The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-10-30
The Widow and Her Pension,

When a widow with five children
who is supporting herself. and them
in honor by hard labor over the wash.
tub asks for widows pension under
, the state law and comes with wit
nesses of high repute to back her it
would seem that opposition to her
claim is opposed to the purpose OF
the law and the spirit of charity. The
law provides assistance for widows
with children by a pension not more
than 81 a week for each child. If it
meant anything it intended to put
reputable hard working women with
children to support out from under
the hands of the poOrmasters, to re-
lieve in some part the pressure of
their poverty, take them from under
the shadow of the poor house and
free the children from the stigma of
pauperism. 1t meant to give the
mother a chance to be a mother.
A widow with five children who
keeps the family together deserves
we'll to her community and her coun-
ty and her country. She is doing
the finest public service rendered by
any human being. Greater than that
of any statesman or public official in
state or county; for the basic Ameri-
the fundament of the government.
And this woman kept home, main
tanned it with her hands over a
washtub. To afford her pittance of
81 week is not a gift of charity
but the payment of debt. She is
entitled to pension as fully as any
pensioner of war. And she is as
brave and steadfast as any warrior
who even went to war and her battle
is the hardest and the longest ever
fought.
Somebody has estimated with rea-
sonable accuracy that it is worth
$4,000 to raise a child. So far as
that is concerned we will all agree
that good citizen is worth more to
the community in which he lives than
the interest on $4,000.
What are five good citizens worth
What is it worth to the community to
rear five citizens in decency and
manliness. What would you as a
business man estimate the price OF
going down into the shadow of death
and through the cruclfixion of child
birth five times, bending over a
washtub all day to feed five children
and over the mending and the les
sons at night? Simply as business
proposition, what is it worth, de-
cent chance to work hard, keep the
children together and live under a
roof without shame? Isn't a public
payment of dollar week small for
that kind of public service?
Let us meet the widows pension
righteously and in manliness and not
in a niggardly manner. We couldn't
keep a family on the county farm
for a dollar week, but let us take
a higher viewpoint that that. Let's
play fair with the widow. When she
married and bore children she gave
up her chance to become wage and
salary Garner. She believed that her
place would be in the home rearing
children and keeping the fire on the
hearth and that she would be proVid-
ed for. That is the sense and custom
of the American home. The COM
munity and social law and order
pledge her so much. And the COM
munity and social order should not
hide from the petty partial perform
ance Of it's duty. Neither will it. In
general the widows pension law is
approved in the spirit in which it was
enacted
We shall have to wait for the re-
turns; but the future may show the
five children to whom a rich county
pays a pension of a dollar week
among it's richest land holders and
capitalists some day, persons with
large interests and who pay taxes
Marshalltown Times-Republican.