Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1914-01-01


~ EWARK, N. J-She stands in
the door of the shanty she calls
i'm home on the outskirts of the
city. A child clings to each
hand and another clutches tightly to
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 bris'S
chimney on which hang children's ga
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 sim
gle room. but It is spotlessly clean.
This is the home of the first widow
In Jersey to be pensioned 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
nificance OF which Is hardly appreciat-
ed. 1t is only when one can peer into
o home where the pension has come
or perhaps, more aptly, has peered in
to 1t before and after the coming
that 1t 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 %.
BY July 20 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 needy mother has been
heard from there lis 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
uIGS UlhAhBp Oil iuChbiCdAs AuE liuDb
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 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. If she becomes pensioner |
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 |
a month for one child, $14 month
for two children and $1S 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 a 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 mo trace of
unhappiness In 1t.
How does 1t work." she answered,
and her voice was full with emotion.
~Finei"
shs paused to smooth with a thin