The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-12-12

family. However, the widowed moth
ers' relief plan is excellent. 1t indi-
Gates a wholesome interest in pre-
yentive work. It shows a splendid de-
veIopment of public thinking"
Of the clubwOmen of New York
city, $4,000 in all, and the cIubwomen
of New York state. 100000 of them,
there is not one who is not an enthusi-
astic advocate of the idea. Florence
Guernsey, president of the Federation
of Womens Clubs, expressed herself
forcibly
Estate Owes 1t to Mothers"
Il am very much in favor of it, she
declared. Il think it is fine. won
derful thing. Only those who know Of
the tragedies of a home in which the
bread winner is gone can appreciate
what such a thing will mean. The
state owes something to the mothers,
and it is it's duty to accept it's obliga-
ton. l think it is the mother who
should look after the children, take
care of them, and no one else, and the
mother should be given the opportun-
ity to do so.
All Of the clubs iof the city fedora
ton, as well as of the state, have in
dorsed the work being done to bring
about such a state of affairs, and if
there is any one thing women demand
Fundamentally it is relief for widowed
mothers"
Mrs. A. NJ. Palmer, president of the
Rainy Day club, was even more en-
phatic.
1T would make better men and
women" she declared. There is no
influence that can compare with that
of a mother and with that of home,
and child deprived of these is handi-
capped for life. 1t has not the advant-
ages Of those influences that make for
fine manhood and womanhood
Love, affection. care-these are the
necessary things. Nothing is SO i'm
portant. No state institution can give
them, and a child in such a place is
inevitably hardened, and its finer in
stincts never expand and develop as
they would in an atmosphere of love
and home. The chance of maternal full
fillment is a duty owed by the state
both TO the mother and the child
Mrs. Brown a Supporter.
Mrs. William Grant Brown, leading
c1ubwoman, who but recently returned
from trip abroad, where she went as
delegate to several conventions,
speaks in similar fashion.
Il am so much interested in the
movement" she said, that / have
given up a considerable amount of my
time to the work. All those who know
the conditions in the homes of the
poor agree that relief for widowed
mothers is a much needed bit of legis-
lation, and almost all charity workers
favor relief directly in the home.
1t will be not only an economic saw
ing in the long run, and perhaps even
in the short run, but it also will be a
blessing so great that it is hardly con-
ceivable Only the mother, who will
be able to retain her first born, and
the little girl who need no longer fear
the strange faces of some state institu
ton can truly appreciate all it means"
Miss Frances Day is general agent
of the New Jersey state board. She is
a woman of broad comprehension and
human sympathy. Many of the cases
she has investigated herself, and she
knows what the granting of these pen
sions mean to many poor mother.
400 Applicants So Far.
The greatest number of applica-
tons, she says, have come from Hud-
son and Essex counties, the two most
thickly populated in the state, the
former including Jersey City itself.
There have been 400 applications from
each, with Mercer county and Bur
lington county not far behind