Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-09-20

dren. Ninety per cent Of the boys who
fall into the hands Of strangers who
exploit them turn out, when they grow
up to be wife deserters. They lost ir
childhood all love for home because
they were taken from their own home
and put at the mercy of strangers.
I'm New York and forty other states
there Is a law devised by Hastings H
Hart, now head Of the Russell Sage
foundation, which let's the authorities
forcibly take from his home a child
whose parents are not able to support
him.
such a fate overtakes many Of those
+! whose parents apply to the charitable
societies for aid.
Il have visited hundreds Of institu-
tions where children are reared In
thousand lots and have yet to find
the first child who does not long for
home with his mother"
Mrs. Cosgrove began her work for
widows pensions with great enthusi-
asm and has since continued in the
same spirit. When she first present
ed her measure 1t was objected to as
being "socialistic" Good work will
tell, however, and at the conference at
Memphis in 1910. so thoroughly had
Mrs. Cosgrove won the members over
that they adopted unanimously a res
olution favoring the enactment by all
the states of laws providing reason
able pensions for INDECENT widowed
mothers, with fixed sum monthly for
each child until such children have at
tained the legal age Of employment.
A victory indeed for the energetic
little woman from Joplin, Mo.
A few weeks after this endorsement
Of Mrs. Cosgrove's measure George
Sehon of Louisville, secured favorable
action on the measure by the Missou-
ri Society Of Charity and Correction.
The publication Of this success spread
like wildf1re and resulted in the adop-
ton by both Missouri and Illinois Of
laws which have already brought re-
lief to hundreds of families and de-
monstrated that the pensioning of
widows and orphans is less expensive
than the old method Of the mainten-
ance Of children's homes and poor
houses.
Illinois is the only state so far in
which the law is effective in the whole
state. The mothers pensions in that
commonwealth for April was $3,54S.-
II and is growing at the rate Of $500
q month.
In Missouri the law Is called the
widows allowance law. 1t was passed
April II, 1911. This law, which is
carrying many mothers out Of the
darkness of despair into the realm of
hope and happiness, applies only to
counties having a population Of not
less than 250,000 and not more than
100000.
Speaking about it recently, E. L.
Matthias, chief probation officer of
Kansas City, remarked:
"It is the most advanced piece of
legislation since the passage Of the
first juvenile court law in Illinois. SO
successful has 1t been that its provis-
ions will be very shortly widened to
cover the whole state.
Mothers have been restored to their
children by 1t and children are being
redeemed from neglect and delinquen-
cy and are being trained for good citi-
zens. Homes are being reestablished
and built up and a splendid atmos-
phere Of domestic good has been cre-
ated.
"The law has an economical pro-
vision as we'll. The cost averages about
s44 year for each child whereas the
care OF these children in public insti-
tutions would cost from SIS to $50 a
month for each child. In both Mis-
souri, and Illinois the law is under the
administration of the judges Of the ju-
yenile courts"