Imperial Valley press., 1915-01-14
Widowed Mothers Pensions.


New York Evening Post: That a
mother is the best guardian of her
child; that the home is the best place
to bring up child; that children are
Of Importance to the state, therefore
that the maintenance of children in
good homes, under the care of the
mother is of Importance to the state,
but that no widowed mother can work
outside the home all day and take care
of her children as well as if she could
afford to stay at home, are some of
the facts set forth in a report made
by Richard Neustadt, the secretary of
the State Commission for the Relief
of Widowed Mothers, which was read
and discussed at a meeting held at
the Church of the Messiah recently.
Rev. John Haynes Holmes presided.
As Miss Helen Todd of California,
for five years state factory inspector
in Illinois, a social worker connected
with Hull House, who was one of the
speakers at the meeting, put it:
at seems as though no person on
earth could doubt the truth of one of
these statements made by the commits
sion, and yet the fact that a bill in
troduced in the New York state leg
islature last March for the relief of
widowed mothers by state aid was
voted down. The excuse was that the
state did not have enough money to
back such a piece of legislation, but
that very legislature passed an ap-
preparation of $4,000 for the protec
ton of pheasants and other game
birds"
The legislature of New York is to
have another chance to show its at
titude in regard to paying mother
pension "in return for services rem
dered in bringing children into the
world and in bringing them up" and
this chance will come in January.
when another bill will be introduced
by the commission providing for ade-
quate state relief for widowed moth
ers with children.
The commission has figures to
prove that this relief would be cheap
er than putting the children in insti-
tutions (there being at this time 1869
children in the institutions of the
state); that large percentage of
children who come under the surveil-
lance of the juvenile court are chill
dren with only one parent for guar
dian; that widowhood is the second
greatest cause of dependence (the
first being the disability of the bread
winner); that the large charitable or
ganizations, by their own statement.
confess they are unable to undertake
the pensioning of widowed mothers
and their children, and more figures
to prove many more facts in regard
to the expediency of pensioning wild
owed mothers.
And Owen Lovejoy, chairman of the
National Child Labor Committee,
spoke, endorsing all the recommenda- =
tions and findings of the committee,
and Mrs. Sarah Dawson of the League
of Mothers Clubs expressed the
leagues approval of the work of the
commission and said that she hoped
the bill might pass, and John Haynes
Holmes voiced his belief in the work
of the commission. AS Mr.. Lovejoy
expressed it:
"The men who took their guns and
went out to shoot other men in our
wars have been pensioned and the
government is paying thousands of
dollars year on those pensions. Why
ii Is rot as reasonable for the gov
ernment to pension a woman who. in
stead of trying to kill someone. gave
life to a child? | know some peo-
pie will shout Socialism, They might
as well shout Socialism at our pub
lie school system, which undertakes tc
tell parents what theV NAV or may