The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-11-09
MOTHERS PENSION
FUND IS DEPLETED
Deserving Cases Use Nearly
All of Years Appropriation
Within Five Months.
DESIRABILITY EVIDENT
Increase of Appropriation
Will Be Asked From Next
Legislature of Utah.

Legislature OF Utah.
The funds available for carrying out
the provisions Of the mothers PEN
sion law enacted by the last legisla~
ture, are nearly exhausted in Salt Lake
county. Under the law the approprie-
ton for deserving mothers who arc
forced to work to support themselves
and their small children is $4,000 per
year in Salt Lake county The law has
been In operation only five months and
the first years appropriation Is about
all used.
The applications for relief under the
provisions Of the law were much great
er than expected. The operation Of the
law brought to Light the struggles OF
large number Of deserving mothers who
were trying to support their children
without becoming objects Of charity.
They accepted the mothers pension
measure as a means Of aiding them IN
sending their children to school and
feeding and clothing them properly.
Many Are Denied.
Practically no efforts to deceive or
defraud the county Of this money have
resulted from the operation of the law.
Nearly every applicant WAS found to be
deserving, though q great many of the
applications were denied because of the
inadequncy Of the appropriations. Those
In charge Of the administration Of the
fund have been careful to sec to it that
only the most deserving participate in
the fund,
Under the law each mother who Ia
forced to work to support her children
is given $40 per month for the first
child and S5 for each additional child,
SO long as the children are under fifteen
years. In Salt Lake county the fund
for the mothers pensions is admins
tered by the Juvenile court, while in
other counties 1t is handled by the
boards of county commissioners. The
operation Of the law in the counties
other than Salt Lake is not very diff
ferent from the previous administra-
tion Of the charity funds Of the coun-.
ty. The difference is principally that
the amount to be disbursed Is now fixed
while before it had been left to the dis.
cretion of the commissioners
Numerous Beneficiaries.
In Salt Lake county there are 25S
mothers participating in the mothers
pension fund. or these 1S0 are wild
ows; forty three have been deserted by
| their husbands; the husbands OF SIX are
permanently disabled, and the husband
Of the other one Is insane. Five hun.
dred children are now being supported
by the operation Of the law. However,
it Will probably soon be necessary to
reduce This number considerably be"
cause the cost Of providing for 500 chill
dren at So per month each would be $780,
600 per year, or three times the amount
Of the appropriation
Fund Nearly Depleted.
OF the $4,000 appropriated by the
county commissioners Of Salt Lake
county to carry out the provisions oil
law, $7992.75 had been disbuTsed by
October l, leaving only S2007.25 in the
fund. most Of which has since been ex-
pended.
The next legislature will be asked to
authorize the county commissioners to
increase this annual appropriation
probably to sos, 900. An Increase Of
tho appropriation to this amount, 1t is
believed, will enable the county to care
for nearly all Of the deserving mothers.
sion law in Oregon has been criticised
by the press, but 1t is declared that
the oriticisms Of the Oregon law are
not applicable TO the Utah law. Three
grounds for criticism ere voiced In Ore
gon They are that the mothers. pen
sion law is an encouragement to fraud;
that deserving mothers have shrnnk
from asking public aid fearing the pub
Iicity ettachedy that local aid for strug-
Cling families stops because Of the op-
portunity for state aid
Utah Statute Helps.
It Is pointed out that the experience
In Utah has shown few attempts at
fraud In order to secure the aid. The
percentage OF fraudulent applications
found has boon 30 small as to be al
most negligible. Some deserving moth
ers may shrink from making appHca.
tions, but the effect has been rather
ing cases that were not heretofore
names of those applying for aid, No
evidence Of the stopping OF local az
sistance to struggling families has been
noted.
of the legislative COMMITTEES of tho
State Federation OF hosn m0msns men s.,ong1 ou31s
urged the passage of the mothers PEN
sion law. said last night that she con,
sidered side the operation Of the law in Salt
criticism she said that might Justly ~ be
ficient 10 bring about the relief intend
cd. The next legislature, she snid,
would be asked to make some changes
! in the law, the most important of which
T.. ,ukhoriZa the commission.