The data came from a larger study of the child-saving movement in Memphis during the early years of the 20th century. Information came from local newspapers, publications of State and local welfare agencies, and the private papers of a reform leader, city directories, court dockets, and related materials. The analysis focused on the social and economic context within which the movement developed, the founding of a county industrial and training school, the playground movement, and the emergence of the juvenile court. The results strongly suggested that the upper-class citizens were in the forefront of the movement in Memphis. In addition, social control was extended over a wide range of behavior, most of which was noncriminal, of children and youths. Thus, as Platt previously contended, the Memphis juvenile justice system was created to control and regulate the children of the poor rather than to save them. Tables, footnotes, and 54 references. (Author abstract modified)