Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-01-02

use Of public funds as widows pensions
under certain restrictions. The Sage
foundation has had an expert examin-
ing conditions in the cities OF Chicago.
Milwaukee, San Francisco and Kansas
City with q view to ascertaining the
operation Of the system especially AZ
concerns child saving. Most Of his in
vestigations were conducted in Chicago
and the general trend Of his conclusion
is unfavorable.
After six weeks study Of the pension
administration in Chicago and an In
tensive investigation of 100 Of the sos
families that are receiving aid, Mr..
Carstens concludes that the law does
not appear to be one to initiate. tho
the judge Of the court. Judge Pinckney
has done everything to safeguard its
administration by inviting the leading
charities of the city and group OF
socially minded citizens to aid him. To
the committee thus constituted. and to
the staunch way in which the judge has
supported their work. is due such sue
cess as has been achieved"
In Chicago he finds that the pensions
have been largely confined to widows
with two or more children. to women
whose husbands are permanently dis
abled, and to women who have been
deserted more than two years. Whole
sale assertions 1t was thought, would
have been encouraged by the pension
ing Of families recently deserted. On
the whole, the investigator admits the
investigation shows intelligent choice
of benef1ciaries in the first instance
and more adequate assistance than had
been given before by the private agen-
cies interested in the same families
The points upon which his opposition
to the law is based are Tn the greatly
decreased interest Of relatives. churche.
and employers in doing their share
since the public pension went into ef-
feet. a decrease shown in 81 out OF the
100 cases studied: and In the total in
competence Of large majority of the
probation officers supposed to havi
supervision Of the pensioned families
In SO out OF 100 families. their super
vision was inadequate; in 80 families
the conditions were such that there
should be court re-heartng of the
case and a new order issued il the pen
sion is to be continued. In 10 familie.
now being pensioned the home is toe
bad to be kept together, owing to drink
immortality or serious communica Biz
! disease IN other words. pensions" an6
relief" seem to have much the same
effect and to need the same safeguards
When Mr.. Carstens objections arr
carefully considered the objectio,
to the pensions law seems to be mainly
! that 1t will not work automatically an:
that is true enough Moreover the in
vestigation was mostly conducted in {
city where conditions would natural!
| be at their worst. 1t is to be assumed
| that a pension law Of this csaracte
would necessarily need careful admin
istration and in spite Of the ut1nos
| caution considerable assistance woul'
be wasted on undeserving persons. Blu
that is true OF all pension laws. tn
soldiers pension law included. How
| ever he would be a blind man in tn
present who would oppose sol
diers' pensions on that ground. In tn
state OF Iowa without great cities ant
with its multitude Of deserving womel
left to their own resources for the sup
port Of their children conditions ar
very different than in a metropolis Will
a population greater than the state ant
should be given differen: condisera
ton.
| 1t is we'll to look at the proposed leg
islation from every angle. to guar
against mistakes that have been mad
in its beginnings. Laws like everything
else develop. They are rarely perfec
to begin with; but laws built about AM
upon a certain and established idea lik
pension aid for widows finally find tn
level Of utility in operation.