A state housing law is recommended. The necessity of proper renovation. Importance of community coöperation. Subnormal living conditions. New construction methods desirable. best objective. It preserves the city life of the state. It is not so much more difficult to secure than an ordinance in one city, and all cities profit from it. There are not enough differences between cities to make varying ordinances necessary. ... Third, center renovation. The city ought to be able to find a middle path between wholesale and excessively expensive renovation of old houses attempted in a year or two, and the other extreme of practically no renovation work. There are living rooms and service rooms now without any windows that could have skylights. . . . Slum spots in the center of the city. . . . could all be brought up to a better condition in less than a decade, if the need were studied and one of the areas renovated every other year. . . ... Fourth, community coöperation. . . . If a minimum amount of sanitary equipment is the common right of the public, for the purposes of public health and welfare, equally, also, is it the duty of the public to give that and all parts of rented property reasonable use. The children are now being taught to treat with respect public school property, the library, the parks and the playgrounds. They should receive steady schooling in the preservation of their own property and the house in which they live. There should be a constant, forceful pressure on the families that are living in a subnormal way. The elimination of the worst houses cannot be considered without some thought for the elimination of the worst families. In the lowest life, the house equipment and the wretched house habits are inseparable. There are families on the verge of degeneracy that need official prodding and prosecution; there are many families that need education in the care of the house, and there are some that ought to have help in maintaining a better home. The groups that are working with these families at their homes, such as friendly visitors, the truant and probation officers and the sanitary men of the health department, might well be counseled with, for the establishment of coördination of effort. . Fifth, new construction methods. The city ought to determine means for controlling not only the opening of new subdivisions that are without sewers and water, but also the occupancy of vacant, unserved blocks situated in areas now divided into lots. It ought to be possible to work out the details for city sanitary districts in which the city services and a minimum house equipment are a prerequisite. . . ... 135. Pensions for poor mothers 1 ers' pension movement began in Missouri, in 1911. Persons who may receive In 1911 the Missouri legislature passed a law which provided The moththat there should be paid out of the state treasury an allowance to mothers "whose husbands are dead or prisoners, when such mothers are poor and have a child and children under the age of 14 years." This was the beginning of the mothers' pension movement, which has since attained prominence in the majority of the states of the Union. Pensions to mothers who are of themselves unable properly to rear their children, are not considered charity, but a reimbursement extended by the state to its most important social servant. The purpose of mothers' pension laws is to prevent the breaking up of the home, when by death or otherwise the natural support of the family is removed. The following is a summary of mothers' pension laws in the different states, as formulated by the Children's Bureau in the United States Department of Labor: Persons to whom aid may be given. · The law applies to any parent who on account of poverty is unable to care properly for a dependent or neglected child, but is otherwise a proper guardian, in Colorado and Nebraska; to any parent or grandparent in Nevada; to any parent or guardian in Wisconsin. In the other states it applies only to mothers. In California, New Jersey, Oklahoma . . . the mother must be a widow to receive the benefits of the act. In the remaining states not only widows but the following other classes of mothers with dependent children are included: mothers whose husbands are in prison in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington; mothers whose husbands are in state insane asylums in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington; mothers whose husbands are totally incapacitated, physically or mentally, in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington; deserted wives in Michigan, Ohio, (if deserted for three years), Pennsylvania, and Washington (if deserted for one year). . . . ... ... 1 From the United States Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, Laws Relating to Mothers' Pensions in the United States, Denmark and New Zealand. Washington, 1914; pp. 9-11 public aid ous states. Conditions governing the distribu tion of pub lic aid: (a) degree of poverty, (b) conditions in the home, (c) and residence. Age of the Conditions on which aid is given. (a) Degree of poverty. — The condition of receiving aid under these laws is uniformly that of poverty, with certain definitions added in some of the laws. In Washington the mother must be destitute; in New Hampshire and Utah she must be dependent entirely on her own efforts for support; in Oregon, wholly or partly dependent; in Illinois she may not own real property or personal property other than household effects. In Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, and Utah the aid must in the judgment of the court be necessary to save the child from neglect; in New Jersey, from becoming a public charge. (b) Home conditions. In most of the laws the requirement is made that the mother is a fit person, morally and physically, to bring up her children and that it is for the welfare of the child to remain at home. In Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, and Utah it is made conditional that the child or children be living with the mother and that the mother shall not work regularly away from home. In South Dakota she may not be absent for work more than one day a week; in Illinois and Ohio the amount of time is left to the discretion of the court. (c) Residence. In Washington and Minnesota one year's residence in the county is required; in Idaho, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Utah two years' residence; in Illinois and Pennsylvania three years' residence. Some of the states require "legal residence" in the state; Minnesota, two years' residence; California and Massachusetts, three years; California and Illinois require, in addition, that the applicant be a citizen of the United States. Age of child. The maximum age of a child on whose account an allowance may be made is 14 years of age in California, Illinois (may be extended to 16 years if child is ill or incapacitated for work), Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; 15 in Idaho, Utah, and Washington; 16 in Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Oregon; 17 in Michiganf; and 18 in Nebraska and Nevada. The legal working age is the limit in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Amount of allowance. The maximum allowance for one child is $2 a week in Iowa, $3 a week in Michigan. It is $9 a month for the allowance. one child, $14 for two children, and $4 for each additional child in Amount of New Jersey; $10 a month for each child in Minnesota and Nebraska; $10 a month for one child and $5 for each additional child in Idaho, Missouri (i.e. Jackson County), New Hampshire, and Utah; $10 for one child and $7.50 for each additional child in Oregon; $12 for one child and $4 for each additional child in Wisconsin ; $12 for one child, $20 for two children, $26 for three children, and $5 for each additional child in Pennsylvania; $12.50 for each child in California ($6.25 a month by the state and a like amount by the city or county); $15 for one child and $5 for each additional child in Washington; $15 for one child and $7 for each additional child in Ohio and South Dakota; $15 for one child and $10 for each additional child in Illinois (not to exceed in all $50 for any one family). In Colorado, Massachusetts, and Nevada no maximum is set, but the amount must be sufficient to care properly for the child, with the restriction in Nevada that it may not exceed what it would cost to maintain and educate the child in a county or state home.. of the divorce evil, and the proposal for One indication of family instability is the divorce rate. Students Seriousness of American social conditions have frequently pointed out that in the United States the divorce rate is not only very high, but is rapidly increasing. Of the numerous remedies proposed for this condition, one of the most interesting is that of a uniform divorce law throughout the United States. In 1906 a National Congress on Uniform Divorce Laws met in Philadelphia and proposed a statute, from which the following passage is an extract: An Act Regulating Annulment of Marriage and Divorce Article I- Annulment of marriage Section 1. Causes for annulment. A marriage may be annulled for any of the following causes exist ing at the time of the marriage. 1 From the United States Bureau of the Census, Special Report on Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906. Washington, 1909. Part 1, pp. 272-273. a uniform divorce law. Causes which may justify an annulment of marriage. (b) Consanguinity or affinity according to the table of degrees established by law, at the suit of either party. . . . (c) When such marriage was contracted while either of the parties thereto had a husband or wife living, at the suit of either party. (d) Fraud, force, or coercion, at the suit of the innocent and injured party, unless the marriage has been confirmed by the acts of the injured party. (e) Insanity of either party. . . (f) At the suit of the wife when she was under the age of 16 years at the time of the marriage, unless such marriage be confirmed by her after arriving at such age. (g) At the suit of the husband when he was under the age of 18 at the time of the marriage, unless such marriage be confirmed by him after arriving at such age. Causes for divorce from the bonds of matrimony. Section 2. Kinds of. Divorce shall be of two kinds: (a) Divorce from the bonds of matrimony. . . . (b) Divorce from bed and board. ... Article III Divorce from the bonds of matrimony Section 3. Causes for. The causes for divorce from the bonds of matrimony shall be: (a) Adultery. (b) Bigamy, at the suit of the innocent and injured party to the first marriage. (c) Conviction and sentence for crime . . . followed by a continuous imprisonment for at least two years, or in the case of indeterminate sentence, for at least one year. (d) Extreme cruelty, on the part of either husband or wife. (f) Habitual drunkenness for two years. The causes for divorce from bed and board shall be: |