Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1913-12-11

~ the door of the shanty she calls
~ home on the outskirts of the
city. A child clings TO each
hand and another clutches tightly tC
the folds of her pink calico dress. Just
inside the door stands two new brass
cribs Across the gloomy aspect OF
broken kitchen chairs and patched
table beyond are hooks in the brick
chimney on which hang childrens gar
ments with the bright stamp of new
ness on them. There is coal in the
scuttle by the range. with its cracked
lids, and there Is food a-cooking. Dingy
and gloomy is the interior of the sin
gle room, but it is spotlessly clean,
This is the home Of the first widow
in Jersey to be pensOned for being
what she is-just a poverty-stricken
mother. The cribs, the coal. the
clothes, the food are results Of that
first pension check.
Homes Are Proof of Worth.
To the outside world perhaps the
Widows Pension act passed in Jersey
last July Is hazy reality, the real sig
AAhlCdhCO VI WuiCu 10 udluLy dppLCSldI-
ed, 1t is only when one can peer into
a home where the pension has come
or perhaps, more aptly, has peered in
Ito it before and after the coming
that it dawns on one what this pen
sioning of widowed women who have
children dependent upon them really
means.
Briefly the widows pension was the
dream Of Isaac T. Nichols, senator
from Cumberland county who plainly
stated that in his opinion a woman
who brought children into the world
WAS entitled to pension for her work
when her husband, or support, was
taken from her by death. That was
the beginning. Senator Nichols was
for pensioning every mother of child
under sixteen years old. But there
were those who objected. Such broad
act, they said, would allow unmarried
women with children, women with hus-
bands still living and others to share
in the reward intended really for the
widowed mother. The bill was amend
ed, and became law on July 4.
First Pension on July Y.
By July % the first hearing to deter
mine the granting of pension had been
held, and the first pension was grant
ed. 1t is only matter Of time when
every state will have its pensioned
mothers, Senator Nichols said
There are 346 widowed mothers
drawing pension in New Jersey. and
the number is steadily increasing.
There are pensioned mothers in every
one of the states 81 counties save one. |
The one exception from which no re-
quest has come is Ocean county. in the |
southern part of the state. Why no
cry from a needy mother has been |
heard from there is mystery to the
state board of children's guardians !
which has the supervision Of the pen
sions and pensioners in hand.
The process a widowed mother must
employ to gain pension is simple.
First, she must write to the state
board of children's guardians for
application blanks. She will receive
three blanks, all identical. She must
fill in each, one for the state board,
one for the overseer of the poor In
her district and one for the judge of
the county court, where her case
eventually will be heard
County Foots the Bills.
On receipt of her application the
state board sends investigators to de-
termine her condition. Then a date is
set for her hearing and she goes into
court and tells her story. The inves-
tigation Of the state board is offered
In evidence, and the judge passes on
whether or not she is eligible to a
pension. II she becomes a pensloner
the checks are sent her out of the
funds OF, the county In which she lives
The amount Of the pension, which
is really intended for the support of
her children, is fixed by law 1t is SO
month for one child S14 a month
for two children and SlS a month for
three children, and for each child
thereafter 81 a month The state
boards Investigators have supervisory
charge OF the dispensation OF the pen
sion and of the conduct Of the mother
At the arrival of child at the age of
sixteen. or before. at the discretion of
the board, the pension for that child
can be discontinued. This, briefly, is
what New Jersey has done for its
widowed mothers. How has the plan
worked out?
The woman with the three children
In a shanty on the edge of Newark
smiled when she was asked 1t was a
tired smile, but there was no trace OF
In IL.
How does 1t work." she answered.,
and her voice was full with emotion.
"Fine!"
Cha nouaad m umoofb with "a thin