The Labor enquirer., 1886-01-09
PENSION cnlI IDREN.
A Chicago Lady's Sweeping
Remedy for Poverty and
Ignorance.
Shs thinks the. Government Ought
to Provide For the Keep Of
the Little Ones.
Til ! Mothers Of Men Are Treated as
4 They Were Interior to Their
Offspring.


A4l fair-minded people are in favor ol
puta and just government equitablv ad.
mit istered. And vet such a government
shaf never been known even in dreams
III ato1 Rspubiic. sondsrfal dresm =
= thaS is, demands the destruction of the
lmoFher's loye for: her offspring by re.
quiz Ing the REIMBURSEMENT Of every
Chi l At birth to common nursery
whf 20 its identy shall be forever lost
and the parent be ever unable to recog-
nizf it. This describes q state of per-
SOD 4 Indifference to what are now man
kin Ps most cherished relations that is
eitf er so far above or 80 far below our
pre- ent state as to beIincomprehensible.
But passing by dreams of Utopian life
we lain that not even equity, as at
preeent conceived. has shaped the policy
or tontrolled the councils of any exist
Improvement.
Closing the ears to all other com
plants, let us consider briefly that one of
the great unrepresented majority
woI ian's. Exceeding man numerically.
eqpaling him mentally, woman exists,
poll ;ically, in the silence of the dead,
Why has this great wrong existed
through the long centuries Why ARE
the elaws made in the interests of man
aloE ), and, saving few of recent date,
whs3 is woman ofso little concern inIthe
fra-ning Of the laws. and statutes 2
Ist US glance at some of the most
gla ing features of this injustice: In all
Ian is there are bounties and pensions
pre- sidea for the, male soldiery, because
theA are valuable as defenders or as
saiiants in the wars between nations /;
butthere are no bounty or pension laws
on senalf of those who, at personal risk
as treat as the soldiers, give birth to
those who become the soldiers.
The injustice of this discrimination
furnishes ampfs demonstration of the
EFFECTS ofall class legislation, of which
sse @saa.s ssreattaent is-Frfse
earliest example considered historically.
We're we not so accustomed to the con-
dition of affairs we would wonder that
there were no veteran lists for those
women who have borne the brunt of the
family care, and upon whom age has
lait 80 heavy hand that oftttimes we
behold ahelplessness. coupled with such
del 3itutlon that instinctiyely there
ari! IS in the mind those words, Turned
out to die" as we consider some aged
wo lan's feeble meanderings from house
to louse in search of that aid which
she old be her reward at the hands of a
graceful state to whose population she
ha. so brayely contributed. Rises there
nor before the mind Of each reader some
such aged woman who, having served her
tir4e as family woman, is now crippled
tn ough the severity Of her sutferings
wfile serving the state as a populator,
ana who, visiting from house to house as
sh] can find asylum here and there, a
pit lure so common that 1t loses its pathos
to -,he hardened beholder?
.aor the aged soldier with wounds per
ch nee less severe than hers who had
th misfortune to be born a woman,
thi re are soldiers homes and 'honors
ur,nding, while his appearance com
minds admiration and hers excites pity
ana often contempt. Why the differ
en.e? Are the mothers of men 80 inte-
riGSt to their sons that the world is COM
pefied to award them such different
tire stment? Consider the case of the
ye1nger women engaged in the active
Lei ors of bearing. rearing and caring Tor
f,mily. Even here the dishonor seem
ineiy attachable to the sex everywhere
foll5ws, and rigid home retirement Is
net ,ssitated by her assumption OF the
dulles of maternity. To agood mother
het children are as her life. Were the
sta 3 good mother to her children the
miaors would be as precious to her as
to ahe mother who gave them birth.
Ana society would take its cue from the
stase. How different is the state OF
Aft irs from this everyone ls aware. Both
tha state and its first born -society-are
as Indifferent to the child IS they are 70
the mother. When governments shall
tai ke cognizance of the existence OF
woman and children society will follow
the lead, and the lonely assemblies OF
men be unknown ,hings OF the past,
fading with the saloon, the gambling
shop, the billiard roo n. anel other mas
culine ideals of pleasure.
There is no intent to deny that certain
social avenues are opsn to women, out
there is no social provision for pleasure
to families, no pleasure resort, save open
parks, where mother and children are
welcome, and hence the faithful mother
is condemned to the isolation, mental
dwarfdom and pleasureless life OF the
home nursery-pleasIlreles, because the
mental reciprocity oisentllnent is neces-
sary to form tie plea,ure Of an intelil-
g ut being, and small children. however
dear to the affections, are incapable o.
tt 1t. And when the relefse from the
M rserx comes the Woman Is too old for