Russian-American generation. In this article, we propose to speak to the Russian parents. In the first place, we should like to ask the parents the following questions: Do you know where and how your children spend their time when they are not in school and not at home? Do you know the inclinations and the weak points of your children? Do you know what they read and what books interest them most? Do you know what the neighborhood thinks of your children and what standing they have there? Do you experience the feeling that your children are shifting away from you and that ruin and deprivation are hanging over their heads?

Every Russian parent should try to answer these questions with all possible fairness and courage, because the parents alone are responsible for the upbringing and for the entire future of their children. The mother and the father are the chief guardians and protectors of their children. Please excuse our frankness, but we regard it our duty to speak plainly and to the point. Our society is founded on the family as its unit; consequently, the entire progress and well-being of society depend upon the quality of the family life and upon the way we bring up our children. For this reason, any organized group of people, as an integral part of society, should regard it as its duty to aid the parents in solving their many problems in connection with the bringing up of their children.

The Russian organizations which understand the importance of this perplexing question, and are willing to co-operate with the parents in this respect, especially with the mothers--as it is the mother's job to watch over the 3growing children--are handicapped in their efforts by the fact that the Russian women, as a rule, do not readily join the organizations of their husbands and seldom leave their homes. The blame for this must again be placed at the door of the organizations themselves and of the men shaping their destinies. In Russian-American social and business relations, the custom still prevails that women should not participate in the business and organization work of their husbands, but should stay at home and look after the well-being of the household.

The affairs of the Russian group in this country will not improve until our women are given the full opportunity of equal participation in the life of all our organizations, and especially in our benefit societies. The opinions of the Russian-American women should be sought and hearkened to, particularly in all matters pertaining to our children and to our youth. Women understand far better than men the mind of the child; therefore their opinions and suggestions relative to the best methods 4of bringing up Russian-American children would be extremely valuable.

The Russian colony in Chicago and in nearby towns should make it a point from now on to see to it that all our meetings, conferences, and conventions are also attended by the Russian women. They will prove to be greatly helpful in discussing and deciding such questions as schools for our children, the preservation of Russian traditions in our second Russian-American generation, the junior clubs in our benefit societies, and in many other problems.