davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

for the benevolent to help her retain
her home, while 1t has been regarded
as her duty to keep "'on the rates
at no matter what expenditure of labor
away from home. II We take in
earnest all that We say of the duties
and responsibilities of motherhood, we
shall recognize that the mother OF young
children is doing better service to the
community and one more worthy OF De-
cuniary remuneration when she stays
at home and minds her children than
when she goes out charing and leaves
them to the chances of the street or the
care of a neighbor.
Not More Costly.
On the financial side It is claimed by
the advocates of mothers'-or chiIdren's
pensions that. considering all the fac
tors of the problem, the system Will
cost no more in the long run than does
the present method OF institutional care
and aid from private charitable organ
izations- Judge Pickney. of the Chicago
Juvenile Court, who was one OF those
who urged the passage OF the Illinois
law. lately said in regard to its practical
working:
The act is economical The economy
of its present practice in Illinois has
been clearly demonstrated. Take a wild
owed mother and her group of six little
ones-three girls and three boys. Even
after you eliminate the mother and her
future welfare from your consideration
you will find that the amount of money
demanded by institutions for their care
and custody is nearly double that re-
quired to rear these children in their
own homes. The expense of maintain
ing this family group of six In institu-
tons is $40 per month. 1t must be con-
ceded that these children, including the
mother, can be supported at home at
much smaller monthly expenditure.
In Missouri, which now comes for
ward to SHOW" after having for so
long demanded to be shown" in other
matters, a widows allowance has
been in operation for the last two years
The State had previously been spending
more than 100000 for the institutional
care Of children. So far. under the new
law, figures show the cost to be not
more than half that amount.
In New York City. under the present
method, the city pays SIS per week
for each child cared for by an insti-
tuition and s2.75 a week when II is cared
for on the cottage plan. In addition,
% cents a week Is allowed for education,
and it is now proposed to add as much
more for Industrial training. This brings
the total OF the sum paid Dy the state
per child to more than the amount al
lowed by the pension system. II a needy
widow in New York City. for instance,
has five children which must be sent
to an institution because she can no
longer keep her home together for their
support or education. the city will pay
Us per month. Under the new law in
Ohio, which makes more generous pro-
vision than do some other States, their
support at home with their mother will
cost the public but si3
When the Levy bill was Nunder con-
much opposition was ex-
pressed to il by some of the charitable
on the ground that 1t
was not needed, that the private or
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

ganizations already in the field were
amply able to take care of all such
cases. Some social workers declared
also, that nearly all such measures
would hamper their efforts to give all
women a more dignified, better organ
lied, better safeguarded industrial stat
u.s." In fact. opposition to the plan of
State funds for needy widowed mothers
has been voiced strongly by private char
ity organizations in several large cities.
they declare that the resources Of
private charity are so large that they
are adequate to meet all needs. and that
for the State to- interfere will result
merely in the muddling up of the whole
matter and the duplication of effort and
expense. To these Mr.. Hard made
answer that they would improve the
situation by whipping up the business
man in his capacity as philanthropist.
would whip up that same man in his
capacity of taxpayer From his own
standpoint. incidentally. and for the
good of his own soul. since he has to pay
the bill anyway. and ought to pay 1t.
would have him do so in the manner
least calculated to tempt him toward
thinking that he is performing an act
of moral grandeur when he is really
performing an act of elementary civic
routine
ROBERT W. HeDDeru, secretary OF the
State Board of Charities. endeavored to
placate the private organizations by
showing how they could cooperate with
the State by furnishing that supervision
and that teaching in better ways of liv-
ing that many such aided families would
need. In Chicago il has been found that
a regular income coming. as II were,
like mama from the sky, is apt to lead
the. pensioned ones into habits of extrav-
agance. The general knowledge that
they are sure of this income makes 1t
easy for them to get credit, and the
greater portion Of them run behind In
their expenditures anywhere from 81 to
s24 per month Mr.. Hebberd thinks that
IL a pension law should be passed In this
State. both the public funds and the
private efforts of the existing organiza-
tons would have plenty OF opportunity,
the one by, affording the necessary finan-
cial help and the other by furnishing
instruction and advice.
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

the States future citizens and the con-
sequent home environment are such val
liable assets that il is worth the States
while TO spend effort and money TO con-
serve them.
Thus the Ohio law in specifying the
conditions under which the allowance may
, be made says that the child for whose
benefit it is offered must be living with
its mother. that without the allowance
she would be required to work regularly
away from home and children. that with
1t she will be able to remain at home
with her children. Her own character
and the sort of home environment she
will provide are also made the subject
of investigation by accredited officers.
But, granted that these are found even
passable, II is the evident conviction of
the lawmakers that a humanizing, saw
ing, ennobling influence is exerted upon
the child's character by the holding to-
gether of the home, of their own little
possessions, and by enabling the child to
feel that around him. and being exerted
constantly for his interest, are the mother
interest. the mother care, the mother love.
Home Best Place for Children.
It is a long recognized fact among So
cial workers that home care has to be
very, poor indeed not to produce better
results than does the upbringing of chill
in practice also that the plan of board
ing out children in other families is not
nearly SO efficient in fostering some of
the best elements of character as the
plan of allowing them to grow up in
their own homes, provided that these
are of equal or nearly equal grade.
Therefore, the State is beginning to
deem it expedient to step in and con-
serve that asset of home influence and
mother-care, just because II produces
better citizens than does any other
method of child rearing OF course, the
movement is a step square in the face
of that modern tendency to remove chill
dren more and more from the hands of
the mother and put them under specially
trained supervision of one sort or an
other in order that the mother may be
left free to follow her own avocations,
or. il she choose. her vocation.
The unanimity and heartiness of the
mothers pension movement and the
rapidity of its progress seem to indi-
cate that society Is recoiling from the
idea of allowing mother and children to
be SO much separated. to feel that it
is unnatural and therefore of sinister
omen. Perhaps before long society will
begin to ask itself why, if it is SO de-
sirable, so much for the general bene-
fit, for mothers who are poor and I'M
cultivated to rear their own children,
would 1t not be still more for the public
benefit for well-to-do mothers of educa-
ton and capacity to devote their time
and talents to that same work.
Many of the advocates of the moth
ers' pension system object to the term
pension" They feel that II implies.
especially for Americans. the idea Of
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

While some women are declaring
havl their children cared for where
and how they chose in order that they
may &C outside the home and earn
money, society is deciding in many
states to pay some women. who other
wise would have to go out and earn
money, to stay at home and take care
of their children themselves.
The women teachers of New York
City and some other portions of the
community are much stirred up be-
cause one of their number has been
refused a brief leave of absence with
the expectation that a. soon as her
child should he a few months old she
would return to her duties in The
sckoolroom and turn the care of the
infant over to some one else. Recently
at a public meeting a number of prom
inent women protested vigorously
against this. decision. and urged that
it is the right of any married woman,
children or no children. to continue
her work in any profession or other
gainful occupation. If she has chill
dren. they said, she could have some
skilled person take care of them in
her own home, or send them out dur
ing the day to one of those places that
women skilled in mother-work are es-
tablishing for that purpose.
some Absurditics.
And while all this was going on the
Legislature was considering a bill to
pay women whose profession is scrub
bling, or day working, or something of
tina; sort, to stay home and take care
of their children themselves. The
sc-ubwoman would send her babies to
an ordinary institution" while the
a sort of glorified institution" but
still a substitute. a makeshift, for the
home and a hired foster-mother. And
it is exactly the home and the mother
that various Legislatures are saying
must be saved for the child. even il
the State must pay that mother to en-
able her to retain her natural place
by its side.
The situation has its absurdities, but
il is not the first time in the course
of civilization that individual desires
have run counter to the social con-
science and the convictions of the So
cial body. Will the feminists, in the
end, recede from their standpoint of
extreme individualism and consent to
resume the worid-oid duties of moth
erhood? Or will growing and wild
enfng social conviction as to the eco
nomic value of that motherhood finally
lead the State to pay all mothers for
the time and effort they spend in the
rearing of their children?
Whatever may be the outcome at
present among the manifold social
movements of the time. there is none
that is growing more rapidly than this
of providing assistance from the pub
lie nurse for the mother with children
dependent upon her earnings who. other
wise. would have to break up her home
and send her little ones to public in
situations. Thirteen State Legislatures
have passed these so-calied widows
laws, the greater part of them
within the last year. A number of cities
have provided similar aid by municipal
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18
saving More Millions.

From the New York World.
Millions of dollars will be saved the
government by the use of newly de-
yised stamp-printing machine. The ap-
paratus is scheduled to turn out mile
Of postage stamps every FIVE minutes.
1t was designed by Benjamin r. Stick
ney. There will be saving of 81 per
cent in the production cost of stamps.
This new machine, which prints.
gums. dries, perforates. and either cuts
into sheets or winds into coils 1900
stamps in one minute. will save the
government several million dollars in
.he cost of stamps alone in the course
of few years. The Bureau of Engrav-
ing and Printing now turns out 10000
eco stamps daily, but with the use of
the new machine and because of the
increased demand. II will be able to
manufacture many more millions . day.
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

payment for past services. a rigid rule
of payment. regardless of needs or
conditions. and a lack of responsibility
on the part of the person receiving II
for it's benefcent use. They object
still more to such terms as relief" and
charity" and aid" because these
connote the dole of aims rather than
payment for services rendered. They
object vigorously TO having the mother
caring for her children by means of
State aid referred to as a dependent"
They want her to feel, and every one
else to feel concerning her, that she is
giving value received and they do not
want her self-respect to be in the least
wounded. Says william Hard in a re-
cent article in the Survey: ITO call
such a person a dependent is to me
as monstrous as 10 call the Librarian
of Congress a dependent He is paid
for his work; she for hers. And she
should be paid by those for whom she
does it-all the citizens OF the State.
not the subscribers to the charities"
1t has been suggested by another
writer that "children's pensions" would
be better title for this new form of
State aid than any other yet proposed.
and many of the proponents of the
principle agree with him. They urge
that the money Is intended 10 benefit
primarily. not the widow, but the chill
dren, and that to bring out his idea
more plainly would help people to see
that such an appropriation is intended
to further the general good, just as
is an appropriation for bridges or good
roads.
The Levy bill in this state recog-
nized this feeling against giving to
such pensions the aspect of charity.
for 1t established a Department of
Home Assistance" which was to be
applicable, however, not to the whole
State, but to New York City only.
Prof. Hobhouse, of London Univer-
sity, has stated in very clear terms the
position of those who believe in moth
ers' pensions. but object to any char
acterization of them of any feeling
about them that carries the faint of
charity. In his book of Liberalism"
he says, and his words have been
quoted over and over again in this
country by the advocates of the sys-
tenn:
We no longer consider it desirable to
drive the mother Widowed or deserted
and needy out to her charing work IL
We possibly can avoid it. nor do we con-
slider her degraded by receiving public
money. We cease, in fact, to regard
the public money as a dole; We treat 1t
as payment for civic service: and
the condition We are inclined to exact
is precisely that she should not en-
deavor to add TO II hy earning wages.
but rather that she should keep her
home respectable and bring up her chill
dren in health and happiness.
Hitherto she has been regarded as an OBJ
5ect Of charity. !. has been . matter
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18
New Yoks Effort Enable Widows Stay Home and Look
After Their Children Instead of Going Out Work Failed
but Other States Are Trying Plan with Varying Success

where it was properly expended and
helped to keep together homes that were
worth preserving, that the law was as
successful and served as we'll the public
benefit as do the majority of laws.
The Ohio Law.
The Ohio law was passed a month ago,
but will not go into operation for full
year. 1t was prepared with more care
and with fuller understanding of the
significance of what was being done than
was the case with the Illinois statute. OF
this latter States action captious observ-
ers have said that the legislators enacted
the mothers pension law without realiz-
ing what they were doing. 1t may be
taken for granted, however, that those
social workers who had instigated the
measure knew what they were about. In
Ohio commission appointed by former
Gov. Harmon to draft childrens law
code gave ample study to the question of
mothers pensions, and made that pro-
vision part of the code, which passed
the Legislature and received the sanction
of Gov. Cox practically unchanged.
By this law assistance may be given to
mothers whose husbands are dead per
manently disabled. prisoners, or have de-
serted their families for three years, il
their children are not old enough to work
and they cannot support their families
without working away from home, and
they are themselves proper persons to
have the care of children, and have been
legal residents of any county in the State
for two years. The making of the allow
ance is put into the hands of the Juvenile
Court, and the allowance is limited to
SIS a month for one child and 81 addi-
tional for each child under legal working
age. The bill provides for an annual tax
levy of cne-tenth of mill, which, 1t Is
expected. will create a mothers pension
fund of SOC. 900 each year.
Pennsylvania followed Ohio within a
fortnight and passed bill appropriating
100000 from the State treasury for moth
ers' pensions, to be apportioned among
the counties according to their popula-
ton. Any county desiring to use its ap-
preparation may petition the Governor,
whose duty 1t will then be to appoint a
committee of five women to administer
the law for that county. They are em-
to investigate the case of aban-
doned or widowed mothers and recon-
mend payments of not exceeding SO a
month for one child. $40 for two children,
SIS for three. and IS per month for each
additional child. The New Jersey law
makes slightly less generous appropria-
ton per child. while the law of Michigan,
also passed less than month ago, pro-
vides that needy mothers having children
dependent upon them can draw from the
public funds not to exceed s. per week
for each child, upon the order of the
Probate Court.
All this legislation shows by its word
ing that 1t is based upon the conviction
that the best person to care for child.
except In exceptional cases. is its own
mother. and that this mother care for
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

think I should have been radical, any,
way. Still, II 1 had obtained employ
ment in a New York bank II Is possible
that might have been monopolist and
not a Socialist as I am today.
He Won and Lost a Debate.
II Joined a turner's society in Milwau-
kee. Progress and Poverty by Henry
George fell into my hands / read II
and was carried away. 1t contains some
truth, but II is unsound for most part, as
/ now understand. We debated all kinds
Of questions at the turner's society. Sew
eral Of the new members were Socialists
recently arrived from Germany. l de-
bated with one of them. a mechanic who
didn't comprehend his subject very well.
He talked Socialism and I talked single
tax. The members said I had the better
of the argument Down in my heart,
however, i knew that he had beaten me.
/ could see as we went along that he was
incapable of properly presenting his
case. That debate turned me into a So
cialist. Not all at once. but it caused
me to buy 500 worth of books and be-
fore | had read them / ceased to be
single taxer."
How long were you teacher"
For nine years. I then resigned and
invested my savings in a German daily
newspaper. 1t was a Socialistic sheet
and was going through the last struggles
Of a slow death. Times had been hard
but they made me, / now confess-when
I first came to the United States. Well,
they became worse after / was an editor.
/ borrowed money OF every one who would
loan me a cent. For seven years I ran
that paper. How / kept 1t afioat ! can
not tell. We suspended publication in
1925. In February of this year 0sl3)
l paid the last of the debt that has kept
me at the edge of poverty in what should
have been the most productive part of
my life. Others were associated with
me in the ownership of the paper and I
could have wriggled out from under the
load
"oh. such times. Occasionally 1 had
to go out in the composing room among
the printers. / never went unless l had
to. The moment l appeared the printers
would stop work. hold out their hands
and mournfully say: Money. money
was operating labor newspaper. but
i guess 1 had fifty strikes the first two
years. l knew the walking delegate of
the printers union-he was Socialist
and he would come around every few
days and patch up my difficulties. Mer-
chants would not advertise with us be-
cause We only had 5000 subscribers
Why the Landlord Was Helpless.
"Once 1 was eighteen months back in
my rent. In those days the property of
a printer. up to the value of 81. 800. was
exempt from attachment. The only thing
my landlord could do was to put me into
the street. but l had him there. because
it would have cost him $500 to move my
old press. which was as large as a house
and as slow as COW and only printed
500 copies OF my paper an hour when 60
ing at full speed. The landlord, conse-
quently, could do no more than threaten.
but il was disagreeable to have him
around.
often We had no coal. And the
weather goes below zero in Milwaukee.
My staff consisted of a reporter, a city
editor. and an editor-in-chief. The re-
porter could go out after news and get
The Washington herald., 1913-05-18

ordinances. New York State barely
last few weeks. The bill introduced by
Assemblyman Levy passed the lower
house triumphantly. but failed in the
Senate during the hurried last days of
the session. II, or a similar bill, will
be brought up again before the next
Legislature, when 1t will probably be-
come law. 1t is not unlikely, con-
sidering the rapid growth of the move
ment, that within two or three more
years nearly every State in the Union
will have decided that widowed and de-
serted mothers must have the helping
hand of the State, If necessary, to keep
their homes intact 1t has even been
suggested that there should be a Fed
eral law to this effect, but, as yet. no
one seems to have taken that PROPOSE
ton seriously.
Illinois is credited with the initiation in
this country of this method of extending
the helping hand. In that State the pro-
vision. which is section of the juvenile
law. was passed just two years ago, and
went into operation July l, 1911 California
and Colorado soon followed her example.
Since the first of this year ten more
States-Washington, Utah. South Dakota.
Idaho, Minnesota, Iowa. Nebraska. Ohio,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania-have
BoSSSS law O. III doullloit, 1hissOuTl
has authorized Kansas City to adopt the
system. Wisconsin, without definite
enactment, has been conducting a SINH
lar enterprise in a limited way, and in
three other States city ordinances or the
powers bestowed upon State boards have
established therein the principal OF wild
ow's pensions. Similar laws are now be-
ing considered by seven other States.
The Illinois law provides that If the
parpDt or paraDts of any daDepdant 0r
neglected child are so poor as to be
unable to care for it properly, but are
otherwise suitable guardians, and 1t is
for the welfare of the child to remain
in its home, the court may order the
county board to pay to its parent such
a sum of money, fixed by the court, as
may be necessary to provide properly
for its care.
Results OfN investigation.
A special investigator, C. C. Carstens,
sent by the Russell Sage Foundation to
study the workings of this law in Chi
cago, made an unfavorable report He
said that in half the cases he studied
relatives, churches, and employers had
greatly lessened their interest in the
families who were receiving these PEN
sions: that in eighty-nine cases the pro-
baton officers supervising the pensioned
families were found incompetent; that
one-tenth of the families so helped were
so drunken. immoral and diseased that
the environment was not fit for children
to grow up in; and that one-third Of the
homes were such that the help given
was of doubtful value to the state.
To his criticisms William Herd, who
for nearly two years has been conduct
ing department the Delineator on the
subject of legislation concerned with
women and children, and has constantly
favored the mothers pensions idea. has
replied that the principle should not be
condemned because of local flaws in its
application. He finds, by Mr.. Carsten's
own figures, that such a large amount
Of the money provided went into honest