The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-27
ISSUES next YEAR
Prohibition and Mothers PEN
SiODs Paramount in Nation.
Governor Capper Says They
VIII Be Forced to Front.
WILL Be MADE NATION wide
Questions VIII Be Crowded Into
the National Campaign.
On a NOnpartisan Basis, De-
cIares the Governor.
WILL Be MADE NATION wide

Natioaal prohibition and mothers
lpersion legislation will be the big ma
fional and state issues in the 1916
csmpaign. according to the predlctlon
Of Governor CapDer. These measures
will he torced to the front with the
party controversy concerning the tar
if monetary issues and the foreign
policy O. the national administration
the Kan Sas governor believes.
In ietter to Otto Feely, a mothers
pepsion advocate OF Oak Park, Ill,
Governor Capper declares both pro
hibition and mothers pension de-
mands Rill be crowded into the cam
paign as nOn-pa rtisan issues The
governC1 points 20 the fact that nine
teen states now have prohibitcry
LIQUOR laws. while mothers pension
legislation has been enacted in TWEEN
tv-six Ssstes- The Kansas governor
believes shat III the next campaign an
effort vail be made to make the two
reforms nationwide
Ehe Governors Letter.
The governors letter tc Feely was
as follcS
Next year will be year of cleo
lions. year Of partisan strife; party
lines w.ll be drawn on the question
of tariff tie monetary situation the
domestic and foreign policy of the
present administration and many
other Problems OF nationwide import.
There are two issues, however, that
Will enter INTO the CdIlpaASh NlA-NAA
will net draw their supporters nor
their opponents from the ranks of
any one political orga nizatlon- They
are both nOn-partlsan IN character
and NATIONAL in scope.
one = the national prohibition of
the traffic IN intoxicating liquors. The
other is he question OF mothers PEN
sions. the enactment by all states OF
laws authorizing the extension of state
aid to ieedy widows and mothers
Both OF these issues or movements
are based upon the same principle
the broad. humanitarian principle OF
the Strengthening ard preservation as
a unit Of that greatest of American
instftuttrns-the home. And both are
equally deserving of support
Prohibition seeks to remove from So
cIerv-frorn the home-the damnable
Influences of the saloon. 1t hopes to
put forever from the youth OF the lano
the eu.otations and pitfalls whlch
surroupS the grog-shOp and to drive
alcoholism from the home, which
without euch baneful influence would
be happS and prosperous. 1t hopes to
insure q, every child the right to be
born frzs from the faint of alcoholism
1t Is a Life Saver.
The mothers pension is the life
saver OF the poor widow and mother,
the stray at which she grasps When,
through death or other cause, she is
deprived of the support of the hus-
hand and father in providing for the
circums. Hnces to cope with situation
which il her inexperience she cannot
hope 70 meet successfully 1t is then
that tho horror of the almshOuse
looms big before her; she sees the
yawninR doors of the poorhOuse; she
sees her children torn from her and
parcelleA out among state institutions,
there to receive care at the hands of
public servants which at best can only
be perfunctory. However kind and
tender the servants in our institutions
may be in their miniStrations, they
must far far short of filling the place
of the mother. 1t has been shown |
that a mother can care for her own |
children. and rear them in the midst |
of all the influences of home training
for less moaey, and infinitely better |
than the state can perform the same |
service perfunctorily.
So 1 relieve it is here. then, that the |
state should step IN. not wholly from a |
spirit Of Observation-Disclosures, but from /
an economic standpoint as we'll. I be- |
lieve TIE state has done less than its /
full duty when it does not provide |
means and opportunity to rear her |
children under the best possible home |
influences. that she may in return re- |
ciprocate by giving to the state true, |
upright patriotic citizens, acknowl- |
edging their obligation to their state |
and AM nous to fuir1i1 it
Nineteen states now have prohibi-
ton; t~enty-six states have passed |
motherH pension legislation. Both |
movements go hand IN hand. aiming at |
the SAINT goal. and believe it is only |
question of a comparatively short |
time when every state in the Union, |
and the nation as whole, will recog-
nize the Justice of their principles and |
the great part they will play in the up |
building of citizenship.