Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-07-19

PENSIONS FOR
MOTHERS URGED
Judge Henry Neil, of Chicago,
Explains System at Meeting
in English Capital.

in English Capital.
London, England, special.-A system of
mothers pensions, which has been adopted
In 30 states in the United States of Amer
lea, was explained by Judge Henry Neil.
OF Chicago, the author of the scheme. in
An interesting address delivered recently
In London. Judge Neil is at present
visiting the United Kingdom with a view
% acquainting people with the system of
mothers pensions. which he would like
to see extended to every part of the world.
and its provisions so expanded as to abol-
sh forever child poverty, in the same way
that free public schools have abolished
1literacy. Lord Lytton presided over the
meeting, which was also addressed by Mr..
George @Toul,nin, NJ. p. and Miss Maude
, Royden.
| d Neil, who was cordially welcomed
when he rose to speak, recalled the hos
.ility aroused over 50 years ago in Pkila-
ielphta when the idea of free public
schools supported by general taxation was
first mooted. The supporters of the idea
were denounced as anarchists and unde-
sirable citizens and were thrown into
prison. Some property owners said it was
confiscation to tax one mans property
TO educate another mars children. They
declared that each man should pay for
the schooling of his own children or their
children should go unschooled. and that 1t
would pauperize parents to educate their
children at public expense. People who
opposed this idea OF free public schools
declared that il parents who were poor
were relieved OF paying for the schooling
Of their own children. these parents would
become lazy and shiftless. The people OF
the United States were now no longer OF
that opinion. Last year over $4,000, 900
raised by general taxation, was willingly
spent on free public schools throughout
the states.
In 1893. Judge Neil said. most of the
states adopted juvenile court avs which
provided that the children's court could
AXE the children away from the parents
when they were not giving them proper
sare," and this was Often done in cases
where poverty was the only excuse for
such action. In this way tens of thous-
ands of children in the United States were
yeparated from their mothers during the
years from 1898 to 1911, and were placed
in institutions at great cost to the com
nunity. In New York city alone $3.50, 600
ot the rate payers money was expended
IN one year on the care of 10000 children.
Judge Neil told in a simple way how he
came to initiate the system Of mothers
pensions. In January, 1911, he went into
the juvenile court in Chicago and saw
the first case for the day tried under the
Juvenile court law. 1t was that of a
mother with five children clinging around
her skirts; the woman was SO weak
physically that she could not stand. Three
years before she had been left a widow,
and since then she had gone out wash
Ing to support her children. The excess
sive work proved too much for her and
she was unable to earn more money. The
landlord ordered her to move, and having
nowhere to go she was ordered into court.
The woman's anguish when the question
of taking her children from her was dis
cussed calmly in the court in her hearing
was not lost on Judge Neil. These women,
he sad, have nobody to represent them.
Then 1 will. Then and there he took up
the cause of struggling mothers. The
community paid to have destitute children
looked after in costly institutions, why not
pay the mothers to look after the chill
dren in their own homes? Forthwith lie
went to the state legislature of Illinois.
told them the story of the woman, and
asked them to enact a law by which a
widowed mother, with no reasonable
means of support, would be furnished with
money to support her children out Of the
common county tax fund. The legislature
enacted that law without a dissenting
vote. Since then it has been adopted with
success In 30 states.
The mothers pensions scheme is in no
sense a charity, this fact is specifically
stated in the notification the mother re-
ceives with her first check, and she is put
On the county pay roll in exactly the same
way as a county judge or the %janitor. The
eSb "AAASAA NSA~6S $1,000 " - "S"NA
for each case, is paid monthly, and is
granted for children up to the age Of IA,
though in specific cases it may be given
to children up to 16. The p%ensioned mother
Is not allowed to go out to work and has
to make a report of her expenditure. Some
supervision ts given, mostly by way OF in
structon, the object being to educate the
mother in the best way OF expanding the
money. II a pensioned mother proves UNI
able to handle the money, the pension may
be revoked. In practice. however, it has
been found that when the fear Of poverty
and the fear Of having her children taken
from her has been removed, the bad"
mother is almost entirely eliminated and
The pension Is seldom abused. This sys-
tenn Of pensioning mothers, Judge Neil
rays. has resulted in reducing the cost OF
maintaining destitute children by about
two-thirds.
The scheme has also had wonderful
esults in checking Juvenile crime. which
n some districts has been practically
stamped out after a six months trial of
NE pension system. In New York 10000
children go into the juvenile court charged
with crime, and the judge himself told
Judge Neil that rs per cent OF them would
never have been there If the mothers had
had pensions. Colorado had had a record
Of no children of pensioned mothers be-
lng brought into court charged with crime.