Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-12-21
POORMASTERS OF
STATE To GATHER
widows Pension Law" Will
Be Discussed at Meeting
Next Saturday.

The annual meeting OF the poor
masters Of New Jersey will be held
at the City Hall next Saturday aft
! ernoon. One of the most important
measures to be discussed will be the
| widows pension law This law,
according to the present plans, will
provide for the support Of children
of INDECENT widows. The session will
be presided over by Harry L. Barck,
oYerseer of the poor in Hoboken.
Under the present system of the
widows pension law" the widow
files, petition for aid with the State
Board of Children's Guardians, which
investigates the case and refers it TO
Judge of the Court Of Common
Pleas having jurisdiction in the dis
trict in which the petitioner lives.
Discussing the present system Presi-
dent Barck said.
While the system theoretically
may be all right, its practical work
ings have developed shortcomings
which have tended to defeat the very
purpose for which it was intended.
This purpose is to afford relief when
relief is really needed. Some appli
cants have had to wait fifteen months
before their petitions have reached
the court for final disposition. Sew
eral petitions filed last July have not
vet been acted upon. Some method
is needed by which aid can be ex
tended promptly in urgent cases.
Furthermore. it is believed that
the overseers should have charge of
all cases instead of subjecting them
to the delays of the court. They also
declare the allowance that is given
to a strange family for the support
of q child, which in some cases is
81 so per week, should be paid to the
mother providing she is competent
to care for it. I consider 1t a bad
thing to break up home unless 1t
is absolutely necessary.
Urges Change.
Il believe there should be a change
in the legislation governing cases in
which parents fail to support their
families. The law at present provides
that the parent shall furnish a bond
family. This bond, however, in a
great majority of cases is hard to Sc
cure and the parent is paroled. A
better system, in the opinion Of the
majority of the oYer5eers, would oe
to have the parent get someone else
to furnish the bond, the bondsman
to produce the parent in court in
case of failure to live up to the
courts decree.
"Instead Of referring to the State
Board of Children's Guardians cases
in which the parents fail to support
their families and saddiing the ex-
pense on the taxpayers, some way
should be found by which the parents
could find employment. This could
be accomplished by granting to the
Il1a y.l 80 aat1f f7faFe a
authority to give employment TO the
heads of such families who otherwise
are unable to get employment"
Surrounding the Hudson county
institutions at Snake Hill is a vast
undeyeloped meadow area which the
county owns. Why not put the un-
employed at work on this tract, re-
claiming hundreds of acres which
could be used as tillable land or made
available for other purposes?
have no doubt that opportunity to
give remunerative employment to the
unemployed also exists in other coun-
ties than Hudson. Finding work for
those who are unable TO find work
for themselves is very urgent at the
present time. Each county now bears
a heavy burden for the support of
INDECENT parents.
1T is the special desire of the State
Association of Oversers of the Poor
to have a modification of the laws
relating to cases of dependency. 1t
is also desirable that there should be
provision made for a unification OF
effort in the various municipalities in
order to avoid the evil of promis-
cuous dispensation Of charity"
Another subject, which, it is ex-
pected, will be discussed al the con-
vention is legal residence" under
the laws regulating public charities.
A law passed in 1911, through the ef-
forts of the New Jersey State Chart
ties Aid and Prison Reform Associa-
ton, placed the time at one year. In
1912 this was extended to five years.
New Jersey has 100 municipalities
with overseers Of the poor, of which
3S1 are represented in the State as
ISOLATION. The officers, in addition
to President Barck, are: Vice-presi-
dent, Thomas O'Neil, Paterson; re-
cording secretary, George Meeneley,
West Hoboken; corresponding secre-
tary, Charles Kuhn, Orange; treas
urer, Emil Sattler, Elizabeth.