The Connecticut labor news., 1923-07-27
MOTHERS PENSION DOING GREAT WORK
 AMONG CHILDREN
Has Mended Many Broken Homes and Kept Families
 Together.

Broken homes mended, mothers saved from the loss of their children, children assured a better chance in life-these a1se some of the results of mothers pension" laws now in force in all but six states, two states having been added in 1923. How these laws are administered in rep resentative group of communities is described in detail in a report just issued by the U. s. Department of Labor through the Children's Bureau on Standards of Public Aid to Chil- dren in Their Own Homes"
 Boston, Denver, and St. Louis, Hennepin County, Minn., (which in cludes Minneapolis), Haverhill, Mass, Westchester and Montgomery Coun- and Yellow Medicine County, Minn., were studied as representing com munities of various types, from the large city to the. rural county.
 The purpose of the investigation was to collect material showing the methods. and standards worked out in the communities studied, so that other agencies administering public aid to children in their own homes might benefit by their experience.
 Reasons why mothers of young children found it necessary to seek public aid were studied. The death of the father of the family was the compelling factor in three-fourths of the cases studied; in about one-ffth of the cases, 1t was the fathers 1l1 ness or other incapacity.
 In the communities studied aid was granted for 3,o4o children to the amount of $4I,78I, the monthly aver age per child for the different com munities varying from $Io,68 to $1oI7.
 Amounts granted to the families were in most cases based on carefully drawn-up family budgets, covering necessary food costs, fuel light, clothing, rent, and miscellaneous items. The public aid granted was usually supposed to cover the deficit between the family budget, as esti- mated, and the family resources, though in four of the six states wis ited maximum was fixed by law be- yond which the administrative body could not go, no matter how great the need. Denver had the highest proportion of families with adequate incomes, as measured by the esti- mated budgets. #f~
 
 woman at home from $5.z5 to $2 a month, and children at home some what less.
 In all the communities studied, 1t was recognized that the mere giving of money was not all the help needed by these mothers and children. Near ly half of the fathers of the families had been laborers and semi-skilled workers, and of the group for whom weekly earnings were recorded o2 per cent. had earned less than $35 a week Often the mothers and children had suffered physically through low liv ing standards even before the fath- CTS death and needed medical and health service, as well as advice about food and general hygiene. The agen- cies aimed to bring the families up to par physically, to suggest the best methods of household management, to advise about the recreation of chill dren, and to act as friends of the lone ly mother.
 Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole report is the chapter en- titled What the aid meant to the children" Instance after instance is given of the homes and families to whom such aid meant the difference between despair and the chance for happiness. For example:
 "The s family came to the atten- ton of the officials administering al- ! lowances through the school The 1 teachers reported that the children , were irregular Tn attendance, habitu- l ally tardy, and that they were poorly l clothed and appeared to be neglected Their school work was poor, and they frequently fell asleep over their les sons. Investigation showed that the father had died the year before, leav- ing little to his wife and four small sons except the heavily mortgaged | ramshackle house in which they lived They earned scanty living by sell ing papers. The mother was frail, and she and the children were out in all kinds of weather, often in rain- soaked shoes and too thin clothing. to sell and were often out until late at night. They were given aid. It was six years later that the writer saw them in comfortable homelike Hat. The oldest boy held a, fairly good position and was going to night school. One boy was in high school, and the others had good grade-school records.
 "One brave-spirited woman with six children had tried to struggle along with what she could make out of keeping a confectionery store, at which she hoped that school children would buy She had no business training, and things went very badly There were days when her own chis- dren came from school to find not even bread, and she heard them cry with hunger But 1t was only when a kindly neighbor, suspecting the truth said to her, Look me in the eye and tell me whether you have had anything to eat. today that the