Full text of The Administration of the Aid-to-Mothers Law in Illinois, Legal Series No. 7, Bureau Publication No. 82

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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
W. B. WILSON, Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
JULIA C. LATHROP, Chief

THE ADMINISTRATION
OF THE AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW
IN ILLINOIS
By

EDITH ABBOTT
AND

SOPHONISBA P. BRECKINRIDGE

L E G A L SE R IES N o. 7
Bureau Publication N o. 82

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1921

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CONTENTS.
Page.

5
7-17

Letter of transmittal_______________________
Introduction__________

The funds-to-parents act of 1911___*_______________\____________________
10
The aid-to-mothers act o f 1913_______________ ___________________________
12
The aid-to-mothers law as amended in 1915 and in 1917_______________
14
P a r t I. The administration of the aid-to-mothers law in the Cook County
(Chicago) juvenile cou rt__________________________________ __ ______________ 19-124
Methods o f making pension grants_______________________________________ 19-26
Preliminary investigations___________________________________________
19
The conference committee____________________________________ |______
23
Investigation by the county agent_________________ __________ p,____
23
Court hearings_________
24
25
Methods o f paying pension grants__________________________________
The problem of supervision_________________
27-47
General policy________________________________________________________
27
Pension “ stays ” or withdrawals of pension grants_______________
39
Changes in amount o f pension grants-_____ __________ ____________
45
Adequacy of pension grants__________ ________________________ ._________ _ 48-71
Amount of pension grants_____ _______________________________ ______
48
Tests of adequacy of pension grants______________________ _________ 56-69
Budget estimates as a test of ‘adequacy of relief____ ________
57
Comparison between present and past incomes_________ _____
66
68
Comparison between public and private relief________________
The supplementing of pensions by private agencies_______________
69
Rejected or dismissed applications______________________________________
72
Families on the Cook County (Chicago) pension roll during the
§2
year 1917_________
Subsequent history of families made technically ineligible by changes
in the pension law_________I_____________ ___ __________________________ 95-111
Families broken u p ____________
98
ioo
Care of Jewish families____________________________________ }_______
Families pensioned by private charity______________________________
101
Families receiving occasional assistance— _________________________
107
Families entirely self-supporting______________________1____________
109
Expenditures for mothers’ pensions, 1911-1918_________________________
112
The aid-to-mothers law in relation to dependency and delinquency__
116
II. The administration of the aid-to-mothers law outside Cook
County---------------------------------------------------------------------125-166
Introduction______________________________________________________________
125

P art

The determination of pension policies in the 101 outlying counties—
Number of counties granting mothers’ pensions_________________ I - - 3

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127
131

CONTENTS.

II. The administration of the aid-to-mothers law outside Cook
County— Continued.
Page.
Expenditures of different counties-----------------------------------------------------------134
Use of probation officers for administration of act--------------------------»—
136
Investigation of applicants’ eligibility------------------------------140
142
Dismissed cases--------------------------------------------------------------------- — -----------------Pension grants to ineligible families-------------------------------------------------------------- 144
Supervision__________________________________________________
150
Differences between the pension policy of the Chicago court and that
adopted by the down-State courts_______________________________— —
156
Adequacy of pension grants_____________________ __ -------------------------------- —
159
Pension records___________________________ —'_k.------------------- 1_________ _—
165
Conclusion___________________________________________ _______._________________ 167-171
Precedents for State control---------------------------------------168
Index____________________________________________________________________________
173

P akt

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

U. S.

e p a r t m e n t of

abor,

C h il d r e n ’s B

ureau,

Washington, October 1. 1920.
S ir . This report on the administration o f the aid-to-mothers law
in Illinois was prepared by Miss Edith Abbott and Miss Sophonisba
P. Breckinridge o f the Chicago School o f Civics and the University
o f Chicago. As residents of Hall-House, both authors have had long
practical experience among the poor and neglected children o f Chi
cago. In 1912 they made for the School o f Civics a study entitled
Delinquent Child and the Home,” based on material gathered
in the Cook County Juvenile Court. Hence this study o f the opera
tion o f the aid-to-mothers act in Illinois has the advantage o f prepa
ration by recognized authorities in the field o f social research, who
have also been long and intimately acquainted with the work o f
the Illinois Cook County Juvenile Court. The authors desire that
mention be made of the valuable services of Miss Helen Russell
Wright and Miss Mary Cantey Preston, who made the field investiga
tions outside Cook County.
Although concerned with a single State, this report is o f Nation
wide interest because the family conditions with which it deals are
typical and because it shows typical difficulties which have already
been surmounted, and points out those still to be overcome in mak
ing effective the principle back o f the mothers’ pension act.
This principle may be stated thus: It is against sound public
economy to allow poverty alone to cause the separation o f a child
from the care o f a good mother, or to allow the mother so to ex
haust her powers in earning a living for her children that she can not
give them proper home care and protection.
In the 40 States which now have mothers’ pension laws this prin
ciple has undoubtedly been hastened to expression by the results o f
neglected childhood to be seen in every juvenile court. The earliest
laws— o f Kansas City, Missouri, and o f Illinois—were unquestion
ably based upon a belief that the juvenile courts revealed facts, not
generally known before, as to the injury to the child caused by the
inevitable neglect o f working mothers and the breaking up o f homes
because o f poverty.
The fact that in 21 States the administration o f the aid-to-mothers
law is placed in the juvenile courts indicates a purpose to place the
power o f help in the hands of the judge before whom the trouble
is revealed and who must decide the child’s future, within the limi
tations o f the resources at his command. Probably a desire to avoid
the discredit o f the old outdoor poor relief also influenced the plan
5

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

o f placing the juvenile court in charge. On the other hand, the
present tendency of expert opinion is undoubtedly toward placing re
sponsibility for actual administration of mothers’ pensions in a sep
arate body qualified to deal with the matter scientifically and not in
the spirit o f the old poor relief.
This report gives the Illinois law and traces legislative changes;
it also points out limitations both in law and in operation. The
judge o f the juvenile court was directed to administer the law, but
according to the terms of the first act it was impossible to pay ad
ministrative officers out of public funds, and in order to begin opera
tions the volunteer societies in Chicago, working in connection with
court cases, contributed agents who formed a working committee to
serve under the judge in planning and carrying out an administra
tive policy.
As this report intimates, the act was loosely drawn. In Chicago,
however, the judge and those interested in-the problem believed that
the wise development of this plan to strengthen rather than pauperize
poverty-stricken mothers o f young children was worth much effort,
and a high degree o f scientific skill and humane purpose has been
shown in its administration, first by the members o f the volunteer
committee and now by the paid staff. In the State outside Chicago
there is marked unevenness o f administration, few qualified officers
are available for supervision, and inequality in the amounts o f the
pensions is great. In brief, the investigators report conditions which
lead them to the conclusion that State-wide administration o f mothers’
pensions is necessary in order to deal justly with those whom the law
is designed to aid.
In both city and State the smallness of the pensions is noted, and
the need for constant study o f fair living standards and necessary
budgets is emphasized. The careful budgeting of the Cook County
cases is described.
This report adds emphasis to the contention that social legislation
can not be static ; that it must be based on carefully secured knowl
edge o f the conditions to be remedied; that it must be drawn to
establish standards and principles which can be applied to meet
changing conditions, rather than to set up fixed rules which are likely
to apply for brief periods only, and to require constant revision by
successive legislatures ; and, perhaps most important o f all, that
valuable administration must be not only honest and well-inten
tioned, but primarily scientific.
Respectfully submitted.
J u l i a C. L a t h r o p ,
Chief.
Hon.

W .

B. W i l s o n ,
Secretary o f Labor.

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THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE AID-TO-MOTHERS
LAW IN ILLINOIS.
INTRODUCTION.
The first Illinois statute1 providing for mothers’ pensions was en
acted June 5, 1911, as an amendment to section 7 o f the Illinois juve
nile-court law. The new statute was entitled the “ funds-to-parents
act ” and became operative July 1 o f the same year. Its purpose was to
keep dependent children under 14,years o f age with their own parents,
when the parents were unable to provide for them, instead o f pro
viding out o f public funds for their support in institutions. The ad
ministration o f the law was placed with the juvenile courts, which
were already caring for children declared dependent and delinquent,
instead o f with the county agents or supervisors o f the poor, who were
in charge o f the public outdoor relief.
This act enabled the court to deal with its wards in a way that had
been impossible up to that time. Under the juvenile-court law, which
had been passed 12 years earlier,2 the courts had the authority to com •
mit children to institutions to be supported at public expense. The
juvenile-court law provided for the care o f two groups o f children,
those defined as delinquent3 and those defined as dependent or neg
lected.4 For both groups o f children, three kinds o f treatment were
authorized: (1) The return o f the child to his own home subject to the
1 Laws o f Illinois, Forty-seventh General Assembly, 1911, p. 1 2 6 ; “ Juvenile Courts—
Funds to P a r e n ts; An A ct to amend an A ct entitled 1An A ct relating to children who
are now or may hereafter become dependent, neglected, or delinquent, to define these
terms, and to provide fo r the treatm ent, control, maintenance, adoption, and guardianship
o f the persons o f such children.’ ”
3 Illinois Revised Statutes, July 1, 1899, ch. 23, sec. 169ff.
“ The statute defines a delinquent child in the follow in g te rm s: “ Any male child who
while under the age o f 17 years or any fem ale child who while under the age o f 18,
violates any law o f this S ta te ; or is incorrigible, or know ingly associates w ith thieves,
vicious, o r immoral p e rs o n s; or w ithout ju st cause and w ithout that [th e] consent of
its parents, guardian, or custodian absents itself from its home or place o f abode, or
is grow ing up in idleness or crime ; or know ingly frequents a house o f ill-rep u te; or
know ingly frequents any policy shop o r place where any gam bling device is op era ted ;
or frequents any saloon or dram shop where intoxicatin g liquors are s o ld ; o r patronizes
or visits any public pool room or bucket s h o p ; or wanders about the streets in the
nighttim e w ithout being on any law ful business o r law ful occu p a tio n ; or habitually
wanders about any railroad yards o r tracks or jum ps o r attem pts to jum p onto [any]
m oving train ; or enters any car o r engine w ithout law ful a u th o rity ; o r uses vile, obscene,
vulgar, profane, or indecent language in [any] public place or about any sch oolh ou se; or
is guilty o f indecent or lascivious conduct.”
[111. Rev. Stat., ch. 23, sec. 169.]
* The statute defines a dependent or neglected child in the follow in g terms : “ Any male
child w ho while under the age o f 17 years or any fem ale child who while under the age
o f 18 years, fo r any reason, is destitute, homeless, o r abandoned; o r dependent upon the
public fo r su p p o rt; or has not proper parental care or gu a rd ian sh ip ; or habitually begs
or receives alms ; or is found living in any house o f ill fame or w ith any vicious or dis
reputable p e rs o n ; or has a home which by reason o f neglect, cruelty, or depravity, on the

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ADMINISTRATION OF THE AID-TO-MOTHEKS LAW .

visitation and supervision of a probation officer; (2) the appointing
as guardian o f the child a “ reputable citizen ” who became responsi
ble for the custody of the child; and (3) commitment to an insti
tution. Delinquent children were committed to State institutions
supported by public funds. Dependent or neglected children were
committed to certain quasi public institutions known as industrial
schools for girls and manual training schools for boys, organized by
private individuals or associations, in accordance with statutes enacted
in 1879 and 1883. These so-called training-school statutes authorized
the county to pay from the public moneys $15 a month for each girl
and $10 a month for each boy committed by court order. No public
institution is maintained for dependent children, but nearly 1,000 chil
dren each year are committed to private— chiefly sectarian—institu
tions subsidized by public fund.5
No provision was made by any of these statutes for boarding
children in private homes. No authority existed for the payment
of public money either to enable a parent, such as a widowed mother,
to keep her children in her own home; or if the child’s own home was
unfit but the child capable o f being dealt with under home conditions,
to board the child in another home carefully selected and super
vised. I f, in any individual case, either of these forms of treat
ment approved itself to the court, that treatment was possible only to
the extent to which private charitable aid might be obtained.
Thus, i f a mother were left destitute because of the death or in
capacity of her husband, the law offered provision for her children
if she wished to place them in institutions. I f she refused to part
with them the State made no provision except for outdoor relief
under the pauper law. In Illinois, as in many other American States,
outdoor relief consists for the most part o f spasmodic and inadequate
doles, and a widow with a family o f small children can not maintain
her home with such irregular assistance. In Chicago outdoor relief
is given only in kind, and no rents are paid, so that, even if regularly
given, the relief consists only o f baskets of groceries with occasional
allowances o f coal and o f shoes for school children.
part o f its parents, guardian, or any other person in whose care it may be, is an unfit
place fo r such a c h ild ; and any child w ho w hile under the age o f ten (10) years is found
begging, peddling, or selling any articles o r singing or playing any m usical instrum ent
fo r gain upon the street, o r giving any public entertainm ent or accompanies o r is used
in aid o f any person so doing.”
[111. Rev. Stat., ch. 23, sec. 169.]
BDuring the year 1917 the constitutionality o f making payments ou t o f public funds
fo r the support o f these children in sectarian institutions was raised ( See Dunn v. Chicago
Industrial School fo r Girls, 280 Illinois, 613) in view o f the constitutional prohibition
(article 8) o f payments “ from any public fund whatever * *
* to help support
* * * any school * * * controlled by any church or sectarian denom ination
whatever, * * * ” The court held that since the payment made, $15 a month, was
less than the alleged cost o f the child’ s support, and less than the cost o f children com
m itted to the State training schools, it was not in aid o f the institution and, therefore,
did not violate the constitutional provision.

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INTRODUCTION.

Private charitable associations existed, o f course, to prevent the
breaking up o f such families and to mitigate, as it were, the harsh
ness o f the law. To many people it seemed anomalous that the law
should refuse to pay for the support o f the children so long as they
remained with the mother, who was their natural guardian, when it
stood ready to provide for them as soon as their natural guardian
gave them over to the unnatural guardianship o f an institution.
The largest private relief society in Chicago spent $298,463 the
year before the mothers’ pension law was passed and cared for 12,324
families, including families o f widows. Those responsible for the
administration o f this society believed that it was never necessary
to break up families solely because o f poverty and that if a family
was referred to this society provision would be made for keeping
parents and children together.
Whether or not before the passage o f the mothers’ pension law
families were broken up because o f poverty alone is a controverted
question with which we are not now concerned. This study deals
only with the administration o f the pension law ; and a discussion
o f controversial questions relating to conditions existing before the
passage o f the law, and, in particular, questions relating to the com
petency o f private relief agencies, need not be undertaken here.
Whether or not the advocates of mothers’ pensions rested their
claims on sound or unsound principles, they were successful in obtain
ing the legislation for which they asked. It is, therefore, important
now to study the effects o f the law rather than the reasons for its
enactment.
The mothers’ pension controversy is perhaps too recent to be dis
passionately reviewed. The position has been taken that this new
policy was an unwise one in view o f the disorganized condition o f the
administration o f outdoor relief in our American States. Many per
sons, especially the representatives of charitable organizations, have
maintained that the wiser policy is to avoid extensions of outdoor
relief and to leave the maintenance o f the widowed mother and her
children to private charitable societies. No attempt will be made
here to discuss the merits o f any of the arguments for or against
the mothers’ pension policy. The present inquiry has been carried
on solely with the purpose o f ascertaining the facts regarding the
administration o f the oldest o f the pension laws. Any social policy
can be best tested in practice. This investigation was undertaken in
order to test the mothers’ pension policy in operation—to find out
how the children for whom the law has attempted to provide are
actually being cared for in Illinois.6
6
A few fa cts should perhaps be given as to the history o f the enactment o f the fundsto-parents act. This Illinois law was passed w ithout aqy prelim inary report by an inves
tigating commission. It was passed w ithout any opposition, or at any rate w ithout any

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ADMINISTRATION OP TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

THE FUNDS-TO-PARENTS ACT OF 1911.
The Illinois statute of 1911 was the first o f the so-called mothers’
pension laws in the United States. Its administration was placed
with the judges o f the juvenile courts throughout the State because
it was primarily a juvenile-court device for caring for dependent
children for whom the only State funds available under the old law
were funds for institutional support.
The original Illinois statute of 1911 was not called a mothers’
pension law but a funds-to-parents law. It was a very loosely drawn
statute and consisted o f a single brief paragraph, the exact terms of
which are as follows:
If the parent or parents of such dependent or neglected child are poor and
unable to properly care for the said child, but are otherwise proper guardians,
and it is for the welfare of such child to remain at home, the court may. enter
an order finding such facts and fixing the amount of money necessary to enable
the parent or parents to properly care for such child, and thereupon it shall
be the duty of the county board, through its county agent or otherwise, to
pay such parent or parents, at such times as said order may designate, the
amount so specified for the care of such dependent or neglected child until the
further order of the court.

It will be noticed that this law vested very wide discretion in the
court. It provided for the granting of allowances or pensions to
fathers as well as to mothers, and to mothers who were not widows.
form al opposition, on the part o f the private charitable agencies. The relation o f the
court to the passage o f the law is an interesting question. It has always been the
policy o f the court to keep fam ilies together whenever this was possible w ithout injury
to the child. The presiding judge, at the National Conference o f Charities and C orrection,
1912, made the follow in g statement regarding this p o lic y : “ During my term o f service
in the juvenile court my ch ief endeavor has been to keep the home intact and when this
was im possible through the death o f the mother, o r through her conceded unfitness, I
have sought to substitute another fam ily fireside and the m aternal love and care o f
some good w om an.” T hat is, the court stood fo r the principle that every child has a
natural and m oral right to home care, and that such care should, i f possible, be in his own
home.
P overty presented itself to the court in divers form s, but how often poverty appeared
alone as the occasion fo r separating children from their parents can not be definitely
stated. The report o f the ch ief probation officer fo r the year preceding the enactm ent
o f the law contained a plea fo r some provision that would do ¿w ay with the necessity
o f separating children from parents simply on the ground o f poverty.
(Gook County
Charity Service Report, 1910-11, p. 143.)
However, no figures are given showing the
number o f children com m itted to institutions on the ground o f poverty alone.
The funds-to-parents act, which was designed to work a radical change in the method
o f caring fo r dependent children, was passed w ith very little publicity. The approval o f
the presiding judge o f the Chicago juvenile court is said to have been obtained, and he
is said to have examined and indorsed the law as p a ssed ; but neither he nor the chief
probation officer appeared before the legislature in its behalf.
In the juvenile court report o f the succeeding year the follow in g brief statement is the
only reference to i t :
“ M ention was made last year as to the need fo r a law to prevent separation o f children
o f dependent parents where such parents were w orthy. A law known as the funds-toparents act was passed, taking effect July 1, 1911. As n o appropriation was made
until October, little can be said as to the workings o f the law, but we are sure that it
is a step in the right direction and will mean m uch to the fam ilies concerned.”
(Cook
County Charity Service Report, 1912, p. 155.)

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INTRODUCTION.

No qualifications were prescribed for the parents except that they
should be proper guardians for the children. Alien and nonresident
parents, property owners, and deserted wives were all eligible at this
time. For any parents who were, in the words of the statute, “ poor
and unable to properly care for their children,” the court might
enter an order finding such facts and fixing the amount o f money
necessary for the child’s care. The amount o f the pension was left
Avholly to the discretion o f the judge without any maximum al
lowance being fixed.
Nothing was said in the act about the ages of children who might
become beneficiaries; the definitions of dependent and neglected chil
dren in the earlier juvenile-court statute included boys under 17 and
girls under 18 years o f age. In Chicago, however, in awarding
grants to families, notice was taken of the fact that children may
lawfully leave school and go to work after the fourteenth birthday
and that the great mass o f the poor avail themselves o f their chil
dren’s labor after they have reached that age. The presiding judge
o f the juvenile court of Cook County (Chicago) therefore decided
that, except in the case o f especially handicapped children, such as
those seriously undernourished or undeveloped, or actually crippled,
grants would not be made for the support o f children over 14 years
o f age.
This decision was in fact only one o f a number o f steps taken by
the juvenile court o f Cook County to supply for its own applicants
certain definite tests o f eligibility that should have been prescribed
in the law. From the beginning, the Chicago court placed certain
definite limitations upon its own pension policy, which made the law
in practice a very much better piece o f social legislation than it ap
peared to be on the statute book. Thus, although the law permitted
the granting o f funds without any limitations to almost any parent,
the judge o f the juvenile court o f Cook County, with the advice of
a citizens’ committee representing the most important social agencies,7
laid down the following definite rules providing extralegal qualifica
tions for eligibility: (1) No funds shall be granted to any family
with relatives able to support them and liable for support; (2) no
funds shall be granted to a family who have not resided in the county
at least one year; (3) no funds shall be granted to a deserted woman
unless her husband has been absent at least two years; (4) no funds
7
This comm ittee was organized by the judge o f the juvenile court shortly after the
enactment o f the law to share w ith him the responsibility fo r fram ing a policy fo r the
adm inistration o f this law which gave him such wide discretionary powers. F our expe
rienced relief workers were provided by this comm ittee to assist the court in establishing
the funds-to-parents department. They first investigated applicants for pensions with
the probation officers. L ater the officers did the investigating and the social workers
furnished by the comm ittee directed and supervised the work.
This extralegal com
m ittee continued until A pril, 1913, when the department organization had reached a
p oint which made outside help no longer necessary.

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ADMINISTRATION OP TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

shall be granted to families (a) unless the mother is physically,
mentally, and morally fit to care for children, (b) unless the children
are with the mother, ( c ) unless funds are necessary to save the chil
dren from neglect; (5) no funds shall be granted to women with
property; (6) funds shall be discontinued for children when they
reach the age o f 14 years, unless they are chronically ill and unable
to work.
Funds were granted to women with incapacitated husbands, and
there appears to have been at least one case o f a grant to a woman
with a husband in the house o f correction. A maximum allowance
per child was also fixed by the court as a part o f its pension policy.
Until November, 1912, the maximum granted was $10 a month; after
November, 1912, it became $15 for girls and $10 for boys—the sums
which the county was authorized to pay for the maintenance o f a
girl or a boy in an institution. The maximum pension granted for
any one family was fixed in general at $40, but certain exceptions
were allowed.
THE AID-TO-MOTHERS ACT OF 1913.
The statute o f 1911 giving to the 102 judges o f the 102 juvenile
courts o f Illinois the power to grant pensions o f any size to any
needy parent who was a proper guardian, was obviously a hasty
piece o f legislation; and in 1913, at the next session of the legislature,
the law was radically altered. For the brief paragraph that had
formed an amendment to section 7 o f the juvenile-court law and had
vested in the juvenile-court judges such excessive powers, an elaborate
statute was substituted, which was quite separate from the juvenilecourt law but which left the administration o f the funds-to-parents
act in the hands o f the juvenile-court judges. It limited the au
thority o f the courts very definitely, however. In the first place the
new law was called an aid-to-mothers law; fathers could no longer
receive grants. Deserted and divorced wives, alien women, and wo
men property owners were rendered ineligible. The only married
women provided for were women whose husbands had been perma
nently incapacitated for work by reason o f physical or mental in
firmity. Residence in the county for three years as well as citizen
ship was required. That is, the law practically restricted the pen
sion grants to destitute widowed mothers who had children under 14
years o f age and who could prove citizenship and a residence in the
county for a period o f three years.
An important addition to the law at this time was the provision
that the court might condition the allowance given to a family in
which there was an incapacitated wage earner on the removal o f the
husband and father from home in case he “ is permanently incapaci-

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INTRODUCTION.

tated for work by reason o f physical or mental infirmity and his
presence in the family is a menace to the physical and moral welfare
o f the mother or children.” A special tax o f not more than threetenths o f a mill on the dollar to be known as the mothers’ pension
fund was provided for in the law o f 1913. The new statute also fixed
the maximum allowance, or pension, at $15 a month for one child
and $10 for each additional child, with the further provision that the
total pension grant could not exceed $50 a month to any fam ily.8
Moreover, the conditions under which pensions might be granted
were carefully prescribed under the new statute as follows:
Such relief shall be. granted by the court only upon the following conditions:
(1) The child or children for whose benefit the relief is granted must be
living with the mother of such child or children; (2) the court must find that
it is for the welfare of such child or children to remain at home with the
m other; (3 ) the relief shall be granted only when in the absence of such relief
the mother would be required to work regularly away from her home and
children and when by means of such relief she will be able to remain at home
with her children, except that she may be absent for work a definite number of
days each week to be specified in the court’s order, when such work can be done
by her without the sacrifice of health or the neglect of home and children;
(4 ) such mother must, in the judgment of the court, be a proper person,
physically, mentally, and morally fit, to bring up her children; (5) the relief
granted shall, in the judgment of the court, be necessary to save the child or
children from neglect; (6) a mother shall not receive such relief who is the
owner of real property or personal property other than household goods; (7) a
mother shall not receive such relief who is not a citizen o f this country and who
has not resided in the county where the application is made at least three years
next before making such application; (8) a mother shall not receive such relief
if her child or children have relatives of sufficient ability to support them.

The new provisions for eligibility made necessary the withdrawal
o f a large number o f pension grants in counties where the provisions
o f the law were really enforced. In Chicago there were on the pen
sion list for June, 1913, 532 families with 1,753 children. For the
month o f July, 1913, only 332 families with 1,075 children remained
on the pension list, and the expenditure for pensions fell from
$13,418.45 in June, 1913, to $8,231.72 in July, 1913. Between July 1
and November 30,1913, 263 families, in which there were 895 children,
8
Daws o f Illinois, 1913, p. 127. In providing the $15 and $10 grants, the new statute
follow ed the practice o f the C hicago court. The presiding ju dge in Chicago had always
felt limited by the provisions o f the industrial school and manual training school acts
as to the am ount he could g r a n t ; that is, he fe lt that he could n ot allow more to a
child at home than the am ount w hich the statute allowed fo r support in an institution.
There seems to have been form ulated in the Chicago court in December, 1913, a rule
that the total incom e o f a fam ily could n ot exceed $50 plus one-fourth o f the earnings
o f the children o f w orking a g e ; that is, a w orking child was counted in the budget only
fo r food, and it was decided that he should turn in three-fourths o f his wages to the
fam ily income, and that the other one-fourth should be his own. In determ ining income
it was ruled that only three-fourths o f the wages o f a w orking child in the fam ily
should be counted as part o f the fam ily income. The total incom e therefore m ight be
$50 in addition to one-fourth o f the earnings o f children o f w orking age.

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A D M IN IS T R A T IO N " OF T H E A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

had their pensions stayed; and although some o f these pensioners
would have been dropped even i f the law had not been changed, the
court records show that the names o f 696 children, or 79 per cent of
the whole number dropped during this period, were taken from the
roll because their mothers became ineligible under the new law. The
largest number (567) were dropped because they were the children
o f unnaturalized aliens, 103 because their mothers were deserted
women, 16 because they had not been residents in the county for the
required period of three years, 7 were the children o f divorced
parents, and 3 had a father in the house o f correction. A point o f
interest that should not be overlooked is the promptness with which
these families were removed from the pension lists. That this change
would mean suffering and hardship to these families was inevitable.
Those that had been under the care o f the private relief agencies
before they were granted pensions by the court were, of course, re
ferred back to those societies. A special study has been made o f the
subsequent history of some o f these families in order to determine,
if possible, the effect o f the court removal order and the value o f the
pension as a means o f safeguarding the welfare of children.9
THE AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW AS AMENDED IN 1915 AND
IN 1917.
Some minor changes were made in the law of 1913 by the amend
ments of 1915 and 1917. The law was changed in 1915 because it
was found in practice that the amendments o f 1913 were unneces
sarily rigid with regard to citizenship. The law o f 1915 made alien
women eligible for pensions when they were the mothers o f Ameri
can-born children under 14 years o f age and when they had made
formal application for their first citizenship papers, provided, o f
course, that they could meet the other conditions laid down for
eligibility. In 1917, however, the conditions o f eligibility were again
altered so that only widows o f men residing in Illinois at the time
o f death, or wives o f men who became incapacitated while residents
o f the State could receive grants.
It is of interest that the act of 1915 as introduced in the legislature,
also proposed to make deserted women whose husbands had been
away two years or more and women whose interest in real property
was worth no more than $1,000 eligible for pension grants. These
provisions were, however, defeated through the influence o f the
Chicago court.
x
The law as passed raised the maximum allowance or pension that
could be given to any one family to $60 a month, making possible a
9 See pp. 95 et seq.
10 Laws o f Illinois. 1915, p. 243.

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INTRODUCTION.

more adequate allowance for large families, and the second proposal
was embodied in the legislature of 1917.11
Although the law has been made more liberal by its inclusion o f
alien mothers, there must remain, o f course, other cases o f real dif
ficulty and hardship not remedied by the law ; such is, for example,
the case of the wife o f an insane alien. Even if the husband has
taken out his first papers, the wife is held ineligible for a pension,
though neither he nor she can take out second papers, for the United
States naturalization law makes no provisions for the naturalization
o f the wife o f an insane alien. Such a woman can become a citizen
only if the husband has taken out his first papers while sane and if
she later makes “ a homestead entry under the land laws o f the
United States.”
Although the aid-to-mothers law has, since 1913, prescribed defi
nite, and even rigid, tests o f eligibility, the Chicago court has found
it necessary to add further restrictions. Attention was called to the
fact that under the loosely-drawn law o f 1911 the Chicago court
found it necessary to adopt the policy of refusing to pension certain
classes o f women who would have been eligible under the law. At
the present time the Chicago court follows the policy o f excluding
certain classes o f applicants by means o f adopting a set of exact
definitions for the somewhat indefinite terms used in the law. These
rules o f administration that are now being followed in the Chicago
court include the follow ing:
A man is not considered “ permanently incapacitated for work ” unless he is
totally incapacitated for any w ork; but i f a doctor’s statement shows that a
man will be unable to work for six months, he is held to be “ permanently
incapacitated for work.”
The possession o f more than $50 in money will make a family ineligible on
the ground that they have property, but $50 in cash does not make a family
ineligible on this ground.
A woman with only one dependent child will not be given a pension unless
she is unable to do normally hard work.
A woman who isi not a citizen o f the United States must have her own
“ first papers ” to get a pension for her American-born children. H er husband’s
declaration of intention will not render her eligible. That is, a pension will
not be granted to an alien widow who has not taken out her “ first papers.”
A woman who has had an illegitimate child was for a time considered
“ morally unfit ” for a pension and could receive none even for her legitimate
children. Recently this ruling has been changed by the presiding judge, and
pensions have been granted to such families for the legitimate children only.

On the other hand, certain provisions in the law are liberally
interpreted. Thus, a woman who has been deserted for seven years is
held to be eligible on the ground that her husband may be declared
legally dead and that she is, therefore, legally a widow and eligible
for a pension.
11 Laws o f Illinois, 1917, p. 220, secs. 2, 11.

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The provision requiring a residence in the county of “ at least three
years next before making such application ” has been liberally inter
preted. That is, legal not actual residence is required, and families
have been given pensions who had been out o f the county for five
years preceding their application, in case they could establish the
fact that it was their intention to return.
In 1913 the court decided to uphold the county agent in his con
tention that the total family income should not exceed $50 a month,
the maximum pension then allowed by law. Pensions were not
granted, therefore, to families having an independent income o f $50;
nor were pensions granted so as to bring the total income above this
figure.12
At the close o f the first year o f the administration o f the old fundsto-parents law, in June, 1912, there were 327 families with 1,122
pensioned children on the pension roll o f the juvenile court o f Cook
County, representing a monthly expenditure o f $6,963.96 for pen
sions. In November, 1919, the last month for which the record is
available, there were 851 families on the roll with the expenditure o f
$28,166.65 for that month.
While the number o f families and children pensioned has varied
with the changes in the law, these figures show that the law has been
used extensively in Chicago ever since its passage. In this court
the presiding judge and the chief probation officer have been deeply
interested in devising methods o f administering the law that should
promote the well-being o f the families for whose benefit it was
designed, and should safeguard the interests o f the community,
which would, o f course, have been seriously endangered if the law
had been wastefully or unintelligently used or had been allowed to
serve partisan or political ends.
The interest in the law and the methods o f administering the law
in the 101 other counties in Illinois have differed greatly both from
Cook County and from each other. It has seemed best, therefore, to
present first a study of the administration of the law in the juvenile
court o f Cook County (Chicago), and then an entirely separate study
o f the work o f the “ down-State ” courts. The Chicago study con
tains, first, an account o f the present methods o f administration,
which is descriptive rather than statistical. This is followed by a
study o f the families who were on the pension list at any time during
the year 1917. Facts that are not published in the court reports but
which are essential in attempting to understand the law in its ad
ministration are given in this part.
The Chicago section contains also the results o f a study o f the
later history o f 172 families dropped from the pension roll in July,
12 See footnote, p. 13.

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INTRODUCTION.

1913, because o f the change in the law that made alien women in
eligible. This study was undertaken in the belief that the situation
in which these pensioners found themselves when they became techni
cally ineligible through no fault o f their own would throw some
light upon the question o f the value o f this legislation to the benefici
aries. No visits were made to the homes o f widows pensioned except
for this section. In the case o f the women on the pension roll o f the
Chicago court, the case records o f the court and o f the charitable
agencies to whom so many o f the women were known, gave so com
plete and so accurate a picture of the family life that it seemed an
unnecessary intrusion to send investigators to disturb their privacy.
It was necessary to make visits to the homes o f the pensioned families
in the other counties o f the State because the records were every
where so incomplete and unsatisfactory. The material used in the
“ down-State ” part o f the study is, however, described later in this
report.13
M See pp. 125—126.

3471°—21-----2

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PART I.— THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE AIDTO-MOTHERS LAW IN THE COOK COUNTY (CHI
CAGO) JUVENILE COURT.

METHODS OF MAKING PENSION GRANTS.
P R E L IM IN A R Y IN V E S T IG A T IO N S .

After a mother has filed an application for a pension the appli
cation is referred to the probation officer in the aid-to-mothers de
partment, who has charge o f the investigations for the district in
which the applicant lives. The investigation, which must be very
carefully made in order to establish technical eligibility, follows the
standardized methods pursued by good private case-work agencies
everywhere. The case-paper system is used, and a careful record is
made of every step taken in the investigation; the same case paper
serves, o f course, for the later record for those families to whom pen
sions are granted and who remain, therefore, under the supervisory
care o f the court.
The first step in the investigation is to clear the name of. the family
in the confidential exchange, which is known in Chicago as the social
service registration bureau. In this bureau all the standardized
social agencies in Chicago, both public and private, register the
names o f the families or individuals with whom or for whom they
have been working. It is, therefore, a preliminary inquiry to learn
what agencies are already acquainted with the applicant. I f the
family is found to be already on the books o f other social agencies,
those agencies are asked to submit a written report summarizing their
knowledge o f the family before a court officer undertakes any fu r
ther investigation. The officer may or may not visit the agencies
later to consult their records.
This work o f clearing with the social agencies by the officer to whom
the applicant is assigned is followed by visits to the applicant’s home,
to relatives, and to other persons to whom the family may be known.
When relatives are found able to help and liable for the support o f
the applicant under the pauper act, they are visited and asked
to contribute. I f they refuse, the applicant is asked if she is
willing to have the relatives who are legally liable for her sup19

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A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

OF T H E

A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

port prosecuted in the county court. I f she refuses, her applica
tion for a pension is dismissed and she is left to her own resources.
I f she is willing that a prosecution should be undertaken, the in
formation that has been obtained is sent to the division o f nonsupport
o f the bureau of social service o f Cook County. I f a contribution
is obtained either by the voluntary action of the relatives or as a
result o f the prosecution, the court will consider the necessity o f mak
ing an allowance to supplement what the relatives give; or i f the
county court, after hearing the evidence, refuses to hold the relatives,
the juvenile court again takes up the question o f granting the pen
sion. Relatives who are not liable under the pauper act are also
asked to help, and i f the relatives do not live in Cook County and
can not be visited by the officer, letters are written asking them to
contribute to the support o f the family.
It is now an established part o f the routine of the investigation to
verify from documents or public records the following facts: The
marriage o f the parents, the dates o f birth o f the children, the death
o f the father, the date o f his naturalization or application for first
citizenship papers if the process o f naturalization had not been com
pleted at the time o f his death. I f the applicant is a widow whose
husband was not naturalized, she must show her own first papers
also, since the taking out o f first papers by the husband does not, like
his naturalization, affect his wife’s status. I f the husband is living
but is permanently incapacitated, a doctor’s certificate is required
showing that such incapacity exists.
I f the desired information can not be obtained from official rec
ords, other sources o f information are consulted, such as the records
o f churches, benefit societies, trade-unions, insurance companies, em
ployers, schools, and other institutions with which the family has
come in contact.
Verification o f all facts relating to the receipt o f insurance money
and its expenditure is required. I f the applicant refuses to make a
reasonably exact accounting as to the expenditure o f the insurance
money, the investigation halts until such an accounting is furnished.
Many o f the women feel that it is a great hardship to be obliged to
tell a public officer how they have spent their money, and they com
plain that asking for such an accounting is a needless prying into
their private affairs. It is not easy for any one who has spent money
foolishly to tell about it, and it must be very hard to give an account
o f unwise expenditures to be presented to an official committee. To
the court, however, such an accounting seems necessary, not only be
cause the court must determine whether or not the woman possesses
property that would render her ineligible for a pension, but also be
cause the committee must form a judgment concerning her ability to

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P A R T I .— A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

COOK

COUNTY.

spend money wisely. I f the woman is obdurate, however, and to the
end refuses any statement, the final decision o f the court will not
necessarily be adverse, but will be determined by all the circumstances
o f the particular case. I f there is no money left and if there has been
no attempt to deceive the court, a pension will not be withheld solely
because an accounting is impossible or because the insurance money
is shown to be have been unwisely spent. For example, an applicant,
who was very indignant when questioned about her expenditures,
persisted in defiantly refusing to account for the spending o f the
$595 that she had received as insurance at the death o f her husband in
August, 1914. It was finally learned that she had gone to Portland,
Oreg., with her mother and her children in October, 1914, and that
she had spent, according to her own statement, $108 for railroad fare.
Later she told the officer that she had paid $185 freight charges on
her piano and the other furniture that she had shipped out and back.
These sums added to the $131 paid to the undertaker, the only pay
ment that could be verified by the court officer, brought up the bill of
expenditure to $424, leaving finally $171 entirely unaccounted for.
The investigation halted in this case for a long time; but ultimately,
so important did it seem that the home should be maintained for the
three small boys o f the widow, a pension was granted. The rule as to
accounting for the insurance money was waived. This, however, is
rarely done, for very seldom does a woman so resolutely persist in her
refusal to furnish a statement o f her expenditures. In general state
ments can be verified, and it is the policy o f the court to verify them.
To put it briefly, the investigation required by the court follows, in
general, the methods common to any good relief agency. The court
investigation, however, is much more rigorous as to the verification
o f certain facts than is any relief agency in Chicago.
A thorough investigation, such as the court requires, necessarily
takes a good deal o f time. Luring this period the court gives no
emergency relief, and the family is left to its own resources or to
the assistance o f charitable agencies. I f the f a m i l y needs appear
to be very pressing a letter may be given to the mother introducing
her to the county agent or to the united charities, and the mother is
always told by the interviewer that relief can be obtained from these
sources while the investigation is pending.
Table I shows the length o f time required for the investigation
o f the 778 applications o f the families on the pension role in Jan
uary, 1917.

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T able

I .— Length of time required to investigate eligibility of families on
pension roll, January, 1917.

Families on pension roll.
Time required for investigation of eligibility.
Number.

Per cent
distribution.

Total............................ .........

778

100.0

Less than 2 months........................
Less than 1 month...................
1 month, but less than 2..........
2 months and over.......................
2 months, but less than 3........
3 months, but less than 4........
4 months, but less than 6........
6 months, but less than 1 year.
1 year or over...........................
Time not reported..........................

121
16
105
655
270
201
113
61
10
2

15.6
2.1
13.5
84.2
34.7
25.8
14.5
7.8
1.3
0.3

These 778 applicants included all those families who were under
the care o f the court at the beginning o f the year 1917. As regards
the time required for investigation, they may be considered a “ ran
dom sample ” o f those who finally are given pensions. The investi
gation may take a shorter period o f time for the applicants who are
refused pensions. This table shows that only 15.6 per cent o f these
applicants were granted pensions within two months o f the time o f
application and that 84.2 per cent waited for periods varying from
two months to one year or longer. To those familiar with relief
problems this needs no explanation. The court must choose be
tween making a thorough, which means a slow, investigation, and
granting pensions after an incomplete investigation, with the dan
ger o f having to withdraw them later. That the court has done
well to choose the former method will scarcely be questioned. Those
who criticize private charitable agencies for “ taking so much time
to investigate ” have learned that a public agency must follow the
same methods i f its work is to be well done.
During the investigation every effort is made to protect the
family’s self-respect. There appears to be no rule against visits to
present neighbors, but, in general, the officers seem to understand
that such inquiries may injure the applicant’s reputation in the
neighborhood; and they are undertaken only when no other way
can be found o f obtaining necessary information. ’ This practice,
.however, varies with the different officers, some resorting to it more
frequently than others. In discussing the subject with a pension
officer, the following story was to ld : This officer, who was formerly
on the united charities staff and was therefore experienced in relief
work before she went to the court, said that she had rarely made
visits to present neighbors in the course o f an investigation or in
supervising her families, but a recent experience had led her to

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

think she was too careful about it. A pensioned mother, who
seemed a most trustworthy woman, had been absent several times
when the officer called. The officer did not suspect her of bad con
duct, for the woman’s sister lived with her and that seemed an ade
quate safeguard. The officer went to a neighbor merely to ask if
she had any knowledge o f where the woman was and when she would
return. The officer was amazed to be told, “ She keeps a man in
there.” Further inquiry proved the truth o f the neighbor’s state
ment. The pension was stayed, and the former pensioner married
the man who had been living with her. The officer said she would
not have thought o f asking the neighbors if they knew anything
against the woman’s character; and yet in this case, had the inquiry
at the neighbor’s not been made, she did not know how the informa
tion could have been obtained, since there had been no reason to
suspect the woman o f misconduct.
T H E C O N F E R E N C E C O M M IT T E E .

When the work o f investigation has been completed by the court
officer, she submits a report to what is called the conference committee,which determines finally whether or not a pension grant will be recom
mended to the court. This committee consists of the chief probation
officer, the head o f the aid-to-mothers department, and the county
agent, and meets regularly each Thursday morning. Before the re
port is submitted to the conference committee, however, another step
is taken in those cases in which the investigation seems to have pro
duced the facts necessary to establish eligibility. In such cases all
information about the family is first submitted to the field supervisor,
who is an expert dietitian,® and an estimated budget showing the in
come needed and the amount necessary to supplement the family’s own
resources is prepared by the supervisor and is submitted to the con
ference committee with the officer’s report o f the results o f the investi
gation. The investigating officer appears before the committee in
order to submit her report and to answer any questions that may arise
during the conference.
I N V E S T IG A T IO N B Y T H E C O U N T Y A G E N T .

Unfortunately the investigation is not complete when the juvenilecourt officer has established the family’s eligibility to a pension. The
county agent, through a representative o f his office, makes an entirely
• A s a result o f changes in court organization, after the date o f this study, a dietitian
is no longer employed as field supervisor, but the budget method is continued by the use o f
The Chicago Standard Budget fo r Dependent Families, prepared by the com m ittee on
relief o f the Chicago Council o f Social Agencies. See Annual R eport o f the Juvenile
Court and Juvenile Detention Home o f Cook County, Illinois, fo r the F iscal Y ear 1919, p. 8.

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independent inquiry to establish the same facts. In Chicago the
county agent is the official in charge of the granting o f all public
outdoor relief; and the pensions are, under the law, paid by this
county officer upon the recommendation o f the court. The county
agent maintains, however, that he can not legally make payments to
such persons as the court recommends except on the basis o f an investi
gation made by his own office. This objectionable double investiga
tion is a great hardship to the family and is a defect in present
methods of administration. The county agent’s investigation does not
often reveal new data, but occasionally this does happen.
The procedure in the matter o f awarding grants has come to be as
follow s: When the conference committee, after hearing reports from
the investigators, decides to recommend the awarding o f the grant,
the name and address o f the family are given to the county agent,
who, through a member o f his own staff, makes an independent in
vestigation and comes to an independent decision. Should the county
agent on the basis o f his own investigator’s report disagree with the
conference committee’s decision that a pension be awarded, the head
o f the aid-to-mothers department or the court officer who had charge
o f the investigation is notified, usually by telephone, that the county
agent’s office can not approve the committee’s decision and is given
the reasons for the failure to approve. The case may then be post
poned pending further inquiries by the court investigator; or, i f there
is a difference o f opinion merely, the case may go on to presentation in
court. The county agent’s investigator and the court investigator
then present their opposing views to the judge, with whom, o f course,
the final decision rests.
I f the conference committee decides against recommending a pen
sion the case goes no further and the probation officer does not file
the formal petition that would lead to a court hearing. The appli
cant may, however, get a lawyer or some other “ reputable citizen ” to
file a petition for her, but this is very rarely done. The case would
then be presented to the court and the judge might, o f course, refuse
to approve the conference committee’s decision to dismiss the case.
In practice, however, this has rarely happened.
C O U R T H E A R IN G S .

The last step before the granting o f a pension is the court hearing
and the decision o f the judge o f the juvenile court as to the mother’s
application. The head o f the aid-to-mothers department and a rep
resentative o f the county agent’s office are present at the hearings
which are held regularly on Thursday mornings. The chief proba
tion officer is present only when a case is contested or when some
especially difficult questions are involved. The probation officers who

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

have made the investigations in the cases to be heard are also present.
Occasionally a representative from the State’s attorney’s office crossexamines as to common-law marriage or presumption o f death. The
hearings are on the whole friendly and informal. The mother sits
with a little child in her lap and with the other children standing
about her while the case is presented. Usually the formal petition
is filed and the case presented by the probation officer who has made
the investigation, but the family may be represented by a lawyer.
Few lawyers have any knowledge o f the problems o f social treatment,
and, therefore, they frequently urge the claims o f the applicant as
they would urge the case o f a client in an action at law. They *often
fail to appreciate the nature o f the task which the judge is perform
ing, which is, in fact, hardly a judicial function. The judge is
patient with their persistent efforts and takes pains to explain to
them the purpose o f the law and the principles upon which it is
administered.
In most cases the recommendations o f the conference committee are
accepted. If, however, the county agent’s investigation has revealed
new data, their consideration may lead the judge to reject or alter
the recommendation made by the committee. When there is a d if
ference o f opinion between the county agent and the conference com
mittee, such as opposite views o f the mother’s character and fitness
to care for her children, alleged drinking habits, or similar ques
tions about which direct evidence can not be obtained, the judge
considers all the facts and makes the final decision.
After the formal order for the pension has been made, the judge
notifies the mother that the probation officer is to supervise the spend
ing o f the public money thus allowed to the family. He also charges
the mother to keep full and accurate accounts. The supervising officer
is usually the probation officer who has conducted the investigation
and who is, therefore, already known to the mother.
METHODS OF PAYING PENSION GRANTS.

One further difficulty in the treatment o f the pensioned families
has arisen from the connection with the county agent’s office. The
pensions are paid in the office o f the county agent instead o f in the
homes of the beneficiaries. Because o f lack of flexibility in the
methods o f the county agent’s office the allowances were at first paid
only once a month, although most o f the women were in the habit
o f being paid from the earnings o f workers who received their wages
once a week or once a fortnight. Since January, 1916, however, pay
ments have been made twice a month— on the 5th and 20th. For
some time after the law went into effect the payments were all made
down town in the office of the comptroller, in the county building.

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Later, the payments were made at the general office o f the county
agent on the west side o f the city. On this subject the citizens’ com
mittee 14 made the following recommendation before its final session
on April 20, 1913:
The present method of paying funds is deplorable. The women assemble at
the county agent’s office, await their turn in just the same way as applicants
for county aid have always had to do. The result is gossip among the women
and consequent dissatisfaction. Such a public distribution is demoralizing and
destructive of self-respect among these people. * * * Moreover, children
are being kept out of school to accompany mothers to the county agent’s office
on the day the funds are paid. * * * It seems to the committee entirely
practicable that the payments should be semimonthly instead of monthly and
in the homes by mailing a certified check. Failing this, establishing centers
in neighborhood banks might solve some of the difficulties of payment.

In response to these recommendations, the judge ordered that the
mothers be instructed not to keep their children out o f school on
such occasions. No change in the method of payment, however, has
yet been introduced, beyond the change to semimonthly payments.6
It is, however, possible for the woman who wishes to avoid the public
distribution to go for her check in the afternoon instead o f the morn
ing of the day o f payment. The women assemble in the morning in
large numbers, but by afternoon very few are left. It is probably
true that many of the women who receive pensions do not object to
the congregate distribution. So limited are they in their social pleas
ures that they rather enjoy the excitement of the occasion and the
opportunity for leisurely gossip. The superior woman has it in her
own power to avoid much, at any rate, o f the publicity by going for
her check after the great mass o f the women have left.
14 See footnote p. 11 fo r an account o f the work ®f this committee.
6 No change had been made in the method o f payment at the time that this report went
to press (October, 1920).

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THE PROBLEM OF SUPERVISION.
GENERAL POLICY.

The court follows the methods standardized by good private relief
societies, not only in the investigation that precedes the pension grant
but also in the care of the families after they are placed on the pen
sion roll. Careful supervision o f all pensioned families is the policy
followed by the court, in order that the public money granted to these
families may serve the purpose for which it is appropriated. The
kind o f supervision depends largely upon the number o f families
assigned to each officer and upon the training the officers have had
for such work. At the time this study was made there were 16 offi
cers in the pension division, so that with 740 families on the pension
roll each officer supervised about 46 families. The officers in the
pension division vary in training for relief work and in their indi
vidual abilities and resourcefulness. They are selected by a severe
“ merit test,” many have had excellent training for relief work, and all
are subject, it will be remembered, to the supervision not only o f the
chief probation officer but also to that of the special head o f the aidto-mothers department.
In order to collect some accurate data regarding the amount of
supervision given to the pensioned families, the visits made by the
supervising officers were tabulated from the case records of the 212
families who had been under care for a period of two years or longer.
These data are as follow s: Families visited monthly, 29; visited more
frequently, 1 8 2 ;15 visited irregularly, 1.
These figures show that according to the case records 211 out o f the
212 families had been visited regularly once a month or oftener
throughout a period o f two years or longer, and that only one family
had been visited irregularly. The vast majority o f the families, 182
out o f 212, had, as a matter o f fact, been visited oftener than once a
month. This is a good measure o f supervision, when it is remembered
that the families under care are very carefully selected. Only those
mothers are placed on the pension roll who seem, after a searching
16 The records showed that
than one month, due probably
m onth the visits were made
properly in the class in w hich

fo u r fam ilies had not been visited for one period o f more
to the officer’s v a c a tio n ; but w ith the exception o f this one
more frequently, and these four fam ilies seem to belong
they have been placed.
27

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

inquiry, to be women who can be trusted to make reasonably wise
expenditures and to maintain fit homes for their children. It is
obvious that the mere fact o f visiting a family regularly does not
necessarily mean that the officer made intelligent use o f the informa
tion that she got as a result o f the visit. Regularity of visits is,
however, one essential in a system o f adequate supervision, and it is
clear that the families on the pension roll are given at least that
measure o f supervision.
In addition to the supervision o f the regular probation officer the
families are visited by the field supervisor also. The work o f the
field supervisor is a very important factor in maintaining the best
possible care for the pensioned families. Under her direction methods
have been worked out for improving the domestic skill o f the pen
sioned mothers and for teaching them the household arts o f cleaning,
cooking, sewing, and skillful buying. The field supervisor discusses
the home conditions o f the families with the officers in charge and
suggests methods o f improving the standards o f the homes. The
probation officer is then supposed to see that these suggestions o f
the field supervisor are adopted by the family. The field supervisor
also visits the families herself. The study o f the records o f the 212
families who had been under care for two years showed that the
field supervisor had visited these families as follows: Visited once,
44 families; twice, 87 families; three times, 45 families; four times,
17 families; five times, 10 families; six times or more, 4 families; no
visits, 1 fam ily; no report, 4 families.
It is, o f course, better to have a family remain under the super
vision o f the same probation officer during the whole o f the time
that the family is on the pension roll. The officers o f the court are
assigned to districts, and an officer is usually kept in the same district
as long as she remains in the pension department. The officers in
charge o f pensioned families are changed, therefore, only when a
new officer comes into the department, or when a family moves into
a new district. During the first two years after the passage o f the
pension law, the aid-to-mothers department was not well organized,
and there seem to have been more frequent changes in the officers
supervising individual families. Table I I presents such figures as
are available for the 212 families who have been on the pension roll
at least two years, relating to the number o f families that have been
under the care o f more than one officer,

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

T a b l e I I .— Number of probation officers caring for families on pension roll for

two years and over, together with length of time families w ere under care
of court.

Families under care for specified period.

Number of probation
officers giving care.

Total,
2 years and over. 2 years,
but less
than 2
Per
cent
years 6
Num distri months.
ber.
bution.

2 years
6
months,
but less
than 3
years.

3 years,
but less
than 3
years 6
months.

Total......................

212

100.0

1 officer............................

29
38
S3
31
31
17
11
2

13.7
17.9
25.0
14.6
14.6
8.0
4.2
1.0

9
8
12

13
6
7
5
2

5
14
9
8
3
2
2

3 officers...........................
5 officers...........................
6 officers...........................
Not reported...................

2
1

3 years
6
months,
but less
than 4
years.

4 years,
but less
than 4
years 6
months.

4 years
6
months, 5 years
or
but less over.
than 5
years.

6
6
4
4
1
1

2
4
n
11
12
10
6
2

8
3
7
4

1
1

This table shows that only 13.7 per cent o f these families had been
continuously under the care o f a single officer throughout the pension
period. It must be remembered, however, that all these families had
been under care for as long a period as two years. The table shows,
moreover, that most o f the families who had had several supervising
officers had been under care for more than two years. In attempting
to determine whether or not the families under the care o f the court
have suffered from being “ passed on ” from one officer to another the
importance o f a comparison with the methods o f the private relief
agencies in the same community should not be overlooked. There
can be no doubt that the visitors in the private societies are changed
much more frequently than are the court officers, and it would be
very difficult to find families that had been regularly visited by a
single officer or agent for as long a period as two years, although
Table I I shows that 29 o f the families pensioned by the court had
been cared for by a single officer during periods varying from two
to four years.
The relationship established between the pensioned mother and the
supervising probation officer is one o f cooperation to the end that the
best possible use may be made o f the pension income. I f there is any
evidence o f ill health or poor physical condition a medical examina
tion is insisted upon. Free medical service is not uniformly fur
nished, but hospital care when needed is secured free o f charge.
The county agent in his capacity as supervisor of the poor refuses to
allow the county doctors to visit the pensioned families, but free
service is furnished to those able to attend clinics, The women are

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHEES LA W .

also examined free of charge at the county building by the woman
physician on the city staff or by the county physician, who is an ex
amining officer at the juvenile court. Medicines are paid for out of
the family income; and when a physician visits the home, a doctor’s
fee is paid. Since free medical service is felt by many persons to be
the least objectionable form of relief, the question has frequently
been raised as to whether or not these families for whom the county
is doing so much should be given free medical care by the “ county
doctors,” who are furnished by the outdoor relief office for destitute
families. Such a change must be approved by the county agent be
fore it can be made, and no agreement on this point has been reached.
In the estimated budget upon which the pension grant is based, an
allowance of 50 cents for each member o f the family is nominally
made for “ care o f health ” ; but as a matter o f fact this is not sup
posed to cover doctor’s bills but merely such items as toothbrushes,
soap, and occasional medicines or drugs.
Children in pensioned families are placed in the open-air schools
and sent to convalescent homes when necessary. School attendance
and school progress o f the children are carefully watched. School
reports giving grade, attendance, deportment, and scholarship are
supposed to be obtained monthly and the information entered on the
case record. The study o f case records showed that this regulation
seemed to be very carefully enforced. Reports are obtained directly
from the school or by giving the children blanks which must be
signed by the teacher. I f the mother works outside the home the ar
rangements made for the care of the children during her absence are
carefully scrutinized by the officer. Country outings each summer
are arranged by the officers, not only for the children but also for the
mothers o f the pensioned families.
Living conditions are gradually improved. This is often a dif
ficult problem. Most o f the pensioned families have been living in
extreme poverty during a long period of illness preceding the death
o f the husband and father, and sometimes for many months after
his death. Decent standards o f living have been gradually lowered
and are not always easily restored.
Statistics throw little light on a subject such as the improvement
in living conditions, but some data are available regarding the im
provements in the housing o f the pensioned families. A report sub
mitted by the field supervisor to the conference committee in Decem
ber, 1914, dealt with the care of 313 families who had been under
care at least three months. O f these 313 families, 116, or more than
one-third o f the whole number, had been enabled or persuaded to
move to new quarters on receiving the county allowance. Table I I I
shows the reasons for moving in the case o f this group o f families.

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

T a b l e I I I .— Reasons o f 116 families for moving.

Reasons for moving.
All reasons

Families
moved.
116

Moral surroundings bad.......
Rents too high.....................
Families in furnished rooms

14
16

Housing conditions bad.

Dark basement..............
Badly ventilated rooms.
Low attic rooms............
Damp rooms..................
Overcrowded quarters..
Rooms in bad repair___

19
37
2

3
13
10

Further evidence as to the improvement in housing conditions was
furnished by the study o f the 212 families who had been under care
for two years or longer. Information was available for 210 o f these
families, showing that 96 had been moved at least once and 10 others
two or more times in order to improve the home environment or
housing conditions. Tables IV and V show for 195 families the num
ber o f rooms in relation to the number in the family at the time when
the pension was granted and at the time when this investigation was
made two years later.
T a b l e IV .— Number o f rooms occupied by 195 families under care two years and

over for which information could be secured both at the tim e o f application
and at the time o f the study, together with the number o f persons occupying
them at the time of application for pension.

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A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

OF T H E

A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

T a b l e V — Number of rooms occupied by 195 families under care two years and

over for which information could be secured both at the time of application
and at the time of the study, together with the number of persons occupying
them two years or more after pension grant.
Families living in specified number of rooms two years or more
after pension grant.
Number of persons in family.
Total.
Total...........................................

195

114

18
51
60
30
19
6
. 9
2

3
2
4

4
12
1
1
2

9
33
46
17
5
2
2

2
1
8
5
9
3
1

19
3
1
7
2
3
2
1

............
1
1

1
1

These tables deal with a single aspect of housing conditions, the
relation between the number o f rooms and the number of persons
occupying them. Comparing the two periods, it is clear that some
progress has been made toward providing more adequate quarters
for the families under care. At the time of their applications for
pensions, 2 families— 1 of them a family of 5—were living in 1-room
apartments ; and 16 families, including 1 family of 7 and 2 families
o f 9 persons, were living in 2-room apartments. Taking the num
bers cumulatively, 51 families were living in apartments o f 3 rooms
or less. Table V shows that after these families had been on the
pension roll for a period o f 2 years or longer, the 1-room apartments
had disappeared ; 9 families instead o f 16 and no families of more
than 5 persons, were living in 2-room apartments. A t the later
period 29 families in contrast with 51 at the earlier period were in
apartments of 3 rooms or less. Some further evidence of the im
provement in housing accommodations is obtained by means o f the
heavy zigzag line in the two tables. A ll families with more than 1
person to a room fall below the heavy line. In the first table 144
families fall below the line and in the second, 125.
^
It is important to note, however, that housing standards as judged
by the number of rooms occupied can not be very greatly improved
by the small incomes o f these pensioned families. The Supervising
officers have improved housing conditions most frequently by obtain
ing better apartments in less congested neighborhoods where more
light and air can be had for the same money. That is, housing con
ditions have been improved by moving families out o f basements,
damp rooms, and dark rooms rather than by increasing the number
o f rooms. Some improvement, however, as Tables I V and V indi
cate, has been made in the number of rooms.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION' IN COOK COUNTY.

It must be emphasized, however, that the method or the value to
the families o f such supervisory work as is done by the court officers
can not be measured by statistics. In an attempt to test satisfactorily
work o f this kind, the statistical method must necessarily be in
adequate. Each family represents a complex situation unlike that
o f any other family, and the services rendered are too varied to be
counted as identical units. The supervisory work can, o f course,
be best understood by a study o f case records o f individual families.
A few o f these case records have been summarized, and the sum
maries are given below to illustrate the supervisory work in differ
ent types o f families.
S U M M A R Y OF T H E RECORD OF T H E A F A M IL Y .

The A family came to the attention o f the court when the father
had been dead about three years. He had been a woodworker,
American born, earning about $48 a month, and at his death left
$900 insurance. There were four children, ranging in age from
2 to 9 years. Both Mr. and Mrs. A had relatives in the city, but they
were poor, had large families, and were unable to help much or
regularly. After paying funeral expenses and debts, the mother
managed to support her family for three years on the remainder of
the insurance money and what she could earn at home sewing. She
managed to keep the family together without charitable assistance
but was doing it at the expense o f her health, and the family was
not being adequately fed. It was at this time, in January, 1913,
that the municipal tuberculosis sanitarium referred the family to the
court for a pension. The mother had been found to be tubercular,
the three boys had tubercular glands, the children were all under
nourished, and the physical condition o f the whole family seemed to
be going down very rapidly. The doctors said that Mrs. A ought
not to work any longer. When this pension o f $10 per child was
granted she promised to “ sew up ” what she then had on hand and
to stop work until her condition was improved. This $40 a month
was the maximum pension that the court was willing to grant at
that time; but, as it was not sufficient in view o f the tubercular con
dition o f four members o f the family, the White Cross League was
asked to contribute. It furnished special diet o f milk and eggs for
nine months. The condition o f Mrs. A improved so much that at
the end o f this period she was able to earn about $7 a month without
detriment to her health. In the meantime the family had been
moved from four small rooms over a little grocery store to a new and
more desirable flat where, in addition to four larger rooms, thev
acquired an attic, a garden, and a porch which could be used for a
sleeping porch. The municipal tuberculosis sanitarium fitted this
with blankets and bedding so that the mother and one child were
able to sleep out.
During the three years since the family have been pensioned, the
officers o f the court have cooperated with the municipal tuberculosis
sanitarium in restoring them to health. The two younger children
3471°—21-----3

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were placed in an open-air school and sent to the country in summer.
The mother has done her part faithfully, and she is now paroled^
by the sanitarium as a closed case. One child, however, tailed to
gain as he should, and in the summer o f 1916 he was sent to a sani
tarium, where he is now improving.
;
,
When William, the eldest hoy, became 14, the court reduced the
pension to $30 a month, ^as he had sufficiently recovered to be able
to work. But the boy had entered high school and was very eager
to finish his two-year business course. Since the court could no
continue this pension, the probation officer applied for help to the
scholarship, committee of the vocational bureau. I hew arranged
that he should remain at school and granted a scholarship fund ox
$14 a month, a contribution to the family’s income equal to the
amount the boy could have earned. This arrangement is now m its
second year and William’s progress at school has been very gratify
ing. In the summer he worked in a railroad office, and at present
he is doing errands after school hours. He sometimes earns as much
as $3 a week, since a bonus is paid for promptness, and William is
both ready and eager. These earnings he faithfully turns over to the
vocational bureau to repay them for his scholarship, because both he
and his mother feel that no more should be accepted than is neces
sary to allow him to remain in school. Occasionally, however, the
bureau returns some part o f his earnings so that he may have some
article o f luxury such as a warm sweater, and William is always very
grateful for what he calls a “ present ” from the bureau.
Thus this family which at the time the court took charge o f it had
four tubercular members has been able, because o f a steady assured
income and the friendly help of the probation officers in cooperation
with other societies, to move to better quarters, to improve in health
(only one member o f the family is now tubercular), and to keep the
oldest child in school until he has had a high-school business course.
With all the aid the family has received, there is no evidence o f any
tendency to regard help as their rightful portion, but instead, a
sturdy spirit o f independence is still so much alive that the boy of
15 is voluntarily and cheerfully turning over his weekly earnings to
help pay for his scholarship.
S U M M A R Y OF T H E RECORD OF T H E B F A M IL Y .

The father, who was American born, had been a teamster, earning
$48 a month. The court’s investigation brought out the fact that the
family had previously been known to the Cook County agent, the
visiting nurse association, the adult p r o b a t i o n department ox the
municipal court, and to the united charities. The united chanties
record showed that the family had been first reported to them in
November, 1904, when the father was ill and the children were
begging from house to house; and again m 1908 this complaint was
made about the children. The family at this time were liv m g in a
house owned by Mr. B ’s mother and were not paying rent When
the application for pension was made, however, the family were
living in four rooms in a basement, described on the record as
“ filthy, damp, and dark.” Mrs. B, a woman o f 35 years, complained
o f ill health and looked frail, .slovenly, and discouraged.

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY

The Teamsters’ Union raised a purse o f $100 for the family which
just covered funeral expenses, as Mr. B had carried no insurance.
During the investigation by the court, which lasted a month and a
half, the family was dependent upon county supplies and the irregu
lar help o f relatives. At the end o f this time a pension o f $40 a
month was granted. This seems to have constituted the family’s
only income until the two older girls were old enough to become
wage earners.
1 °r nearly three years Mrs. B was sick practically all the time.
It was difficult to improve her housekeeping, which was very slat
ternly, and to get the children properly cared for.
In all there were eight probation officers on this case, but each one
seems to have given herself to the problems in hand with energy and
determination, and gradually the standards o f living were raised,
and the mother’s health began to show a decided improvement. The
family was moved from time to time to more desirable rooms. Medi
cal treatment for Mrs. B was secured, and regular dispensary treat
ment was insisted upon. The diet and buying o f the family was
carefully supervised, and Mrs. B instructed in the art of keeping a
clean home.
The pension for this family has been gradually reduced from $40
to only $24, as the children have become old enough to go to work.
Both girls have good positions, one as a stenographer, and the other
working for the telephone company. In another year one o f the
boys will be able to go to work.
In the words o f the present probation officer: “ This family will
soon be self-supporting, has greatly improved in health and standard
o f living, will pTobably move into better quarters.” This family
illustrates the effect that constant, intelligent supervision may have
upon the most careless housekeeping habits. The record shows a
woman who, when the court began its work with the family, had
a miserable home and neglected children, and whose own physical
resistance was so low that the slightest ailment incapacitated her.
Gradually she has become a woman who washes and scrubs her
house, launders her curtains, paints the walls, keeps the children
clean and fairly well dressed, and is herself practically discharged
from the doctor’s care.
S U M M A R Y OF RECORD OF T H E C F A M IL Y .

In June, 1913, Mrs. C, a Polish woman, applied for a pension for
her two children aged 8 and 5 years because she found it impossible
to earn enough to support them. Her husband had died o f heart
disease in 1909, leaving some insurance; but the money had been
used for paying funeral bills, debts, and living expenses. The
family had been compelled to ask help from the county agent and
the united charities a number o f times during the four years follow
ing the death o f the father. A stepson had gone to work at the age
o f 14, but Mrs. C found him so unmanageable that in 1911 she sent
him to his uncle in Tennessee, Mrs. C had been earning only $10 a
month by sweeping in a school.
The family budget was estimated at $34', and in October, 1913, the
court granted a pension o f $10 for each o f the two children, With

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the mother’s earnings of about $10 a month, the income o f the family
was brought up to within $4 o f their estimated needs. It was found
that the dust raised by sweeping in the school was very bad for the
mother, as it caused her to cough so much that she could not sleep.
Her work was changed to cleaning in a bank, where she earned $3 a
week instead o f $10 a month.
The probation officer found that Stephania, the older child, had
never gone to school because she was extremely anemic and had very
bad teeth. The officer had the mother go with both children, neither
o f whom were strong, to the municipal tuberculosis dispensary for
examination, saw to it that the mother’s teeth and eyes received
attention, and watched the weights of the children. During the pen
sion period the children had whooping cough, and in 1914 the doctor
said that they were likely to become tubercular if they were not very
well nourished. However, the fact that in 1916 all o f the family
were in good health indicated close attention by the officer to the
health o f the family as well as competent oversight by the mother.
Both children are in school, their attendance is regular, and their
scholarship and deportment good.
The officer has also secured gifts o f clothing and food from the
church and parochial school, given the family tickets to settlement
parties, and interested Mrs. C in the mothers’ club at the North
western University settlement. Continuous effort during the past
two years has been made by the officer to secure from Mrs. C’s mother
and brother more generous help for the family. In this the officer
has been very successful, since both relatives continued to increase
the aid given to the family.
The mother provides a good variety o f food and has learned to do
her buying in large amounts. The home is reported as being always
spotless, the children are well cared for, and a recent comment of
the officer is, “ Family very happy and comfortable; children ex
ceptionally attractive.”
s u m m a r y of t h e record of t h e d f a m i l y .

A Polish laborer named Henry D lost his life in September, 1911,
by falling from a building which was under construction. He had
been earning only $40 a month and had a wife and six children to
support, but his widow received $1,000 compensation. Two hundred
dollars was spent on the funeral, $100 was paid to the doctor, and
$50 went toward repaying a loan. Two months after the father’s
death twin babies were born, who soon died. Their burial cost $50
more. The expenses of the mother’s illness and the living expenses
for the family o f seven soon exhausted the insurance money.
Mrs. D endeavored to carry the family and earned $1 a day at some
work given her by the church, on whose building her husband had
been killed. Her ability to work was seriously impaired because
her hands had been badly crippled since childhood. She managed,
however, to do the work, to give her children good care, and to keep
her house very clean. In January, 1913, Mrs. D applied for pension,
and received her first payment the following May. During that
period the united charities paid the rent. The amount granted by
the court was $6 a month for each o f the six children, the eldest o f‘
whom was 12 years and subnormal.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

In the D family the standard o f living had always been very low
and the children were thin and undernourished. When they were
examined at the municipal tuberculosis sanitarium it was found that
Walter had tubercular glands, three o f the others had enlarged ton
sils, and Frank, the eldest, had a goiter. The probation officer,
therefore, made it her business to watch carefully over the health
o f the family. After obtaining the mother’s consent she had the
adenoids removed from two o f the children, had the children
weighed, and sent them on vacations.
A t school Frank was placed in a room for subnormals and made
a fine record in basketry, rug making, and manual training. In
May, 1916, he was earning $8 a week in a glove factory, and he will
probably be able to support himself. A butcher in the neighborhood
had accused Frank o f being the leader o f a gang, and in June, 1916,
the case came up in the police court. The complaint was apparently
groundless, and the matter was cleared up by the probation officer.
The supervisor records: “ The subnormal boy, Frank, is holding his
position surprisingly well.”
Under the care o f the court, Mrs. D has learned some English, and
although the general capacity o f the family is not high, there is no
doubt that their standard has been improved. They have at least
made an effort to meet requirements. The dietitian has brought about
a change in the kinds o f food used, although the officer is still working
for further improvement here. The dietitian reports: “ The income
has been at least $10 below the estimated minimum budget since the
family has been under the care o f the department. Clothing and
other help has been received from the church. The children have
been found getting coal from the railroad tracks, and the food has
always been unsatisfactory.”
S U M M A R Y OF T H E RECORD OF T H E E F A M IL Y .

On June 30,1913, Mr. E died of appendicitis, and promptly on the
next day Mrs. E applied for a pension. She received insurance
money to the amount of $204, but it was spent on funeral bills, clothes,
old debts, and living expenses. There were four children— Charles,
aged 6; Henry, 3; John, 2 years; and Anna, 8 months. The father
was an American o f German descent and the mother was Italian.
A t the time o f application the family had been living rent free in
an attic apartment, in which the ceilings were very low and the bed
rooms contained only one window. The house was reported by the
probation officer as the dirtiest place she had ever seen. Pending the
court’s decision on the pension application, the family lived on the
remains o f the insurance money, the aid of neighbors and relatives,
and the ingenuity o f the mother, who raffled a quilt, thereby gain
ing $41;
The necessary budget was estimated at $37.15 a month, and the
court awarded a pension o f $8 for each o f the four children, although
the relatives o f Mr. E tried to have the children placed in an institu
tion, on the ground that the mother was unfit to care properly for
their physical wants. They acknowledged that her character was
good but alleged that her house was dirty, as it evidently was. Since
the grant the family has lived on the pension, supplemented by occa
sional gifts o f vegetables sent from the farm by Mrs. E ’s mother and
small sums earned at various times by Mrs. E herself.

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The family has had little sickness during the pension period, and at
present appears to be in good health. The children’s school attend
ance is fair. Mrs. E ’s housekeeping has improved under supervision,
although the children are not yet very neatly kept. The probation
officer has suggested changes in diet and insisted on having the house
painted inside. A t the suggestion o f the probation officer, cow’s milk
was substituted for condensed milk for the baby, clean pans were
used for cooking, and the woman learned to buy fresh milk and fruit.
Mrs. E has willingly followed advice, but she is undoubtedly subnor
mal, and is not naturally a good housekeeper. Her mother, a very
efficient old lady, frequently has the family spend vacations at her
farm, cleans house for her daughter, plans her buying, and helps her
as much as Mrs. E ’s stepfather will allow. Mrs. E ’s mother showed
much more zeal in doing for the family when, with the assistance of
the court pension and the cooperation of the probation officer, it
seemed possible to maintain a decent standard o f living.
S U M M A R Y OF T H E RECORD OF T H E F F A M IL Y .

The F family, at the time o f application for a pension, con
sisted o f the mother, aged 31, and three children: Samuel, aged 12;
James, 7 ; and John, 5. The father, who had been a laborer and a
hard drinker, had died about four years earlier, leaving insurance
which amounted to only $208.40 and which was all used for the pay
ment o f hospital and funeral bills. Since his death, Mrs. F had been
working as a school janitress, earning from $25 to $30 a month. In
November, 1913, when she applied for a pension, she was living with
her sister and parents, and her character and thrifty habits were
recognized by the family physician and the principal o f the school
at which she worked. The municipal tuberculosis sanitarium re
ported that Mrs. F had been examined in October, 1913, and found
not to be tubercular, and that although she would be benefited by
a rest, she was able to work out.
Besides what she earned, Mrs. F was receiving.some aid from a
brother, and supplies from the county agent. A t times the teachers
also helped her a little. After the application for a pension had
been made, the dietitian estimated the family budget at $38.50 a
month. It was thought that the woman ought to do less work but
that her earnings ought to be about $12 a month. In January, 1914,
a pension o f $8 for each child was granted by the court, and Mrs.
F moved out o f her sister’s home to establish a home o f her own.
After the granting of the pension, a brother-in-law, who had quar
reled with his wife, came to live in the home o f Mrs. F , and, owing to
some rumors o f drinking and immorality, the conference committee of
the court recommended in June, 1914, that her pension be “ stayed” and
the children sent to an institution for dependent children. The sit
uation was, however, satisfactorily changed by removal to a new
neighborhood and the exclusion o f the brother-in-law from the home.
The probation officer persuaded Mrs. F to sign the pledge, and there
seems to have been no further trouble.
One immediate effect o f the supervision by the court officer was a
marked improvement in the children’s school records, which were
rather poor when the pension was first granted. The field super
visor gave advice and instructions as to diet and other items o f house-

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

hold economy, which seem to have been faithfully followed. At
present the mother is happy, takes good care o f her children, is very
intelligent in her buying, in which she cooperates with several women
in the neighborhood, and will soon join a woman’s club in her dis
trict. Samuel, whose pension was stayed when he became 14, is
bright and ambitious. He works as an office boy, earning $6 a week.
Arrangements were made for him to attend night school, where he
is very much interested in manual training, and devotes a good deal
o f attention to the furnishings o f the household.
Medical aid was secured for Mrs. F, and although there has
been illness in the family since the pension was granted, at present
all members o f the family are apparently in good health. The chil
dren’s school records have been carefully watched, the diet has greatly
improved in variety, and the family’s entire standard o f living is
steadily improving.
PENSION “ STAYS” OR WITHDRAWALS OF PENSION GRANTS.

The standard o f supervision maintained demands the withdrawal
o f the pension grants whenever a change in family circumstances
has occurred that makes a pension no longer necessary or its con
tinuance undesirable for the good o f the children. I f the supervision
o f the pensioned family is adequate the court will be promptly in
formed o f such changes in family circumstances or home conditions.
Table V I shows the number o f pension grants “ stayed,” that is,
withdrawn or canceled, during a period o f 19 months, together with
the reason for the stay and the length o f time the family has been
on the pension roll. During this period 543 families, including the
“ stayed cases,” were under care.
T a b l e Y I . — Reasons for stay of pension in 110 “ stayed ca ses” together with

length of time family had been on pension roll.a
Families whose pensions were stayed after receiving pensions for
specified period.
Reason for stay of pension.

All reasons...............................
Pension no longer needed...................
Mother’s failure..................
Family ineligible at time of pension
grant..................................................
Reason ambiguous.. . . . . . .

Total.

6
3
Less
months 1 year 2 years
months but
than
3
less but less and
Per cent
but less
Number distribu months. than 6. than 1 than 2. over.
year.
tion.
170

100.0

106
24

62.4
14.1

4
2'

6
2

18
5

40
7

16
24

Q4
14.1

»T his table was prep^-ed from material collected by officers of the Aid-to-Mothers Department for a
survey of then1own work. The period of time covered by the survey was Aug. 1,1913, to Mar. 1,1915.

The important questions to be asked concerning the families who
are dropped from the pension lists may be summarized as follows:
Were they dropped because they were no longer in need o f assistance ?
Were they dropped because the homes failed to come up to the stand.-

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ards set by the court? Were they dropped because the pension had
been granted on the basis o f an inadequate investigation, and the
court discovered facts that would have prevented the grant had
those facts been known at the time o f the grant ? Unfortunately the
reasons given in the records for the “ stay ” of funds are often ex
pressed in a small number o f set phrases that are frequently am
biguous. An attempt was made by a careful study of each record,
to relate the reason for the stay to the work o f the court and in this
way to answer the questions suggested above. Further explanation
o f the reasons for stays given in the table is, therefore, possible. In
the first class o f families—those in which the reason given is “ pen
sion no longer needed ”— are included 39 families who were said to
be dropped because their income was “ sufficient,” 32 who “ should be
self-supporting,” 12 who had money that they had received after the
pension grant, 12 in which the mother remarried, 5 in which the
mother died, 2 in which the mother withdrew voluntarily, and 4 in
which the family had left the city. These 106 families, 62 per cent
o f the total number “ stayed,” were dropped from the pension roll
because the family circumstances had changed; and the fact that this
change o f circumstances was known to the court and was acted upon
by the court is evidence o f the fact that the families were being care
fully supervised.
In the second class of families, those removed from the pension
roll because o f some failure on the mother’s part, are included the
follow ing: Six mothers who were untruthful, 7 who kept roomers,
and 11 who were reported as having refused to cooperate. A total of
24, or 14 per cent of the whole number “ stayed ” were dropped be
cause the mother failed to meet the standards o f family care set by
the court, and refused to cooperate with the supervising officer in
maintaining a proper home or proper care for the children. The
woman’s refusal to cooperate means that she is unwilling to take
those steps which in the judgment of the officer and of the confer
ence committee are essential to the proper care o f her children. She
may refuse to move from an insanitary house or a demoralizing
neighborhood, she may insist on keeping male boarders or lodgers,
or the husband may be the victim of an infectious disease, dangerous
to the members o f his family, and may refuse to leave the home. The
court may become convinced that not even with an allowance can
the home be kept at that level for which the county is willing to be
responsible.
In the third class are included those families whose pensions ap
parently were stayed because the woman was ineligible at the time
the pension was granted. The following were placed in this class:
Two mothers who were found to be aliens, four whose relatives were
able to assist, three whose marriage could not be proved, two who

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

could not prove the death o f their husbands. In all these cases it is
obvious that if the preliminary investigation had been adequate, the
pension would never have been granted. Included in this group also
are five women about whom more ambiguous phrases are used but
who probably would not have been granted pensions if the prelimi
nary investigation had been more searching. One had money, an
other was unfit morally, a third was physically unfit, and the other
two had husbands who were not wholly incapacitated for work. In
these five cases the pension was stopped before it had run three
months, so that it is probably safe to say that there was an inade
quate investigation in the first instance.
In the fourth class are included the families who could not be put
in any o f the foregoing classes because of inadequate information;
that is, the reason given for the pension stay was recorded in an
ambiguous phrase, “ Has money,” for instance, may mean that the
family either had money undiscovered by the preliminary investiga
tion or at a later date received money from some new source. “ Man
able to w ork ” may mean that his health has improved, or it may
mean a change in the standards o f the department. “ Mother unfit
morally, mentally, or physically” may show deterioration on the
part o f the mother, it may mean failure to improve as expected
under the care o f the court, or it may mean an inadequate investi
gation to begin with. That is, families dropped because they should
be self-supporting, because their income was sufficient, or because
the mother remarried were dropped after the pension had done the
work it was intended to do; while those who lost their funds because
o f no proof o f death, no proof of marriage, etc., were only granted
funds because o f an inadequate preliminary investigation. But
there are other phases used which tell us very milch less. That a
family is dropped because o f an “ illegitimate child” immediately
raises the question o f whether that child was born before the grant
o f pension or during the time the pension was being enjoyed.
The most important fact in the table is, o f course, that 62 per cent
o f the stays were ordered because the circumstances in the families
had changed, that only 14 per cent were dropped because the mother
could not be brought up to a proper standard, and only 9 per cent
because the family had been found to be ineligible. It is also im
portant to note that o f the families whose circumstances had changed,
the majority—78 out of 106—had been pensioned for a year or
longer.
Most o f the mothers who did not come up to the standards re
quired o f them had also had pensions for a year or more. This may
be interpreted either as showing the patience o f the court in dealing
with the families whose care it assumes; or it may be taken as an
indication o f the rising standard set by the court and the gradual

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW .

weeding out o f the unfit, for there is no doubt that a change in pen
sion standards occurred after February 5,1913.
O f the 16 cases in which the first investigation was obviously in
adequate, 5 were dropped within three months; but of the other 11,
9 had been pensioned for a year or longer. This is very probably
due to the fact that these pensions were granted in the early period,
when the technique of investigation was less fully worked out than
at present. Pensions can no longer be stayed because there is no
proof o f marriage or o f the husband5s death, since these facts must
now be established from public records before a pension is granted.
As has been said, the group called “ unknown ” includes all those
stays in which the reason for staying the funds is given but not in
terms which permit the families to be grouped in this scheme. At
the same time the reasons given are interesting and Table V II gives
a list o f these ambiguous reasons, together with the length o f time
the family had been on the pension roll.
T a b l e V I I .— Length of time on pension roll and reason for stay m case of 24

families classed as “ reason ambiguous ” m table.
Families whose pensions were stayed for ambiguous reasons,
after receiving pensions for specified period.“

Reason for stay of pension.

All reasons..........................................

Total.

3
months
Per cent but less
Number. distribu than 6
tion.
24
6
3
7
5
3

100.0
25.0
12.5
29.2
20.8
12.05

1
1

6
months
but less
than 1
year.

1 year
but less
than 2
years.

2 years
and
over.

1
1
1
1

3
2
4
2
2

2
1
1
1

a See Table VI.

It is probable that some of these families, too, were put on the
pension roll because the first investigation was inadequate. Es
pecially is this true of those families dropped because the mother
had an illegitimate child. A ll three had been on the lists for over
a year, all three were dropped at the time when the court established
the rule that copies of birth certificates must be obtained for children
who were already being pensioned. It is also very probable that
some o f the families who were dropped because they had money were
ineligible at the time when the pension was granted, but the investi
gating officer had failed to discover the savings. In 1914 the county
agent began a reinvestigation o f families receiving pensions, and he
is said to have found that a number o f families had money hidden
away. The date o f the stay of these six cases indicates that their in
eligibility was probably discovered in this way. For the other three

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

groups, it is impossible to tell whether their stay was due to a change
in their circumstances, to a change in the standards o f the court, to the
fact that the pension was granted under a misapprehension o f the
circumstances, or to the fact that the family had been given a trial
and had been found wanting.
It appears, then, that the number of families having their funds
stayed during the period under consideration was made unduly large
by the fact that during this period the court began making an in
vestigation of the families already under its care and demanding of
them the same proofs o f eligibility and fitness demanded of new ap
plicants. In other words, the court during this particular period
was engaged in rectifying the mistakes that had been made at an
earlier period when the law was new, the probation staff inadequate
and less competent, and adequate investigation the exception rather
than the rule. Just how many of these 24 stays Were due to these
reasons can not be definitely determined; but at the lowest estimate,
20 out o f 24 could be accounted for in this way.
One fact remains to be emphasized—the pensions o f these families
would not have been stayed if the court officers had not been thor
ough in their supervisory work. It should be made clear, how
ever, that there may often be questions o f fact that can not be dis
closed by even a searching preliminary investigation and which
may lead later to a modification or withdrawal o f the pension grant.
The possession o f such personal property as would disqualify may
be concealed for a considerable period; in one case, for example,
when the property had been concealed and was later disclosed, the
woman said that her conscience was greatly relieved by having the
fact finally brought to light. The question o f the mother’s real
fitness, too, is one upon which a later and more intimate knowledge
of the family will throw light.
Facts are also available for the pensions stayed at earlier periods.
This information throws no light on present pension policies since
the methods o f administration were so radically changed after Feb
ruary 4, 1913, when the work o f reorganizing the pension depart
ment was begun. The head o f the department has kindly supplied
from records the following reasons for the 60 pension stays that were
ordered between July 1,1911, and November 30, 1912:
Pension no longer necessary because of increased earnings in family_________
Mother able to care for family without further outside assistance_________ 5
Money received from insurance company in settlement of damage su it-____ 6
Husband returned to family______________________________________ j______________
Remarriage of m other_____________________________________ _|____________________
Death of m other____________________________ ;_____ ___________ _________ w___ _
Mother insane and placed in hospital___________________________ ________________

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5
10
3
1

ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

Mother in hospital ; children placed in homes-------- ----------------------------------------Mother found to be unfit------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- -----------Illegitimate child born after grant of funds_______________— _—
----------- -—
Fraudulent statement as to parentage of pensioned child-------------------------------Improper use of pension funds______________________________-— •*---------v-tr-------I f
Mother preferred children in institutions------------------------------------------ § -----------Family moved and left no trace of whereabouts------------------- ------------------------- Family moved to Europe________________________________________________________
Stayed and afterwards reinstated, pending inquiry__-------------------------------------T o ta l_______________________________________________________________________

4
2
5
2

1
1
1
1
3
60

F or the period between December, 1912, and June 30, 1913, the
published annual report shows that 90 families, with 341 children,
were removed from the roll. The number removed for each cause is
not given, but the following general reasons were giveti for the re
moval o f all cases for whom the court’s care proved impracticable
during this tim e: Pension stayed because the children became 14 years
o f age, mother remarried, mothers found to have money in the bank,
fathers became able to work and found employment, homes were
found to be irremediably unfit, and finally those removed because of
changes in the law. (See Cook County Service Report, 1913, pp. 293,
294.)
For the years 1915,1916, and 1917 data are published in the annual
reports o f the juvenile court (see Cook County Charity Service Re
ports for these years). In the following statement, showing the rea
sons for pension stays during these three years, the unit is the
pensioned child and not the pensioned family. Similar data for
pensioned families can not be obtained.
Reason for stay of pension.

1917

a Twenty-one of the 23 received insurance money.

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1916

1915

818

652

270

216
133
116
47
38
36
35
34
23
22
20
19
19
13
12
9
6
4
4
4
3
2
2
1

174
112
114
46
39
8
14
19
17
14
19
13
11
3
4
19

57
19
70
«23
22
1

8
6

6
15

6
2

7
8
4
16
3
5
7

PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

CHANGES IN AMOUNT OF PENSION GRANTS.

Further evidence o f adequate supervision is found in a change in
the amount o f the pension whenever the family income has changed;
that is, in some cases the allowance is not taken away entirely, but is
merely decreased in amount when family circumstances have changed.
For example, if a child becomes 14 years o f age, so that he can law
fully work, or i f new sources o f income appear, the pension allowance
may be reduced. If, on the other hand, sources o f income are stopped
or estimates are proved to be not well founded, the amount allowed
may be increased. This has happened in cases where the illness o f
the mother and her resulting inability to earn has made a larger pen
sion necessary for a time.
Table V I II shows the number o f changes that were made in the
pension grants o f the 212 families who had been under care for a
period o f two years or longer:
T a b l e V I I I .— N u m b er o f changes in am ount o f pension fo r 212 fam ilies under
care fo r tw o yea rs or longer.

Families under care two
years or longer.
Number of changes in amount of pension.
Number.
Total..........................................................
0......................................................................
1..............................................................
2..........................................................
3....................................................................
4.......................................................
5....................................................

Per cent
distribution.

212

100.0

56
60
52
22
18
4

26.4
28.3
24.5
10.4
8.5
1.9

This study o f 212 families who had been on the pension roll for
two years or longer shows that only 56 pensions had remained fixed
and that the other 156 had been changed at least once during that
period. There were altogether 322 actual pension changes ordered
for this group o f families. One hundred and thirty-five o f these
orders were pension increases and 187 pension decreases. This does
not count the orders of the court which changed the distribution of
the pension without altering the total amount. Such changes may
occur, for example, when the pension o f one child is ordered stayed
at his death and the pension o f the others increased until the new
pension is equal to the old.
The purpose o f these orders for pension changes can be best under
stood by an account o f the method o f adjusting the pension in a few
individual families:
A pension o f $16 a month was granted in February, 1912, to the
G family, consisting o f the mother and four children aged 11, 10, 7,

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and 6 years. Mrs. G earned $7 a week by cleaning an office building
at night. Her housekeeping and care o f the children were not satis
factory under this arrangement, and in September the committee
recommended that the pension be increased to $32 and that Mrs. G
should be told to stop her night work. The court did not grant the
full increase recommended by the committee, but granted $28 a
month. Evidently Mrs. G did not stop night work at once, for a
month later the case was again before the committee who repeated
their former recommendation, and this time it was granted by a court
order o f November, 1912. The mother now did washings and earned
from $3 to $4 a week. The pension continued at $32 until March,
1914, when the eldest girl became 14 and her pension was stayed,
making the family pension $24. Although the girl o f 14 was not
so ill as to be pronounced unable to work, she was retarded in growth
and underdeveloped, and it did not seem wise to have her go to work
at once. The court was not willing to continue her pension, but as the
income was thought insufficient in August, 1914, the pension o f the
youngest child was increased $6, making a total o f $30 for the family.
This continued until May, 1916, when the second child became 14
and the pension was reduced to $22.
The H family consists o f the mother and five children, the eldest
14 years and the youngest 13 months at the time o f the application
for a pension. The father had been an engineer and earned $16 a
week, but he had been sick and unable to work for a year before his
death, which occurred in June, 1911. In April, 1912, the family was
granted a pension of $36 a month. The 14-year-old girl was attend
ing a trade school and not bringing in any wages. The mother,
however, though not strong, worked about three days a week at $1
a day. Thus the total monthly income was $48 a month. In July,
1912, the fourth child, Marie, 3 years old, had infantile paralysis
and was sent to the hospital for treatment. She was there two
months and during that time her pension was cut off, making the
total pension $27 for those two months. In September, 1912, the
child came home; the pension was restored to $36. This allowance
continued until November, 1913, when Marie was once more sent to
the hospital and her pension stayed for a month. For two years
after that the pension was $26. In December, 1915, it was with
drawn entirely while the mother went to the hospital for an op
eration. When it was reinstated the amount was $35 instead of $36.
The eldest girl is at work earning $6 a week, making a total income
o f $59 a month.
The I family was granted a pension o f $42 a month in July, 1913.
The family consisted o f the mother and six children, all under 12
years o f age, and the mother’s father— an old man of 75, who paid
his daughter $5 a week for room and board. The budget as estimated
by the dietitian was $66 a month, which meant that the mother must
earn only $4 a month by outside work. This she was able to do
without any difficulty. In August, 1914, a year after the pension
was granted, the baby died, and the pension was reduced to $36 a
month. In April, 1915, the eldest child became 14, and her pension
was stayed, making the total pension $28. One month later Mrs. I ’s
father died. This meant a substantial reduction o f the family in
come, and the pension was again raised to $36.

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

The fact that for the great majority o f families the original grant
is altered one or more times during the period the family is under
care is an indication of thorough supervisory work. In the downState counties many families were found drawing pensions to which
they were no longer legally entitled. This was due to the inad
equate probation work. The court was not informed o f the changes
in family circumstances which made a change in the pension or its
withdrawal necessary, and pensions were continued which were no
longer needed. The Chicago court, however, is in such close touch
with the families under its care that any change in family circum
stances is reported at once by the supervising officers, and the pen
sion grant is altered accordingly.

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ADEQUACY OF PENSION GRANTS.
AMOUNT OF PENSION GRANTS.

A point o f interest and importance is that of the adequacy o f the
pension grants. The original pension law o f 1911 left the amount
o f the pension to be determined by the court without any limitations
as to the maximum or minimum allowance.17 The amended law of
1913, however, fixed a maximum pension grant at $15 a month for a
single child and $10 for each additional child, with a maximum o f
$50 a month for any one family. By the amendment o f 1915, the
maximum allowance for a single family was raised to $60 a month.
No one of the three mothers’ pension statutes o f Illinois, however,
has made any provision for a minimum allowance. The smallest
pension granted by the Chicago court is $4 a month, and the pension
allowances from this court, therefore, range from $4 to $60 a month.
Within these limits the amount of the pension grant is determined
by such circumstances as the number and ages o f the children, the
supplementary resources available, and the health of the family, par
ticularly the health o f the mother, who is expected to do some work
if the officer finds that it can be done without injury to her health or
neglect o f her home. It has already been pointed out that the field
supervisor, who is a dietitian, prepares a budget for each family 5
and on this budget as a basis the conference recommends to the court
that a pension o f a certain amount be granted. This amount may,
of course, be altered by the judge after he hears in court the discussion
between the county agent and the other representatives o f the con
ference committee.
A ll reports that have been published by the court, by the county
agent, or by the comptroller give only the total amount granted
monthly or yearly in the form o f pensions and the number o f families
or total number o f children receiving these grants. It is impossible
to obtain from these reports any further information except the ob
viously unsatisfactory average monthly pension given per family or
per child. In order to determine how far the pension grants furnish
adequate relief, information is needed showing the number o f pen
sion allowances o f definite amounts that have been granted, together
with the number of members in the family, and the total income o f

17I t w ill be remembered, however, that the presiding judge in the Chicago court had
established a rule o f the court, in the absence o f a statutory maximum grant, fixing a
maximum allowance. This maximum was at first fixed at $10 a m onth fo r each child
and was later increased to $15 a m onth fo r a girl and $10 a m onth for a boy, the
amounts granted by law fo r the maintenance o f dependent children in industrial schools,
48

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION" IN COOK COUNTY.

the family. An attempt has been made, therefore, to collect such
data. Table I X shows the number o f families receiving pensions o f
specified amounts in the month o f January, 1917, together with the
number o f pensioned children in the family; Table X shows the num
ber o f families granted pensions of specified amounts during the
period from August 1, 1913, to March 1, 1915, when the officers o f
the court made their “ survey ” together with the number of children
in each family; and Table X I shows the pension allowances for the
families (212) who had been under care for a period o f two years or
longer. Only for this last group o f families has it been possible to
obtain data relating to total income.
T a b l e IX . — Number of families receiving pensions of specified, amounts during

the month of January, 1917, together with the number of pensioned children
in the family. a
Families receiving pensions of specified amounts, January, 1917.
N u m ber o f p e n
sioned children in
the family.

To
tal.

Less
than
$5;

Not
$5- $10- $15- $20- $25- $30- $35- $40- $45- $50- $55re
$9. $14. $19. $24. $29. $34. $39. $44. $49. $54. $59. $60. port
ed.

Total number.

778

115

1child.......................
2 children..................
3 children..................
4 children..................
5 children..................
6 children..................
7 children..................
Not reported.............

31
203
249
189
82
18
5
1

3
7
1
1

5
26
10
5
1

22
¿0
30
10
2
1

147

133

107

3
~

¿3
60
19
4
1

57
51
19
5
1

42
6

38
4¿
15
1

30
22

18
6
2

12
7
2

6
4

® ^lth?ugh children over 14 are not usually pensioned, in 13 families there is a child over 14 for whom
the pension was continued beoause the child was unable to work.
Not reported because the record for this family could not be found.

Table I X shows that in January, 1917, when these data were ob
tained, only 3 families were receiving the maximum pension o f
$60 a month allowed to a single family, although the 18 families
with 6 children and the 5 families with 7 children would have been
entitled to pensions o f this amount under the provision o f the law
which permits the granting o f $15 a month to the first child and
$10 a month to each one of the other children under 14 years o f
age in a pensioned fam ily; that is, 23 o f these families might have
been given the maximum pension, but only 3 families had actually
been granted this allowance of $60 a month. On the other hand,
the pensions for the most part are not doles. Only 1 pension o f
less than $5 a month was granted; only 12 pensions fall in the
group $5-$9; 47 in the group $10—$14; or, taking the numbers
cumulatively, 60 pension allowances o f less than $15 a month— ap
proximately 8 per cent o f the entire number— were being granted
at the beginning o f 1917, The largest number o f families in any
3471°—21------4

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A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

OE T H E

A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

one group (147) were receiving pensions of $20—$24 a month; the
next largest group, 133 families, were receiving pensions of $25-$29
a month. That is, 280 families, or 36 per cent of the whole number
pensioned, fall into a group receiving pensions varying from $20 to
$29 a month.
The size o f the pension must vary with the size o f the family, since
the law provides that the pension shall not exceed $15 a month for
a single child and $10 for each additional child in the family. The
heavy zigzag line in the table is so drawn that all the numbers
above the line represent families receiving the maximum pension
allowed by law for the number of children pensioned. These include
144, or 19 per cent of the total number of pensioned families.
Adequacy o f relief can be tested only by data showing total
family income and not by the information presented in Table IX ,
showing only the amount of pension given. Unfortunately the total
income o f these families could be obtained only by a detailed study
o f the case records o f all the 778 families under care and such a
study could not be attempted. But it must not be overlooked that
the data in Table I X throw light on the policy of the court with re
gard to the amount of relief granted. A study o f Table I X indi
cates that great care is used in determining the amount o f the pension
grant. The court has not followed an unscientific and careless
method o f granting a flat rate for each child, but the allowance has
been carefully adjusted to the supplementary sources of income
available for each family. These outside sources of aid are evidently
studied with great care and the pension grant nicely graduated ac
cording to the family resources and needs.
Further data showing the actual pension allowances were obtained
for the families on the pension roll between August 1, 1913, and
March 1, 1915.18 These data are presented in Table X .
T a b l e X . — Number of families receiving pensions of specified amounts, Aug.

1, 1913, to Mar. 1, 1915, together with the number of children under lit
years of age in each family.
Families receiving pensions of specified amounts.
Number of pensioned children in
the family.

$1014

$1519

95
5

3
1

4
26
7
2

Total. $5-9

Total number....................... 543
9
117
175
136
62
29
15

48
10
2
1

$2024
159
SiJ
53
41 .
10
3

$2529

$3034

$3539

$4044

$4549

$50

54
20
10
7

4
Ti
11
6
1

3$
12
8
6

7
8
25
15

3
4

2
2
3

18 This m aterial was taken from the schedules prepared by the officers o f the court for
their pension survey.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

Table X furnishes information similar to that in Table IX . The
numbers above the heavy zigzag line in the table represent the num
ber o f families receiving the maximum grant allowed by law for the
number o f children specified at the rate o f $15 for the first child
and $10 for each additional child. The maximum pension allowed
during this period to any one family was $50. The table shows, there
fore, that out o f 543 families only 24, or 4 per cent of the total
number, were given the maximum amount allowed for the number o f
children specified. Table I X showed that 19 per cent o f the 778
families on the pension roll in 1917 in contrast to this 4 per cent for
1913-1915, were receiving maximum grants. The larger number
receiving such grants at the later period may indicate a more liberal
pension policy or it may indicate the increase in pension allowances
made necessary by the rising cost o f living.
To make possible a comparison between the size o f pension allow
ances at the earlier and later periods, a table o f cumulative numbers
and percentages has been prepared showing the number o f families
receiving pensions o f more than certain specified amounts at the
two periods.
T able

X I . — Number of families receiving pensions of more than specified
amounts from Aug. 1, 1913, to Mar. 1, 1915 and in January, 1917.
Families pensioned.
Amount of pension.

A ur. 1, 1913, to
Mar. 1,1915.

January, 1917.

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
$60..............................
$55 or more.........................................
$50 or more......................................
$45 or more...................................................
$40 or more......................................................
$35 or more.................................. .......
$30 or m ore..........................................................
$25 or more................................................
$20 or more.........................................
$15 or more......................................
$10 or more......................................................
$5 or more..............................................
Less than $5..............
Not reported....................................................

7
15
67
100
191
246
405
500
539
543

1.3
2.7
12.3
18.4
35.2
45.4
74.6
92.1
99.3
100. 0

14
35
64
116
215
322
455
602
717
764
776

4.5
8.2
14.9
27.6
41.4
58.5
77.4
92.2
98.2
99.8

° Not reported because the record for this family could not be found.

Table X I shows that somewhat larger percentages o f the pen
sioned families were getting larger pensions at the beginning o f the
year (1917) than during the earlier period. Thus, selecting several
different points o f comparison, 8.2 per cent of the families at the
later period in contrast to 2.7 per cent o f the families at the earlier
period received pensions o f $45 a month or more; 27.6 per cent at the
later period in contrast to 18.4 per cent at the earlier period received
pensions o f $35 or more; 58.5 per cent at the later period in contrast
to 45.4 per cent at the earlier period received as much as $25 or more.

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a d m in is t r a t io n

the

a id - t o - m o t h e r s

law

As a result o f a more detailed study that has been made of the 212
families who had been under care for a period o f at least two years,
some further data are available showing the amount o f the pension
grants. Data showing the total incomes of the pensioned families
were also obtained from this study.
Tables X I I and X I I I show the amount o f the pension grants
originally made to the families who had been under care for a period
o f two years and the amount o f pension grants two years later. In
both tables the pension grants are given, together with the number of
pensioned children; that is, children under 14, in the family.
T a b l e X I I .— Number of families receiving pensions o f specified amounts at time

pension was first granted, together with number of children under lJf years
of age.
Families receiving pensions of specified amounts at begin
ning of grants.
Number of pensioned children in Total.
the family.
Less
than
«10

«1014

$15“
19

$2024

«2529

«3034

«3539

5
1
2

2
7 “ IT
11
17
2
19
2
2

3
4
17
6

T otal«...................................

212
2
32
62
68
26
14

$40— $45— «50
44
49

10 — T T
6
6
2
3
1

.....
6
5
1

1
4

___

a Of the total, 11 cases were found where a child was away from home or approaching fourteenth birthday.

Pension was not granted for 1 stepchild.

T a b l e X I I I .— Number of families receiving pensions of specified amounts two

or more years after pension was first granted, together with number of chil
dren under lJf years of age.
Families receiving pens ions of specified amounts two or more years after first
grant of pension.
N u m b e r of pen
sioned children in Total.
Less
family.
than «1014
«10
Total...............

«4549

«5054

7
8

6
10
5

2
7
3 — r
2

17
1
1

12
4

28
12
2

11
49
74
57
13

5
1
2

2
8

«4044

$2024

212

$3539

$25— «3029
34

«1519

$5559

$60
1

In both tables the numbers above the zigzag line represent the
number of families who were given the maximum pension grant.
Table X I I shows that only 8 families out o f 212, or 4 per cent of the

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PART I.-— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

total number, were originally given maximum allowances. After
two years the pensions had been increased so that 20 out o f the 212,
or 9 per cent o f the whole number, were getting maximum allow
ances. These tables indicate, as did the comparison between Tables
I X and X , that pensions of maximum size are more frequently
granted than formerly, probably in order to meet the increased cost
o f living. In general, these tables merely confirm the conclusions
already drawn from Tables I X and X , that pensions o f the maximum
amount are granted with great caution, that the amount o f the
pension allowance is carefully adjusted to the special needs o f each
pensioned family, and that no unscientific “ flat-rate ” allowances
are given. Thus, Table X I I I shows that 57 families with 4 children
to whom the maximum allowance of $45 might be granted were
actually given pensions varying from $15 to $45 and that only 2 of
the 57 families drew as much as the latter amount.
It has already been pointed out that these tables dealing with the
amount o f the pension grants do not enable us to determine whether
or not the pension allowance is adequate to the family needs. It is
impossible to determine the adequacy o f pension grants except on
the basis o f data showing total incomes together with the number
in the family. A study o f the case records for the 212 families who
had been pensioned for at least two years made it possible to obtain
the necessary data for determining the total income o f these families.
It must be explained, however, that accurate statistics o f income are
difficult to obtain. For example, a pension may be granted on the
supposition that supplementary contributions are to be made by rela
tives or others; but it is impossible to determine accurately just how
much these supplementary contributions really are from month to
month. Kelatives can not always be depended on to make their
promised contributions regularly, and the supervising officer does not
always know, and does not always record even when she knows, the
precise amounts or the regularity o f such contributions. Again, the
pension may be granted on the supposition that the mother ought to
earn a specified amount. But the earnings of women who take in
washings or go out for day work are likely to be irregular, and may
show a wide variation from week to week. This is true also o f
families in which there are other wage earners. Children who are
supposed to be regular contributors to the family income are in
and out o f work, and their earnings vary with their periods o f unem
ployment and their changes o f jobs. I f circumstances lead to a per
manent change in the family income, the pension will be altered by
the court; but temporary variations in income are inevitable when
the entire income is not provided by the court pension and the pen
sion is not altered from week to week to meet such changes in the
situation.

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

It may be said, then, that there are two difficulties in the way o f
determining the family income: (1) The income in many families
is not regular, but varies from week to week and from month to
month ; (2) the irregular supplementary earnings or contributions
are not always recorded, even if known, by the supervising officer.
In spite o f these difficulties it is believed that as a result o f a careful
study of the total income o f the 212 families who have been under
care for a period o f two years or longer it has been possible to work
out with approximate accuracy for 208 o f these families the total
actual income for the last month under care.
The income for a single month has been taken, and the most
recent month was selected for each family. In many cases it was
necessary to estimate the mother’s earnings from entries made at
other dates, such as statements that the mother earns $3 or $4 a
week doing daywork. When such entries were repeated frequently
but nothing was said about the earnings in the particular month
under consideration, it was assumed that these earnings continued
in that month. The estimate o f income from relatives or other
sources was made in the same way ; that is, i f the contribution had
been regular it was assumed that the same contribution was made
in this particular month, even if it was not recorded for this month.
In general, the minimum figure has been used in cases of doubt,
and the incomes given in Table X I V are probably somewhat below
the amounts the families actually received. Another reason for
believing that these incomes are slightly below thè Teal incomes is
that no attempt has been made to estimate the value o f what is
sometimes called invisible relief—ice or coal tickets ; gifts o f food ;
clothing from probation officers, employers, or friends; or irregular
gifts from relatives.
There remains the further question whether earnings for a single
month, arbitrarily chosen, may safely be assumed to represent the
income for the remaining months in the year. The monthly incomes
vary, o f course, much more in some families than in others. In a few
families the income changes so often that it is impossible to find
any month in which the income is like that o f any other month for
six months or a year, while in other families one month’s income is
regularly very much like the next. Undoubtedly for some families
the income in the month selected was extraordinarily high or low ;
but it seems probable that for the majority the income was not very
different in the selected month from the other months o f the pension
period. IMoreover, an attempt to work out from the case records
the yearly income o f these families involved the making o f so many
estimates because o f omissions in the records that the yearly income
did not promise to be as accurate as the figures for the single month
taken.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

The results o f this study o f the incomes o f the 212 families who had
been pensioned for two years or more are presented in Tables X I V
and X V . For four families the income could not be determined satis
factorily, and the data presented are for 208 families only. The first
o f these two tables shows the amount o f the pension grant together
with the total income, and the second shows total income together
with the number of persons in the family. A child is, of course,
counted as a person, and in general there is only one adult member
o f the household, since most o f the families represent a widowed
mother with children not old enough to go to work.
T a b l e X I V .— Monthly income of pensioned families for which information could

be secured, together with pension grants.

Number of families having monthly pension of—
Total. $5-9 $10-14 $15-19 $20-24 $25-29 $30-34 $35-39 $40-44 $45-49 $50-54 $60
Total..........................

208

820-24.99..............................
25-29.99..............................
30-34.99..............................
35-39.99..............................
40-44.99..............................

3
5
14
24
38

45-49.99..............................
50-54.99..............................
55-59.99..............................
60-64.99..............................
65-69.99............................

27
31
10
19
11

70-74.99..............................
75-79.99..............................
80-84.99..............................
85-89.99..............................
90-99.99..............................

14
3
2
3
4

1
1

2
2
4

1
1
3
11
11

2
3
3
2

2
2
13

7
4

2
1
2
2
1

6
7

10
8
3
7
5

1
1
1

1
1
2

2
2

1
2

4
4
1

1
3

4
1

1
5
1
1
2

2
1

1
1

T a b l e X Y .— M onthly income of pensioned families for which information could

be secured, together with number in family.

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Adequacy o f income can not be discussed on the basis of the data
shown in Table X I Y , since the size o f the family is not given, but the
table furnishes some additional information relating to the pension
policy o f the court. It appears that pensions are granted to fami
lies whose income apparently place them above the poorest wage
earning groups. Twelve families, for example, have incomes o f $75
a month and over, including the pensions. For these families the
pensions ranged from $5 to $49. A family with an income o f $70
had its income increased to $75 by the grant o f a $5 pension. Two
families with incomes of $75 had their incomes increased to $90 or
more by pension grants o f $15 to $19 a month. Two families with in
comes of $70 had their incomes increased to $90 or more by pensioil
grants o f $20 to $24 a month. These incomes are probably large be
cause they belong to large families in which there are working chil
dren, as well as a number o f children under 14 years o f age. In such
cases the court evidently takes the position that the entire burden of
supporting the dependent children should not be placed upon the
children who have just gone to work. In any event the table does
indicate that the court has shown a willingness to assist in maintain
ing a decent standard o f living, which, with a large family, can be
supported only on the basis o f a reasonably large monthly income.
It should be noted, on the other hand, that some o f the incomes are
very low. Thus 3 families have an income o f less than $25, 5 other
families have incomes of $25 to $29, and, altogether, there are 46
families with incomes below $40. It is clear, however, that a study
o f incomes alone, without regard to the number o f members in the
family, is o f little value. Table X V shows that the large incomes, in
general, go with the large families and the small incomes with the
small families. The maximum pension for a family consisting o f a
mother and two children under 14 years o f age is $25. There are two
families o f this size, however, and one family of four, with an income
o f less than $25. In these cases the court apparently did not grant the
maximum pension because supplementary sources o f income were ex
pected, although the table indicates that they were not forthcoming.
TESTS OF ADEQUACY OF PENSION GRANTS.

Statements o f income, however, do not serve as a measure o f the
the adequacy o f the pension grants until some tests o f “ adequacy o f
relief” or adequacy o f income have been accepted. Such tests are,
o f course, difficult to obtain and it is doubtful whether or not any
scientific tests are available. For these Chicago incomes, however,
certain tests may be applied with interesting if not wholly satis
factory results. The first o f these is the relation between the actual
family income and the estimated budget prepared by the field super-

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

visor, and submitted to the conference committee as a basis for de
termining what the pension ought to be. The field supervisor was
a trained dietitian and her budget estimates were prepared after a
study of the composition o f the family and its special needs. To
illustrate the method of making these estimates the following budgets
are given. The sample budgets are copies o f actual budgets sub
mitted to the conference committee by the dietitian.
Budget estimates as a test of adequacy of relief.

A family: Estimated budget and income.
The following estimated budget was submitted by the field super
visor for a Polish family consisting o f a mother, aged 25, and two
children, aged 1 and 4 years. The father, who had died six months
before the pension was granted, had been an elevator man earning
$11 a week.
E stim a ted m o n th ly b u d g et: A fa m ily.

Rent-----------------------------------------------------------■---------------------------------- $ 8 .0 0
Food-------------------------------- ----------— --------------------------------------------T7.0 0
Fuel and light__________________________________________________
4 qo
Household supplies__.1 _____ _____________________________________
4 75
Clothing ( f a m i ly )____ _______________________________________ _
5 QO
75
Care of health_________ _________________________________ L________
T o ta l-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 6 .5 0

The mother in this family was working at the time o f application
earning $6 a week in a restaurant. She worked from 2 o’clock in
the afternoon until 11 in the evening, but her sister who lived in
the same tenement took care o f the children during the mother’s
absence from home. The conference committee recommended that
the mother continue her work and that a pension of $13 a month
be given ($7 for the 5-year-old child and $6 for the 2-vear-old child).
This pension was granted by the court. The income for this family,
therefore, may be stated as follow s:

[

Mother’s earnings_____________________ _________________________834. 00
Court pension__________________ j'________________ £_____________ 73. qq
Total incom e____________________________________________
Estimated budget________________ __________________

36. 50

37. 00

Surplus____________________________________,_________ ____

. 50

The income for this small family equaled almost exactly the esti
mated budget prepared by the dietitian.

B family: Estimated budget and income:
In the B family, Russian Jewish, the father, who died o f heart
trouble six months before the pension grant, had been a presser in
a garment factory and had earned about $8 a week. The f amily

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consisted o f the mother, aged 30 years, and three children, aged 1,
6, and 7 years. The estimated budget for this family submitted by
the field supervisor was as follow s:
Estimated monthly budget: B family.
R e n t----------------------------------------------------------- _ i .« | _______________$10.00
Food------------------------------------------------------------ — _ _______________ 19.50
Fuel and ligh t-______ :________________ ;_________________________
4 .0 0
Household supplies and fu rn ish ings--________________ llii.__
1. 75
Clothing (fa m ily )________________ ________ _______________ ___ _
4 .7 5
1.0 0
Care of health_____________________________________ __ __________
Total________________ - __________________t_____ ____________

41.00

The conference committee estimated that the mother in this family
ought to earn $12 a month. The mother, however, is not working
now, but the doctor who recently examined her, reports that she is
able to work about two days a week. The committee recommended a
pension o f $27 a month, which was granted. This pension is now
being supplemented by the Jewish Home Finding Society, which is
giving $8 a month and coal, and this society has reported that this
supplementary allowance is to be increased to $13 a month.
The relation between the estimated budget, the pension grant, and
income in this family may be stated as follow s:
Court pension_____________________ ______ ___ _________ _________ $27. 00
n 8. 00
Jewish Home Finding Society_____________________________ _
Present income (plus c oa l)_______________________ ____ _
Estimated budget_____________________________________ _________

35.00
41. 00

Present deficit_____________________________________ s_____

3. 00

That is, there is a present deficit, but when the Jewish Home Find
ing Society raises its allowance there will be a surplus o f $2. It is to
be noted, however, that the present income is more adequate than the
former income from the father’s wages.

G family: Estimated budget and income.
The C family was granted a pension in December, 1916. This
family included the mother, aged 31 years, three children, aged 8, 10,
and 11 years, and the father, 32 years old, who was in the third stage
of tuberculosis, incapacitated for work and living in a sanitarium.
The father and the mother were both bom in Poland but had been in
this country 29 years. The father had been a finisher and had earned
$15 a week when he was able to work. The budget for this family in
cluded extra diet, for the mother was found to have tuberculosis in the
second stage, and the two younger children had had tuberculosis, alIn addition, the society contributed c o a l; estimated value, $3.

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

though it was quiescent at the time the pension was granted. The
budget estimates which follow are the original budget and a later
budget prepared on the basis o f the increased cost of living.
Estimated monthly budget: C family.

Estimated
budget on
which
pension
was
granted.

R ent..........................
Food (extra d iet)...................

$11. 00
22. 00

New esti
mate.

$11. 00
26. 00
4. 75

Fuel and lig h t........................

4. 00

Household supplies and furnishings.............
Clothing (fam ily)..........................

5. 75

2.50
6. 25

Care of health...........................

1.00

45. 50

51.50

Total..................................

1. 75

The conference committee recommended a pension of $35 a month,
the maximum pension allowed by law for a family with three chil
dren, and the committee also recommended that the family be
granted “ county supplies ” (the rations given by the outdoor relief
department). The pension grant o f $35 was allowed by the court,
but the county agent refused the request for county supplies on the
ground that it is against the rules of the county agent’s office to
supplement pensions when the family is receiving the maximum pen
sion allowed by law. The mother at the time of application for the
pension was working in a phonograph office, earning $6 a week, but
she is not able to work now. The present situation o f this family
is as follow s:
Income : Pension grant_________________________,__________ _____ $ 35.0 0
First estimated budget_______________________ 1____ S _________ /' 4 5 .5 0
Later estimated budget___ ___ ___ _______J___ ___________ ML__ 51.50
Income deficit------------------------- -------------------------10. 50 or 16. 50

D family: Established budget and income.
The D family consists o f the mother, aged 33 years, and three
children, aged 8, 10, and 13 years. Both parents were born in
Ireland and had been in this country 13 years before the father’s
death. The father died o f tuberculosis about eight years before
the pension was granted. The mother was in a State hospital for
the insane for a time but has recovered. She has tuberculosis o f the
knee, however, and the knee is in a cast. She also has tuberculosis

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW .

o f the lungs, arrested. The three children all have glandular tuber
culosis. The budget estimates for this family were as follow s:
E stim a ted m o n th ly b u d get: D fam ily.

Estimate
on which
pension
was
granted.

New esti
mate.

R ent (estim ated)........................................................................................

$10. 00

$10.00

Food (extra d iet)....................................................................
Fuel and lig h t.............................................................................................

22.00
4. 00

24.00
4. 75

Household supplies and furnishings......................................................

1. 75
5. 75

1. 75
6.00

1.00

44.50

47.50

Clothing (fam ily)........................................................................................
Care of health......................................................
Total..................................................................................................

The mother of this family was unable to work, and the conference
committee recommended the maximum pension for a family o f three
children, $35 a month. The present monthly income o f this family
is as follows:
In com e: Court pension___________________________________ $35.00
F irst estim ated budget______ ______________________ ______ 44. 50
Later estim ated budget_______________ i___________________ . 47. 50
Income deficit----------------------------------------------9. 50 or

12. 50

Since the maximum pension for this family can not be more than
$35 (that is, $15 for the first child and $10 for each o f the other two
children), the supervisor o f the pension department is asking aid
from other charitable sources in order to bring the income up to the
budget estimate, but she has no assurance as yet o f any regular sup
plementary allowance although the church is paying the moving
expenses and the first month’s rent at the new address.

E family: Estimated budget and income.
The E family is typical o f the families in which there are several
wage earners. This family consists o f the mother, aged 43 years,
and four children, aged 11,13, 16, and 18 years. The father died o f
tuberculosis in August, 1916, and the family was granted a pension
in September, 1916. The father was American and the mother Ger
man born. The father had been a piano finisher, earning $16 a week.
The estimated budgets were as follow s:

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.
E stim a ted m o n th ly b u d g et: E fa m ily.

Budget on
which pen New esti
sion was
mate.
granted.

R ent............................

$ 1 1 . 00

$1 1 .0 0

Food (extra d iet)....................

33.50

37.00

Fuel and light.......................

5.00
2. 25

3.00

Household supplies and furnishings___
Clothing (fam ily)............

5.00

5. 75

6 .0 0

Clothing (working child)..................

2.50

3.50

Spending money (working ch ild ).........
Car fare.......................

1 .0 0

2.50

Care of health......................

1.50

65. 00

70.50

Total........ 1........................

The conference committee recommended a pension o f $18 a month
for this family since the mother, although she was reported not very
well was working and earning about $10 a month, and the two older
children were working. The present monthly income for this family
may be stated as follows:
Mother’s earnings______________________._________________ 0 0
Boy, 18 years of age, contribution o f three-fourths of his
w ages------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 4 -0 0
Boy, 16 years of age, contribution o f three-fourths of his
wages----- ----------------------------- ----------------------------------------- 14.00
Court pension____________________________________________ 4 g qq
T otal income________________________________ ______
Estim ated budget__________ _______________________________

6 0 qo

Surplus income________________ ]_____ _______ ___________

4 qo

65. 00

F family: Estimated budyet and income.
The F family consists o f the mother, aged 37 years, and seven chil
dren, aged 4, 6, 7, 9,12,14, and 17 years. The father who was born in
Germany but who had been ip. this country 24 years died o f heart dis
ease in September, 1916. The family applied for a pension the same
month and the pension was granted in October, 1916. The father had
been a machinist, earning $21 a week, and had no insurance. The
estimated budget for the F family was as follow s:

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .
Estimated monthly budget: F family.
Rent-------------------------------------$10. 00
Food___________ __ __________ I _________ ¿ M m , ----------------------------- 38. 00
Fuel and light------------------------------------------------------------ £--------------5. 00
Household supplies and furnishings-----------------------------------------2. 75
Clothing (fa m ily )---------- --------------- !J|--------------------------- ----------7 .2 5
Clothing (working ch ild)------------------------------------------------------ -—
2 .5 0
Spending money_____________________________
1- 00
Car fare_________ '------------------------------------------------------------------------2 .5 0
Care o f health____ ____ i------------------------------ -----------------------------2 .0 0
Total______________________________________________________

71. 00

The mother in this family has not been working and is not work
ing now. The little 14-year-old girl has not yet gone to work, but
her future earnings were considered a part o f the family income by
the conference committee. The present monthly income is as follow s:
Pension grant__________________________________________________ $35. 00
Girl of 16 contribution three-fourths of wages------------------------- 18. 00
Total present income---------- ----------------- ---------------------—
Estimated wages to be contributed by 14-year-old girl_--------

53. 00
12. 00

Budget-------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- -— -i’ 71.00
Present budget deficit--------------------------------------------------------------- Future budget deficit---------------------------------------------------------------—

18. 00
6 . 00

G family: Estimated budget and income.
The G family is a colored family, consisting o f the mother, aged
31, and four children, aged 8, 10, 11, and 13 years. The father had
been a coal miner, and earned from $50 to $60 a month until he
became ill with tuberculosis. He died in February, 1913, and the
family got $100 insurance from the miners’ union. The family had
not then been residents o f Cook County long enough to be eligible
for a pension. The pension was ultimately granted, however, in
January, 1917. The‘ following budget estimate for this family was
submitted to the conference committee:
Estimated monthly budget: O family.

Rent (estim ated)------------------------------------ -------- --------— ------------$12.00
2 3 .50
Food____ ______________ - --------------------------- ---------------------------------Fuel and light------------------- ’1---------------------- --------- j|--------------------4 .0 0
Household supplies and furnishings-:------------------------------------2 .2 5
Clothing (fa m ily )--------------------------------------------------------------------7 .0 0
Care of health_______________________________________________ —
1 .2 5
Total________________________________________________________

50.00

The mother in this family is not well, but she does day work and
earns about $5 or $6 a week. The conference committee recommended

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

P A K T I .— A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

COOK C O U N T Y .

a pension of $28 a month, which was granted by the court.
present income o f the family may be stated as follows:

The

Mother’s earnings_________ ____________________________ $22.00
Court pension_________ _._______________________________ 28 00
Total income____ ____________ I______ ____________qq qq
Estimatéd budget_____________ ________________________
50.00
No surplus or deficit.

3 family: Estimated budget and income.
The H family, Russian «Jewish, includes the father, who is incapaci
tated by acute articular rheumatism; the mother, aged 34; and five
children, aged 2, 6, 8, 11, and 14 years. The father had been a
peddler, earning about $15 a week. The estimated budget which was
submitted for this family includes provision for the father, who is
living at home as a member o f the family.
Estimated monthly budget: H family.

Rent and heat________ ________________________
$10 00
Food------------------------------------------- ‘__________________ 32' go
Fuel and light___________________ ___________ _______
2 00
Household supplies and furnishings___________ _________
2.25
9 qo
Clothing (family)________________________ j_____________
Care of health_______ j______________________________ ___
^ 75
Total---------- --------------- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ------------------ _-----

The mother sews and earns about $3 a week.
come for this family is as follow s:

63. 50

The estimated in

Mother’s earnings_____________ ,_________________________________ $12 qo
Court pension_________________________ _______ __________________ 50 qo

Total income____________________ _______________
Estimated budget______ __________ _____________________

62_ 00
63 50

Income deficit_______ _____fi__ S__________________

j 50

The pension was reduced on November 13, 1916, from $50 to $40,
when the eldest child became 14 years o f age. The boy has remained
in school to graduate from the eighth grade, February 1,1917. There
has been, therefore, for the two months o f November and December
an income deficit o f $11.50 a month, which will continue until work
is found for the boy.
These sample budgets show the method used by the Chicago court
to determine the amount o f the pension grant. The budgets given
are for large families with more than one wage earner, and for small
families in which there is no one, not even the mother, able to work.
No conclusions can be based on these sample budgets, since only a small

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ADMINISTRATION OR TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

number are given. Table X V I has, therefore, been prepared show
ing, for all o f the 212 families for whom the information could be
obtained from the records,19 the size of the surplus or deficit after
income and estimated budget had been compared.
T a b l e X V I .— Deficits and surpluses of income over last budget for families for

which information could be secured.

Families.
Amount.
Deficit.

Even
Surplus. income.

116

11
15
13
10
8
9
3
5
7
17
7

3
11
4
11
5
8
5
3
4
10
10

6
6

N one.. — - - ..............

A study o f Table X V I shows that 116 families, or 56.6 per cent
o f the whole number for whom the information was obtained, had
incomes below the budget estimate prepared by the dietitian. But
for the great majority o f these families the deficits were very small
as the following summary shows:
a '¿L A
Families.
Deficits of—
A
Less than $5------------------------------------------------------------------------------$5 but less than $10------------------------------------------------------------ — ^2
$10 or more-------------------------------------------------

The 60 families with deficits of less than $5 may be disregarded,
since inaccuracies in estimating income may easily account for a
small deficit. There remain 32 families with deficits of $5 but less
than $10 a month, and 24 families with deficits o f $10 or more.
That is, 56 families, or 27.3 per cent o f the whole number, have
deficits of $5 or more per month. These deficits may be explained as
due to one o f the following reasons: (1) Temporary circumstances,
such as the failure of children o f working age to secure work, or
temporary loss o f work by the mother or some other wage-earning
member of the fam ily; (2) the provision of the law which fixes the
maximum pension at $15 for a single child and $10 a month for each
subsequent pensioned child in the family (this means that very small
families in which the mother is so ill or so incompetent that she can
19 F or seven o f the 212 fam ilies no report as to the relation between budget and incom e
could be obtained from the records.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

make no contribution to the income may be left with only $15 or $25
a month as the sole income; some method o f supplementing such
an income will probably be found later by the supervising probation
officer, but temporarily the family may be inadequately provided
f o r ) ; (3) the provision o f the law fixing the maximum limit o f the
pension granted at $60 a month. As the limit to the allowance per
child may lead to an inadequate income for small families so the
limit to the allowance per family may mean an inadequate allowance
for very large families. I f a family with six or eight small chil
dren, for example, has been in a tubercular condition so that extra
diet is needed for several members o f the family, the $60 a month
maximum pension, generous as it may sound, must be inadequate
according to the standards set by the careful estimates of the court
dietitian, unless supplementary sources o f income are available.
A further explanation of the deficits may possibly be found in the
fact that the value o f the invisible relief already referred to has not
been estimated in making up the income totals.
In discussing the adequacy o f pension grants or the adequacy o f
any other form o f relief, it is, however, necessary to remember that
we have no way of applying a test o f adequacy, such as the dietitian’s
standard, to the incomes o f families outside o f the pension depart
ment. That is, before any judgment can be passed upon the fact that
27 per cent of the families fall approximately $5 or $10 short o f what
an expert dietitian calls an adequate income, it would be necessary to
compare this percentage with the percentage of independent wage
earners’ families whose incomes fall below a similar standard or with
the percentage o f families supported by other forms of relief who
fall short by a similar test. Unfortunately such a comparison can
not be made; and without such a standard of comparison it can only
be said that while a certain percentage of pensioned families may not
yet have adequate incomes, there is a considerable percentage of the
nonpensioned families in the community in the same position.
Some comment should be made on the number o f families who have
incomes affording a surplus according to the dietitian’s standard.
The following summary shows that most of these surpluses were very
sm all:
Surpluses of—
Families.
Less than $5_________________________ _________________________ 38
$5 but less than $10_______________________ ,__________________
25
$10 or more______________ l_______________________ ______:______
20

Like the small deficits, the small surpluses may be disregarded
since they may be easily accounted for by inaccuracies in estimating
income.
3471°— 21------5

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

The families with the large surpluses are, in general, families
whose income is precarious because the help o f relatives, or of some
other supplementary source, is believed to be uncertain, or they are
families whose pensions are being supplemented by the Jewish Home
Finding Society.
Comparison between present and past incomes.
' A' setond test of adequacy of income that might be used is a com
parison between the present income o f the pensioned families and
fhe dnbbme o f 1these same families when the husbands and fathers
Sv&fió1aliv'ér Although our American relief authorities have long
sih¿^Rejected the*old poor-law doctrine that the condition of the
family maintained by an allowance from public funds must be “ less
eligible ,5:fhhri fh^:í¿íóhdition o f the independent or self-sustaining
family, iiéVertheless, it is true that the standard o f relief for families
supported from 1public funds will be kept within at least measurable
distance o f the wage levéis;,*’Dot o f the lowest independent wage
earner,ib ú tof the vast Hiajority df the wage earners in the country.
- ¡ A definite test-of the relation o f pension incomes to the incomes o f
the families ¡supported b y independent wage earners is furnished by
Table X W I which compares for the 180 families for whom the data
-were available¡the f ather’s monthly 2wages and the income o f the
families after they Were put on the pension roll.
Of V I .88893811 3 d foilJGW Ü ,3 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 9 Í ,6 I íp 9 b B llfi g li
T able , ^ ¥ 1(1.7r^Pf0erit(lm^tMy^i^pfne: of pensioned,

families for which infor
mation wds 'reported, iogether wimjhe previous toqges of the father.
PjensipneSjifamil^es y it h specified m onthly income.

O00
^0
0

j ; ^onthly -vyageg.^tiajthei;.,, , Total, $20- $25- $30- $35- $49- $45- $50^$55- *60- 865- $70- $7524a (29, n ¿8. 44 49 54, 59 64 69 .74, 79

$85- $9089 94

12Í fil‘ '2 3
23' ’31‘ [1S?
‘!1¿0*8P )0fi m 18'
Sijl.
A
1
‘‘ á __ L...
—y.
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,30- 3409
! g
K&
1» ' 1« 1
á.C 39'00 *r
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i
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gftt«
i,
, 4(W44p9. xt pryprcIpc«T-H-p
• ,2
15 1
1'
T
¡"2 7 “T 3 3° ‘2 "2•
r*45- 49.99 . . ......___ 30
3 4 1
2 2 3 4 <T
50- 54.99 ....................... 22
2 1 TT 1
. 1, ¡¡ft
7
.^- ¿>099 7
1
3 4 3 5 12 2 <~T 2 1
60- 64.89»......................... 36 1
T
1
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ftñ- 6999
;ni¡
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4 1 1 t '21
12
70- 74.99
1
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Vl
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1rIC•T! S ÍIÍO
j 3J ?’'7‘ ■!t ™

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

2
1

PART r.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

Some comment is needed on the data relating to the father’s wages.
The only record o f the father’s occupation and earnings is the moth
er’s statement to the probation officer, which is usually entered on the
case record. In 32 out o f 212 cases the officer either did not ascertain
or did not record the father’s wages, and Table X V I I , therefore,
relates only to 180 families. There is, o f course, some question as to
the accuracy o f the statements given by the mother. Some women
may give the father’s usual earnings or wages and others his maxi
mum or minimum earnings. Some may have overstated earnings
and others may have understated. In some cases, too, the father’s
last occupation and wages may have been given even when the man
may have been obliged by illness to give up his usual occupation for
light work. In such cases, o f course, the normal earnings of the
father do not appear. On the other hand, many women gave only
the daily rate o f wages, and in trades in which employment is ir
regular the monthly earnings estimated on the basis o f the daily
rate without any allowance for unemployment represent an over
estimate. On the whole the data relating to the father’s wages may
be said to represent a maximum estimate, since no allowance is made
for irregularity in income due to unemployment. The present in
comes are much less irregular than the old incomes, as they are based
largely, if not wholly, on an absolutely regular allowance from the
court.
A study o f Table X V I I shows that 13 families (those just under
the upper zigzag line) have a present income equal to the income
represented by the monthly wages o f the father when he was alive
and at work. It is important to note, however, that the present in
come for these families represents a larger income per person, even
when the income is nominally the same, than in the father’s lifetime,
for two reasons: ( 1) The pension income is more regular and not
subject to the irregularities due to unemployment; ( 2) the father’s
wage supported an able-bodied workingman in addition to the other
members o f the family. The cost of supporting the wage-earning
father is not easy to estimate, but the monthly cost of his food, cloth
ing, lunches, car fare, and tobacco, for example, could not be cov
ered for most men by an allowance o f $10 or $15 a week. Taking
the lower or $10 estimate, the two heavy zigzag lines in Table X V I I
have been so drawn as to include between them all the families whose
present income equals the former nominal income from the husband’s
wage, together with all the families whose present income is $5 or
$10 less than the old nominal value.
On the basis o f this division into groups, the families may be
classified as follow s: Fifty-three families were above the upper zig
zag line and have a larger present income than that represented by

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

the father’s nominal monthly wages; 53 other families (those between
the two zigzag lines) have a present income which either exactly
equals the old nominal income or is not more than $10 less than
the old nominal income; that is, 106 families, or 59 per cent o f the
whole number, seem to be distinctly better off as to the income
than during the father’s lifetime, if adequate allowance is made for
the fact that the present income is more regular and is not charged
with the support o f the wage-earning man. There remain 74 fami
lies below the lower zigzag line who now have an income that is
nominally $10 or more than $10 below the income represented by
the father’s wages. It should be noted, however, that 45 o f these
families had during the father’s lifetime a nominal wage of $65 a
month or more, which is, o f course, above the maximum pension
grant allowed by law. In 10 o f these families the father’s nominal
wage was $100 a month or more, and it appears that these high
nominal wages were reported chiefly by women whose husbands
were skilled members o f the building trades. They were reported
at high daily rates, but it would be true, o f course, that these
high rates were earned very irregularly. Statistics of income therefore seem to indicate that however inadequate the pension incomes
may be, if measured by ideal standards they nevertheless measure
up satisfactorily to the standard of wages in the groups of the
community to which these families belong.
Comparison between public and private relief.
A third test that may be applied to determine the adequacy o f the
pension grants is a comparison between the amount o f relief given
in this way by the court and the amount o f relief given by the
largest private relief agency in the same community. A study was
made o f the 172 families who were dropped from the pension roll in
July, 1913, because o f the change in technical requirements for eligi
bility prescribed by the new law. Many o f these familes became
charges upon private charity; and in the section 20 in which the
study o f these 172 families will be found data are given showing the
amount o f the former court pension and the amount o f relief given
by the private charitable agency to the same families.
Without anticipating the discussion in these later sections, it may
be said here that 55 out o f 69 families received smaller allowances
after they became a charge on private charity; and those families
who lost little or nothing by the transfer from a public to a private
agency were the families getting the smaller pensions, o f $30 or less.
Out o f 18 families getting large pensions, from $40 to $50, only 1
got as much after the change. That is, these families transferred
from the court to a good private relief society lost a considerable

20See

pp. 95 et seq.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

percentage o f their income by the transfer. Nor did it appear that
this change was made because any new sources o f income had been
discovered. In most cases the mother was working more days than
when she had the pension grant.
Scientific tests o f what constitutes adequate relief are slowly and
with difficulty being developed by our relief societies. It is prob
ably true that until the great majority o f independent wage earners
have incomes that are adequate, relief will never be really ade
quate. The point that must be emphasized is that the pensions
o f the Chicago court, whether really adequate or not, appear
to give the pensioned families larger incomes than they enjoyed
when they were supported by the husband and father if allowance
is made for the fact that there is no adult male wage earner to be
supported out o f the weekly pension income, and that the pension
allowance is absolutely regular and subject to no hazards such as
unemployment. Further evidence seems to indicate that the standard
o f relief maintained by the court is more nearly adequate than that
maintained for families who are being supported by one o f the best of
the private relief societies in the same community.
THE SUPPLEMENTING OF PENSIONS BY PRIVATE AGENCIES.

Those who are familiar with the work o f private relief societies
know that no test of what constitutes adequate relief has as yet been
agreed upon. Judged by the income standards of those families be
fore the wage earner’s death, the court pensions are as adequate as
the father’s wage. It must, o f course, be recognized that, judged not
by our present wage standards but by reasonable standards o f what
is necessary to maintain physical and mental efficiency, the court pen
sions must be inadequate.
Originally the judge o f the juvenile court seems to have thought of
the pension as a supplementary income merely. The mother’s in
come, he said, should be supplemented with sufficient public funds.
But the families asking for pension are many o f them families with
out any income at all, save the precarious earnings o f the mother, and
in many cases the mother is in poor health and handicapped by the
care o f small children, so that she really has no earning capacity at
all.
There is another method o f supplementing the family income—
through supplementary grants o f aid by other charitable organi
zations. In Chicago the two most important relief agencies have
taken opposite positions on this question. The Jewish societies and
the United Charities o f Chicago both turned over to the court to be
pensioned a considerable number o f families whom they had been as
sisting before the court’s allowance was made. There was a definite

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

question raised as to whether or not assistance would be continued
for families whose pension income they thought inadequate. The
united charities took the position that the welfare of the family de
manded the reduction to a minimum o f agencies dealing with the
fam ily; that the court in estimating the allowance and in making
grants should assume entire responsibility for all the charitable aid
given the family— for all the income other than such as came from
family earnings and from relatives.
The Jewish charities, on the contrary, took the position that ade
quacy o f relief or o f income must be sought by every practicable
method. I f the court’s allowance, together with the family’s other
income, did not prove sufficient the society would contribute the
amount necessary to bring the family income up to an estimated
minimum. This organization also took the position that a Jewish
mother should remain in her home and should not go out to work.
Therefore whenever, according to the usual practice of the court, the
estimated income includes not only the pension allowance but also
a definite sum expected to be contributed from the mother’s earnings,
the Jewish Home Finding Society makes a contribution not less than
the amount the mother is expected to earn.
Data showing the extent to which pensions are known to be sup
plemented are available for the 212 families that have been under
the care o f the court for a period o f two years or longer. Sixty-one
o f these families received assistance so regularly that they might be
said to be receiving supplementary pensions, and 60 others had re
ceived some relief during the period they had been under the court’s
care. Table X V I I I shows the supplementary sources o f income for
the 61 families whose pension had been regularly supplemented.
T able X V I I I .— Supplementary sources of aid for 61 pensioned families.

Source of aid.
Total.
Relatives......................................................................
Jewish aid society or Jewish Home Finding Society
Churches......................................................................
Scholarship committee................................................
County outdoor relief..................................................
More than one source <*................................................

Number.
G1
27
20

5
3

1
5

o includes Jewish Home Finding Society and a friendly visitor; church, relatives, and county outdoor
relief; relatives and Jewish Home Finding Society; relatives and a lodge; relatives and church.

It will be seen that a considerable number o f those receiving reg
ular supplementary assistance were being helped by relatives. It
should be made clear that the families included in this group are
only those receiving definite sums from their relatives regularly
each month, either as a result o f a county court prosecution or by a

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

voluntary agreement. Many other pensioned families—in fact, the
majority o f the families cared for by the court— receive some help
from relatives, such as irregular gifts o f clothing and food.
The supplementary aid given by the scholarship committee is in
the form o f a pension for a child who has reached the legal Working
age of 14 years and can no longer be pensioned by the court, but who
is too delicate to be allowed to go to work or too promising to be al
lowed to go into unskilled work. It has already been pointed out
that the county agent has refused to grant county supplies to pen
sioned families. The one family receiving supplementary aid of this
kind is, o f course, a rare exception.
Table X I X shows the kind o f assistance received by 60 other fam
ilies who had had definite supplementary relief after they came under
the care o f the court.
T able X I X .— Source and nature of supplementary relief received by 60 other
pensioned families.
Families receiving specified
supplementary relief.
Source of relief.
Total.

Regular.

Individuáis, clubs, etc.....................................................................................
School Children’s Aid Society and churches..................................................

1
4
20
4
8
10
8
2
3

Tempo
rary.
49

1
4
2
2
2

4
»19

6
08
2
1

a Number includes those also having had other outside aid in addition to that indicated. “ Others” In
cludes such organizations as the Volunteers of America, the Woman’s Catholic League, and the Waitresses’
Union.

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REJECTED OR DISMISSED APPLICATIONS.0
Rejecting or dismissing applications is a very important part of
the work o f the pension or aid-to-mothers department o f the court;
and if the work o f the department is to be understood it is quite as nec
essary to study the rejected applications as those accepted. A woman
who is found, upon preliminary questioning, to be plainly ineligible
to a pension is not allowed to file her application. I f she is destitute
and ineligible for a pension, she is told that she must apply to some
relief agency and is told where to go. I f it is not clear that an appli
cant is ineligible, the application is filed, the court officer investigates,
and the committee, on the basis o f this investigation, recommends that
the application be granted or dismissed. In some cases, where the
home is clearly unfit, not only is the application dismissed but also a
petition is filed in order to have the children declared dependent
under the section of the juvenile-court law which authorizes the court
to remove children from the custody o f unfit parents. I f this drastic
remedy is not taken the cooperation o f some other disciplinary
agency may be sought.
Valuable data relating to rejected applications are available for the
period from August 1, 1913, to March 1, 1915.21 During this period
532 families with more than 1,400 children applied for pensions and
had their applications “ dismissed.” During the same period 226 new
pensions were granted. That is, there were more than two applicants
rejected to every new pensioner placed on the roll during this period
o f 19 months. Table X X shows the marital status o f the rejected or
dismissed applicants:
T able X X .

Marital status o f women w hose pension applications were dis
missed during the period Aug. 1, 1913, to Mar. 1,1915.

Marital status.

T ota l.........................................
W idows...............................................
Husbands living but incapacitated
Deserted or divorced w om en..........
Unmarried m others..........................

Dismissed
Per cent
applicants. distribution.

532

100.0

450
67
14

84.6

12.6
2.6
.2

'T h i s section o f the report was prepared by Miss Helen Russell W right.
This m aterial w as furnished by the officers o f the court, who made the com pilation as
a part o f a survey o f the work o f their department.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

This table shows that the great majority o f the applicants refused
are widows. Included with the 450 women classified as widows, how
ever, are 11 women who were unable to prove that they had ever
been married. The number o f applications from deserted or divorced
women is very small, because it is not the practice o f the court to
allow women to file applications if they are obviously ineligible, and
both o f these classes of women are ineligible under the present law.
A study o f the reasons given for rejecting these 532 applications
shows the great care with which pensioned families are selected. In
general, the secretary o f the case committee uses one of several set
phrases in recording the reason for dismissing the case. For the 532
families who were refused pensions during this period, there were 23
such phrases used, o f which the most frequently repeated were u In
come sufficient,” “ Should be self-supporting,” and “ Relatives able.”
These various phrases may, however, be classified into five large
groups.
The first group includes the families who were refused pensions
because they were technically ineligible under the law, without re
gard to the mother’s need for regular assistance or her fitness for
maintaining a home. The second group includes those women who,
in the opinion o f the committee, could not come up to the standard
set in that section o f the law which declares that the mother must
be a person morally, mentally, and physically fit to have the care
o f the children for whom the allowances are granted. The third
group o f families includes those for whom a pension was not con
sidered necessary to save the children from institutional care or
from parental neglect. The fourth group includes those for whom
the court, generally because o f obstacles put in its way by the women
themselves, found it impossible to complete the necessary investiga
tion to prove the right to a pension under the law. Finally, the fifth
group o f women withdrew their applications so that their eligibility
was not passed upon by the committee. Table X X I shows the num
ber o f women included in each o f these five groups:
T a b l e X X I . — Reasons for rejecting applications of 532 “ dismissed cases."

Reason for rejection of application.
Total............................................
Group

I.
II.
III.
IV.
/.

Number.
532

Pension not needed............
Technically ineligible............
Ineligible because of unfitness of m other.. . . .
Impossible to establish eligibility................
Application withdrawn......................

293
98
39
49
a53

Wh° died before investigation was complete and one

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a d m in is t r a t io n

the

à id - t o - m o t h e r s

law

This table shows that more than half of the rejected cases belonged
in Group I and were dismissed because, after a careful investigation,
the committee decided that the family did not need a pension.
Further information about this group o f applicants was sought from
the case records in order to determine what circumstances rendered
the pension unnecessary. Table X X I I shows the more specific
reasons for rejecting these 293 applications :
T a b l e X X I I . — Reasons for rejecting applicants in Group I, “ Pensions not

needed.”

Reason for rejection of application.

Number.

Per cent
distribution.

293

100.0

101

34.5
30.7
15.7
17.1

90
46
50

2.0

This table shows that 34.5 per cent were rejected because they
were found to have relatives able to help them. It must be assumed
that these relatives were either legally ^liable to render assistance
or that they were willing to assist, since it is the practice o f the
court to grant pensions to families with relatives able to help when
the relatives can not be compelled or persuaded to assist. It may
be assumed, therefore, that in these cases where a pension was
refused because of relatives’ ability to help, really substantial assist
ance could be counted on. Thirty o f the families were living with
relatives at the time they applied for a pension; 19 families were
actually being helped by relatives; 7 had relatives boarding in their
homes, possibly giving some help in addition to paying board. The
relatives of 7 other families agreed to assume the burden of their
support, or enough o f it to enable the family to maintain a decent
standard*of life. For 6 families relatives were found who were
liable under the law, and these were to be forced to contribute to their
support. For about 30 families we have no further information
bearing on this question. In two cases only did there seem to be
evidence that the help o f relatives was not likely to be a dependable
source of income. One was the case o f a mother who put three
o f her four children in institutions and found a boarding place for
herself and her baby, and the other was the case of a family that was
being supported by the Jewish Home Finding Society.
A further analysis was made o f two other groups in Table X X I I .
These are the families whose applications were dismissed because
the committee thought that their incomes were already sufficient and
the families who, according to the committee, a ought to be self-

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PART I.— A fiM lX lST R A T lO X IK COOK COtTHTY.

*75

supporting.” This further study showed that in a considerable
number o f these families the income was so small that they could
only be independent with the help o f relatives, so that the group of
those dismissed because relatives were able to help is even larger
than it appears to be. In Table X X I I I the families rejected because
o f sufficient income are classified by income groups and by the num
ber in the family.
T able X X III.

Size o f family and income o f families dismissed because “ income
was sufficient.”

Families with specified monthly income.
Number in family.
Total.
Total......................

2.................

3
........................................
4
.
5..................
6and over.........

Under
330.

$30$39.99

$40$49.99

90
.
13
19
16
37

4
5

2
1

$50$69.99

$70 and
over.

N. R.

1
1
2
2

2
1

8
11

The only family in this table that appears to offer a serious
problem is the family o f six, with an income o f less than $30 a month.
Further inquiry showed, however, that the family had relatives able
to help them and liable for their support. This family was, o f course,
really dismissed because the relatives were able to assist, but the
reason given was income sufficient. The other two families with
income o f less than $30 were families o f only one child, and the court
always considers that the mother o f an only child should be selfsupporting if she is physically able to work. With these exceptions
and that o f the two families with more than four members who have
incomes o f less than $40, the income o f the family appears, if not
adequate, at least not obviously insufficient for the family needs.
It should be pointed out, too, that the income figures are, o f course,
not precise and it is probable that they are too small.
In determining the need for a county pension the source of the
family income is as important as the amount o f the income. It was
ound that in 8families the widowed mother herself contributed more
than $50 o f the monthly income, in 24 others she contributed between
$30 and $50, while in IT she contributed anywhere from $15 to $29
and in 16 less than $15. In 22 families she contributed nothing at
all, and for 3 families we have no information. It is to be regretted
that more is not known about those women who were contributing
arge amounts to the family income, for with women’s wages at the
present level there are very few untrained women who can earn $30
a month without neglecting their homes and injuring their own
health.

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

O f the 46 families who, in the opinion o f the court, ought to be selfsupporting, 18 were families in which there was only one child under
14. O f these, 4 were families in which there were older children to
help the mother support the younger child; and 14 were families in
which the whole burden fell on the mother. As has been said before,
it is only when the mother is unable to work that the court considers
her unable to support one child; and, o f course, with older brothers
or sisters it is clearer that the family should support itself. The
wisdom o f such a ruling may, of course, be questioned, but there are
no facts available to show whether or not it worked a real hardship
on these families.
Leaving the families who were refused pensions because they were
thought to be able with available assistance to support themselves,
the next largest group o f dismissed cases includes those who were
technically ineligible for pension grants under the provisions of
the pension law. The specific ground of ineligibility is shown in
Table X X IV .
T able X X I V .— Families ineligible for technical reasons.

Reason for ineligibility.

Families.
98
34

20
20
12
12
.As soon as the court investigation reveals a technical disqualifica
tion for a pension, the case is dismissed and no further information,
about the family is obtained. It is true o f course that not all those
dismissed for technical reasons would have been granted pensions
even if the eligibility provisions had been less rigid. O f the 34
women who were refused pensions because o f noncitizenship, there
were 16 who were evidently in need o f this form o f relief as they were
being cared for by private charity; but there were 10 others who did
not need a pension, either because they were able to support them
selves, had relatives able to help them, or were expecting money
from other sources, such as the settlement o f damage suits, etc. O f
seven women in this group we know nothing beyond the facts given in
the table. About the other groups o f those excluded for technical in
eligibility we have even less information, but such as we have points
in the same direction. There are some in each group who needed
regular assistance to keep the homes together and there are others
who would not have been given a pension even if the particular pro
vision o f the law which excluded them had been inapplicable.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

A closely related group includes the families unable to prove their
eligibility— families who would not or could not furnish the facts
required before a committee decision could be reached. Table X X V
shows the more detailed reason found in the case record for the re
jection o f these applications.
T able X X V .— F a m ilie s u n a b le to p ro v e e lig ib ility .
Reason for ineligibility.
Total.
Mother refused to cooperate.................................
Mother unable to prove marriage........................
Unsatisfactory account of expenditure of money
Could not be located.............................................

Families.
49
18
13
9
9

In the words o f the case record, 18 o f these mothers who were ap
plicants refused to cooperate. This may o f course mean a number of
things. For example, a woman refuses to cooperate when she says
that she is too sick to work but will not go to the doctor for examina
tion; or when she will not give such necessary information as the
names and addresses o f relatives, place o f her marriage, or the dates
of birth o f the children. Not infrequently a woman is placed in the
group o f refusing to cooperate when she insists upon taking men
to room in her home, because the court quite rightly considers this a
dangerous practice for the widow with young children.
In other words, a refusal to cooperate is not used to cover that more
or less subtle attitude on the part o f the mother which resents sug
gestions and insists on independence, but rather refers to some very
definite refusal by which she makes it impossible to establish eligi
bility or insists upon continuing some practice which the court can
not sanction. For 8 o f the 18 families the records show the exact
point at which cooperation ceased. In 4 cases the father had tuber
culosis and refused to leave the home; 2 women refused to give up
their lodgers; 1 woman was unwilling to prosecute relatives liable
for her support; and the other, contrary to the court’s advice, refused
to take part-time work.
Very little need be said about the other groups in Table X X V .
Thirteen women were unable to prove their marriage to the father
o f the children. The officers o f the court are very resourceful in find
ing records o f marriage when such a record exists, and the court has
been very liberal in the kind o f proof allowed—two witnesses, for
example, are accepted as proof o f a common-law marriage. It seems
more than likely therefore that most o f these 13 women had not been
married. In this case they really belonged to the class o f those
considered unfit morally, but it is worth noticing that the committee
considered only 2 o f them to be so unfit to maintain a home that steps

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

were taken to break up the family. In these cases the women were
considered immoral and were referred to the complaint department
o f the court for treatment.
Nine women were not able to convince the court that they were
without money. Their cases were dismissed because o f an unsatis
factory account o f expenditure o f money, and one woman because
she made false statements about her expenditures. Here again the
phrase alone does not convey the whole situation, and it is necessary
to read a good deal into it to understand just why the court refused
a pension. Pensions are not refused on this ground unless a family
is known to have had money and unless there are indications that
the money is not exhausted. It does not mean that a woman who
had $500 three years ago will not be granted a pension unless she
can account for it up to the last dollar. Much the same kind of treat
ment is given the untruthful woman. A single false statement or
even several untruths would not cause a woman to lose her chance
o f a pension if she evidently needed help. A woman who is refused
a pension because of her untruthfulness has told so many different
and irreconcilable stories that the court is unable to accept her state
ments and can not, therefore, obtain satisfactory evidence that the
family is eligible for a pension. The nine families who could not
be located had either given false addresses or had moved without
notifying the court o f the change o f address, so that in any case the
family could not be found by the officer assigned to investigate.
Another group o f families in Table X X I (group I I I ) includes
the 39 women whose applications for pensions were dismissed be
cause the mother was not, in the judgment o f the court, mentally,
morally, and physically fit to have the care and custody o f the chil
dren. O f these mothers 30 were refused pensions on the ground that
they were morally unfit. The other 9 mothers in this group were
refused pensions because they were physically or mentally incapable
o f caring for their children—3 o f these were tubercular and were
sent to the county infirmary at Oak Forest; 1 was suffering from
“ nerves,” and the home had already been broken up; and 1 was
feeble-minded and was referred to the probation department o f the
court. In the other 4 cases the nature o f the mother’s infirmity can
not be ascertained from the records, in 1 o f them it is not possible
to find out what became of the family. Three o f these families were
left in the care of private agencies or o f “ benevolent individuals.”
The reasons for this policy may be questioned on the ground that if
a mother is physically and mentally incapable o f maintaining a home
under the careful supervision o f the court and with an income that
is steady and comparatively high, she would be no more capable of
maintaining it under less rigid supervision and with the smaller
allowance o f the private organization.

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PART I .— ADMINISTRATION' IN COOK C O U N T f.

O f the 30 mothers whose petitions were dismissed on the ground
that they were morally “ unfit,” 7 were the mothers o f illegitimate
children 5 and o f the 23 other women whom the court regarded as
morally unfit 15 were referred by the aid-to-mothers department
to other departments o f the court, in the belief that the mother should
not be allowed the care and custody o f the children unless she could
be made to change her way o f living. The officers from the pension
department themselves filed dependent petitions for the children
from 2 families; from 2 other families the children were sent to live
with the grandparents who had good homes for them; the children
o f 1 mother were left in the institutions in which they had been
placed, and those o f another woman were sent immediately to insti
tutions. In other words, in 21 o f the 23 cases where the mother was
considered morally unfit to have a pension, the pension department
took steps to protect the children. W hy this was not done in the
other two cases does not appear in the material available.
The mothers o f illegitimate children, on the other hand, were
allowed, with one exception, to keep their families without inter
ference from the court, and four of them were referred to the united
charities for the assistance which the court could not give them
under the current interpretation o f the law.
There are two opposing views o f the court ruling that the mother
o f an illegitimate child, no matter how long ago the child was born,
shall be considered morally unfit under the law and, therefore, in
eligible for a pension. That such mothers are refused pensions is
considered most unfair by some o f the officers o f the court. As one
o f them said of a certain woman for whom she had tried in vain to
get a pension: “ That woman was a good woman and she needed a
pension. It does not seem fair to punish her all her life for the
sins o f her youth.” On the other hand, it is pointed out that there
are other suitable ways o f providing for the needs o f the woman and
her children, and that so long as there are private charitable organi
zations willing to assist such families, the court is unquestionably
pursuing a wise and safe policy in holding the mother o f an illegiti
mate child technically disqualified for this form o f public aid.
Attention should be called to the fact that in addition to the
clear cases o f ineligibility and o f unfitness, there are doubtful cases
arising from differences o f opinion as to what constitutes fitness.
Such a case as the following illustrates the room for doubt and for
difference in policy between the probation staff and the court:
A mother whose pension was stayed in June, 1913, because she
was an alien, reapplied when the law was changed in 1915, and she
became once more eligible. The officer under whom the woman had
previously been on probation, though assigned to another district in
1915, was assigned to reinvestigation. It was found that one child
in the family was subnormal, one boy was truant, and that the

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

mother drank. The committee decided that the woman’s fitness to
care for the children was doubtful. The officer was directed to
bring the children to court on dependent petitions. These were dis
missed by the judge who was sitting temporarily in the absence o f
the regular juvenile-court judge, with the recommendation that the
woman be pensioned. The case committee again discussed the situa
tion. A pension was finally recommended and was granted in court
upon the return o f the regular juvenile-court judge. The extent to
which the court can risk assuming the care o f such family groups
will depend in large measure upon the amount o f time and the
degree o f skill which the probation staff can bring to bear upon the
family situation.
Little if any comment is needed with regard to the other groups
o f dismissed cases. Fifty-one women either asked to have their
applications withdrawn or became ineligible for county funds be
fore the investigation had been completed. Six remarried and their
husbands would supposedly support the children; 3 moved out of
the county; and the other 42 withdrew their applications. Informa
tion is available as to the reasons for the withdrawal o f 25 o f the
42 applicants—8women planned to make another attempt to support
themselves and their children, 6 decided to rely on the help of rela
tives, 2 planned to leave the State, 2 preferred to take boarders, 1
expected settlement o f a damage suit, 1 decided that she preferred
to put her children in an institution, while 5 seem to have withdrawn
their petitions when they found that the court would undoubtedly
consider their income sufficient.
Table X X I I showed that 50 women were refused pensions because
they had money at the time o f their application. They might be
placed in the group o f women who were technically ineligible. The
court ruling is that possession o f more than $50 shall disqualify. The
amounts o f money possessed by these rejected applicants is not given.
Many o f them would of course become eligible later when the money
had been used.
Six families were found to be only in temporary need. In 4 of
these cases the distress was caused by unemployment, and work was
found for the person needing it, or the family was referred to the
united charities for emergency relief.
There are certain other facts about the rejected families that throw
light on the work o f the department. O f the 532 dismissed families,
126, or 24 per cent, had applied for funds at an earlier date. Most of
them had been refused upon their first application, but 8had actually
had funds at an earlier period and had then been dropped from the
pension roll. O f these 8reapplications 5 at this time were refused be
cause they either were or should be self-supporting, 1 woman refused
to cooperate, 1 woman had an illegitimate child, and 1 was thought
to be morally unfit. It is not clear whether these last 2 had deterior
ated since the stay of their first pension or whether their later rejec-

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PABT I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

tion indicated that the court set a higher standard o f what could be
accepted as a fit home.
On the whole there can be no doubt that a study o f the dismissed
cases shows the care with which the court chooses the families that
are placed on the pension roll, and its scrupulous adherence to the
legal requirements as to eligibility .22

23Through the kindness o f the head o f the aid-to-m others departm ent o f the court, the
follow in g data were obtained showing the reasons fo r the rejection o f 1,248 applications
that were dismissed when the law was new and procedure not well standardized. The
follow in g data, while not valuable as throw ing light upon present m ethods o f adm inister
ing the law, are o f interest because they show the large number o f unsuitable applicants
that flocked to the court soon after the passage o f the law. It should also be pointed out
that the reasons given in the follow in g list are not all equally satisfactory. “ Referred
to the United C h a rities” or to any other agency does not explain why the applicant was
considered unsuitable fo r a court pension. The data are submitted, however, because
they are believed to be interesting, even in the unsatisfactory form in w hich i t 'i s neces
sary to present them.
Reasons for rejection of 1,248 applications for pensions between July 1, 1911, and November 80, 1912.

Reasons for rejection.
Income sufficient..........................................
Family had money or interest in property 1
Husband alive and able to support............
Relatives able to support......................... ."
Referred to relief societies..........................................
Referred to county court or court of domestic relations."
Referred to other agencies....................................
Only 1 child under 14........................! . . ! ! ! . '
No child under 14.................................. !." !!.!................
Parents dead or insane.................................................
Application from grandmother or aunt"."."

Applications
rejected.
339
171
90
14
124
13

611

62
18
251

Unfit parents or homes...........................
N o established home.................................]." !!.!.............
Illegitimate child in family.............................................
Unmarried mothers..............................."
.........\"
N o proof of marriage...........................! ! ! ! ! . ! ! ! . ’
Nonresidents.............................................
Family could not be found..............
Mother remarried................................... V
Mother refused information......................
Mother preferred county supplies............
Mother preferred children in institutions.
Applications withdrawn.
Miscellaneous reasons.. . .
Reasons unknown..........
Total.

114
3
16
.1188

A ttention should be called perhaps to the fa ct that the annual published reports o f
the ch ief probation officer contain statistics o f the number o f cases dismissed by the
court. This is, however, very different from the number o f cases dismissed by the con
ference committee. Cases dismissed in court represent only the cases about which there
has not been entire agreement in the conference comm ittee or cases in w hich the judge
fa ils to approve the decision o f the comm ittee. F or example, during the year ending
Dec. 1} 1916, 41 cases were dismissed in court. The total number o f cases dismissed by
the com m ittee during this period is not given, but during the nine months from Mar. 1,
1916, to Dec. 1, 1916, the report shows that 318 applications were“ refused. The report
shows the follow in g reasons fo r rejectin g the 41 cases that were dismissed in c o u r t :
Aliens, 1 0 ; money in bank, 8; incom e sufficient, 3 ; fu ll am ount given to one child, 6 ;
mother withdrew, 2 ; refused to cooperate, 4 ; n o appearance, 3 ; no p roof o f m arriage 2 :
m arriage not legal, 2 ; over age, 1 ; total, 41.

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FAMILIES ON THE COOK COUNTY (CHICAGO) PENSION
ROLL DURING THE YEAR 1917.
An account has been given o f the methods used in administering
the pension law in the juvenile court of Cook County. Following
this discussion o f methods o f administration, it is important to know
the results o f the policies that have been described in the number of
pensioned mothers and children and certain other facts about the
families who have been placed on the pension roll. These facts have
been obtained from a study of the pension records o f the families on
the roll during any part o f the year 1917.
In January, 1917, 778 families were on the so-called pension roll
drawing allowances under the aid-to-mothers law; and during the
year 188 other families were added, making a total o f 966. Seventythree of these families had had pensions at an earlier date, and had
been dropped from the pension roll, and then restored. This stay
o f pension had been due in most cases to the change in the law in
1913 making citizenship a requirement o f eligibility, and the return
o f these families to the pension roll had been made possible by the
amendment to the law o f 1915.
It is o f interest, too, that 182 o f these families had made unsuccess
ful applications for pensions at an earlier date and had later re
applied and been placed on the pension list. The reason for accept
ing them on a second application was, in most cases, that the families
had become eligible in the intervening period because o f some change
in circumstances; for example, they no longer had money, the re
quired period o f residence had been completed, or proof had been
found o f certain facts necessary to establish eligibility.
Table X X V I shows the length o f time the 778 families who were
on the pension roll in January, 1917,.had been under the care o f the
court.
T able X X V I .— Time on pension roll of families on the pension roll Jcmuary, 1917.
Families on pension roll.
Time on pension roll.
Number.

778

100.0

170
166
137

21.9
21.3
17.6
8.7
5.9

68
45
47
59
79

6
1

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Per cent
distribution.

6.0
7.6
10.2
.8
.1

PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

The change in the pension law in 1915 by which alien women were
made eligible to pensions, substantially increased the number o f pen
sioned families. This increase is reflected in Table X X V I , which
shows that a large per cent o f the total number of pensioned families
had been on the pension roll for relatively short periods. Thus 21.8
per cent o f the total number o f families had been pensioned for less
than six months, and 21.3 per cent had been pensioned for periods
varying from six months to one year. That is, 43.1 per cent had
been on the pension roll for less than one year. Another 17.6 per
cent had been on the roll for less than a year and a half. Taking the
numbers cumulatively, 60.7 per cent o f all the families had been pen
sioned for less than a year and a half. Only 6 o f the families pen
sioned during the first 6 months after July 1, .1911, when the first
pension law went into effect, were still on the pension roll. The
families cared for during the year represent a very much larger num
ber o f pensioned children. Table X X V I I shows the number o f
pensioned children in each family and the total number o f pensioned
children.
T a b l e X X V I I .— Number o f pensioned children in each family with total number

of children on pension roll in 1917.

Number of pensioned children in family.

Total «
Number of number of
families.
pensioned
children.

T o ta l« ....................................

965

3,255

One child............................................. '..
Two children..............................................
Three children................................... .
Four children................................
Five children..........................................
Six children......................................
Seven children..............................
Eight children........................................

31
232
305
226

31
464
915
904
560
234
91
56

112
39
13
7

a Omitting 1 family for which the record was missing.

The 3,255 pensioned children are, with a very few exceptions, chil
dren under 14 years o f age. It has already been pointed out that
the court is very reluctant to pension any child o f working age, and
such pensions are granted only for children who are reported by ex
amining physicians as physically unfit to go to work. There are a
few families in which the child is enabled to remain in school after
the fourteenth birthday has been reached because the probation offi
cer has obtained a scholarship stipend from the scholarship commit
tee. In general, however, children in pensioned families have their
pensions stayed by court order on the day they reach the age of 14,
when the officer finds work for them or sends them to the vocational
bureau, supported by the Chicago Board o f Education, for advice
or assistance in finding work,

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

In many o f these pensioned families there are, in addition to the
pensioned children, other children, in the family who are at work
and contributing to the family support. Table X X V I I I shows the
total number o f children over 14 years of age in the pensioned
families.
T able X X V I I I .—^Number of families on pension roll in 1917 having specified
number of children over
years of age.

Pensione d families.
Number of children over 14 years of age in family.

Number.

Percent
distribution.

966

100.0

619
209
107
29
1
a 1

64.1
21.6
11.1
3.0
.1
.1

Not reported because the record for this family could not be found.

This table shows that in the great majority o f these families—
64.1 per cent o f the whole number—there are no children old enough
to go to work. In these families, of course, the mother is the only
possible wage earner. In 209 families—21.6 per cent— one child has
reached the legal age of 14; and it is the court rule in such cases
that the child must begin to share the burden of supporting the
family. In only 14.2 per cent o f the families was there more than
one child o f legal working age.
Certain facts relating to the nationality, marital state, age of the
father at time o f death, and cause of death, amount o f insurance
left, and some other facts o f interest about the pensioned families
will be presented in a series o f tables. Table X X I X shows the
nationality o f the families on the pension roll in the year 1917.
T able X X I X .— Nationality of 966 families on pension roll in 1917.
Nationality of families on pension roll in 1917.

Families.
966
328

White

.................... ! .....................................................................................................

302
26
638
148
86
81
73
71
40
39
42
18
15
8
6
3
8

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PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

In this table the nationality represents the country o f birth of the
husband. The wife and the husband were usually o f the same na
tionality, but when different the nationality of the husband has been
taken. Information as to nationality is supplied by the mother’s
statements to the investigating officers. No attempt has been made
to relate the number o f families in each group to the number o f each
Rationality in the population at large, since the question of precisely
which families are placed on the pension roll is determined by such
questions as length o f residence in the country and in the county,
number of children under and over 14 years o f age, ability o f rela
tives to assist, and other conditions that can not be related to the
census returns o f nationality.
The present law provides that families are eligible for a pension
only after a residence o f three years in the county. Table X X X
shows the length o f time the families pensioned in 1917 had resided
in Cook County at the time they made application for pensions. For
17 families there was no report as to length o f time of residence.
T a b l e X X X . — Number of families who had resided in Cook County for specified

periods of time on application for pensions.
Length of residence in county.
Total........................................................................
Less than 3 years...................................................................
3 years but less than 10.....................................................................

10years and over........................................................................
1Òyears but less than 20............................................................
20years and over.................................................................
Life............................................................................................

Not reported........................................................................

Number
of
families.
966
14
207
728
354
232
142
17

This table shows that the mothers’ pension system did not immedi
ately attract a large number of indigent families to Cook County, or
if such families came, it is clear that they were not granted pensions.
The great bulk o f the pensioned families had lived in the county for
periods o f from 10to 20years or longer. Taking the numbers cumu
latively, it appears that 728 families, or 75 per cent o f the total num
ber, had resided here for 10 years or longer. It will be noted that
14 families had been here less than the 3 years now required for
eligibility. These families were pensioned under the old law; and
after the new requirement o f residence had been established they
had become eligible and were therefore not removed from the pension
roll. The table, it will be noted, gives the period of residence at the
time o f application. A few o f the families completed the three-year
period o f residence before the pension was granted.
More interesting questions relating to the families under care are
those which throw light on the current pension policy o f the court.

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The procedure o f the court has now become well established, and
the data relating to families under care at this time may be assumed
to give a very fair picture o f the work o f the court. O f special in
terest is the question o f the number o f widowed mothers on the pen
sion list. Table X X X I shows the marital state of the women receiv
ing pensions. •
T able X X X I .— Marital state of pensioned mothers in 1911.

Pensioned Mothers.
Marital state.

Number.

Per cent
distribution.

100.0

966

89.4

864
98
4

10.2
.4

It appears from this table that the vast majority, 89.4 per cent,
o f the pensioned mothers are widows; 98, or 10.2 per cent, are women
whose husbands though living are permanently incapacitated for
w ork; 4 are women whose husbands deserted them, but in these cases
the husband has not been heard o f for T years or more, so that he is
in the eyes o f the law presumed to be dead and his deserted wife is
treated as a widow.
Interesting questions arise concerning the group of 98 women
with incapacitated husbands. The nature of the “ physical or mental
infirmity ” that has rendered these men unable to support their
families is a question o f social importance. Since the law author
izes the court to grant an allowance to the wife of an incapacitated
husband on condition o f his removal from the home when his pres
ence in the family is a menace to the physical or moral welfare of
the mother or children, it is also o f interest to know how many of
the incapacitated men have been removed from their homes and
placed in institutions. ’ Table X X X I I furnishes this information.
T able X X X I I .— Number of incapacitated fathers living at home and outside of
the home, according to the nature of their incapacity.
Fathers incapacitated.
Cause of incapacity.

Total..........
Per cent —
Tuberculosis.......
Insanity..............
Paralysis.............
Locomotor ataxia
Heart disease----Kidney disease...
Other®.................

tinal trouble. 1.

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Living
at home.

Total.

Living
away
from
home.

Residence
not
reported.

25
25.5

72
73.5

37
32

34
31
3

100.0
8

5
3

5
3
3

1
1.0
1

PART I.---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COTJNTY.

This table shows a large proportion o f the pensioned husbands, if
they may be so described, incapacitated by tuberculosis or insanity.
O f the total number, 25, or 25.5 per cent, have been permitted to
remain in their homes; and of these 1 is insane and 3 are suffering
from tuberculosis. Nearly three-fourths, however, have been re
moved from their homes. This is due to the fact that a large number
o f the men are insane and are necessarily under institutional care and
to the fact that the court usually requires a man suffering from tuber
culosis to leave home and to go to the municipal tuberculosis sani
tarium before a pension is granted. It would, of course, be exceed
ingly interesting to know how far the previous occupations or places
o f employment o f the tubercular men may have been a cause of
their incapacity, that is, how far the taxpayers are supporting the
families o f men who have been incapacitated by bad working con
ditions. It has not been possible, however, to trace the working his
tories o f these men nor o f the fathers who died, leaving their families
a charge on the taxpayers.
The age of these permanently incapacitated husbands is another
point o f interest. The ages o f 4 o f the men could not be ascertained,
but Table X X X I I I gives the ages o f the 94 for whom this informa
tion was available.
T able X X X I I I .— ‘N umber o f incapacitated fathers in different age groups.

Fathers incapacitated.
Age of father.
Number.

Per cent dis
tribution.

98
94
70
51

19
24
19
15
9
4

100.0
74.5
54.3
8.5

20.2

25.5

20.2
16.0
9.6

Table X X X I V shows that some o f these men were very young; 8
were under 30; 19 between 30 and 35; 24 others were under 40; and
19 more under 45; that is, taking the numbers cumulatively, 70 of
these men, 74.5 per cent o f the number whose age was reported, were
under 45 years o f age, and 51, or 54.3 per cent, were under 40. In the
tubercular group the proportion o f younger men was even higher.
It seems to be clear that, in general, the incapacitated fathers were
men who should have been at the height o f their earning power

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

instead o f being supported either in institutions or in their own homes
by the aid of State funds.
Further information concerning the 864 mothers who are widowed
is also needed. It is important, for example, to ascertain the cause
o f the husband’s death ; and in Table X X X I V are presented such data
as are available for the 864 families.
T able X X X I V — Causes of death of fathers of families on the pension list in
1 91 7 .

Families in which father
had died.
Cause of death of father.
Number.

Per cent
distribution.

Total..........................i .............. .......

864

Total reported........................................... .

827

100.0

Tuberculosis....... . ................................
Pneumonia......... •.................................
Diseases of heart...................................
Accident«..............................................
Homicide..............................................
Diseases of kidney................................
Diseases of stomach and liver..............
Cancer................................................
Suicide...................................................
Heat ¡>.....................................................
Paralysis...............................................
Appendicitis..................................: ___
Poisoning and infection.......................
Brain trouble........................................
Dropsy...................................................
Alcoholism.............................................
Typhoid................................................
Syphilis, locomotor ataxia and paresis.
Bronchitis..............................................
Rheumatism..........................................
Other diseases of respiratory system...
O ther..................................... ..............

247
116
103
68
42
40
29
25
24
17
15
13
12
13
10
10
10
6
5
5
3
14

29.9
14.0
12.4
8.2
5.1
4.8
3.5
3.0
2.9
2.1
1.8
1.6
1.5
1.6
1.2
1.2
1.2
0.7
0.6
06
0.4
1.7

Not reported.................................................

a Includes deaths by drowning.
b Most of these deaths occurred during

the summer of 1916.

The causes o f death listed in this table are obviously not scientific.
Although the death certificate is examined in order to verify the fact
o f the father’s death, the cause o f death on the court record is not
copied from the certificate but is merely a record o f the woman’s
statement o f the cause of death as she understood it or remembers it .23
The table shows that a large per cent o f these men who died leav-.
ing a widow and young children to be supported at public expense
probably died o f what may be called preventable causes o f death.
Since causes o f death are recorded as stated by the widow, it is un
fortunately impossible to determine how many o f the deaths were
due to an industrial accident or an industrial disease.
23 An attempt was made to reexamine the death certificates to ascertain the causes
stated by the physician, but many certificates were not on file and those found did not
seem to alter the conclusions drawn from the widows’ statements.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

Equally important with the cause o f death is the age o f the father
at the time o f death. Table X X X V shows the ages at the time of
death for the 789 fathers for whom this information could be ob
tained.
T able X X X V .— Age of father at time of death.

Fathers who had died.
Age of father at time of death.
Number.
Total..............................
Total reported..................
20 but less than 25.......................
25 but less than 30.................
30 but less than 35..................
35 but less than 40......................
40 but less than 45............. .
45 but less than 50.................
50 but less than 55.........................
55 but less than 60......................
60 and over.......................
Not reported................................

Per cent
distribution.

864
789

100.0

15
92
173
219
140
84
41
15

1.9
11.7
21.9
27.8
17.7

10.6
5.2
1.9
1.3

Table X X X V shows that the majority o f these men were young ; 15
were under 25, and 92 were between 25 and 30 years o f age. Taking
the numbers cumulatively, 107 were under 30 years o f age, 280 were
under 35, 499 were under 40, and 639 under 45. This table em
phasizes the waste o f omitting any steps that might be taken to save
lives valuable to the community. I f the money now expended in
supporting the families o f these men could have been appropriated
for any measures that might have saved their lives by improving liv
ing or working conditions, it is unnecessary to say that in the long run
the community would have been greatly benefited.
Another question o f great interest arises concerning the pensioned
families. To what income group did the family belong before the
father’s death or incapacity ? That is, do the pensioned families be
long to the very poor groups in the community, or do the widows and
wives o f men who were once skilled workmen earning high wages be
come applicants for this form o f relief? A second and related ques
tion is : How long a period elapses after the death o f the father be
fore the mother makes application for a pension ? In Table X X X V I
is presented such information on the previous occupations o f the
fathers as is available for the families on the pension roll in the vear
1917.

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .
T a b l e X X X Y I . — Occupations of fathers before death or incapacity.
Families pensioned.
Occupational group of father.
Number.

Per cent
distribution.

966
914
409
328
32
80
65

100.0
44.7
35.9
3.5

8.8
7.1

The occupations o f the fathers as recorded by the officers on the
case records would obviously be inaccurate, since the officer gets the
information from the mother, who often does not know what her hus
band’s occupation was. She may know where he worked, and she
knows quite definitely what he earned, or at any rate what he turned
over to her for the family purse, but frequently she has only the
vaguest idea o f what his occupation was. In general, however, the
information seemed to be accurate enough to make possible a classifi
cation of the occupations into several large groups that were indica
tive o f the general character o f the work done. The table shows that
o f the men whose occupational group was reported, 44.7 per cent were
in unskilled occupations and 35.9 per cent were in what appeared to
be skilled occupations. It is believed, however, that the percentage
o f unskilled men is understated and the percentage o f skilled men
overstated. A comparison o f occupation with earnings seemed to
indicate that in some cases when the woman said that her husband
was a bricklayer or a carpenter, he must have been only a helper. On
the whole, however, there is no question about the fact that a very
considerable number of families now on the pension roll were fami
lies in which the wage-earning father and husband was a skilled
member o f a trade.
A great number o f the men were unskilled laborers, working with
pick and shovel, driving teams, working in the stockyards, etc. But
a not inconsiderable number were doing work requiring some degree
o f training or experience, varying from the very slight skill demanded
o f a punch presser to that required o f electricians and engineers. A
smaller group was doing work o f a clerical or professional nature,
varying from the work o f an insurance agent to that o f a tight-rope
walker drawing $600 a month; a still smaller group o f men, porters,
waiters, bartenders, etc., was doing work that may be called “ personal
service.”

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PART ï ,---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

Table X X X V I I throws further light upon the former wage status
o f the pensioned families.
T ab le X X X Y I I .— Number of families pensioned in 1917 in which the father
•
had previously earned specified monthly wages.

Pensioned families.
Monthly wages.
Number.
Total...............................

Percent
distribution.

966

Total reported.....................
Under $30....................
$30-$34.99....................
$35-$39.99............
$40-$44.99.............................
$45-$49.99...................................
$50-$54.99.............................
$55-$59.99................
$60-$64.99...........
$65-$69.99....................
$70-$74.99...................................
$75-$79.99.........................
$80-$84.99...........
$85-$89.99...............
$90-$94.99............
$95-$99.99.........................
$100and over.......................
Not reported........................................

..................
...................

1.8

.........................
5.5
'

...................
..................
.................... .

T able X X X V I I -A .— Cumulative series of numbers and percentages.

Pensioned families.
Monthly wages.
Number.
Total..........

966

Total reported...

879

Under $30___
Under $40___
Under $50___
Under $60___
Under $70___
Under $80....
Under $90___
Under $100...
$100and over.

9
60
314
440
640
748
812
830
49

Percent
distribution.

100.0
1.0
6.7
35.6
50.1
72.9
85.2
92.4
94.4
5.6

Not reported.

An earlier statement has been made as to the accuracy of the data
relating to the fathers’ wages or earnings,24 and no further com
ment will be made on this point. Accepting the data as presented
in these tables, it appears that some of the families were supported
out of very low earnings. Thus Table X X X V I I shows that 9 men

24See

su pra, p. 67.

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

earned less than $30 a month, 16 were in the wage group earning $30
and less than $35 a month, 35 in the group earning $35 and less than
$40 a month, and 114 in the group earning $40 and less than $45 a
month. Looking at Table X X X V I I A , which gives a cumulative
series of numbers and percentages based on cases for which informa
tion was available, it appears that 6.7 per cent o f the men, all o f
whom, it will be remembered, were not only husbands but fathers
with small children to support, earned less than $40 a month, 35.6
per cent earned less than $50, and 50.1 per cent earned less than $60.
When the earnings are so low, it is not to be expected that savings
will be accumulated, and the question at once arises as to the amount
o f insurance left by these men and the length of time that elapsed
between the death o f the husband and father and the filing o f the
application for a pension. No attempt was made to collect this
information for the 966 families under care in 1917, since data had
already been collected in the course o f the survey carried on by the
officers o f the court for the 470 families under care between August
1, 1913, and March 1, 1915. Table X X X V I I I shows the number of
families left with insurance o f specified amounts.
T able X X X V I I I .— Number of pensioned families with insurance o f specified
amounts: Data for JflO families on pension roll Aug. 1, 1918, to Mar. 1,1915.
Pensione d families.
Amount of insurance.
Number.

$200 to $499.................................................................................................................
$500 to $999.................................................................................................................

Per cent
distribution.

470

100.0

201

42.8
16.4
16.4
10.4
14.0

77
77
49

According to this table, 201 o f these familes, or 42.8 per cent o f
the whole number, were left without any insurance at all, and the
majority o f those who had some insurance received only relatively
small amounts. Thus 77 families, or 16.4 per cent, got less than
$200; and another 77, or 16.4 per cent, got less than $500. It is well
known that a small insurance policy is used largely to pay the
funeral expenses, doctor’s bills, and other debts incurred during the
father’s illness. There is very little left out o f the insurance policy,
therefore, after all these expenses and debts are paid. It is to be
expected that many o f these families will make application for pen
sions very soon after the father’s death, since in most cases their
only source of support in the interval is what the mother can earn
or the contribution o f a charitable society.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

Table X X X I X shows the length o f time that elapsed between
the father’s death and the application for a pension. The informa
tion could be obtained for only 466 out o f the TOT fatherless families.
T able X X X I X . Interval between fa th ers death and application for pension—
data for 466 families on pension roll, Aug. 1, 1918 to Mar. JL 1915.

Pensioned families.
Interval between death of father and application.
Number.
Total.........................................

466

Application before death........................
Less than one month.......................
One month but less than three..............
Three months but less than six....................
Six months but less than one year..........
One year but less than two..............
Two years but less than five..................
Five years and over....................

14
78
52
38
65
67
97
55

Per cent
distribution.

100.0
3.0
16.7

11.2
8.2
13.9
14.4

20.8
11.8

Table X X X I X shows that 14 families had made application for
pensions before the father’s death. These were families in which
the father had become mentally or physically incapacitated some
time before his death, and the pension had been originally asked on
the ground o f his incapacity. Seventy-eight families, or 16.T per
cent o f the whole number, applied for pensions within a month
after the husband’s death; 52, or 11.2 per cent, made applications
within three months; and 38, or 8.2 per cent, within six months;
or, taking the numbers cumulatively, 168, or 36.1 per cent, had
applied before the husband and father had been dead six months.
The other 61 per cent succeeded in carrying their families without
the aid o f the court for considerable periods o f time.
The tables that have been given in this section show that the
fathers o f these families were men whose earnings were low, and
that many o f the widows supported themselves for some time after
the death o f their husbands. As a result o f these circumstances the
families that are placed on the court pension roll are often in poor
physical condition and are frequently living under conditions that
are inimical to health.
Tables have already been given showing certain facts as to the
housing condition o f the families at the time the pension wasgranted.25
An attempt was made to collect certain other data relating to the
health o f the families at the time o f the granting o f the pension.
But, although testimony o f the officers is unanimous that the families
are physically in poor condition, facts as to health are difficult to
2B See su pra, p. 31.

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a d m in is t r a t io n

o f

t h e

a id

-t

-m

o t h e r s

l a w

obtain. Among the 543 families studied in the survey conducted by
the officers of the court, in 113 families, or over one-fifth of the
entire number, some member o f the family was reported tubercular.
The information about other ailments is probably not nearly so com
plete, but the diseases reported run all the way from general anemia
and lack o f nutrition, reported for 17 mothers, to the more specific
diseases of tumor, varicose veins, goiter, etc. Indeed incomplete as
the reports obviously are it is the exceptional family about whom
there are no reports o f ill health.
The fact that so many o f the families are tubercular or are suffer
ing from some other form o f ill health has made necessary the allow
ances for “ extra diet ” so often met with in the budgets prepared by
the field supervisor.26
,
The court has done much to restore these families to normal con
ditions o f health not only by providing the necessary medical care
and insisting upon frequent examinations, but also by provi mg
adequate pensions for families in need o f special diet.
___________
See supra, p p . 59, 60, 61.

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SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF FAMILIES MADE TECHNI
CALLY INELIGIBLE BY CHANGES IN THE PENSION
LAW.'*
Attention has already been called to the fact that the radical
amendments o f the pension law in 1913 made a large number of fami
lies technically no longer eligible for pensions and resulted in the
withdrawal o f pension grants from 172 families who had been bene
ficiaries under the old law. What became of these families was a
question o f interest. Were they able to get on satisfactorily without
this public aid? Did the withdrawal o f the pension lead to a lower
ing o f the home standards with resulting harm to the children ? Or,
were the pensioned children promptly placed in institutions for de
pendent children ?
A study o f the effects o f the withdrawal of the pension upon these
families who had been dropped because of technical ineligibility
would, it was believed, throw light upon the value o f the pensions in
sustaining a proper standard o f family life. An attempt was made,
therefore, to follow the later history o f these families, who at the time
this study was begun (September, 1915) had been off the pension roll
for a period o f more than two years. The histories of these families
were traced chiefly through the records that were found in the offices
o f various private agencies to which the families had been referred
for help. But the court records were also used, and conferences with
probation officers and visits to the families themselves were further
sources o f information.
Most o f the provisions o f the aid-to-mothers act o f 1913, which
replaced the loosely drawn act o f 1911, were founded upon the cur
rent practices o f the Cook County juvenile court 527 but in several
important particulars a change was made, so that some classes of
families previously pensioned by the Chicago court were no longer
eligible. These were ( 1) aliens, ( 2) deserted or divorced women,
or women whose husbands were in prison, (3) families who had not
had a continuous residence o f three years in the county. A ll such
families who were receiving pensions under the old law were sum
marily dropped from the pension roll on July 1, 1913, when the new
law went into effect.
d This section was prepared by Miss Helen Russell W right.
su p ra, pp. 11—13,

27See

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Immediately after the change in the law a meeting o f the citizens’
committee was held to discuss the treatment o f these families, and it
was decided that the court should refer them to private relief socie
ties for care. A list o f the families referred to each agency was
obtained from the court, together with information as to the amount
o f the former pension, the date at which the pension had been
granted, and the reasons for the stay o f the pension. This list con
tained the names o f 172 families with 577 children. Table X L
shows the specific ground o f ineligibility that led to the removal of
each o f these 172 families from the pension roll.
T a b l e X L . — Number of mothers dropped from pension roll in July, 1913, because

of ineligibility.

Ground of ineligibility.

Per cent
Number of
mothers. distribution.
172

100.0

137
31
3
1

79.6
18.0
2.0
.4

O f the 137 women who lost their pensions because they were not
citizens, 122 were widows, and 12 had incapacitated husbands living
at home. One of the other mothers might be classed with the widows
since she was supposed to be widowed, but it developed that she had
a second husband. The large number of aliens affected is especially
significant since a later amendment to the law, July, 1915, made
most of these families again eligible or made it very easy for them
to become so.
The length o f time these families had been on the pension roll ✓
and the amounts o f their pensions are facts o f importance. Most
of the families, as Table X L I shows, had been on the pension roll
for periods of nine months or longer, and they had become accus
tomed to maintaining their homes on the basis o f the monthly
court allowance.
T a b l e X L I . — Number of f a m i l i e s who had been on pension roll for specified

periods.

Time on pension roll.

Number of
families.
172

9mull.LIis but less than Xyear........ .................

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18
11
25
47
71

P A R T J .---- ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

The pensions relinquished were most o f them substantial allow
ances. Table X L I I shows that only 22 o f the 172 families were
getting less than $20 a month.
T able

X L I I . — N u m ber o f

fam ilies w ho had
am ounts.

Amount of pension.

received

pensions

specified

Number of
families.

Total.
Less than $2i
$20 to $29...
$30 to $39...
$40 and over

The sudden withdrawal o f the pensions from these 172 families
involved, in a large number o f cases, a readjustment almost as radical
as that which followed the father’s death. The court referred 124
o f the families to the united charities, 27 to the St. Vincent de Paul
Society, 21 to the Jewish Home Finding Society, and all the 172 fami
lies to the county agent.28
A letter concerning each family was sent to the proper organiza
tion, and the responsibility o f the court for the family came to an
end. The private charities, however, did not in all cases consider
the letter o f reference a request for a visit. Different societies and
even different agents o f the same society seemed to follow differ:
policies. It should not be overlooked that a very heavy charge
been suddenly placed on the private societies, and the policies n
have been to some extent shaped by their available resources both/
to visitors and funds.
It was not to be expected that for every family a private charitable
pension would immediately be substituted for the old court pension.
It was inevitable that in some cases the private society would differ
from the court in its view o f the assistance the family needed and
that some o f the families would themselves seek a new method o f
managing their affairs. The 172 families, therefore, got along with
out the court pension in a variety of ways. They may be grouped
into five main classes: (1) Those whose children were taken away;
(2) those who kept the family together by their own efforts, with
only irregular assistance from charitable agencies; (3) those who
were cared for by means o f regular assistance from private charity;
(4) those who were cared for in other ways than by a pension in the
home, e. g., returned to Europe, given sanitarium care, etc.; and (5)
28 The official in charge o f the distribution o f public outdoor relief w hich in Cook County,
it w ill be remembered, is given only in kind. See p. 8 fo r a statement as to the outdoor
relief given in Cook County.

3471°—21---- 7

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

those who apparently had no outside help of any kind. Iijjfvill b e «
seen that there might be some overlapping of these groups, since a j
family might have regular relief for a time and then get along with
little or no relief, or a family might be helped until the children were j
placed in institutions.
Since the breaking up of the home and the placing o f children in
institutions is of special interest, all families who were broken up,
either by court order or by private arrangement, have been grouped
together without regard to their other history. A ll families who
have at any time received regular relief have been grouped together,
leaving in the other groups only those who at no time since July l -, |
1913, were given regular material relief.
I
Table X L I I I shows the number o f families in these various groups:
•

T a b l e X L I I I .— N u m b er o f fam ilies assisted or not assisted b y private ageneiesA

Form of assistance.

Total..........................................................................................
Pensioned by private agencies.......... ...........
— - - .......... - - Assisted irregularly by private agencies (partially self-supporting)
Entirely self-supporting.....................................................................
Families broken up............................................................... .............
Otherwise cared for............................................... . . . . . ...............
Not reported.......................................... .............................................

FAMILIES BROKEN UP.

O f the 172 women who suddenly lost their pensions while thej
were still in need o f them, only 8 gave up their children. The 8 fami
lies in which the children were taken away is a group of special in-j
terest. The children o f 1 family were sent to their paternal grand
mother who had a good home and was able and willing to give them!
good care. In the other 7 families the children were sent to institu- j
tions. One mother made private arrangements for the institutional
care of her children without the knowledge of the court. This woman
was offered a regular allowance equal to more than half her former •
pension, and a plan was suggested whereby she might earn the rest; >
but she was not satisfied to try this arrangement and preferred to
put her children in institutions. One family was broken up for a very
short time until the mother had had an operation, arranged for by
the united charities, and had become physically fit to care for her chil
dren. One mother remarried, and she and her new husband were not
willing to care for the old family, so they took the simplest means o f
getting rid of the burden. The other four mothers lost their children* j
because, in the words of thé court record, the mother was
to give them proper maternal care and guardianship.” Further de-

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

tails about these 4 families were secured b j a study of the court a
the united charities’ records.
In two o f these cases the united charities refused to support t
family because they considered the mother morally unfit to care f
her children. The B family had been helped by the united chariti
from the time of the father’s death in 1908. In spite o f efforts
improve the home, conditions had never been at all satisfacto
The mother insisted on keeping roomers in quarters too small f
her own family, and would not move even when desirable quart
were found for her. The house was exceedingly dirty, and the ch
dren were dirty and frequently sick. Moreover, rumors were ve
frequent that the mother was immoral. The united charities h
originally reported the family to the juvenile court, thinking that ti
court would take the children away, but the court hoped that
further efforts and by means o f a regular pension o f $40 a month t
home could be safely maintained. The task proved none too eas
and when the law changed after she had had her pension for a yer
the only improvement noticed was that the house was cleaner,
offset this were the repeated complaints that had come to the depar
ment concerning Mrs. B ’s deportment in the neighborhood. “ Su
ficient proof o f immorality on her part has not been secure'
* * * Her quarrelsome habits with the relatives and neighbo
are well established,” said the letter from the juvenile court to t
united charities when the family was referred back to the latt
organization. It was also known that at least $50 o f her pensi
money had been spent on clothes for herself and a prospective hu
band who had later disappeared. When the pension was automa
ically stayed, the united charities refused to give further assistanc
and 3 o f the 4 children were sent to an institution for depende
children. The county in this instance paid for the support o f t
children in institutions instead o f supporting them by pensions in tl
home.
On similar grounds the united charities refused to give furth
financial assistance to the N family. This decision was not mad
however, until it seemed to the visitors of both the united chariti
and the juvenile protective association that no amount o f materic
relief would benefit the family. The court ordered two o f the chi
dren sent to institutions, and appointed the county agent guardia
o f the other three, with power to send them to relatives in Baltimor
The relatives, however, were not located, and later these children als
were sent to institutions. In this case also the change in the pensio
law meant that the children were supported by the county in inst’
tutions instead o f in the home.

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100

ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

The two other families whose children the court sent to institu
tions because the mother was unable to care for them had apparently
not been dealt with by any private agency after the court pension
ceased. One family had three wage earners, and there is reason to
think that the four dependent children might have been cared for
had a greater effort been made to keep them at home. The mother
bore the reputation of being unreliable—she had at an earlier time
before the pension grant put three children in an institution, when
the family income was $60 a month— and the theory that she was
unwilling to carry the family burdens any longer seemed to be well
founded. About the other family not enough information could be
secured to warrant even a guess as to whether the children should
have been kept in the home or whether there was some reason, other
than poverty, for the breaking up o f the family.
On the whole, therefore, it appears that o f the seven mothers
whose children went to institutions, two were considered .morally
unfit, one was temporarily physically unfit to care for her children,
three others seemed to be unwilling to make the sacrifices which
keeping the children entailed. W e have left, therefore, only one
other mother whose children were put in institutions, and of this
family little is known. It is clear, however, that she did not apply
for help to the united charities before she gave up her children.
CARE OF JEWISH FAMILIES.

Passing on to the group o f families pensioned by private agencies,
these are divided into two groups. Twenty-one were Jewish fam
ilies cared for by the Jewish Home-Finding Society, and 69 were pen
sioned by the united charities. Twenty o f the 21 Jewish families
were given a monthly pension, in all but two cases equal to or greater
than the court pension. In the other Jewish family the father was
periodically insane, and regular relief was, therefore, given inter
mittently, varying with his ability to support the family.
After the new pension law o f 1915 was passed, most o f these fami
lies again became eligible for pensions; and 14 have been restored to
the pension roll. The net result o f the earlier change in the law
therefore, so far as the Jewish families were concerned, was a change
in the source o f their relief, with little if any change in the amount
o f their income. Since the Jewish Home Finding Society was sup
plementing their public pensions, even while under the care of the
court, there was practically no problem o f readjustment for this
group o f families.

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

101

FAMILIES PENSIONED BY PRIVATE CHARITY.

Out o f the 150 non-Jewish families dropped by the court, 69 ap
pear to have received regular assistance from private charity. Sixtysix were pensioned by the united charities for long or short periods;
and 3 families through the efforts o f the united charities received
relief from other sources— 1 from an interested individual, 1 from
the church, and 1 from a church and township. O f the 69 families
regularly assisted, only 9 had children o f working age, and in the
other 60 families the mother was the sole wage earner. It is of in
terest, too, that 62 o f these families had been known to the united
^charities before they had been pensioned by the court, and 35 o f them
had been pensioned during this earlier period.
In general, these families received their private pensions as regu
larly as they had received their court pensions. There are a few
exceptions, for one or two families had different items o f relief
from different sources, and one or the other was sometimes behind;
and in some cases rent was allowed to run until the family was
threatened with eviction. But the amount o f relief regularly given
in the majority o f cases appears to have been less than the former
court pension. There are, o f course, obvious difficulties in attempt
ing to make a direct comparison between the allowances o f families
who are cared for by different relief agencies. Some difficulties
were encountered in determining the precise amount o f relief given
by the private agency. The court allowance was a fixed and regu
lar cash allowance. In the case o f the private society, the rent might
be paid from the office, some assistance given in kind, and some cash
might also be given. .Moreover, the families might also receive as
sistance from other sources. It is the practice o f the united chari
ties, for example, to ask to have its pensioned families put on the out
door relief list, and the value o f the county supplies must also be de
termined. The county agent gives out several different rations vary
ing considerably in value, and the charity records do not always show
the value o f the particular ration received nor the estimated value
o f other relief in kind. An effort was made, however, to make the
estimates o f the new income on a very liberal basis; and by adding
the value o f relief in kind to the amounts given the family in money,
it is believed that a satisfactory estimate of the new family allow
ance was arrived at. Table X L IV shows the difference between the
ormer court pension and the value o f relief regularly received when
the family was under the care o f the private agency. It should be
made clear, however, that some o f these families had additional help
m emergencies and that the amount of relief given in the table repre
sents only the estimated regular allowance.

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:/M
ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .
rt.f;

X L I Y .— A m ou n t o f court pension and estim a ted deficit in later, private
allowances.

Families who recei ved regular relief from private agencies.
Estimated deficit in private allowance.
mount of previous pension.
Total.

None or
less than
$5.

Total number of families..
$19....................................
29....................................
39....................................
49....................................

$20.

Not re
ported.

$5-$9.

$10-$14.

$15-$19.

5
5
2

6
11

1
8
4
i

7
4

4
5

In this table it appears that 17, or 25 per cent, of these 69 families
ffered a decrease in income of approximately $20 a month when
ey became pensioners on a private rather than a public basis; 12
hers had a deficit o f $15 to $19, making 29 families, or 42 per cent,
the whole number who suffered a decrease o f $15 or more. F ifen families, or 22 per cent, received the same pension or lost less
an $5 by transfer to the private relief societies,
t t may not be fair, however, to draw the conclusion from this
file that the standard o f relief maintained by the united charities
as as a general policy lower than that o f the court. Attention
ould again be called to the fact that a heavy and unexpected burn had been placed on the private societies by asking them suddenly
support a large number o f pensioners, and during the period
der discussion, an industrial depression occurred that would, even
ithout this additional burden, have taxed their resources to the
termost. It is, however, only fair to the court to say that at any
ite the aid-to-mothers department apparently was maintaining a
andard o f relief which, measured by the standards o f the best
mown o f the private societies, was liberal and presumably adequate.
O f course a reduction in the amount o f relief does not necessarily
ean a reduction in family income. Part o f the deficit may be
ade up by increased earnings on the part o f the mother or by
rnings o f children, if there are children in the family who have
ached the age o f 14. As a matter o f fact, there were in these 69
unifies only four children who began work within six months of
e stay o f the pension; and o f these, two came from families where
e united charities relief was equal to the court pension, so that it
evident that the deficits given in Table X L I V were in general not
tade up by earnings of new child wage earners.
About the increased earnings of the mother, we have, unfortuately, little information. The reports o f the mother’s earnings are
3ry incomplete both for the pension period and for the later period

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

103

^ after t e pension had been withdrawn. We are, therefore, too un
certain about both items to attempt a careful comparison. In the
comparatively few cases, however, where the mother’s earnings both
during and after the pension period are recorded, there appears to
be little difference in her contribution to the family income. The
court policy is to have the mother do all the work she can without
injury to her health or to her children’s welfare, and in the few
- cases in which the mother appears to have earned more after the
stay o f the pension, there is nothing in the records to indicate that
the court had made a mistake in its estimate o f the mother’s earning
capacity. Take, for example, the case o f Mrs. K. ------ , who had
incipient tuberculosis as well as tumor. The court required her to
do no work except to take care of her four children. On the stay o f
her pension she received from the charities $5.50 for her rent; $1 a
“ week fairly regularly from a sectarian relief organization; and county
supplies. Mrs. K .----- was expected to do enough work to earn the
rest o f her food. This she attempted to do by washing, and she
sometimes earned as much as $3.25 in a week. However, her earn
ings were not regular; sometimes she did not work because she could
not get washings; but more often, she was sick and unable to do the
washings she had, or she could not work because o f the sickness o f
the children, which occurred with disturbing frequency. The result
was th^. often the family got entirely out o f food, “ which,” notes
1 our in s tig a to r , “ was detrimental to her health'owing to the fact
that she had tuberculosis,” and emergency relief seemed to be given
tardily. In other words, while the mother was nominally working
' after the stay o f the pension, her work was' so interrupted that her
earnings were small and there were times o f acute distress in the
family.
I f the difference between what the court gave and what private
charity gave was not made up by increased earnings on the part of
the family— and there seems to be no evidence to show that it was
in any considerable number o f cases—the transfer of a family from
a public to a private agency was accompanied for the most part by
a decrease in the family income. Unless the court pension was more
than adequate, the relief given afterwards was less than adequate.
It is o f course not possible to establish a causal connection between
the loss of the pension and later physical deterioration or break
down. As a matter of fact, some of the families who seem to have
suffered most since the withdrawal o f the pension are families who
were receiving fully as much from the united charities as they had
■fever *%ceived from the court.
Attention should, however, be called to the fact that the health of
some o f the families seemed plainly to deteriorate. In 8 o f the
" 69 fail]dies some member of the family became tubercular; 2, who

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104

ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

were tubercular to begin with, grew worse; 3 mothers worked until
they broke down— 1 before the united charities visited her, 1 for
whom the united charities paid the rent regularly, and 1 who was
being assisted only in emergencies; 4 families, while they do not
appear to have developed any chronic disease or suffered complete
breakdown, have had a history which leaves the impression o f an
almost unbroken succession o f sickness. Four families are reported
as improved in health; and 3 of the mothers submitted to an opera
tion, so that presumably they, too, have improved. O f the other
44 families we either have no reports o f ill-health or reports indicat
ing little change at the later period.
It can not be assumed that all these cases o f reported ill-health are
to be charged to inadequate relief. Some breakdowns would un
doubtedly have occurred even if the court pension had continued.
In some cases, however, there does appear to be a connection between
physical breakdown and overwork. Take, for example, the story
of Mrs. G. Her rent was paid, but she earned the rest o f the family
support by working six days a week in a laundry. In July, 1915,
she was taken sick, was unable to work for two days, and so lost her
place in the laundry. The charities visitor notes at this time that
work in the laundry has worn her ou t; she “ looks badly, very thin
and pale.” An examination at the municipal tuberculosis clinic
showed that she had incipient tuberculosis; and from that time on,
the united charities gave her a weekly allowance of $3 in addition
to her rent.
A similar case is that o f the mother o f the W family, who had
been receiving $30 a month from the court. When the pension was
withdrawn, she was given only her rent and was expected to earn
enough for food for herself and three children. She tried to do
this by sewing, but her earnings were irregular, because o f her own
sickness or that o f the children. As a result they were often with
out food, and the mother was repeatedly forced to ask the united
charities for a small grocery order to tide her over. Their whole
story is characterized by the investigator as “ a dreary tale o f sick
ness.” Tuberculosis was discovered in November, 1914, and the rent
was then supplemented by a weekly allowance o f food.
A number o f cases of moral breakdown among these families
should also be noted. Here again it is not possible to attach a
causal relationship between inadequate relief and bad morals. It
is always possible that an old evil, long concealed, has just been
brought to light through more intimate acquaintance with the fam
ily. Leaving out o f account for the present those rumors and sus
picions which attach to several o f the families, there are in some
cases certain definite facts which indicate moral deterioration.
From five families whose pensions had been withdrawn children

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PART I.— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

105

were brought before the juvenile court as delinquent (one as tru
ant) ; and the daughter o f one family had an illegitimate child.
Two o f these families show no other evidence o f low moral stand
ards. There were no complaints recorded about the mother’s con
duct or the general standard o f living o f the family. The relief in
these two families was much less than had been given by the court,
but there may be no relation between this fact and the children’s
stealing grain from cars on the railroad track. In the other three
families which sent children to court as delinquents, as well as in
, the family where the oldest girl gave birth to an illegitimate child,
the delinquent is only one member o f a group in which the whole
situation is radically wrong. The mother o f one delinquent boy
is one o f those who had an illegitimate child, and F, his older
sister, is in grave danger, i f not already immoral. The mother of
the girl who had an illegitimate child is strongly suspected o f im
morality, and the united charities has many reports o f men being
„ there late at night. The other two come from homes where the
standards are generally low, and there are suggestions that one
mother may even be immoral. She is known to have men roomers,
her housekeeping is haphazard, and the house is unusually dirty.
Aside from these families, where the1e is evidently some very defi
nite moral failure, there are those ofher families alluded to above
in which suspicion more or less definite attaches to the mother.
There are two families not included among those already cited where
the united charities felt warranted in discontinuing relief—one, be
cause the mother kept men roomers, and one, because complaints
that the mother drank, made her house a rendezvous for drinking
men, and was herself immoral were so frequent and came from such
^trustworthy sources that they could not be disregarded. It is nec
essary to add that the juvenile court, after a careful investigation,
' concluded that the charges against this woman were unfounded and
regranted the pension in 1 9 1 6 . Unfortunately the report on the
investigation is not sufficiently full to explain the situation.
Reports o f drinking or immorality are also current about several
other families, but their foundation has not been well enough estab
lished to make the united charities take any action or stop giving
material relief.
It is impossible to say o f these difficulties either “ They are a
new development since 1 9 1 3 ,” or, “ They are not new difficulties, they
antedated the withdrawal o f the pension.” The delinquency o f the
children is new, but the situation in the home may or may not be
new. The birth o f the illegitimate children also took place after
the withdrawal o f the pension, but the lack of moral standards may
have antedated even the grant o f the pension. This was the situa
tion in the one case of a delinquent boy whose mother had an illegiti
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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

late child. The mother’s care of her home and children was never
itisfactory either to the court or to the united charities. Similar
nditions may have existed at an early date in other cases, but may
t have been recorded.
A point of interest is the length of time after the withdrawal of
e pension before the 69 families began receiving private relief
gularly. For some o f them there was an interval between the time
hen the court dropped them and the date when the united charities
ok them up. Eight families, for example, got along for six months
more without assistance from the united charities. One of these
milies was visited several times, then lost track o f until March,
15, and at that time the mother, who had supported herself by
eping boarders, was about to have an illegitimate child and needed
good deal o f assistance from that time on. Another family was
own to the united charities at frequent intervals, but the mother
as working for a cleaning firm and seemed to be supporting herself
til January, 1915, when she broke down from overwork. One
other who was not visited until January, 1914, was found to have
jured her eyes seriously in the meantime; for she had been sitting
late at night “ sewing pants ” by the light of a kerosene lamp, in a
ave attempt to support herself and four little children. Another
mily was called to the attention of the “united charities early in
15 by a doctor who reported the eldest child ill as a result o f undereding.
It is of interest that 19 families are still being assisted by the united
arities, although the majority o f the families dropped in 1913 are
ther self-supporting now or have been restored to the pension roll,
ight are deserted wives; one woman had been divorced; two alien
others had insane husbands and, therefore, could not take out their
n first papers. There are five families carried by the united.diari
es who, although they satisfy the requirements of citizenship and
idowhood, fail to meet other requirements o f the law. Two famies are, so far as known, eligible in every w ay; they have applied for
county pension, but their applications have not yet been acted upon
March, 1916). One other family (alien) that is still receiving a priate allowance is receiving it from a church and has never taken steps
become eligible for a county pension.
All the five mothers who are classed as ineligible for other reasons
ave applied for a regrant o f pension and have been refused by the
urt for the following reasons: Two, because in each case the oldest
ild was found to be illegitimate; one, because a man roomer was
iscovered; one, because the mother was found to have money; and
e fifth, because there was only one child under 14 and the court
ought that the family should, therefore, be self-supporting.

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PART I.

ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

107

In the two cases where there was an illegitimate child there was
not any suspicion o f the mother’s present character; the presence o f
p fh e roomer on whose account the court dismissed one petition had
just been confirmed and the united charities had had no time to
decide on their course o f action. Undoubtedly they will not continue
paying a weekly allowance unless he leaves, although no suspicion
attaches to the mother’s morality in this particular case. The dis
covery ofi one woman’s bank account came as something o f a shock
to the united charities, as this woman had been from all points o f
view one o f the most satisfactory o f any o f the women in their care.
jWhen ¿hey talked to her they found that she had saved it little by
little from the relief they had given her, and possibly from the
county pension. She had not intended to deceive the united charities
-after they had helped her s® much and had no thought o f doing
wrong when she put away something from each sum that was given
her, just as she had done from her husband’s wages. She did not
_ want to die and to leave her children penniless, and so was doing her
best to provide for them a secure future. She had managed to. ac¡Ljj&wnulate $192.75. It was possible for the united charities visitor
to make her understand why they objected to what she had done and
to persuade her that she could trust the society to look out for her
childreip She therefore turned over her little savings, which are now
P being gjpm back to her in small amounts. Probably when this is
gone she will reapply for a county pension.
The mother o f the family in which there is only one child under
14 is able to do some work, but she has not been able to do steady
work, so that her earning capacity is small. The eldest girl is 14 but
is not strong, and the united charities thinks it far better that she
remain in school. The court doctor will not certify that she is unable
to work, so the court does not feel justified in pensioning the family.
FAMILIES RECEIVING OCCASIONAL ASSISTANCE.

There remain two other groups o f families whose pensions were
withdrawn: (1) Thirty-five families who managed to get along with
only occasional assistance; and (2) 32 families who apparently were
entirely self-supporting.
I
these families as well off as they were under the pension sys';W;;'W"h'h- regard to the families who had occasional assistance,
our discussion must be confined to the families who finally asked
from the united charities. Other families were assisted by
«churches, by the county agent, or by some minor charitable agency;
¿rbut their records were not so easily available as those o f the chari
ties. In general the 35 families in this group were families with
^ "Only a «few pensioned children and with correspondingly small penP j r ons ’
families there were other sources o f income than

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108

a d m in is t r a t io n

T fiE Ai d -T o - M o T h e r S L A W .

the mother’s earnings. The readjustment, therefore, was not so d if
ficult.
Fourteen of these families who asked or received very little help
were found on later investigation apparently to need more assist
ance. To five o f these who had become eligible the court had re
granted their pensions before our investigator visited them. Five
families were found by the investigator to be in such obvious need
that three of them were reported to the united charities and the other
two were told to reapply for pensions at once. The records show
with regard to the other four families that the mother either broke
down completely or was frequently ill and showed unmistakable
signs o f overwork.
It is very easy to understand why the mother should have over
worked, since in 12 o f the 14 families she was the sole contributor to
the family income, and since in most o f these families there were
several children to be provided for. One mother had six children to
care for, one mother had five children, four mothers had four chil
dren each, five
families o f three children, while only one mother
had a small family o f two children. To support families of this size
meant a heavy portion of work; and as these mothers were not
equipped to do any kind of skilled work, it meant for every case
but one spending long hours over the washtub or scrubbing on her
knees.
O f the families who seemed able to support themselves with slight
assistance, seven were families in which at least one child was help
ing the mother care for the family ; and in three of the families rela
tives also were helping to some extent. In one family a mother and
one child cared for six people. They had a hard struggle, and it has
been possible for them to succeed only because the mother was an
excellent seamstress. She had a little help immediately after the
pension was withdrawn and is very resentful that she ever became
a “ case” on the records o f a private charity. She said it was
through no fault o f hers, as she would “ rather die than take char
ity,” but because the court had sent in her name. She did not con
sider the court pension charity. There were two families o f two
children each in which the mother was the sole wage earner. They
live quite comfortably when work is plentiful and no one in the
family is ill; but in time o f emergency one woman falls back on
the united charities, and the other relies on the help o f a brother who
lives with her. He apparently does not fail her, though he has had
to pawn his clothes to help her out. In normal times, too, the board
of this brother and another roomer is a great help in eking out the
scanty income.. The other mother also had help from relatives, al
though o f a different kind. Her father takes care of the children,
leaving her free to go to work.

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PART I .— ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

„

109

^kere are a number o f families who could not be located and about
whom the records contained little information. In a few cases the
woman is known to have remarried, and in a few others in which the
pension was small there was a child within a few months o f working
age. Apparently the family managed with credit until this new
wage earner began to contribute to the family income.
In general, it may be said that in some o f these families the change
o f circumstances that occurred would have led to a discontinuance
o f the pensions, even had there been no change in the law ; that in at
least 14 families in which the mother tried to manage with only occasional help the burden seems to have been too heavy for her. O f
the other families we lack complete information in many cases. We
have no evidence that they did not get on satisfactorily. Eight
families, however, about whom the records gave considerable infor
mation, seemed to have managed very well with the occasional help
they received.
FAMILIES ENTIRELY SELF-SUPPORTING.

Out o f the 172 families, there were only 32 who, so far as we
know, managed without any assistance from charitable resources.
Some o f these were helped by relatives, but in most cases the mother
and children maintained the family by their own efforts. Like the
preceding group these families were for the most part those with few
children and small pensions. Some o f them were families with
children over 14 and some with children nearly, 14, who were able to
work shortly after the discontinuance o f the pension. These facts
undoubtedly go far toward explaining why this particular group of
families was able to get along without assistance.
The manner in which they lived and the exact means by which
they supported themselves immediately following the stay o f their
pensions is not known. They are families about whom charitable
agencies have no record, and two years had passed before they were
visited in the course o f this investigation. The information obtained,
therefore, is more complete for the recent than for the more remote
past. Valuable as this information is, the period o f readjustment is
the one with which we are directly concerned.
Eleven mothers were the sole contributors' to the family income,
but six o f these had only three people to support. O f those who
had more, one was granted a county pension again within six months;
another worked for a time scrubbing at night and then remarried;
a third woman had a brother in Norway, who sent for her and her
three children to come home.
A colored family o f five was supported entirely by the mother,
who was exceptionally skilled and competent. There was a defec-

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110

ADMINISTRATION OF THE AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW.

tive girl o f 15 in this family who, though she could not w o r l # e r s e l f ^ *
was |ble to relieve her mother o f the household duties. The mother
was an excellent,cook and laundress, in good health, and a good
wage earner. The court hoped that this family would su ccee^ S ^ ^ 1
out Assistance; and after the change in the law in 1915, when the
mother asked for a pension again, it was refused on the ground that
her income was sufficient.
Some other families, however, maintained their independence at
heavy cost. For example, Mrs. R, an extremely plucky Swedish
woman, supported a family o f five, but they all became tubercular.
Mrs. R was a deserted woman who, before she was granted a court
pension, had been helped by the charities, had done night scrubbing I
in the county building and also some washing. Later, however,
after a county election, the new administration made a clean sweep
of all county employees, even the scrub women. Efforts were made *
to get Mrs. R reinstated, but fortunately for her, they failed, so
that she applied for a pension under the aid-to-mother’s act and was
granted $20 a month. The court soon found that Mrs. R was tuber
cular. They increased her pension to $40 a month to enable her to
rest;1and after three months o f this treatment she was so much
improved that she was once more able to do light work and
sion was cut to $28. When the law changed in 1918 and the court
was forced to withdraw her pension, she was referred to oi| o f the ~
private societies with the recommendation that she contiWe light ^
work. Instead o f applying for aid, Mrs. R began scrubbing again m
the county building, where for the next two years she earned $60 a
month. In March, 1914, her husband, who had not been heard o f
since his desertion in 1908, was killed on the railway tracks at High
land Park, where he had been at work and had accumulated property.
After the funeral bill, some claims against the property,, debts, etc.,
were paid, his wife received $500, which she, probably ovefcfc|pifty,
put in the bank in trust for the children while she continued scrub
bing. When the family was visited by the investigator, they were
living in a dark apartment in a rear tenement, crowded in between
two higher buildings. The children who were at home were frail
and delicate, and their mother said they were tubercular. I g w f l p
fying this statement at the municipal tuberculosis sanitarium, the
records showed that the mother herself was in the second stage ot
tuberculosis, moderately advanced, two of the children were glandular
and in need o f treatment; and one girl was in the first stage in need
of sanitarium care. Here obviously the costs of “ independence had ^
been too great. *
.
Five mothers who supported themselves and two children without
assistance were exceptionally vigorous and well, and the children ^
too, with a single exception, have apparently been equally weU. Even

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PART I.----ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

in these families, however, independence has been maintained with
struggle which for women less fortunately endowed physically wou
have been disastrous. Two women did washings away from horn
one earned $5 to $6 a week, and the other worked four or five days
week at $2 a day. One woman worked in a tobacco factory, standi7
at a labeling machine 10 hours a day six days a week, and earn
a dollar a day. Another earned the same amount as a waitress.
Thirteen mothers shared the duty o f supporting the family w i
children o f working age, and most of them according to their o\
stories get along without any special distress, although the long, ha
pull had left its mark on some of the mothers. One Italian worn
who seems quite worked out, and who is now supported by her tv
boys, expressed great indignation because her pension had been c7
off in the time o f their greatest need, and she had been forced to
to work again in spite o f serious heart trouble.
In two of'these families independence has been accompanied
moral disaster, although the moral breakdown was clearly not caus
by the withdrawal of the pension in either case. One mother ga\
birth to an illegitimate child in 1914, but the father was a boarder w1
had been living with her a long time, unknown to the court, while s
was still a county pensioner. Another woman drinks, and althou
three children are now o f working age, not one o f them is a good wac
earner, and the eldest boy, according to his sister, is a “ plain bum
But this family had a very unsatisfactory history before the cou
pension was granted, the children had been sent out to beg and tl
mother was incompetent.
In conclusion, looking back over the histories of the majority
these families, it appears to be true that the families, on the whol
suffered a serious loss when the pensions were withdrawn. In genera
their incomes were not so large or so regular, even when they ha
the assistance o f private charity, and many of the mothers suffere
from overwork. In a few cases the families became sufficiently sel
supporting and managed to get on with a struggle, but without an
disastrous results. Can it be said that these families should new
have been placed on the pension roll ? On the contrary, it would pro
ably be nearer the truth to say that these families were in grav
danger— danger o f overwork on the mother’s part aild danger o
neglect o f home and children. A few exceptionally competent wome
were able to take grave risks and succeed in spite o f them. Th
community, however, can not safely refuse aid to mothers on sue
grounds. The few women o f exceptional health and skill who wer
able to be self-supporting would doubtless have maintained bette
homes with the help of the pension from the court and have give
their children a better start in life,

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EXPENDITURES FOR MOTHERS’ PENSIONS, 1911-1918.
Every social experiment should be considered on its merits as a
social institution, entirely apart from the question o f cost. The
community can afford to pay to have its children trained to be
useful citizens if it can be persuaded that the money will bring these|
results. The question, “ How much will it cost?” is, nevertheless,j
an interesting if not a determining factor in the problem. In Cook
County during the eight and a half years since the installation of the;
pension system in July, 1911, $1,477,960 has been expended for pen
sions, exclusive o f the cost o f administration. This has been dis
tributed as follows : 29
1911 (six m o n th s)---------------1912_
______ _______________
1918 _____ _
___ __________
1914 ___________
1915 ______________________

$2,784
86,2(49
128, 380
100,236
137,036

1916
___________________ $2 19 ,00 #
1917
_____________1______ 263, 291
1918 ________________________ 259, 767
1919 ________________________ 281, 213

The section of the aid-to-mothers act providing for a fund to be
raised by a special tax was declared unconstitutional in 1915 (People
v. C., L. S. & E. Ry., 270 111., 477). Between 1911 and 1916, although
the county board had made an annual appropriation for mothers’
pensions, the court was not limited by this appropriation, for thf^|
board was obliged to honor the pension orders until the amount
brought in by the special tax was exhausted. This amounted to ov<p|||
$300,000 a year, and the entire sum has never been used, the nearest A
approach to it being in 1916, when the pension expenditures rose to
$219,000. The appropriation for this year had been only $185,000,
but, although the court did not keep within the appropriation, the
special-tax fund would not have been exhausted had not the supreme'
court decision invalidated the special tax. After this time the court
was limited in making pension grants by the county board appropria-..
tion, but the latter became more generous.
|
For the fiscal year 1917 the appropriation made was $260,0001
While this was almost $45,000 greater than the expenditure for the year
preceding, it failed, to allow for the necessary increase in pension
expenditures. The increase o f 1916 over 1915 had been nearly
$82,000.

__________________________ __

29 Data are for calendar years and are computed from the Cook County C om ptroller’s
R eport fo r 1916 and from figures supplied by his office. Data fo r 1918 an d 1919 are from
published reports o f the Cook County agent. They are slightly higher than the com p
troller’s figures for the same period, as they include all checks issued and there are always
some that are not cashed. C om ptroller’ s figures fo r these years were not available.

112

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PART I.

ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

113

The officials o f the court« realized that the appropriation o f $260,000
was inadequate; and for some time they hoped that when the need
for more money became apparent to the board some means would
be found o f increasing the appropriation for this purpose. For
some months, then, the court continued to grant pensions without
regard to the probable inadequacy o f the appropriation. When it
finally became apparent that the county board could not or would
not find any money with which to increase the appropriation, the
court had to find some way by which it could keep down expenditures.
It was decided to continue the pensions for the families under care,
but to discontinue the granting o f pensions to new families except
to fill vacancies. As there were already more than enough applica
tions pending to fill such vacancies, further applications were refused.
Between May, 1917, and December, 1917, the court referred all ap
plicants to the united charities or other relief organizations. There
were in May, 1917,162 applications on file on which the investigation
had not been made. The court decided to complete the investigation
in these cases and have the committee consider them. No cases were
actually brought before the judge, however, until there was a pension
vacancy. Whenever a family already on the list was dropped these
new families were taken on, not in order o f priority o f application,
but in order o f their need as determined by the committee. Not all
vacancies thus created could be filled, however, as it was necessary to
reduce the monthly expenditure in order to keep within the appro
priation. In place of 158 pensions stayed, only 100 new pensions
were granted. Even with this rigid economy the department found
itself with a deficit of $12,000 at the close o f the year. Fortunately a
surplus in the outdoor relief department balanced this deficit. The
year 1918, however, brought similar difficulties.
The appropriation for mothers’ pensions for 1918 was $260,000,
the same as for 1917, and the outdoor relief appropriation was cut
down on the basis o f the surplus of the preceding year. In the last
half o f 1917, 798 mothers were turned away without being allowed
their applications, because of the inadequacy o f the appropria
tion. In December, 1917, the beginning o f the new fiscal year, all
these women were notified that they might now make application
for pensions. The great majority of them did so, and those appli
cations were investigated and pensions granted in cases o f urgent
need. During the first months o f the year 1918 the rate o f expendi
ture was beyond that allowed for in the appropriation, but the
judge hoped that the county board could be persuaded to take money
from some other appropriation for this purpose. This hope failed,
however; and since April, 1918, new applications have not been
3471°— 21------ 8

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114

ADMINISTRATION OF THE AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW.

accepted, and women in need have again been referred to the united
charities or other relief organizations.30
The continued failure o f the county board to provide the funds
necessary to pension the mothers made eligible by the legislature is
an interesting example o f the ease with which our American legis
latures record their good intentions in the form o f laws which are
left to the local authorities to enforce. The legislature o f Illinois
has continued to add to the list o f eligible beneficiaries under the
mothers’ pension act without taking steps to see that pensions will be
provided for the mothers who have been made eligible.
County boards throughout the State have failed to make appropri
ations adequate for the pensioning of all mothers with legal claims
under the aid-to-mothers act. In a few counties all pensions have
been summarily ordered discontinued because the pension fund was
exhausted. Fortunately, in Chicago it has never been necessary be
cause o f lack o f funds to withdraw any pensions already granted; nor
has the Chicago court been willing to adopt the policy o f granting a
larger number o f small pensions. The plan o f maintaining adequate
care for the families who were already dependent on pension grants
was the only wise course under the circumstances. The burden has
inevitably fallen heavily on the united charities, charged with the
unexpected burden o f caring for most o f the deferred applicants for
an uncertain period o f tim e; but the society has always found a way
to meet the increasing charge.
The cost o f administration should be added to the cost o f the pen
sions. A t the time o f the study, the salaries o f the 4 clerks, 16 officers,
and the supervisor in the department amounted to $2,100 a month.
To this must be added an additional $320 a month, the salaries o f 1
clerk and 2 investigators in the county agent’s office; and $125 a
month for a clerk in the circuit court office. It seems unnecessary to
add any portion o f the salary o f the chief probation officer and the
judge, since no additional expense has been added here by the pension
work. Without any allowance, however, for the salaries o f these
two officials, the expense for administrative service amounts31 to
$2,545 a month, or $30,540 a year.
30 This situation continued until July, 1919, when an amendment, free from the constitu
tional difficulties o f the early law, providing fo r a tax o f four-fifteenths o f a m ill (Illinois
Session Laws, 1919, p. 781) brought relief. A t this time the list o f the women w h o had
been turned away w ithout being allowed to file applications contained about 1,000 names.
When it became apparent that the law w ould pass, these women were notified to come
in and file applications and the department proceeded at once w ith the work o f investi
gation. As the work was more than the department could handle with dispatch and as the
united charities, w hich had been supporting many o f the women, announced that it could
not continue this support after January, 1920, the district superintendents o f that
organization were commissioned volunteer probation officers, and their investigation o f
the fam ilies was accepted. In A pril, 1920, the head o f the department stated that
they were now up with their work and had no more old cases to investigate.
81 In January, 1919.

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P A R T I .— A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

COOK C O U N T Y .

115

It is o f interest that, along with the increasing expenditure on pen
sions, there has gone not a decrease but an increase in expenditures
on county outdoor relief and county subsidies for the maintenance o f
dependent children in institutions.
Total expenditure on outdoor relief increased from $188,773 in
1910, the year before the passage o f the pension law, to $242,030 in
1919. The cost o f supporting dependent children in institutions rose
from $61,981 in 1910 to $292,248 in 1919.

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THE AID-TO-MOTHERS LAW IN RELATION TO DEPEND
ENCY. AND DELINQUENCY.
Interesting questions arise as to the effect o f the mothers’ pension
law upon the commitment o f children to institutions and upon the
number o f widows with children remaining under the care o f public
or private relief agencies. Statistics are available only for Cook
County. It has already been said that the number of pensioned
widows increased month by month, except when changes in law and
policy rendered ineligible some families who had in consequence to
be removed from the pension roll. The following statement shows
the numbers on the pension roll at the end o f each six months’ period,
beginning with July, 1912:
Monthly
Number Number expendi
of
of
ture for
families. children. pensions.

Monthly
Number Number expendi
of
of
ture for
families. children. pensions.
July, 1912....... .
January, 1913.........
July,1913...............
July 1914
July, 1915................
January, 1916.........

382
501
332
338
346
362
439
580

1,306
1,663
1,075
1,096
1,121
l' 191
1,431
1,845

$8,145
12,413
8, 232
8,185
8,320
8,902
11,731
15,363

July, 1916...............
January, 1917.........
Ju ly,1917................
January, 1918.........
July, 1918...............
January, 1919.........
July, 1919................

681
780
802
768
733
646
709

2,106
2,355
2,449
2,332
2,288
1,978
2,195

$18,403
21,084
22,409
22,017
22,422
19,675
22,681

The changes in the pension law in 1913 and 1915 are reflected
in this statement. In 1913, when women who were not citizens were
made ineligible, the number of pensioners dropped very suddenly;
and in 1915, when women o f this class were once more declared to be
eligible, the number o f pensioners rapidly increased. Except for
these changes the increase in numbers up to 1918 probably represents
a normal increase, due to the gradually increasing knowledge o f the
generous provision that is being made for mothers who are charged
with the support o f young children. The decrease in 1918 has been
explained as due to the failure o f appropriations.32 The increasing
confidence o f the community in the aid-to-mothers department un
doubtedly tended to increase the number of pensioners. Women who
would not have applied or would not have been advised by charitable
organizations to apply for outdoor relief were told of the work of
the pension department and encouraged to ask for this assistance,
82 See section on Expenditures fo r M others’ Pensions, 1911-1918, pp. 113-114,

116

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P A R T I .-----A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

COOK C O U N T Y .

117

that was adequate on the one hand and was so administered as to
encourage the self-respect o f the beneficiaries instead of humiliating
or degrading them.
Curiously enough, along with the increase in the number of mothers
and children pensioned there went, for a time, an increase in the
number o f dependent children committed to institutions. The fol
lowing statement shows the number o f court commitments to insti
tutions for dependent children with the amount paid to these private
institutions from the county treasury from 1911 through 1919:

Year.

Number
of de
Public
pendent money paid
children to institu
comtions.
mitted.o

1911.......................................
1912.......................................
1913.......................................
1914...............................
1915.............................

894
1.327
1,109
1,048
916

$73,119
183,223
267,542
307,558
302,101

Year.

1916 .
1917
1918
1919 .

Number
of de
Public
pendent money paid
children to institu
comtions.
mitted.o
867
789
895
839

$297,652
290,077
294,210
292,248

° Figures compiled from Cook County Chanty Service Reports. Figures include commitments to all
institutions for dependent children. They do not include commitments to hospitals, or homes for defec
tives, child-placing societies, or homes for friendless which provide only temporary shelter.

Although the number o f committed children increased in 1912 and
remained for 1913, 1914, and 1915 larger than in 1911, when the
pension law was passed, the change was more apparent than real.
It has already been explained that, by the industrial school law of
Illinois, institutions for dependent children may, by qualifying as
industrial schools, receive a county subsidy o f $15 a month for each
dependent girl and $10 for each dependent boy committed by the
court. Before the passage o f the pension law, only four institutions
in Cook County received such grants, two Catholic institutions, one
for boys and one for girls (St. Mary’s Training School for Boys at
Feehanville and the Chicago Industrial School for Girls), and two
nonsectarian schools (Glenwood Manual Training School for Boys
and Park Ridge Industrial School for Girls). After 1911, a number
o f schools which had been in existence for some years but which
had never received public money went through the form o f qualify
ing as industrial schools under the State law and immediately asked
public money for the children they were supporting. This meant,
in effect, that some institutions brought into court the children who
had had institutional care, in some cases for years, and asked to have
the children formally recommitted under the industrial school acts,
in order that the institution might receive the $10 or $15 a month per
child allowed to the other four institutions that had qualified and
were receiving subsidies under those laws.

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It is not possible to determine how many o f the children who, on the
face o f the court record are dependent children committed to insti
tutions were, as a matter o f fact, dependent children who had been
receiving institutional care but for whom the institutions had not
previously received public money. That is, there may have been an
increase in the number o f children committed by the court without
there having been an increase in the number o f institutional children.
In so far as this explains the increase in the institutional population
it is only indirectly connected with the operation o f the mothers’
aid law. The discussion o f mothers’ pensions in the newspapers and
the wide publicity given to the fact that some institutions were being
given large grants o f public money may have led other institutions
that had not hitherto known of this subsidy to make application for
similar subsidies. It may even have led to the organization o f some
new institutions that hoped to be able to support themselves with the
assistance o f the public grant.
It is clear, however, that the mothers’ pension law could reduce the
number of children committed to institutions only if children had
been committed to institutions before the passage o f the pension law
because of the poverty of their mothers. It is believed that this had
not been happening in Chicago except in occasional, exceptional
cases in which the mother had not been put in touch with the good
relief agencies o f the city. There were large relief societies in
Chicago whose policy was the keeping of children with their
mothers except when the mother was not fit. Some difference of opin
ion might exist as to what constituted a “ fit” mother. A relief or
ganization might, of course, refuse to support a home on the ground
that it was unfit and on the theory that the children could be given
suitable care only if they were taken away from their home when the
court, or some other agency, or some private individual interested in
the family might disagree with the relief society and feel that a wrong
was being committed when the children were sent to institutions. In
the view of the relief society the children were being committed be
cause the home was unfit; from the other point of view the children
were being committed because o f poverty. Such cases o f disagree
ment, however, were apparently not numerous; and since children
were not committed because of poverty, except in these rare instances,
a reduction in commitments could not be expected because o f the in
troduction o f the pension system.
Another point as regards the effect o f the aid-to-mothers’ law is
how far delinquency and truancy among children may have been
prevented. Unfortunately, this is not a subject on which satisfac
tory statistics can be furnished. It is true that statistics are some
times published to show that there are very few delinquent children

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P A R T I . -----A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

COOK

COUNTY.

119

among the pensioned families; but, of course, it is not possible to say
how many children would have been delinquent in these families if
there had been no pension system. A careful examination o f the rec
ords o f the 212 families who had been on the pension roll in Chicago
for at least two full years showed only 3 families o f the 212 in which
a child had been brought into court as delinquent and only 1 family
in which a child had come in as truant. This seems to be an exceed
ingly good two-years’ record; but again it must be pointed out that
no estimate can be made of the number o f children who would have
become delinquent if these families had not been pensioned.
Earlier studies o f juvenile delinquency have laid stress on the fact
that neglected homes with wage earning mothers were an important
contributing cause o f delinquency among children.33 And it is only
reasonable to assume that the policy of providing adequate pensions
for destitute mothers with children, and o f keeping more mothers
at home where they can look after their children, has undoubtedly
prevented a considerable number o f homes from becoming unfit,
and has probably kept more mothers alive and in good health than
the old system did. In so far as an adequate pension means a better
standard of living, less work for the mother outside o f her home,
and better care for the children in the home, there will probably be
fewer commitments o f children because of delinquency and truancy;
but this would be a long-time effect of the pension system and one
that in any event could never be established statistically.
One o f the interesting questions with regard to the effects of the
aid-to-mothers law is whether a new class of families in need were
discovered and provided for by the machinery created by this statute,
or whether the law merely set up new machinery for doing work
that was already being done, or at any rate being attempted, by other
relief agencies. This can be determined on the basis o f available
data, showing how many o f the pensioned families had been assisted
before the granting o f the pension by other private or public charita
ble agencies.
The records o f the social registration bureau of Chicago were con
sulted in order to ascertain how many o f the families on the court
pension roll had been registered prior to the granting o f the pension
by some social agency. Table X L V summarizes this information
for the families added to the pension roll in 1917, who had been
assisted by other agencies before the court pension was granted. The
table also shows the number of families registered by agencies giving
services and not relief.
33 Russell Sage Foundation. Delinquent Child and the Home, Breckinridge and A bbott.
Charities Publication Committee M CM XII, Ch. V, pp. 95—97.

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T able X L V .— Number and per cent of pensioned families who had been regis
tered in the social registration bureau prior to pension grant.

Registered by—

Number.

Per cent dis
tribution.

188

100.0

112
31
10
35

59.6
16.5
5.3
18.6

The information in this table relates only to the social agencies
o f Chicago which register their families with the social registration
bureau. According to this table all but 18.6 per cent of these re
cently pensioned families had been on the records o f some one of
the social agencies o f the city, and 16.1 per cent had been on the
records o f one of the relief-giving agencies (59.6 per cent registered
by the united charities and 16.5 per cent by other relief societies).
Data on this point were first gathered for the pension survey
conducted by the officers of the court, and it is o f interest to note
that the per cent o f families unknown to any agency seems to have
been increasing. This survey covered 543 families on the pension
roll during the period between August 1, 1913, and April 1, 1915,
and 532 families whose applications for pensions were rejected dur
ing this period. Table X L V I shows the number and per cent of
the pensioned families who had been registered prior to the grant
ing o f the pension.
T able X L V I .— Number and per cent of families pensioned between Aug. 1, 1918,
and Apr. 1, 1915, who had been registered in the social registration bureau.

Registered by—

Number.

Per cent.

543

100.0

a 393
84
35
31

72.4
15.5
6.4
5.7

a Most of these were known to other agencies as well, such as the county agent, the municipal tuberculosis
sanitarium, the Visiting nurse association.

O f these 543 pensioned families it appears that 393, or 72 per cent
of the entire number, were known to the united charities. How much
or how little had been done for them by that agency we are not told ;
but the united charities had registered their names in the social regis
tration bureau. Most of these “ charities” families had also been
registered by various other agencies, such as the county agent, the
municipal tuberculosis sanitarium, the visiting nurse association,
etc. Besides this group o f 393 families who had been on the chari-

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PART I.-----ADMINISTRATION IN COOK COUNTY.

121

ties records there was a group o f 84 families registered and presum
ably helped by other relief-giving agencies; 35 more were known to
social agencies that give services on ly; while only 31 families, that is,
6 per cent o f the 543, had not been registered by any social agency
at the time o f their application for aid from the juvenile court. It
is probable, too, that some o f these families may have received aid
from organizations that do not register in the social registration bu
reau. Some o f the sectarian relief organizations, for example, do not
register the families whom they assist. It is clear, however, that the
evidence o f the survey indicates that, in general, it is not a new group
o f dependents who are receiving aid under the aid-to-mothers act.
.A. study was also made o f the 532 families who applied for pensions
but whose applications were rejected during the period o f the survey.
Table X L V I I shows the per cent o f the dismissed applicants who were
on the social registration bureau in comparison with the per cent of
successful pension applicants who had been registered.
T a b l e X L V I I .— P er cent of dismissed applicants registered by social agencies

compared with the per cent of pensioned applicants registered.

Applicants Applicants
dismissed. pensioned.

Registered by—
Total..............
Other relief-givine aeencv
Other type of aeencv.........
Unknown to anv agencv

.......
............

100.0

45. 9
16.7
13.5
23.9

72.4
15.5
6.4
5.7

This table shows that a considerably larger per cent o f the pen
sioned families than o f the dismissed families had had charitable
assistance before they were given relief in the form o f pensions. This
may be explained in part by the court requirement that the family
shall be without property and with not more than $50 in money
before eligibility for a pension can be established. That the court
scrupulously adheres to the tests laid down is indicated by these
figures. Families who are not destitute, who have been getting on
without charitable assistance in the past, are left to continue in the
way o f independence until their resources are exhausted, when they
may reapply for a court pension. The larger per cent o f rejected
families known to the nonrelief giving agencies is probably due to
the fact that the unfit applicants are included among those rejected
and that these unfit applicants have probably been registered by cor
rective agencies such as the juvenile protective association.
Questions invariably arise as to just how much assistance had been
given to the families by the relief-giving organization that had
registered the families in the social exchange. No information on

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122

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OF T H E

A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

this point is available for the large group o f families included in
the court survey, but certain facts were found for the group of 212
families who had been under care for two years.
The reports for these families made by the agencies to the court
before the granting of the pensions furnishes some evidence of the
care they had been giving to the families they registered. One hun
dred and fifty-three o f these 212 families, or 72 per cent of the whole
number, had been registered by the united charities. The reports of
the united charities do not show what had been done for 82 o f these
families. For the other 71 the reports show that the society had
given little or no material relief to 18 families; 39 families had been
given relief irregularly; and only 4 families had been pensioned.
It is probable that this is not an understatement o f the number o f
families who were being pensioned, since a fact of this kind would
almost certainly be included in their report to the court. It is also
probable that the 82 families for whom the amount o f relief is not
specified had been assisted only irregularly.
Some attention should, perhaps, be given to a question that may
arise from a study o f the data in Tables X L V and XLVT. The
theory on which the law was based was that children who might
otherwise be separated from their parents because o f poverty should
be enabled to remain under the care of their natural guardians. On
that theory, it may be asked whether the enactment of the law was
really called for since private organizations had apparently already
made provision for maintaining the integrity o f these homes. That
is, it may be asked whether the families to whom pensions were given
should not have been families not otherwise adequately cared for.
In this connection two facts should not be overlooked. The first
is that being registered by a social agency and being adequately cared
for by the agency are not the same thing. It has already been shown
that only a small percentage o f the registered families were really
being pensioned. Another fact of importance is that some of the
private charitable agencies turned over to the court the families they
were assisting.
Thus the records of the united charities show that during the first
year after the enactment o f the pension law 387 families previously
under their care were told by officers of the society to apply for
pensions. Similarly, the Jewish societies referred about 100 of
their families to the court; while the St. Vincent de Paul So
ciety referred to the court approximately 365 families during the
first year and a half after the enactment o f the law.34 In such
cases, it is evident that no new dependent groups are formed, but
those formerly relying on private now depend on public aid.
84 These figures were obtained from the executive officers o f the several societies.

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P A K T I .— A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

COOK C O U N T Y .

123

The original policy o f referring to the juvenile court all families
who appear to be eligible for mothers’ aid appears to have been con
sistently followed by the private relief societies down to the present
time. In reply to an inquiry as to whether they now had on their
relief lists any pensionable families, both the Jewish aid society
and the united charities prepared for our investigator a list o f fami
lies with children of pension age who were being given relief by
these societies instead o f pensions by the court. The united charities
list contained 26 names. O f these, 12 were widows then ineligible
because they were aliens. Two other widows were technically in
eligible because they owned a very small interest in some prop
erty in Italy; the property brought them no income but ren
dered them ineligible for pensions. In 7 other cases the husband
and father was alive but unable to work. In these 7 cases, however,
the man was not totally and permanently incapacitated, and his
children were therefore ineligible for pensions. The remaining 5
families were being supported pending the court investigation and
were to be transferred to the court roll if found eligible.
The Jewish aid society was similarly supporting seven families
with small children, all of whom were technically ineligible for
pensions, three because they were not citizens and four because the
husband and father was not totally incapacitated. It is clear there
fore that the large private relief organizations are not now support
ing families eligible for pensions and that they must have found the
aid-to-mothers law a substantial relief to their treasuries. It has,
however, already been pointed out that some new charges would have
accrued to both societies in so far as the law had created or tended
to help in the discovery o f new applicants for assistance, many o f
whom became a charge on the private societies pending investigations
by the court or chargeable permanently because they were found in
eligible by the court. It seems fair to assume further that these
wei e cases o f legitimate need for whose discovery the community and
the private agencies must feel grateful.
As regards public outdoor relief the county agent’s attitude toward
the pension department is apparently somewhat uncertain. The
county agent, it will be remembered, is a member o f the committee
which passes on the pension applications, and he makes an inde
pendent investigation of the applicants’ eligibility. Although his
department must inevitably suggest to many applicants for outdoor
relief that they go down to the court and apply for pensions, this
does not appear to be the consistent policy o f the outdoor relief de
partment. A study of the records in the county agent’s office in one
important district showed, for example, 165 families with children
o f pension age (i. e., below 14 years) in receipt o f outdoor relief.

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A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

Sixty were widows with young children, and 105 were classified as
married couples with young children. The case records were then
examined in order to discover why they had not been sent to the court
for pensions, with the following result: 114 were technically ineligi
ble for pensions, 5 were below the court standard o f fitness, and 23
were in need o f temporary relief only, leaving 21 families who ap
peared to be eligible for pensions and in need of such assistance.
Among the families termed technically ineligible there were 32
aliens, 4* property-owners, 28 married couples in which the husband
was not totally incapacitated but was unable to support his family
entirely, 35 in which the husband was not permanently incapacitated,
and 15 families with the husband in j ail.
In the group classified as needing only temporary relief were 3
married couples in which the man was unemployed, 3 widows who
had just received insurance money, 13 in which there was only one
dependent child, and 4 in which there were children of working age.
Five families were classified as below the court standard of fitness
for the following reasons: In 2 the mother was physically or morally
unfit to care for her children at home, and in 3 others some member
o f the family who refused to leave the home for sanitarium care was
considered a menace to the health of the other members.
The 21 families who appeared to be eligible and in need o f pensions
were studied further. Seven families have since been pensioned, 9
were merely being aided pending investigation. Five families re
mained who appeared not to have applied for a pension although
the investigator was told that in 2 of the families the mothers pre
ferred to work regularly and support their children with occasional
aid from the county agent rather than apply for a pension. But
the other families apparently did not know of the aid-to-mothers
law, and the county agent’s office had not informed them of this
source o f regular and adequate aid. A similar study of the records
in another district office of the outdoor relief department brought to
light 11 other widows who were eligible for pensions and who had
not applied for mothers’ aid. Here again the investigator was told
that 9 o f these widows were able to support their families with occa
sional doles from the outdoor relief department, and that there were
only 2 widows, therefore, in need of regular aid who had not been told
to apply for pensions. On the whole, then, although there are a few
families in need o f help who might become pensioners if the county
agent’s office suggested an application at the court, there are appar
ently not many who do not in course of time discover for themselves
the possibility of this more adequate form o f relief.

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PART II.— THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE A ID -T O
MOTHERS LAW OUTSIDE COOK COUNTY.

INTRODUCTION.
The Illinois aid-to-mothers law makes no provision for State super
vision or control over the administration of the law. Each county
in the State is an independent administrative unit. The law pre
scribes, o f course, that pensions shall be granted only on certain con
ditions; but if a county disregards these conditions and grants pen
sions to persons not legally entitled to them, there is no State depart
ment with authority to see that the law is enforced.
Since there are 102 different counties in Illinois, which represent
nearly 102 different pension policies, few general statements can be
made about their methods o f administering the law.
The material relating to the administration o f the law in the
u down-State ” counties, which is presented in this section, has been
secured from the following sources: (1) The data secured from the
replies to an inquiry conducted by correspondence with the county
judges o f the State. Through the cooperation o f the State charities
commission, a schedule was sent out by the secretary o f the commission
to each county judge in the State, asking for certain facts as to the
use o f the pension law in his county. Schedules were returned from
77 counties only, for some o f the judges refused to send any reply
even after follow-up letters had been sent to them. (2) Further data
were secured by correspondence with the representatives o f various
private charitable organizations in the outlying portions o f the State.
Twenty-three schedules were returned by representatives o f such
agencies. (3) After this preliminary survey o f the field by corre
spondence, further data were secured through a special investigator
who visited 14 counties, all except 1 that had pensioned thirty or more
families during the preceding year and a number o f other counties
selected for special reasons. The counties selected to be visited were
in different sections o f the State, some poor and some rich, some min
ing, some manufacturing, and some rural. Twenty-three counties
had only five families or fewer than this number pensioned, and no
investigation was made in any o f these counties,
125

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A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

OF T H E

A I D -T O -M O T H E R S L A W .

The schedules collected by correspondence with the county judges
were sent out in August, 1915, and the data relate, therefore, largely
to the autumn o f 1915. The visits of the special investigator were
made in the months o f October, November, December, 1916, and
January, 1917. As has been pointed out, the Illinois law provides
no State supervising agency with control over the administration
o f the pension law, and no reports are submitted by the 102 different
local authorities to any central office. It is very difficult, therefore,
to ascertain either the extent to which the law is being used or the
methods o f administration that have been adopted. The State char
ities commission has obtained such information as it has published
by correspondence with the judges, many o f whom refused to answer
letters, and by reports sent in by the State inspector o f county alms
houses and jails during her investigations in 1913 and in 1915. In
formation as to the number of counties that have made use o f the
law is, however, probably complete. But although the preliminary
inquiries o f the State inspector have been a useful basis for further
inquiries, *she visited none o f the pensioned families, and her in
quiries as to methods o f administration were very limited.
In addition to this material, use has been made o f three reports
on the use o f the aid-to-mothers law published by the State charities
commission in the Institution Quarterly in September, 1913, De
cember, 1914, and September, 1916,

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THE DETERMINATION OF PENSION POLICIES IN THE 101
OUTLYING COUNTIES.
The judge o f the juvenile court, who is also the county judge in
t e 101 counties outside o f Cook County, is the person in each county
who has the right to grant pensions; and if he does not approve of
the law, he may nullify it simply by refusing to grant any pensions.
Hut the judge who approves o f the law and wishes to put it into
operation can do so only after the county supervisors have voted to
appropriate money for this purpose. That is, both the judge and
the supervisors must agree as to the desirability of providing pen
sions or none will be granted. Thus in five counties the supervisors
have made appropriations, but the judge has granted no pensions.
On the other hand, some counties have not used the law because o f
the unwillingness of the county commissioners to add to the taxes.
The judge in one county, for example, reported that the county board
would not levy a tax for the purpose o f providing this fund unless
compelled to do so by a mandamus suit, and the judge added that
m his opinion such a suit should be brought “ if for no other reason
than to convince the county board that the laws o f Illinois apply to
them as to any other body of public servants.”
In another county the judge actually granted a few pensions, but
the supervisors obtained legal advice to the effect that the constitu
tionality of the law was doubtful and refused to pay them. Further
evidence of the unwillingness o f the county supervisors to make the
necessary appropriation is found in several other letters. Thus the
judge o f County X wrote: “ Our board o f supervisors have so far
failed to levy the tax under the mothers’ pension law * * * so
we have been unable to personally test the law.” Appropriations
were made later on in this county and pensions actually paid.
Similarly the judge o f County Y , where an appropriation of $2,000
had just been made, wrote: “ I have tried heretofore to have our
county board appropriate some money to be used for this fund, but
was never successful until now. * * * Since the law was passed
I had a number o f applicants, some o f whom I knew to be worthy,
but have had to deny them all as there was no monev to be used for
them.” 1
o f illterest t fc W a Jetter from the probation officer in this county contains the
follow in g statem en t: “ The m atter stands thus at the present time, but public sentiment
is getting better and there is a prospect that this law may be carried out in the county
Just now there are no cases calling fo r a m other’s pension that are not being taken care
of, only in such cases as those in w hich a m other refused to take help in the old way for
fear it w ill be thrown up to her children at school by their playm ates.”

127

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

In other counties, as has been pointed out, the law has not been put
in operation because the county judge does not approve o f the law or
is. not sufficiently interested in the law to grant any pensions. In one
county the probation officer o f the court wrote briefly : “ This county
does not approve o f mothers’ pensions.” In five other counties appro
priations have been made but no pensions granted ; in one county the
clerk is supplied with the necessary blanks; while from another
county the judge wrote in reply to our inquiry : “ We have had appli
cations for help where the mothers’ pension act should have been
invoked, but no one has seen fit as yet to invoke it. * * * The
county board has in some instances aided parties who could have
made proper proof, but who were aided as paupers.”
In one county the judge reported that there had been numerous
applications under the act, but that he has adopted the policy o f
asking the local supervisors o f the poor to be present at the hearing.
In every instance, he reported, the supervisors were “ able to furnish
the aid required.” “ This plan,” continued the judge, “ seems to
me to be in the interests of economy, as necessaries rather than money
are furnished the applicant; and I think I can safely say in every
instance thus far the wants of the parties in need have been sup
plied.” This judge— and he is no doubt in some instances typical—
saw no difference between the purpose o f the mothers’ pension law
and the old outdoor relief system.
This judge also added that in his opinion the principal objection
to the law was that the applicants received money, which they could
spend as they pleased; whereas, if the aid were “ furnished through
the supervisor, as local poor master, they get no money and only the
necessary supplies.” There undoubtedly are other judges in the
State equally unintelligent with regard to the purpose o f the pension
law. In fact, a letter published two years ago in the Institution
Quarterly contains a very similar statement. The judge o f Z County
wrote to the secretary o f thé State charities commission as follows :
W ill say In reply to your inquiry concerning the mothers’ pension law that
I do not think it is a good one. For this reason, there is a supervisor in each
township who is the overseer o f the poor, and he is far better acquainted with
the mother who lives there about 365 days in the year than the county judge
can possibly be, and the supervisor can look after and see that the tax money
is being spent for the necessities of life instead of frivolities for which some
mothers would use the money.
I think that every supervisor in Z County would see to it that no family
would suffer in his township if he were given any notice at all concerning their
circumstances. I f we have a hearing, the mother wishing to be pensioned
comes into court with a few of her friends ; and o f course if the court listens
to the evidence there is nothing left to do except to grant to her a pension, which
she may need a part of the year and a part o f the year she does not. Many
mothers claim a pension under the mistaken idea on their part that they do
not become ccunty paupers if they take under this law, and seem to think they

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PART II.---- ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OF COOK COUNTY.

129

have as much right to a pension as any of our war veterans, while they are
just as much county paupers as those residing at our county home.
For counties like our own, where the population is not so numerous, I think
the supervisor is well enough acquainted with the families and can deal out
better justice to the poor and the taxpayer than can the county judge, and that
we are not in need o f the mothers’ pension law.

In another county, where 11 pensions were being granted, the
judge also believed that the families would better be left to the over
seer o f the poor, and wrote to the secretary of the State charities
commission:
In this county we do not have very many who are receiving support under
this law, but during the time that it has been on the statute books we have had
a large number of applications, considering the population of our county. The
most of them could not comply with the strict requirements of the law and the
most of them were ones who were not entitled to support under this law. In
most cases in our county in which provision is being made in the family under
this law, are families who were receiving support from the county through the
supervisor or overseer of the poor. And in a county like this one I am o f the
opinion that the better way to take care o f these is through the overseer o f the
poor in each township. The supervisor who is the overseer of the poor has
better opportunity to know of the conditions in these families than has the
county court or any agents appointed by it. There is a tendency among a great
many people to think that when the term “ pension ” is used it is a matter of
right and they are entitled to ask and receive this pension, no difference as to
their physical or financial condition.

There is sometimes, too, confusion not only with respect to the
purpose o f the law but also with respect to the actual requirements of
the law. This is well illustrated by the following extract from a
letter from the judge o f It County, in reply to a questionnaire sent
out by the State charities commission in August, 1914.
When the law was first enacted and was published by the newspapers
throughout the State, a number o f mothers made application for aid under this
law, and I directed the probation officer to make the investigation as required
by the law and granted three or four of these pensions. When the orders came
to the county clerk, the question was raised as to what fund the money was
to be paid fr o m ; and on examination o f the law I found that the board o f super
visors could levy a tax, which should not exceed a certain per cent, and that
that money raised by that tax should be placed in a special fund and be used
for the mothers’ pension. There was no provision in the statute that the board
of supervisors might make an appropriation and place it in this fund, so I
changed the orders from aid under the aid-to-mothers act to aid under the
dependent and neglected children’s act, and then I began to observe and study
this law.
I am not favorably impressed with this law at all. In the first place, I do
not think that there was any necessity whatever for this law. The dependent
and neglected children’s act covers the whole field, and I believe in a better
way than the mothers’ pension law does. O f course, I understand that you
people who favor the mothers’ pension law are making the claim that the
mother would be more independent and would not feel that she was receiving

3471°—21-----9

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130

ADMINISTRATION" OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

funds from charity so much if it were under the mothers’ pension law than
if it were under the dependent and neglected children’s act, because under
the dependent and neglected children’s act the probation officer visits the
home once in each month and then recommends to the judge how much should
be paid to them for the succeeding month, while under the mothers’ pension
law the money , is paid monthly from the county treasury to the mother, and
she spends the money as she sees fit.

It is unnecessary to point out the inaccuracies in this letter, which
is interesting solely as indicating that some o f the judges are very
much confused not only as to the purpose but as to the actual pro
visions of the pension law. It is interesting that a later judge in
County R has adopted the same interpretation o f the law. A letter
from the probation officer of this county, received on July 14, 1916,
contained the following statement:
In reply to your letter addressed to Judge -----------, o f R County, will say
that we have not used a dollar from the mothers’ pension fund. A number
of monthly allowances have been granted. But the children were declared
dependent, and an average of $5 per month for each child was given from the
pauper relief fund. These people needed help, but did not eomply with the
law regulating the mothers’ pension fund.

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NUMBER OF COUNTIES GRANTING MOTHERS’ PENSIONS.
In spite o f the opposition o f county judges and county supervisors
to the law, pensions were being granted in 1916 in 71 out of the 101
down-State counties. The cost of these pensions was, in 1916, ap
proximately $349,200; and as nearly as can be estimated 1,583 families
with 4,850 children were provided for out of this fund. Information
is not available as to why the law is not being used in the other 30
counties that are not granting pensions. But, in general, they seem
to be the poorer and more backward counties of the State.
During the first year following the enactment o f the pension law
only 16 counties outside o f Cook County made any use o f it. No
reasons have been found to explain the prompt adoption o f the law
by these 16 counties, or its neglect by the remaining 85 counties of
the State. The counties using the law represent no one geographical
section o f the State, since they range from the extreme northwestern
to the southeastern section; 4 of them are counties in which are found
4 o f the 11 large cities of the State; but an equal if not greater num
ber are counties that are rural communities o f farms and small towns.
Nor can the adoption o f the pension law be explained on the ground
that these 16 are the communities most progressive in their care o f the
poor, for the reports of the State board o f charities show that some
o f these 16 counties are extremely backward in their outdoor and
even in their indoor relief. The use o f the pension law in 1911-1913
in these 16 counties could only be explained separately for each
county by a study o f special local conditions.
No additional information as to the number o f counties using the
pension law is available until December, 1914, when 63 counties were
granting pensions under the act.
Before the 1st o f January, 1916, 10 other counties were using the
act; and 5 more counties had indicated an intention of using the
law by making an appropriation for this purpose, although no
pensions had actually been granted. This increase in the number of
counties in which pensions are being granted is shown in the follow
ing summary:
1912

1913

1915

Total...................................................

101

Counties using pension law ........................
Counties not using.....................................
No report........ ......................................

16
85

63
35
3

72
»29

a Five of these counties had made appropriation for a “ pension fund ”

131

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132

ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS L A W .

It is not possible to find any general reasons that explain satis
factorily the failure o f 29 counties to make use o f the law. The
failure is due in some counties to some accidental situation, such as
the lack o f interest or opposition o f a county judge or o f some
members o f the board o f supervisors. It should be noted, however,
that, although these 29 counties represent no one geographical sec
tion exclusively, yet by far the greater number of them are in the
southern and poorer portion of the State; while with the exception
o f a group of 6 counties in the center o f the State, they are all
counties either on the border or extremely close to it. That is to
say, they are in general the outlying districts and river counties.
Another point o f interest about these counties is that in all 29
there is only one city o f 10,000 inhabitants. It is o f interest, too,
that these counties which are backward in applying the aid-tomothers act are in general counties in which the administration of
other outdoor relief is relatively worse than in the rest of the State.
This is indicated by the fact that only T out o f these 29 counties
required written orders for relief and itemized bills; while in the
other 72 counties, 36, or one-half the number, did make these slight
requirements.2
With the increase in the number o f counties granting pensions
there has been of course a corresponding increase in the number of
persons receiving aid under the law. Unfortunately there are no
figures available that show exactly the growth in the number o f
beneficiaries. In 1912 there were 50 mothers aided, and more than
150 children pensioned (the exact number could not be obtained).
F or 1913 no accurate information is available either as to the num
ber o f families or the number of children receiving help under the
law. The State charities commission estimates the number of chil
dren at about 1,200. For the year 1915 the figures are more exact.
By August o f that year there were 1,042 families getting aid under
che pension law ; and during that year at least 282 additional fam
ilies were pensioned, making a total o f 1,324 families with approxi
m ated 3,700 children pensioned during the year ending August
1, 1915.
The number o f families pensioned varies, o f course, from county
to county. Table X L V III shows the number o f families pensioned
in the different counties in a single month in 1915. The number
pensioned in a given month is much easier to determine than the
number pensioned during the year, since the policy o f the counties
a These figures may not be complete. They are com piled from the Institution Quar
terly o f March, 1 9 1 6 ; but as no uniform ity was observed in the details reported for the
various counties, it is possible that some counties required w ritten orders and itemized
bills but did not report this procedure.

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PAHT II.— ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OP COOK COUNTY.

133

varies as to the number o f months that individual families are kept
on the pension roll.
T a b l e X L V III.

N u m b er o f counties giving aid to specified n u m ber o f fam ilies
A u gu st 1 ,1 9 1 5 , o r n earest date th ereto.a

Counties granting
pensions.
Number of families pensioned by county.
Number.

Per cent
distribution.

Total.........................

100.0

1- 4 families..................
5- 9 families..................
10-14 families......................
15-19 families..................
20-29 families.................
30-49 families...........
50 families or more

18
19
9
7
10
6
3

25.0
26.4
12.5
9.7
13.9
8.3
4.2

,«“ T he+? gur-es-d0
^ re^er one date, since they are compiled from two sources, our own schedules from
date to w hifh+£f
T i f 1Qgust 1V1915La? d the institution Quarterly of March, 1916, in which the
date to winch the figures refer falls somewhere between April and December, 1915.

This table shows that most o f the counties pensioned very few
families. Only 3 counties pensioned as many as 50 families ; and in
these 3 counties, three o f the largest cities o f the State are located.
Eighteen counties, or 25 per cent of the total number, pensioned fewer
than 5 families; and 19 other counties, 26.4 per cent, from 5 to 9
families. That is, 37 counties, or 51.4 per cent, did not have 10
mothers pensioned on the date for which the information was
collected.
A comparison between the number o f families on the pension roll
August 1 and the maximum number o f families pensioned at any
time during the year was possible for the 58 counties from which
schedules were obtained. In the majority of these counties there was
no difference between the number on the August pension roll and the
maximum number pensioned in any other month.
Only 6 counties reported a maximum number for the year greater
by more than 5 families than the number pensioned on August 1. In
one county the number dropped from 164 to 5, and in another county
from 105 to 70 because the pensions were discontinued during the
summer months on account o f lack o f funds.3 Further study o f the
administration o f the law in these two counties suggests that a more
judicious expenditure o f funds would have rendered unnecessary
any such drastic reduction during the summer months. In H County
the difference, which is not so great, is accounted for by a change of
probation officers and a consequent ii cleaning up.” No explanation
of the difference in the other 3 counties has been found.
8 See p. 135.

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EXPENDITURES OF DIFFERENT COUNTIES.
Further information as to the extent to which the pension law is
used may be obtained from a statement o f the amount of money spent
by the different counties on mothers’ pensions. On the schedules
sent to the county judges they were asked to state the exact amount
spent during the year ending August 1, 1915, or during the last
fiscal year. Only 53 o f the 58 counties returning schedules answered
this question, and some o f those answering the question explained
that their figure was an estimate. No information is available as
to the expenditures of the other counties in which the law was used.
The report of the State charities commission does in some instances
give the amount o f the appropriation for this purpose, but there
is no statement as to whether or not this appropriation was actually
expended, and the figures given refer in some cases to the year
1914—15, in others to the year 1915—16, and in still others to the cur
rent year. It is not possible, therefore, to make any satisfactory
estimate o f the expenditure o f these 14: counties.
The total expenditure for mothers’ pensions in one year for the 53
counties for which information is available was $118,148, which was
$12,000 less than the expenditure in Cook County in the same year.
The population o f Cook County in 1910 was 2,405,000; the total
population o f the other 53 counties was 2,110,000. Thus the per
capita cost o f the pensions in Cook County was $0.0541, and in the
53 other counties it was $0,056; that is, the per capita cost o f the
relief was actually lower by $0.0019 in Cook County than in the
other 53 counties taken as one unit.
The expenditure varied in the different counties just as the number
o f families varied. Table X L I X shows the amounts expended by the
53 counties sending in definite replies to the schedule question relat
ing to expenditure.
T able X L I X .— N u m b er o f counties w ith specified expen d itu re fo r m others’
pensions.
Counties providing pen
sions.
Expenditure for pensions b y county.
Per cent
Number. distribution.
72
53

100.0

9
12
11
7
4
4
6

17.0
22.6
20.8
13.2
7.5
7.6
11.3

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PART II.— ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OP COOK COUNTY.

135

This table shows that no one o f these 53 counties spent very large
sums on mothers’ pensions. The expenditure depended to some extent
upon the size o f the counties. The 9 counties spending less than $500,
the 12 counties spending from $500 to $1,000, and the 11 counties
spending from $1,000 to $2,000 are all counties with a population o f
less than 60,000 persons. The 6 counties reporting an expenditure of
$5,000 and over are all counties with a population o f over 60,000. In
these counties are found the large industrial centers o f the State.
The largest sum expended by any one o f these counties was $11,900.
The per capita cost in this county was $0,099, which is considerably
higher than the $0.0560 average per capita cost for the 53 counties,
and yet this county was one of those that had almost no pension list
during the summer because the funds were exhausted.
Table L, which gives the expenditure together with the population
o f the counties, shows, however, that expenditure did not always
vary with population.
T a b l e L .— N u m b er o f counties o f given population spending specified am ounts
fo r m o th ers’ pensions in 1915.

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USE OF PROBATION OFFICERS FOR ADMINISTRATION
OF ACT.
The failure to use the law in more ihan one-fourth of the counties
in the State and the extent to which the law is used in the other
counties are perhaps less important than the methods o f administra
tion in the counties in which pensions are actually being given. The
law definitely requires that, before a pension is granted, an investiga
tion be made by a probation officer; and there seems to be an attempt
at an investigation as required by law in all the counties. Informa
tion is needed, however, as to the kind o f probation officers appointed
by the courts, since the character o f the investigation and o f supervis
ing care given to families depends upon the ability of the officers to
render intelligent service.
In very few counties is there a probation officer giving full
time to the probation work, which includes not only the pension
work but all other forms of probation service. In the other coun
ties there are part-time officers, or there is some one appointed a
probation officer to comply with the law ; but the so-called probation
officer is a judge or sheriff or supervisor of the poor or some one
whose chief duties are of another sort. Table L I shows the different
types o f officers appointed for the mothers’ pension work.
T able L I .— N u m ber o f counties having specified kind o f probation officers.

Persons acting as probation officers.

Total
Probation officer on yearly salary.
Full-time officers.
Part-time officers
Time not given..
Other probation officers
Officers paid per diem..........
Officers paid per case............
Volunteer probation officer..
Salary and time not reported
Supervisor or overseer of the poor.
Special officer for each fam ily......
States attorney.............................
Judge..............................................
Sheriff.............................................
Not reported..................................

Number of
counties.
72
“ 30
4
19
7
17
7
2

5
3
13
7
2

1
1
1

° In two of these counties investigations are also made by the supervisor, and in one
the judge also investigates.

136

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PART n .— ADMINISTRATION o utsid e OF COOK COUNTY.

137

Some further account o f the activities o f the persons described in
this table as probation officers is probably needed. The ¿able shows
that only 4 counties had full-time probation officers. In 19 counties
the officers who are classified as regular probation officers on a yearly
salary give only part time to the work o f the court, variously report
ing their other duties as: Probation officer of the circuit court; work
for private relief societies; policeman; policewoman; secretary to the
judge; county coroner; truant officer; investigator of the applications
for outdoor relief; lawyer; school-teacher.
In discussing the Cook County work, it was pointed out that upon
the probation officers fell the very difficult work of determining which
applicants met the tests o f eligibility prescribed by law. This work
can probably not be well done by State’s attorneys, judges, or even
volunteer or occasional probation officers. Nor are officers paid for
casual work on a per diem basis likely to render the services needed.
O f the two officers paid per case, one is paid $10 for every case in
vestigated, and one is paid $10 for every case that gets a pension.
The amount o f work carried by some o f the officers who are paid a
regular yearly salary for part-time work makes it impossible that
the officer should have adequate time either for the investigation or
for proper supervision o f pensioned families. In D County, for
example, the probation officer who had 33 families to supervise in
1915 was also secretary o f the local charitable society, which handled
some 1,500 cases during the year.4 Again, in another county, the pro
bation officer, who has 13 pensioned families and all other cases
brought before the juvenile court, is supervisor of the poor and truant
officer as well. This officer reports that she has so much to do that she
can not supervise families as she should, “ especially those in the
country,” and she suggests that the court needs a full-time probation
officer and a clerical assistant. Another example o f an overworked
officer is found in T County. There, the supervisor o f the 19 pen
sioned families is, in addition to the other probation work, supervisor
o f the poor for the township, which has a population o f 17,000;
truant officer for the county; and superintendent of the associated
charities. She has one paid assistant; but, even so, there is little time
available for the pension work.
Not only are the part-time officers so fully occupied as to be unable
to do the pension work adequately, but the full-time officers who
do all the other probation work are most o f them left with little time
for the pension service. Thus in K County the probation officer
has charge o f 36 pensioned families, in addition to all the other
juvenile court work o f a city o f 45,000 inhabitants. She complains
4 Since that time she has been relieved o f the work in the associated charities, but has
added the work o f truant officer. She stated that she “ tries to visit each fam ily every
month ” but has no time fo r the additional services that might be rendered her families

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138

ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

that she is overworked and is especially in need o f clerical assist
ance. She has tried to supplement her visits to the pensioned families
by visits from “ friendly visitors,” but does not find this system o f
volunteer assistants entirely satisfactory. In H County there are
three probation officers, but its county seat is a large city, and there,
too, it has proved necessary to use volunteer visitors for the pensioned
families.
The need for an adequate number o f regular salaried probation
officers is too apparent to need discussion. What is not so apparent,
however, is that the regular salaried officer may also be extremely
unsatisfactory. This is due chiefly to two circumstances: (1) That
the salary is so low that properly qualified persons will not accept
the position; (2) that appointments are made by the judge, often
for personal or political reasons instead of for merit.
One or both o f these situations seem to be found rather generally
in the counties of Illinois. Some data as to the salaries o f the officers
were collected; but, since it was not always clear how much time
was being given to the work, the information furnished did not
appear to be valuable.
On the subject of the method o f appointing probation officers there
is much to be said. The appointing power is left in the hands of the
county judge; and although, in Cook County, the judge o f the juvenile
court used the power thus conferred upon him to select the officers by
competitive examination, and called on persons o f recognized ex
perience in child-caring work to conduct the examination, in all other
counties the judge has used his personal discretion in appointing the
probation officer. Many o f the judges undoubtedly appointed the per
son whom they believed to be best qualified for the work. In five coun
ties, for example, the person appointed was the secretary o f the local
charity organization society; in two other counties the officer had had
experience in social work; in another county she had had long ex
perience as a probation officer before the aid-to-mothers act was
passed. In another county the officer appointed had had training in
a professional school o f philanthropy.
Although some judges selected persons apparently well qualified
for their work as probation officers, other judges have not done so.
Attention has already been called to the fact that a county coroner, a
policeman, a clerk from the assessor’s office, a doctor, a lawyer, and a
school teacher are among the persons appointed to act as probation
officer in different counties.5
BThe .following item taken from a daily paper o f one o f the down-State cities indicates
the m ethod o f appointment. The item is headed “ New P robation Officer ” : “ Mrs. X , a
w idow w ith one child about 5 years old, was appointed county probation officer fo r the
north portion o f N County yesterday by County Judge Z. Judge Z said he believes a
m other w ill have the spirit o f m aternal love w hich w ill enable her to make the best
probation officer. Mrs. X succeeds Miss A, who resigned and w ill engage in religious work
w ith a traveling evangelist.”

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EAltT II.— ADMINISTRATION? OUTSIDE OE COOK COUNTY,

139

In 10 counties there were persons acting as probation officers,
some on full-time and some on part-time basis, who appeared to have
had special training and experience for probation work, or who at
any rate appeared to be well qualified for such work. Unfortu
nately, however, in 6 o f these 10 counties the officers had so much
to do in addition to the pension work that the latter could not be
properly done. That is, there seem to be only four counties in which
conditions appear to be such that intelligent aid to the families is
possible, and two o f these counties have very small pension rolls— one
county pensions one family and the other county pensions seven.
The other two counties have a larger number o f pensioned families.
Only one o f these four counties was visited by the special investigator,
and it was disappointing to find that even in this county, where condi
tions appeared to make good pension work possible, good work was,
nevertheless, not being done. In L County, which was visited, the
county was found to be divided into three districts, with a different
probation officer for each district. While the officer in one district,
who is also a visitor for the associated charities, does give intelligent
help to her families, such as finding work for the mother or children,
supervising school attendance, etc., the other two officers make no
attempt at anythirig o f the kind, and their services stop with a
perfunctory monthly visit to the family.

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INVESTIGATION OF APPLICANTS’ ELIGIBILITY.
The kind o f investigation that is made depends largely on the intel
ligence o f the person making the inquiries, and sufficient comment
has already been made on this point. Further information as to pre
cisely what is done in the way o f investigation has been obtained from
the schedules returned by county judges, the 24 schedules returned
by social workers, and the visits of the special investigator. The
schedules that were returned all reported that, before a pension was
granted, it was the practice to have the home visited as required by
law. In some counties, however, this represents the intention o f the
court rather than the uniform practice. Thus the report, from one
county is, “ As to the investigation, the officer calls at the home in
almost all cases; in a very few he may not.” In another county, one
o f the two probation officers makes no pretense o f visiting the home
but interviews the women in his office. In other counties in which
it Seemed to be the usual practice to visit the home, some families were
found who were not visited until after the pension was granted.
A single visit to the home seems to be all that is done in the way
o f investigating the applicant’s eligibility. Most counties report that
relatives are visited; but five counties report definitely that they are
not “ visited,” and two more report that they are visited “ sometimes ”
or “ not always.” The visits to the relatives, if made, seem to be wholly
perfunctory ones, since no report has been made from any county
and no case could be found by the investigator o f any relative who
had been either persuaded or compelled to assist an applicant or a
pensioner.
In reply to the question as to whether any verification is made of
other facts needed to establish eligibility, such as the marriage,
death o f husband, birth o f children, and possession o f property, the
claim was made in most counties that this was done. In counties
visited by the special investigator, however, it appeared that this
verification really was not made. Officers when questioned were
vague and indefinite and qualified their answers with “ usually,”
“ sometimes,” “ in some cases.” No records o f any steps in the in
vestigation could be found. The officers’ reports usually read “ Your
officer has investigated and has found ” ; but it seems to be the prac
tice to consider an investigation complete when the applicant has
been visited and interviewed, and the findings of the investigating
140

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PART II.— ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OF COOK COUNTY.

141

officer seem to be based on the unverified statements of the appli
cant. The testimony o f the applicant on oath in open court is held
in many counties to furnish sufficient evidence o f her eligibility. On
the whole, the only general statement that can be made as to the
practice o f the outlying counties in the matter o f the preliminary
investigation is that usually the home is visited and that some officers
believe that they make an attempt to verify the facts necessary to
prove eligibility. The methods of verification are not on record
and apparently can not be found, and it is clear that in many places
the verification is that offered by the applicant herself in court,
while, in other counties, 11community knowledge ” is accepted. From
no county has any evidence been obtained of a uniform practice of
verifying by legal records, such as has been adopted in Cook County.
Two results may usually be expected if a careless preliminary
investigation is made: (1) A very small number o f applications will
be rejected or dismissed, since very few will be found by an inadequate
investigation to be ineligible; (2) ineligible persons will be found
on the pension lists. Each o f these points will be discussed.

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DISMISSED CASES.
In Cook County in the course of a year a great many more appli
cations are rejected after investigation than are finally granted, not
withstanding the fact that it had been customary from the first to
refuse to take applications from persons who are clearly ineligible.
In the other counties o f the State, about which we have information
on this point, this rule does not appear to hold good.
Table L II shows the number of mothers whose applications were
rejected or dismissed in a year in 49 counties from which reports
could be obtained.
T able L II .— N u m b er o f counties in w hich a specified n u m ber o f applicants w ere
refu sed pension grants.

Number of pension applications rejected.

Number of
counties.
72
13
19
8
4
3
1
1
23

It thus appears that 13 of the pension-granting counties rejected no
applicants in a year and a considerable number o f other counties
rejected very few applications.6 A list of reasons for dismissing
6 The follow in g table showing the relation between the number o f fam ilies refused aid
and the number in receipt o f aid in the various counties may be o f in te r e s t:
Number o f counties refusing pensions to a specified number o f fam ilies, together with number o f fam ilies pensioned.

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cases was given for the rejected applicants in Cook County. No such
reasons could be obtained for the outlying counties. A great ma
jority o f the counties keep no record o f the reasons for refusal to
grant pensions. Officers when questioned could give no more defi
nite reasons than that the applicants were refused “ for legal reasons,”
or “ for not complying with the law.” There are so many require
ments prescribed by the law that these reasons are too indefinite to be
satisfactory.
The pensioning of every applicant who applies may be due to one
o f several reasons: (1) Lack o f care in receiving and registering ap
plicants; (2) inadequate investigation of applicant’s eligibility;
(3) failure to devise other methods o f solving problems o f family
distress; (4) a willingness on the part of the court to disregard the
provisions of the law and to grant pensions to ineligible applicants
even when this ineligibility has been ascertained.

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PENSION GRANTS TO INELIGIBLE FAMILIES.
One result of an inadequate preliminary investigation is the grant
ing o f pensions to families who are not legally eligible for this form
of relief. In Illinois this condition is made worse by the fact that
the county judges not infrequently refuse to be bound by the law
and seem to take the position that they may grant pensions to any
person whom they consider a suitable applicant. Twelve judges
expressly said that they did not observe the requirements that had
been added to the old vague law of 1911 by amended laws o f 1913
and 1915. The legislature, when it passed the law o f 1913, did not
repeal the 1911 act by name but merely by the general phrase of
“ all acts or parts inconsistent herewith.” That the new law was
intended to replace the old one is not open to doubt; it was so inter
preted in Cook County, and, it will be remembered, something like
200 families who did not comply with the new requirements were
dropped from the rolls. But in some other counties the judges say
that the funds-to-parents act of 1911 was not repealed by the later
law ; and 12 counties were in 1915 granting funds under that act.
The investigator in suggesting to different judges that certain per
sons on his lists were ineligible under the present law, received more
than once such a reply as: “ Well, perhaps that is so, but I am
operating under the old 1911 law.” One judge said that he used the
1911 law instead of the amended law because he considered the
earlier law a better one. Another judge told the investigator that
he knew that a certain one of his pensioners was not legally entitled
to a pension, but it would have “ taken a heart of stone,” he said, “ to
refuse what she asked.”
In all but three of the counties outside Cook County visited by
the investigator, pensions were being granted to persons who were
legally ineligible. This may be due to the lawless attitude of the
judges or to their lack o f intelligence more than to the inability of
the probation officer to discover and to report the applicant’s ineligi
bility. But whatever the cause, the evidence clearly shows that,
although the law specifically excluded deserted women, divorced
women, and women property owners, such persons were frequently
granted pensions in the outlying counties.
The requirement o f the law most frequently ignored was that which
provided that the mother who is the “ owner o f real property, other
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part

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o u t s id e

cook

county.

145

than household goods,” shall not be eligible for a pension.7 Four
counties reported that they were in the habit o f granting pensions
to property owners, and family visiting by the investigator showed
that it was also done in 8 additional counties. That is, in 10 of the
14 counties visited by the investigator it was found that pensions
were granted to women property owners, although the schedules sent
in by correspondence reported this practice in only 2 o f these counties.
Had it been possible to visit the other counties in which pensions are
granted, there is reason to believe that the practice o f ignoring the
property disqualification would have been found to be even more
widespread than it appears to be from the evidence. The value of
the property owned by these pensioners varied greatly—some o f the
mothers owned only a little home representing a very small invest
ment, but occasionally the property was more valuable.
For example, one such case in B County was that o f a woman with
two children over 3 and under 14 years of age. She owns property
valued at from $4,000 to $5,000 with a $2,200 mortgage on it. Her
home was very well furnished with good rugs, piano, etc. Her hus
band was a saloon keeper and a well known local politician. After
his death she ran for town constable but was defeated, and a pension
o f $30 a month was almost immediately secured for her in spite o f
local opposition. The investigator was told that the pensioner was
locally known as a financier, and it was charged that her pension
was due to political influence. In any event, the ownership o f prop
erty made her technically ineligible for this particular form o f public
aid.
Another case in the same county is that o f a widow who was
granted in October, 1915, a pension o f $10 a month for two chil
dren. She owned the house in which she was living, valued at
$800, and an adjoining 3 acres of land, which she sold to pay the
mortgage on the two pieces o f property. Her ownership of the
property was a fact well known in the small community. In May,
1916, one o f the pensioned children died. His pension was not
stayed and the mother thought that.the full pension was continued
because the judge wished to help her a little more. In addition to
the pension, the supervisors gave her coal and groceries. This is an
especially interesting case, since at the time of the visit the woman
had only one child under 14 and one child over 14 living with her.
She had also three married daughters.
In the same county a pension of $10 a month was granted in Janu
ary) 1914, to another widow for her one child. She owned the house
in which she was living, valued at $700, but with a mortgage o f $200.
A local minister who has taken great interest in the pension law ex
plained to the investigator that the court granted the pension on the
ground that she is “ such a deserving woman.”
7 Illinois Revised Statutes, 1917, ch. 23, sec. 308.
see supra, p. 15.

3471°—21------10

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This provision has since been altered-

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

Still another case is that of Mrs. G, in C county, a Lithuanian
woman, who was receiving a pension of $5 a month for four children
and was buying the property where she was living from a building
and loan association. The property was valued at $1,200, and she
had paid more than half its value in monthly installments o f $6.
Again, in F County in October, 1911, a pension o f $6 a month was
granted to the B family, consisting of the mother, one boy of 15,
who was in a city outside the State, and four children under 14.
They owned a small, three-room “ box ” house, built o f bare boards
and unplastered, valued at about $250. The present judge, who has
come on the bench since the law o f 1913 was passed, intended to dis
continue the pension for this family because they owned property;
but he said that so much pressure was brought to bear by fellowtownsmen o f Mrs. B that he was unable to do this. That the law was
being violated did not seem a sufficient reason for action.
Another propertied family was found in L County. A widow
received a pension o f $20 a month for six children. She owned
property worth $1,500, which she was buying from a building and
loan association and in which her equity was worth about $700.
She was paying $6.50 a month to cover payments on the property,
taxes, and interest.
Whether or not the law should have prohibited the granting of
pensions to women who owned or were buying property is not the
question here. Doubtless the “ homestead” disqualification worked
what seemed at any rate to be greater hardships in the country dis
tricts than in Chicago, and it is of interest that several down-State
judges, in replying to a questionnaire sent out by the State charities
commission asking their opinion as to the working of the law, sug
gested in their reply that ownership o f a home should not render a
woman ineligible for a pension.8
The law has already been amended in this respect and, as has been
pointed out, now provides that when the mother is entitled to home
stead rights under the exemption laws of the State or holds dower
interest, and the value o f either interest is not greater than $1,000,
she shall not be thereby disqualified for relief under the mothers’
aid provision. The judges who thought that the law should be
altered in this respect administered the law as they thought it should
be rather than as it was.
But it should be remembered that the law definitely prohibited the
granting o f such pensions, and every judge who, prior to July 1,1917,
granted a pension to a property owner, violated the law.
The down-State courts appear to be lax also about the enforcement
o f the provision relating to personal property. The Chicago court
has ruled that a woman who has more than $50 in hand or in the
3 Institution Quarterly, December, 1914, pp. 13-15.

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PART II.

A D M IN IS T R A T IO N

O U T S ID E OF C O O K C O U N T Y .

147

bank shall be considered ineligible under this provision. The downfetate courts do not seem to have made any definite ruling as to the
amount of property that disqualifies, but cases were found of women
who were granted pensions when they still had a considerable sum o f
money. A case in point is that of the X family in N County. This
family consisted o f the mother and five children between the ages of
1 and 4. The father, who had been a miner earning $60 a month,
died of appendicitis in May, 1915. Me left $1,000 insurance. In
October, 1915, the mother was granted a pension o f $10 a month at
a time when she still had $700 o f the insurance money left. The
county agent, who acts as probation officer, knew o f this and the
court also knew of it. The county agent is said to have told Mrs. X
to use this money to supplement her small pension and to have
promised her that when this was used the pension would be increased.
Other women who were pensioned, although they were not eligible,
were women whose relatives were able to assist in their support’
The law clearly says that a mother shall be eligible for a pension
only “ i f her child or children has or have relatives o f sufficient
ability, and who shall be obligated by the finding and judgment of
a court o f competent jurisdiction, to support them.” It has already
been pointed out as a weakness o f the down-State methods o f inves
tigation that little if anything is done to determine the liability of
relatives for the support o f the mother or her children, as is done, for
example, in the Chicago court. Nor does any attempt seem to be
made by the county judges to enforce such liability if it is known to
exist. Thus pensioned families were found down State with rela
tives who were liable for their support but who had never been forced
to comply with the support provisions o f the law.9
For example a woman in C County, Mrs. Y, who had been divorced
by one husband and deserted by another, had lived in another State
for five years, where her last child had been born. Her husband
became ill, and was sent to a sanitarium, and in 1915 she was sent
back to her former home in Illinois by the public authorities, but
probably at her own request. She then sold her piano, and with the
proceeds brought her husband to Illinois; but he soon deserted, and
she was given a pension o f $6 a month, $3 for each o f her two children.
She lived in a house adjoining her mother’s, and the mother with the
two unmarried sons owns the home. These unmarried brothers were
both working, and they and the mother were abundantly able to
support the pensioner, who was technically ineligible not only because
she was a deserted and divorced woman but also because she had not
been m the county for three years previous.
A somewhat similar case is that o f Mrs. Z in B County, who had
a pension o f $15 a month, one child under 14, one child over 14 two
married daughters, and one married son. Mrs. Z lived with’ one
See Illinois Revised Statutes, ch. 23, sec, 308

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ADMINISTRATION OF TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

daughter in a very comfortably furnished house, but the other mar
ried daughter and son had given her no help, and had never been
asked to do so.
A similar case in M County is that o f Mrs. A, a woman with one
dependent child. This pensioner was living with her mother and
her stepfather, who owned a good house in a good neighborhood.
The house was well furnished, and they had a piano and a telephone.
There was a cottage at the rear of the lot that was rented. The mother
and the stepfather ran a kind of catering business, and the widowed
daughter sewed and earned about $15 or $20 a month. The woman
was technically ineligible for a pension, because she had not lived in
the county three years, and it seemed to be clear that in any event the
pension of $6 was not needed in the household. The paternal grand
father and uncles were also able to contribute, should help have been
necessary. Incidentally, it may be noted that it is against the prac
tice o f the Chicago court to grant a pension to any able:bodied woman
with only one dependent child, so that in the case given above the
woman would not have received a pension in Chicago even i f she had
had no relatives able to assist and had met the residence qualifica
tions.
Another group o f ineligible pensioners not infrequently found
down State were the deserted wives who were eligible under the 1911
law but have been ineligible since 1913. Reports from two counties
showed that pensions were granted to deserted wives, and deserted
wives were also found receiving pensions in eight of the counties
visited.
Another case of the pensioning of a group of women in violation
o f the law was found in M County. Here the judge had granted
pensions to women whose husbands were in the National Guard and
had been sent down to the Mexican border with their regiments. The
investigator called attention to the fact that these soldiers’ dependents
were not eligible for pensions under the aid-to-mothers act, but the
judge said that he acted in these cases under the clause in the law
which provided for the pensioning of women whose husbands were
permanently incapacitated for work by reason of mental or physical
infirmities. Only two such pensions were granted, and they were
discontinued after a G. A. R. fund had been raised to care for soldiers’
wives.
Another illegal practice that seems to be countenanced by some
o f the down-State judges is the pensioning of children who do not live
with their mother. The law clearly says that “ the child or children
for whose benefit the relief is granted must be living with the mother
o f such child or children.” In two counties pensions were granted
to grandparents, and in another county to other guardians, but in
these three counties the judges claimed that they were operating
under the “ old 1911 law.” In other counties pensions were granted
nominally to the mother who then used the money to board out the
child or children, a practice clearly illegal. For example, Mrs. B,
o f C County, with a pension o f $6 for one child only, worked out as
housekeeper for a widower and boarded her child with a friend,

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ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OF COOK COUNTY.

149

Mrs. D o f G County, received a pension for three children, two
o f whom she placed m a church institution, apparently with the con
sent o f the judge. The boys ran away from this institution and have
now been sent to an institution for delinquents; but no change has
been made in the pension.
Mrs. E o f P County, with one child, 6 years old, was granted a
pension o f $5 a month. Mrs. E is a strong, vigorous woman who
works as a domestic, leaving the child with her own parents in another
village.
The list o f ineligible pensioners is greatly increased by the lack of
supervision after the family is pensioned. One result o f this lack
o f supervision is that families who were eligible at the time o f the
granting o f the pension may become ineligible through the remar
riage o f the mother, or her removal from the county, or because a
child has reached the age o f 14 and has gone to work, or because
of some other change in the family situation. Unless the super
vision o f the families is thorough enough to insure that the pension
will be stopped with the change in circumstances, families who have
become ineligible for pensions will be found on the pension rolls.

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SUPERVISION.
The importance o f proper supervisory care for pensioned families
has already been discussed.10 Supervision is o f course necessary, not
only that pensions may be stopped when they are no longer needed,
but also in order that the court may be assured that the public funds
are being* wisely expended and that the mothers may be assisted in
maintaining a good home for the pensioned children. Proper super
visory care, however, can be provided only by competent, responsible—
and this probably means salaried—probation officers. I f the probation
officer for the pension work is not really a probation officer at all
but a supervisor o f the poor, deputy sheriff, county judge, State’s
attorney, or even a volunteer visitor, adequate supervision can hardly
be expected. It has already been pointed out that in 25 counties the
probation work is carried on by persons who are probation officers
in name only.
In reply to the schedule questions relating to supervision, 27 o f
the 64 counties sending in replies reported that no attempt was
made to provide any supervision o f pensioned families.
O f the eight counties from which no schedules were returned only
two have regular probation officers, and one o f these counties pays
a salary o f $10 a month, the other, $40. In three counties the super
visors act as probation officers; in one the officer is paid $3 per diem;
in one a special officer is appointed for each case; while the other is
the county which pays the officer for each case pensioned. It seems
probable, therefore, that all these counties should be added to the
list of those not providing supervision. Nine other counties report
that supervision is provided, but the families are not visited in their
homes. Thus, in at least 36, and probably 43, o f the 72 counties
granting pensions there is no visitation o f the pensioned families.
Twenty-nine counties, on the other hand, report that their families
are visited by the probation officer, but 5 add qualifying statements,
such as “ at times,” “ when necessary,” “ frequently,” etc. Thus, G
County reports that visits are made “ when desirable ” ; but out of
10 families in this county visited by our special investigator not 1
reported even a single visit o f the officer since the grant of the pen
sion. In this county a substitute for visits had been devised. The
judge called the pensioned mothers into court “ about every six
10 See supra, pp. 2 7 et seq.

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151

months and reexamined them as to their need o f a pension. Six
other counties report that the probation officer visits the families, but
the frequency o f the visits is not reported. In two of these counties
the officer is paid on a per diem basis, in two the officer is not paid for
his services, but in the other two there is a regular officer on a
salary in one case of $360 a year, in the other $600. It is possible
that these last two officers may visit at regular intervals, but it is
extremely unlikely that this is done in the other four counties.
Five counties reported that the families were visited three or four
times a year. Thirteen reported that families were visited once a
month. Five o f these 13 counties, however, were visited by our spe
cial investigator, and in only 1 were visits actually made regularly
every month. In A County there were three probation officers, all
volunteers; and while two of them appeared to visit some o f their
families very frequently, the other was unable to get round more
than three or four times in a year. In D County the officer visited
only every second or third month but saw her families every month
when the pension was drawn. In H County the probation officer
herself is unable to visit oftener than two or three times a year, but
the family is visited by “ friendly visitors ” who are supposed to
go once a month. In I County the probation officer, a young daughter-in-law o f the judge, had not yet made the rounds o f her pen
sioned families, because, as she explained, “ it was extremely hot last
summer.” Two o f the counties which reported that visits were made
only two or three times a year have these visits supplemented by re
ports from the mother to the probation officer every month, and a
third county has the family visited by volunteers, supposedly
monthly.
Such data as are available, then, show that there were nine coun
ties in which the probation officer visited monthly; three in which the
probation officer saw the mother every month but visited only every
second, third, or fourth month; four in which she visited three or
four times yearly, but in two o f these the family was nominally vis
ited every month by a volunteer; the practices o f the three officers in
one county varied; and one county which reported monthly visits
was found to be one o f those in which the officer visited u when de
sirable.”
The various forms o f service that may be rendered by intelligent
supervising officers have already been discussed in the section of this
report dealing with the work o f the Chicago court. It is unnecessary
to say that such work can not be done by the probation service pro
vided for in the down-State counties.
The facts about the supervision o f pensioned families in the 63
counties for which information was secured are summarized in Table

LIII.

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ADMINISTRATION OP TH E AID-TO-MOTHERS LA W .

able

L III .— N u m b e r o f co u n ties p ro v id in g d iffe re n t d egrees o f “ su p e rv iso ry
care”

Methods of supervision reported.

Total
N o supervision........................................ ............................................................................................
Supervision without visits.................................................................................................................
Visits “ when necessary” ............... ....................................... ............................ ...........................
Probation officer visits m on th ly......................................................................................................
Probation officer visits three or four times yearly............................................................. .
Frequency of visits varies with officers..........................................................................................
Frequency o f visits is not reported..................................................................................................

Num ber of
counties.

63
27
8
6
8

a7
1
6

a In three of these counties the mothers reported to the officer every month, and in tw o others the families
were visited b y volunteers every month.

Abundant evidence o f the lack o f supervision was collected by
our special investigator in the 14 counties in which she visited some
o f the pensioned families. This investigator found, for example,
that women were having pension checks forwarded to them through
the mail, although no one at the court knew exactly where they were
living.
f '
Thus Mrs. I, with four children and a pension o f $10 a month,
received her pension at the Z postoffice; but our investigator found
that her present address was unknown to any one, that she was
pregnant with an illegitimate child, and that she was supposed to
have moved to another city.
A similar case in another county was that o f Mrs. N. Her name
was given to the investigator as receiving a pension o f $5 a month.
The investigator was unable to find the woman at the address which
was on the county treasurer’s list. Neighbors either did not know
or would not tell anything o f her whereabouts. The landlady was
consulted and explained that she had moved about two years ago;
that she had said she was going to a city in another State to live
with her two older daughters. She was getting her checks for
warded by mail. Neither the adult probation officer nor the over
seer o f the poor knew anything o f this family.
Again, the investigator found it difficult to locate a woman in
C County. The neighbors said that they had not seen her for
months. They explained that “ she moved round a good deal.”
The woman, who was finally found, had just returned from a six
months’ stay in a neighboring State; she had returned reluctantly,
but she said that she was afraid if she stayed away much longer
her pension would be revoked. While out o f the State she had
worked in a hotel and had boarded one child in an institution for
dependent children and two boys in a newsboys’ home. These boys,
aged 10 and 12 years, sold papers and were allowed to keep what
they made after their board was paid. The older of the boys went
across the river to his home in Illinois each month and srot the

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PART

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O U T S ID E

COOK

COUNTY.

153

mother’s pension check, cashed it, and brought the money back to
her. The 10-year-old boy said that he had attended school a few
weeks while he was away. This woman had been a widow three
times. The pension was granted before any o f the children were
old enough to work. A t the time o f the visit the family income
was $55 a month, and the total income with pension $65. The
officer in this county is supposed to visit every pensioned family
once a year.
A serious result o f the lack o f supervision was the finding o f a
large number o f families who had been put on the pension roll and
then had not been removed, although family circumstances had
changed and the pensions were no longer needed.
Thus, Mrs. M o f G County, who was receiving a pension o f $15, was
found by our investigator to have been remarried. This was re
ported back to the court, and she was then taken off the pension roll.
In the same county Mrs. N, with one child, had been receiving a
pension o f $10 a month for more than two years. The investigator
called at the address given in the county treasurer’s book, found that
Mrs. N h^d been a servant in this house; that she had never had the
child with her there; and that she had used her pension to board out
the baby. No one knew where Mrs. N had gone, but people thought
that she was married and that the baby was still boarded somewhere.
When this was reported back to the court by the investigator, a clerk
in the office then said that he had seen a ^notice o f the pensioner’s
marriage in the local newspaper and had expected to tell the judge
to discontinue the pension but had forgotton to do so. He added
that no more checks would be mailed to her.
Most frequently the change in circumstances is due to the fact that
children who were pensioned when they were under 14 years o f age
have grown old enough to go to work. This is a change that could
easily be discovered if there were a responsible person keeping the
records, for the exact ages of the children should be on record at the
time the pension is granted, and the exact date when the pension
should be stayed should also be a matter of record. Some o f these
families had very good incomes in 1917, but the pensions were still
going on.
Thus, in M County, Mrs. O, the widow o f a farmer, was granted
a pension four years before, when she had living at home four children
under 14 and three children over that age. At the time o f the visit
o f the investigator there were only two children under 14, and five
children living at home were working and earning $153 a month.
Included in the family, moreover, was the illegitimate child of one
o f the daughters, born after the pension was granted.11 The children
11 I t sh ou ld be a d d ed t h a t th e in v e s t ig a to r r e p o rte d th a t th e h o m e w a s b e a u tifu lly clea n
an d th a t i t seem ed t o be a g o o d on e in sp ite o f th e o ld e r g ir l’ s delin q u en cy .

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paid $64 a month board out of their earnings. Although the proba
tion officer was supposed to visit the family once in three months,
she had not recommended any change in the pension, in spite o f
the fact that the family’s situation had changed radically. Nothing
had been done to compel the father o f the illegitimate child to con
tribute to its support, and nothing had been done to compel a
daughter in a neighboring town to contribute to the mother’s sup
port, although she is abundantly able to do so i f it were necessary.
In K County two families were found in somewhat similar cir
cumstances. In one there were six children over 14, and their earn
ings were about $140 a month, but the pension o f $24 was still
continued. In the other there was only one child under 14, while
there were four children at work, whose earnings were $163 a month,
but the pension o f $5 was still going on. This is an abuse that is
bound to increase if something is not done to keep a careful watch
o f the pension rolls and to compel the withdrawal o f pensions for
children who have gone to work and are above the age at which
pension grants can legally be made.
One result o f this lack o f supervision on the part o f the probation
officer and constituted authorities that was noted by the investigator
who visited the selected counties in 1916 was the peculiar importance
o f the county clerks, county treasurers, or whoever in their offices
may have had charge o f making out the monthly pension checks or
of mailing them or handing them to the pensioned mothers. These
clerks were sometimes the only persons who were in any way in
touch with the pensioned families after the grant had been made,
and the investigator found that they were often better informed on
the family circumstances and more interested in the pensioners than
any other officials in the county. They saw to it, so far as it was
done at all, that pensions were stayed when children became 14 or
when the mother remarried. In some places there was an attempt to
do this systematically, as in B, where the clerk has recently adopted
a card catalogue, showing the date on which each pensioned child
became 14; more often, however, the families were watched only in
haphazard fashion, and pensions' were stayed only when something
happened to call it to the attention o f the clerk. Thus, it was not un
common for the clerk in going over the records with our investigator
to remark, “ Why, Johnnie is 14 now, we will have to stay his pen
sion,” or “ I saw in the papers that that woman is remarried, I guess
she won’t need a pension any longer.” Occasionally also other viola
tions o f the law were noticed by members o f the office staff. In P
County, for example, the sister o f the county clerk, who was herself
a clerk in the office, learned that one o f the pensioners (Mrs. A ) had
placed her child with its grandparents. The county clerk’s sister

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thereupon sent for Mrs. A before sending out the pension check, since
the law clearly states that the pensioned child must be living with the
mother. In this instance the efforts o f the clerk proved futile,
since the mother appealed to the judge, who continued the pension
in defiance o f the law. But the clerks in the office can not be ex
pected to carry the sole responsibility for staying pensions, and it
is a result o f the lax administration that they not infrequently send
checks to women who are no longer entitled to them. Cases have
been already given from C and G Counties o f pensions going to
women who had left the State. Similarly, it has been noted that
checks went to women who had remarried; for the women are not all
so honest as one woman in F County who did not claim her checks
after remarriage, so that they were finally returned through the
post-office authorities.
Another weakness in the administration o f the law discovered by
our investigator in the course o f her visits to the counties was the
lack o f responsibility which was felt by one judge or probation
officer for the acts o f his predecessors. One judge was found who
was evidently trying to administer the mothers’ pension law strictly
according to the terms o f the law, and who explained that the ineli
gible families on his lists had been granted pensions by the former
judge. The possibility o f staying these illegal pensions either did
not occur to him or he did not think that he ought to be required
to incur the unpopularity o f correcting his predecessor’s mistakes.
Similarly, in a few counties the probation officer visited the families
who had been granted funds since her term o f office began, but seemed
to feel that she had no responsibility for the families who were on
the lists before she began her work.

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PENSION POLICY OF THE
CHICAGO COURT AND THAT ADOPTED BY THE DOWNSTATE COURTS.
Certain differences in policy are to be found in the different courts
and, in particular, differences between the down-State courts, and
the Chicago court. Certain rules, it will be remembered, have been
laid down in the Chicago court that either define more accurately
the terms o f eligibility or add new requirements. The differences be
tween the Chicago court and the down-State courts may be due to the
latter’s failure to formulate any policy at all rather than to the adop
tion o f a policy that is unlike that of the Chicago court. But whether
due to accident or to design, differences in policy do exist. The most
important o f these relate to the following points: (1) The pension
ing o f an able-bodied mother who has only one child under 14 years
o f age; (2) the refusal to continue pensions for children who have
reached the legal working age and who are not “ ill or physically
incapacitated for work.”
1. The Chicago court, as has been explained, holds that an ablebodied mother should be able to support herself and one child; and
in Chicago, therefore, pensions are infrequently granted to such
women. Only 31 of the 778 families in Cook County for whom this
information was secured had but one child. There seems to be no
other court which has adopted such a policy. In many counties
pensioned families with only one dependent child were found in
which there were older brothers and sisters to help to support the
family. In the down-State counties 138 of the 690 pensioned families
about which data were obtained were families with only one child
under 14.
Out o f 106 families for whom schedules were obtained by the in
vestigator, 26, or approximately one-fourth, were families with only
one child under 14, and in 15 o f these 26 families there were also older
children, sometimes as many as three or four. Certainly these fami
lies should have been self-supporting according to any reasonable
standard. For example, a typical case is .that of Mrs. P, o f B County,
who had one child under 14 and a pension o f $10. She had also liv
ing at home a daughter, 21 years o f age, who worked in a piano fac
tory, and a son, 24 years of age, who was a printer. The mother kept
two boarders and four “ mealers.” The total income without any con
tribution from the son was about $142 a month.
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A similar case is that o f Mrs. Q, o f K County, who received a pen
sion of $15 a month for one child who was under 14. She had two
sons, aged 16 and 22, living at home, both o f whom were working.
Mrs. Q also supplemented the income by doing work at home for the
knitting factory. The family income here was $100 a month, and
the pension $15 a month.
In another family in M County there was one child under 14 and
two children above this age, a daughter earning $5 a week in a tinsel
factory and a boy o f 15 attending high school. The mother worked,
too, and earned from $20 to $24 a month. The mother’s health was
not good, and the investigator discovered that no medical examina
tion had been made. The pension o f $15 a month was granted
when there were two children under 14. The probation officer was
supposed to visit, as she said, “ about a couple of times a year.”
Although opinions may differ as to the justice o f requiring or ex
pecting under the present standard o f women’s wages that a woman
should provide support for herself and her child when she has no
resources except her ability to work, the investigator in her visits
to these families felt that the Cook County policy was a reasonable
one, and that the “ one-child ” families might properly have been ex
pected to be self-supporting. When such mothers were working full
time, as most o f them were, and were not earning enough to support
themselves and one child, the court pension might be looked uponas a “ subsidy in aid o f wages.”
2. For children who have reached the legal working age o f 14, the
Chicago court follows the policy o f staying the pension. The court
holds that a child who is legally old enough to work must be counted
a wage earner and must contribute his share to the family income,
provided always that he is not “ ill or physically incapacitated for
work.” A normally strong child in a pensioned family in Chicago
is allowed to remain in school after he is 14 only on condition that
the amount he would contribute to the family income is forthcoming
from some other source. As a result, children leave school and go to
work before they are fit for w ork; but so long as the laws o f the State
sanction this proceeding, and so long as the vast majority o f wage
earning families are obliged to sacrifice their children in this way,
public-relief agencies almost inevitably have to follow a similar
policy.
Outside o f Cook County, however, pensioned children o f working
age and physically able to work were found still in school. It is not
clear whether the outlying courts have adopted the policy o f allow
ing these children to remain in school or whether the continuing of
'the pension is due to the lack of supervision and the failure to take
notice o f the fact that the child had become old enough to go to work.
The families themselves explained the fact that the children were still

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in school as due to the few opportunities for children of that age to
find work. I f this is true, and there is every reason to think it is,
especially in the smaller communities, it constitutes an excellent rea
son for raising the age at which all children are allowed to leave
school; whether it is also a sufficient reason for pensioning a few such
children must remain a matter o f opinion.
There are certain other questions of policy on which the down-State
practice seems to differ from that o f the Chicago court, but they are
less important since they affect a smaller number of families. Few
down-State courts, for example, seem to have formulated any definite
policy relating to the presence of an incapacitated father in the house,
when his presence is a menace to the children. In most cases the
court has not the information on which to decide whether or not the
man should be required to go to a sanitarium; and places to which
the man might be removed are perhaps less easily found in the downState counties. In Chicago, again, a man is not considered incapaci
tated except on the basis o f the physician’s statement that he is
“ totally incapacitated for work.” In the outlying counties a family
may be pensioned even if the man is not totally incapacitated; nor
does the degree of the incapacity which entitles a man to ask for a pen
sion for his wife and children appear to have been defined.
Two other classes of down-State pensioners who would be excluded
according to the rules o f the Chicago court include the woman who
has ever had an illegitimate child and the woman who partially sup
ports herself by taking men boarders and roomers. This may, o f
course, be the only way in which a widow finds it possible to con
tribute to the support o f her family, but the Chicago court takes the
position that the woman who earns her living in this way is in
morally dangerous surroundings for which the court can not assume
the responsibility. In visiting the down-State families, however,
the investigator found that this practice was not disapproved o f by
the courts.
Whether or not the down-State courts have erred in failing to
adopt the policies formulated by the Chicago court on the basis o f
its wider experience is a question on which opinions may not agree.
Conditions in Chicago are, of course, very different from conditions
in many of the down-State cities and counties. It does not seem
probable, however, that these differences in policy are due to any
differences in down-State conditions but rather to the failure on the
part o f the down-State courts to formulate any principles or policies
o f administration.

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ADEQUACY OF PENSION GRANTS.
An attempt was made to collect data relating to the size of the
pension grants in the different down-State counties. No published
data were available except the figures collected by the State charities
commission showing the total amount paid out for pensions and the
total number o f families pensioned, from which it is impossible to
determine the size o f the pension granted to any individual family,
further information on this subject has been obtained from the fo l
lowing sources: (1) From material gathered by our special investi
gator, who reported on the practice of fixing the pension allowances
in the counties she visited; (2) from data collected by correspond
ence showing the pension pay roll totals for 41 counties for a single
month; (3) from data, also collected by correspondence, showing the
exact pension allowances o f 690 families in 63 different counties, to
gether with the size o f the families. Such information as was col
lected indicates that in general the pensions are inadequate and that
in some counties they are little more than doles.
The reports o f the investigator as well as the schedules collected by
correspondence indicate that the practice o f granting pensions on an
unscientific “ flat rate” basis is very common. The most usual flat
rate is $5 per child per month; eight counties make a practice of
granting this rate, although in five o f the counties the rule is occa
sionally broken. Two counties pension at the rate o f $2.50 a child;
one county gives $5 for an only child, another county gives $2 for
each child, while still another gives $2 a week per child. Other
counties make a difference between the first and other children.
Thus, one county gives $8 for the first child and $1.50 for every
other child, while another county gives $8 for the first and adds $4
for each additional child. U County gives from $12 to $15 to fami
lies with one child, but $10 per child to larger families.
Three counties have adopted the unfortunate practice o f granting
a flat rate per family, which is, o f course, even more inequitable than
a flat rate per child. Two counties give $10 a month to every pen
sioned family, and one county gives $5 a month to 24 out o f 27
families, while to the other 3, which are unusually large families, it
gives $10 each month.12
12
T h e a n sw er o f th e clerk o f on e o f th ese cou n ties to th e q u e s tio n w h e th e r th e y fo u n d
th is “ su fficien t t o c o v e r th e n eed s o f fa m ilie s o f a ll sizes ” w a s : “ T h is is n o t lo o k e d
u p o n a s a n e n tire o r in d ep en d en t s u p p ort b u t m erely as a n a ssista n ce .
T e n d o lla r s
is n o t sufficient f o r a ll th e need s o f a n y fa m ily , n o r i s $ 10 0 su fficien t f o r a ll th e need s
o f som e fa m ilie s .”

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While it is apparent from this that there were a few counties
which fixed a rate that was fairly liberal, it is also evident that the
great majority of counties which granted pensions at a fixed rate
established a rate that was obviously too low to insure a desirable
standard for living of most of their families.
It should perhaps be noted that the flat rate is due in part to the
fact that the court, as a result o f the inadequate preliminary investi
gation, does not know the earnings o f supplementary wage earners
nor other sources o f income.
T a b l e L I V .— N u m b e r o f co u n ties uM h a v e ra g e m o n th ly p en sio n s o f specified

a m o u n ts p e r c h ild a n d p e r fa m ily .

Average pension per child.

Number of
counties.

Average
pension per
family.

$10 to $li

...........................................................................

3
6
13
10
6
2
1

Number of
counties.

$5 to 19
10 to 14
15 to 19
20 to 24
25 to 29
30 to 34

6
19
8
4
1
3

It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that “ average pension ” is in
many respects an unsatisfactory term. In the down-State counties,
however, the practice of granting a flat rate per child or per family is
so common that the “ average pension ” is more significant than it
would be in Cook County. It is obvious that the practice o f granting
pensions at a flat rate, without regard to other family circumstances,
must result in inadequate relief to some o f the families ; and a study
o f Table L IV confirms the report of the investigator in showing that
some o f the rates are very low. Thus the average pension per child
was less than $2 a month in 3 counties, from $2 to $3 in 6 other coun
ties, and $4 to $5 in 13 other counties. That is, in 22 o f the 41 counties
the average pension per child was $5 or less; and the average pensions
per family, it will be noted, were also extremely low.
The data obtained from schedules showing the pension allow
ances granted to 690 families in 53 counties 13 are presented in Table
L V , together with similar data from Cook County. The Cook County
data are for the families pensioned during the period August 1,1913,
to March 1, 1915, when the officers o f the court made their survey of

T h e 6 9 0 fa m ilie s are n o t a ll th e fa m ilie s a id ed b y th o s e 53 cou n ties, A ug. 1, 191 5 , n o r
w ere a ll o f th em o n th e r o ll a t th a t date. T h ir t y -e ig h t co u n tie s, w it h 361 fa m ilie s, g iv e
th e d a ta fo r e v ery fa m ily p en sion ed a t th a t d a te, a n d n o fu r th e r in f o r m a t i o n ; 1 0 co u n tie s
g iv e d a ta f o r o n ly 123 o f th e 2 85 fa m ilie s p e n s io n e d ; 4 co u n tie s g iv e d a ta f o r e v e r y fa m ily
p en sion ed in th e y e a r ; w h ile 1 co u n ty g iv e s d a ta f o r som e fa m ilie s n o t on it s r o ll on A u g.
1, b u t n o t th e t o ta l f o r th e year. S in ce th e q u estion o f in te re s t is t h e a m o u n t o f m on ey
ea ch fa m ily receiv es, th e f a c t th a t th e y d o n o t re la te to th e sam e d a te is n o t sig n ifica n t.

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PART II.---- ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OF COOK COUNTY.

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the pension work. The Cook County pensions, it will be remembered,
were higher at a later date.14
T able L V .— Number of families receiving pension grants o f specified amounts in
Cook County and in 53 other counties.

Number of fami
lies.

Per cent distribu
tion.

Amount of pension.
Cook
53 other
Cook
53 other
County. counties. County. counties.
Total.

543

Less than $5.
$5-$9 ..........
$10-$14.........
$15-819.........
$20-$24.........
$25-829......
$30-$39.........
$40 and over.

4
39
95
159
55
124
67

690

100.0

4
199
258
126
56
23

.7
7.2
17.5
29.3
10.1

.6
28.8
37.4
18.3
8.1
3.3
3.0
.5

22.8

12.4

T able LV—A .— Cumulative numbers and percentages.

Cook County.

Other counties.

Amount of pension.
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Less than $5............................
Less than 810.........................
Less than $15............................ ......
Less than $20..........................
Less than $25.........................
Less than $30.................................
Less than $40..............................
$40 and over.........................................

4
43
138
297
352
476
67

0. 7
7.9
25. 4
54.7
64.8
87.6
12.4

203
461
587
643
666
687
3

0.6
29.4
66.8
85.1
93.2
93.5
99.5
.5

Table L V shows very clearly that in comparison with the Cook
County standard, the down-State pension policy might be called a
niggardly one. There were no pensions o f less than $5 a month
granted in Cook County, and only four families, or less than 1 per
cent o f the total number o f families, fell into the $5 to $9 group,
whereas 28.8 per cent o f the down-State families were in this group.
The cumulative series shows that whereas only 7.9 per cent of the
Cook County families got less than $15 a month, 66.8 per cent o f
the down-State families got pensions o f less than $15; 25 per cent o f
the Cook County families and 85 per cent o f the down-iState families
were getting less than $20 a month. Again, 12.4 per cent of the
Cook County families in comparison with one-half o f 1 per cent o f
the down-State families got pensions o f $40 or more than $40. No
families were found down State who got a pension as high as the
old $50 maximum allowed by law or the $60 maximum now allowed,
although in the discussion o f the Cook County pensions, it appeared
that a number o f families received these maximum grants.
14 See

su p ra ,

Tables I X and X I, pp. 49, 51.

3471°— 21------ 11

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Differences in pension grants are, of course, more significant if
they relate to families o f the same size, and Table L Y I has therefore
been prepared, showing the pension grants only for families with
two or three children, both in Cook County and down State.
T a b l e L V I.— Number of families with two or three children receiving pensions

of less than specified amounts in Cook, County and in 53 other counties cumu
lative numbers and percentages.
Cook County.
Amount of pension.

Less than $5...
Less than $10.,
Less than $15..
Less than $20.
Less than $25.
Less than $30.
Less than $35.
$35 and over..

Other counties.

Number. Percent. Number. Per cent,

4
37
114
219
234
288
4

1.4
12.7
39.1
75.0
80.1
98.6
1.4

253
333
363
367
370
3

0.3
26.3
67.8
89.3
97.4
98.4
99.2

This table only serves to confirm what has already been said about
the down-State pension grants. The comparison here is a more
accurate one since it relates to families o f the same size, but it shows
again that very much larger percentages of the down-State fami
lies get small pensions, and very much smaller percentages get large
pensions, when the down-State and the Cook County pensions are
compared.
The cost o f living is probably somewhat higher in Chicago than
it is in the smaller cities and rural communities in which the 690
families live, and it may not be necessary for other counties to give
pensions so large as those given by the Cook County juvenile court
in order to make their relief adequate. It must be remembered,
however, that, if the cost of living is higher in Chicago, industrial
opportunities are probably. more abundant, and wages higher, so
that the income aside from the pension is likely to be greater. Tak
ing everything into consideration there seems to be no reason to
doubt that the differences found between the size o f the pensions
in Cook County and in other parts o f the State do represent very
real differences in the adequacy o f the relief granted.
Another point to be noted is the insecurity or uncertainty of the
down-State pension grants. The pensions may be paid regularly
each month, or they may be paid for part o f the year only.
Serious results sometimes follow from the differences between the
pension-granting and pension-appropriating authorities. Thus in
one county the total expenditures for mothers’ pensions in the fiscal
year ending May 1, 1915, exceeded the appropriation for this pur
pose by $5,000. This deficit was paid with demoralizing results to
the 134 pensioned families, for the deficit had to be made up from

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PART II.---- ADMINISTRATION OUTSIDE OE COOK COUNTY.

163

the next year’s appropriation, which meant that all pensions were
stopped in May and not resumed until the next fall. In C County
the appropriation was not adequate to cover the pension grants,
more than half o f which were suddenly cut oif in May, and the
families were left to shift for themselves for the remaining four
months of the year. In F County all pensions were withheld for
one month for the same reason in 1915, and it seemed probable that
some such step would have to be taken again in 1916, since the ap
propriation was $800 and the amount required to take care o f the
families pensioned was $900. Again in L County we learn that “ by
reason o f the insufficient appropriation by the county supervisors no
pensions have been paid in the county since April 1, and it is not
likely that payments will be resumed before September 1.” In this
county the families were not allowed to suffer, as private relief agen
cies substituted their relief, at least “ in most pressing cases.”
It should not be overlooked, however, that in all these counties the
appropriation might have covered the necessary expenditure for
pensions if it had been more wisely used. I f pension lists are padded
by the carrying o f ineligible families and families whose pensions
ought to have been stayed, appropriations will probably never be
adequate. In at least two o f these counties, families not infrequently
are pensioned who clearly could be self-supporting if all the possible
sources o f income were utilized. That is, some o f the counties seem
to have an entirely haphazard pension policy. Almost any person
who applies is placed on the pension roll, and the families are allowed
to continue on the roll long after their circumstances have so changed
as to render them ineligible for pension grants. Then, when the
pension appropriation is used up, all the families alike are left with
out any relief until the new appropriation is made.
Some evidence o f the inadequacy of the down-State pensions is
indicated by the fact that many mothers continue to do more work
than they should after the pension is granted. For example, in one
city, out o f 11 pensioners selected at random off the pension list and
visited, 4 worked all day long six days in the week. The report of
the investigator on these families is as follow s:
Mrs. It works every day in a factory and is at home only in the
evening. One child; $8 pension.
Mrs. S works every day in a clothing factory; children have dinner
in a day nursery. Five children; $15 pension.
Mrs. T works all day in a factory. One child; $8 pension.
Mrs. U works all day every day in a laundry as forelady. She
has three children, one over 14. The pension is $12 a month. The
house is frightfully untidy, and the small children, aged 9 and 12,
look very desolate and uncared for. The mother and the oldest and

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youngest children are thought to be tubercular. The probation officer
thinks the pension should be large enough to permit the mother to
stay at home.
The record seems somewhat similar in A County, thus: Mrs. V
works every day in a factory, earns about $4 a week; gets $20 pension
for two children.
Mrs. W works 10 hours every day in a laundry for $4 a week. She
gets $20 pension.
In B County Mrs. M works in a factory six days in the week. She
has only one child and earns only $26 a month; but she owns her
home, valued at about $1,000, and received $2,000 insurance when her
husband died six years before. But her mother, and a feeble-minded
sister who should be in an institution, live with her; and the pension
o f $10, although not legal since she is a property owner, is, never
theless, useful in supporting this household.

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PENSION RECORDS.
The various statutes contain no requirements as to the records to
be kept for each pensioned “ case,” or family, other than to prescribe
certain legal papers that must be used, a petition, summons, etc., and
to provide that the report o f the probation officer, after an investiga
tion has been made, must be submitted in writing to the judge with a
recommendation regarding the application. These legal papers are
usually filed, and in most cases serve as the only record o f the family
aside from the entry, in a ledger, o f the, name o f the mother, the num
ber o f pensioned children, and the amount o f the pension. Such
records are quite inadequate even for describing the family situation
at the time the grant is made.
The form o f such papers is not uniform, but the same points are
covered in all counties. The application usually states that the
undersigned mother o f such and such children under 14 years o f
age (here follows the exact age o f each child) respectfully submits
that she is a citizen o f the United States ; that she has resided in
the county for three years past; that her husband is dead or per
manently incapacitated for w ork; that said children are living with
her; that she is a person mentally, physically, and morally fit to
have the care and custody o f said children; that in the absence of
such relief she would be required to work regularly away from home,
etc. In brief, the applicant fills out a blank form stating in general
terms that she complies with each and every provision o f the law,
but giving little o f her individual circumstances except her name,
address, and the names and ages o f such o f her children as are
under 14 years o f age. No information is given as to her present
occupation and earnings, the other wage earners in her family, her
income from other sources, or the names and addresses o f relatives.
The report o f the investigating officer is somewhat more detailed,
and space is provided for the specific findings of the probation
officer with regard to such points as the mother’s qualifications and
her need o f relief, but the points covered are the same as those
covered in the application and the omissions are also the same.15
The petition is in general still more vague, as the petitioner merely
states his own qualifications to act in that capacity, with the ad
ditional statement that an investigation has been made and aid
recommended. The order o f the court follows along the same lines as
the application, for the court must find that every provision o f the
law is complied with.
16 It would probably be possible to fill out one o f these reports so as to give all the
facts d esira b le; but there is nothing in the form or the instruction w hich requires such
specific inform ation, and it is obviously easier to fill it out in general terms.

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As legal papers, these forms may be entirely satisfactory, but they
can not, o f course, serve as the basis for constructive work with the
family. They are equally useless as a record of what was done
during the investigation, since it is impossible to find out from any
one o f the papers whether or not a real attempt was made to learn
the family’s need for a pension or its eligibility under the terms o f
the law. These papers, moreover, contain no record of such changes in
the family situation as occur from time to time. Obviously, such
facts must be recorded in a supplementary record. It is impossible
to say how many counties keep records other than the legal papers.
From all the evidence, however, it appears that the great majority of
counties keep no record but the ledger and legal papers.
A few counties appear to have devised some kind o f supple
mentary record. The forms used vary from a simple card index,
such as has been recently adopted in B County, to the elaborate case
record which has been described in connection with the work o f the
Chicago court. These case records are in use in only four o f the
down-State counties.
In other counties there is some form o f monthly report to be
filled in by the mother, as in E County, or by the visitor, as in K
County. Although such records as these are more valuable than the
legal papers that are filed away and never looked at again, or the
meager record that goes on the clerk’s ledger, they are still very far
from being satisfactory records upon which to base constructive
work for the family.
A further objection to the down-State records is that they are
often carelessly and incompletely filled out and are put away in such
form that they can not be found. In fact, the investigator thought
it worthy o f comment when she found the court papers and the
ledger neatly and accurately kept. The records of families whose
pensions have been stayed or withdrawn are especially difficult to
find. The books in many instances fail to show even the number of
families who have had their pensions stayed, and it was the excep
tional county that could give the reasons for the stay o f each pen
sion. Even in the four counties in which case records with forms
similar to those used in Chicago are kept the actual recording is not
uniformly complete—probably because o f the lack o f clerical assist
ance, which was complained of by more than one probation officer.
The records that were seen by the investigator did not give so much
information as was desirable about the work done in investigating,
and in some o f them the running reports o f visits were little more
than a note that the family was visited on a given date. It may be
said, therefore, o f the records kept outside o f Cook County that they
are uniformly either imperfect in form or poorly kept, or both.
Even the records in H County, which are better than those elsewhere,
are incomplete as to the investigation.

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CONCLUSION.
A study o f the Illinois situation reveals grave defects in the ad
ministration o f the aid-to-mothers law. These evils are inseparable
from irresponsible local administration. That a great public relief
experiment could be safely left to 102 different local authorities to
administer without any centralized supervision or control was in
conceivable. In this, its fatal defect, the law copies the old pauper
law with its principle o f local responsibility rather than the new
principle o f State control, which has been adopted for the care o f the
insane and o f other special groups.
The experience with the mothers’ pension legislation in Illinois
followed that o f other forms o f legislation left to the various coun
ties to support and enforce. Some counties have refused to grant
any pensions ; other counties have granted pensions illegally ; and so
diverse are the methods o f administration that there may be said to
be not one pension system but many different systems in Illinois.
There is, for example, the very successful and admirable pension de
partment o f the Cook County court ; and there are, supposedly estab
lished under the same law, pension departments in the down-State
counties that are a disgrace to the State. Even in Cook County,
the present system rests upon the tenure in office of a single indivi
dual, the circuit-court judge, who is annually assigned or reassigned
to the juvenile-court bench. The judges who have presided in this
court since the pension law has been in operation have followed
closely the fine standards set by the man who was responsible for
the initial experiment, but there remains each year the possibility of
the appointment of a judge who will destroy the merit system. It
is a favorable precedent that thus far the merit system has been
voluntarily adhered to in the appointment o f probation officers.
It may, perhaps, be said briefly that the most important lesson to
be learned from the Illinois experiment is merely an old lesson to be
learned over again— namely, that all social legislation that is left to
1Ó2 different local authorities to enforce without any supervision and
without any help from the State must fail. The mothers’ pension
law can only be administered by good social workers, and in some o f
the rural counties there is no one within the borders o f the county
who knows anything about social work ; other counties will never be
willing to provide money for salaries to pay those who do. I f the
State wants its mothers’ pension law to be properly administered,
State aid must be provided in some form, a pooling o f social re
sources so that the rich counties can help the poorer and more back
ward counties.
167

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PRECEDENTS FOR STATE CONTROL.
There have been precedents in Illinois both for State administra
tion and for State support. The long struggle for a free-school sys
tem (1818-1855) was won only by the creation o f a State school
fund. The rural counties in the southern part of the State claimed
they were too poor to raise the necessary taxes for free schools, and
the free-school law o f 1855 was passed when provision was made for
a State fund by which the resources of the wealthy northern counties
were shared with the poorer counties of the south.
A precedent for State administration is to be found in the labor
code. The compulsory-education law unfortunately has been left
to the local authorities to enforce ; but when the first child-labor law
was passed in 1893, it was not left to 102 different counties to en
force indifferently if they pleased. Instead, a State department o f
factory inspection was created in order that the same standards o f
administration might be maintained throughout the State.
More recently the care o f the insane has been transferred from
the Illinois counties to the State. A shameful standard o f provision
for the insane was maintained in many o f the counties o f Illinois
until in 1912 the State undertook to provide support and care for all
persons legally committed for custodial care. A similar movement
is under way for the better care of prisoners. The county jails o f
the United States have been a national scandal. In 1917 Illinois
followed the lead o f a few progressive States and passed a law for
the establishment o f a State farm for misdemeanants. This will
ultimately mean that all the misdemeanants now supported in idle
ness by the separate counties in 102 miserable county jails will be
transferred to the custody o f the State and be cared for at State
expense.
The presiding judge of the Chicago court in an address made
before the National Conference o f Charities and Correction in 1912,
after a year’s experience in Chicago with the first mothers’ aid law,
said : “ A ll the evils found by experience to be inherent in any plan
for public outdoor relief seemed to beset, at the beginning, the suc
cessful administration o f the act.” The evils that beset the adminis
tration o f the law in Chicago at the beginning o f its administration
seem still to continue in most o f the other counties o f the State.
The heaviest responsibility for the maladministration o f the law
may be said to rest upon the county judges. They have it in their
168

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CONCLUSION.

169

power to appoint efficient probation officers, and, without such ap
pointments, good administration is impossible ; they can also decide
all general questions o f policy—whether, for example, to use the
money appropriated in small doles for many families or for con
structive work in fewer families.
The responsibility o f the judge is not always apparent; for the
judge may seem intelligent and anxious to do his duty, and the re
sponsibility may be shifted upon some one else. For example, a
young woman who worked for some time in one o f the counties
where the pension work is very unsatisfactory has nothing but
blame for the probation officer, who is a local politician totally
unfit for his work, and nothing but praise for the judge who
appointed him. That the judge who had misused his appointing
power was really responsible for the maladministration o f the law
in his county was not apparent.
This criticism o f the county judges brings us back once more to the
fact that no social legislation which is left to the independent admini
stration o f 102 county officials can possibly be successful. That 102
different county judges should have the social intelligence needed
for administering, on their sole responsibility, a new form o f public
outdoor relief is not to be expected. That 102 different county boards
can be made socially intelligent enough to appropriate adequate
salaries for an adequate number o f probation officers and adequate
sums for family pensions is also not to be expected. The only solu
tion appears to lie in an amendment to the law providing for State
assistance and State control. The probation service should prob
ably be entirely supported by State funds and appointments to the
service should be made by the State civil service commission.
A point o f great importance that should be raised here is the rela
tion between the juvenile courts and the mothers’ pension administra
tion. One reason for suggesting that a divorce between pension work
and the juvenile courts may be necessary is that the Illinois Supreme
Court1 has held unconstitutional the section o f the juvenile court law
which provided for the appointment o f probation officers on a merit
basis. This decision, defending and upholding the independence of
the courts, may stand in the way of any State administrative control
o f any branch o f the court work.
The administration o f the pension laws was in most States placed
with the juvenile courts for two reasons :
(1) Mothers’ pensions were suggested as a means o f protecting
children from institutional life. The advocates o f mothers’ pensions
wished to have the public funds used to keep children at home with
their own mothers instead of being used to subsidize children’s insti1 W itter V. Cook County, 256 Illinois R eports, 616.

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lŸO

a d m ih is t e a t io n

TH E

a id -t o - m o t h e k s

law

tutions. On this point they were mistaken, since institutional sub
sidies have not decreased since the pension system began. But they
may have been right in thinking that a juvenile-court judge, who, in
Illinois, had the power to commit children to institutions, was the
proper person to determine which were fit homes and who were fit
mothers to be given pension grants.
(2) The profound distrust and dissatisfaction felt with the old
outdoor-relief agencies formed another reason for placing the ad
ministration o f the law with the juvenile court. The county outdoorrelief system appeared so hopeless that it seemed easier to abandon
the problem in despair instead o f attempting to solve it. But the
outdoor-relief problems must sometime be dealt with. The aged
and the sick, the deserted wife, and others temporarily destitute who
are now left to the incompetent services of the local outdoor-relief
authorities, are in need o f the kind of competent and intelligent help
that is now being given to the pensioners o f the Cook County juvenile
court under the aid-to-mothers law. Whether a new State-adminis
tered public assistance system should be created or whether, under
an existing State department, some better form o f State aid and State
control can be devised, could be discussed satisfactorily only on the
basis o f a study o f the administration o f mothers’ pension laws in
those States in which the law provides for some form o f State super
vision. Such a discussion obviously leads beyond the scope o f this
report. It is only possible, as a result of this inquiry, to emphasize
the need o f State assistance in some form.
The importance o f perfecting the mothers’ pension law on the ad
ministrative side has been insisted on because, in the mothers’ pension
system, if properly organized and safeguarded, may lie the nucleus
o f a new form o f State aid vastly superior to any form o f public as
sistance which our American States have known, and capable o f being
very considerably extended. But the problem o f a better adminis
tration is all important, since it would be obviously unwise to attempt
to extend the scope o f the law when not 1 o f the 102 counties in the
State has provided adequate funds for pensions or for the neces
sary investigations and supervision o f mothers eligible under the
present law.
Even in Cook County, which for so long has set an admirable stand
ard both as to liberality o f pensions and efficiency o f administration,
hundreds o f eligible mothers in dire need o f pensions have been
thrown back during the past two years on the private societies and
on the Cook County agent because the county board has refused to
provide the large appropriations needed if all mothers who are eli
gible to become beneficiaries under the act were actually granted the
pensions to which they are legally entitled. It is useless for the legis-

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CONCLUSION.

171

lature solemnly to add alien women or small property owners or any
other mothers to the legally eligible list when parsimonious county
boards can render such changes ineffectual by refusing to provide the
funds necessary for additional pensioners. Legislation increasing
the number o f beneficiaries must be accompanied by legislation guar
anteeing a State subsidy or support from State funds to provide the
new pensions, or the statute will remain, in its neglect o f provisions
for enforcement, an official mockery o f the needs o f the poor.
Further extensions o f the pension law are likely to be asked in
behalf o f women whose husbands are temporarily incapacitated. For
example, the family o f the tubercular man who is not certified as
permanently incapacitated must depend for help on the joint assist
ance o f private charity and public outdoor relief. Unless a system
o f health insurance should in the near future make provision for
sick benefits, mothers’ pensions would seem to be as necessary here,
while the man is slowly recovering his health, as in the case o f fam
ilies in which the chief wage earner is permanently incapacitated.
Such extensions o f the scope o f the act, however, should not be
made until adequate funds can be assured, and such extensions can
not be safely made until an efficient system o f administration, in
cluding intelligent investigations and supervision, can be devised.
Neither o f these conditions can be secured except on the basis o f State
control and State aid.

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INDEX
Page.
A dm inistration o f aid-to-m others law.
A pplications, pension. S ee Pension
S ee Aid-to-mothers law,
applications.
adm inistration of.
Assc d a te d Jewish Charities o f Chi
Adm inistration o f funds-to-parents
cago.
S ee R elief socieact.
S ee Funds-to-parties (p riva te).
ents act, adm inistration
of.
B u d g e t:
Agencies, relief.
S ee R elief socie
by whom prepared______________ 23, 48
ties.
relation between fam ily incom e
Aid-to-m others department :
and-----------------------------------56 -65
adm inistration o f---------------------- 116—117
data obtained from __________________ 39,81 Case r e co r d s:
duties o f---------------------------------------------72,79
illustrating—•
duties o f ch ief o f____________ 23, 24, 27
budget estimates as a test
o f adequacy o f relief
Aid-to-m others law (1913) :
(Cook C o u n t y )_________ 57—63
adm inistration o f (Cook County)
15-17, 19-124
condition o f fam ilies receiv
ing occasional o r no as
adequacy o f p e n s i o n
g r a n t s ____________________ 4 8 -71
sistance (Cook C ou n ty )-1 0 7 -1 1 1
dismissed a p p lica n ts------------ 72 -81
inadequacy o f p e n s i o n s
m ethod o f making pension
(outside Cook County) - 163—164
g r a n t s ____________________ 19—26
lack o f supervision o f pen
supervision o f pensioned
sioned fam ilies (outside
fa m ilie s _______ ._______ — 27—47
Cook C ou n ty )_________ [• 152—155
adm inistration o f (outside Cook
method
o f adjusting pen
C o u n ty )____________1 6 ,125—166
sions (Cook C ou n ty )___ 45—46
by whom adm inistered____________ 169
p e n s i o n i n g o f ineligible
extent o f_________________12 5,12 6
fam ilies
( outside Cook
m ethod o f obtaining data
C o u n t y )____ 1 4 5 -1 4 9 ,1 5 6 -1 5 7
con cern in g -_____________ 125—126
relation o f w ithdraw al o f
variance in__________ 1 6 ,1 2 5 ,1 6 7
pension to physical and
amendment to (1915) —
maximum pension granted
m oral d e t e r i o r a t i o n
u n d e r _______________ 14, 48, 49
(Cook C o u n t y )_______103—103
provisions
fo r eligibility
supervisory w o r k ( C o o k
u n d e r-___________________
14
C o u n t y )_____________ 27, 33 -39
amendment to (1 9 1 7 ), provi
school records entered on_______
30
sions fo r eligibility un
S ee also Pensioned families.
d er_______________________
14
amendment to (1 9 1 9 ), provision
Case-paper system, use o f (Cook
fo r tax under____________
114
C ou n ty )__________ - ______
19
effect o f—
Citizens’ com m ittee:
upon certain groups___ 95, 9 6 ,1 1 6
duties o f ________________________ 11, 96
upon comm itm ent o f chil
organization o f____ __ I _________
11
dren to institutions_____________ 116
revised m ethod o f payment ad
upon number o f pensioned
vocated by_______________
26
fa m ilie s _________________119—120
Conference com m ittee:
inadequacy o f pension records
personnel o f ____________________
23
required under__________ 165—166
recommendations b y ___ _______ _ 23, 24,
maximum
pensions
granted
48, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 80
under_____________ 13 ,1 6 , 48, 51
Counties granting pensions-:
need o f amendment to, provid
average
m onthly
grant
per
in g fo r State con trol____________ 169,
child and per fam ily__159—160
170,171
by specified number o f fam ilies
number o f pensioned fam ilies
and period______________ 132-133
under (Cook C ou n ty )___
116
location o f _______________________
132
opposition to
(ou tside Cook
131
number o f _______________________
C o u n t y )____ 127-132, 14 4,14 6
varied expenditures in __________
134
provisions o f _________________1 2 ,1 3 , 95
relation t o dependency and de
Counties in Illinois, number o f_____________ 125
linquency______________ 116—124
Counties o f given population, num
restrictions o f__________________ - 1 2 ,1 3
ber
spending
specified
under rules o f adm inistra
am ounts for pensions in
tion (Cook C o u n ty )___ 15 ,156
1915______________________
135
violations o f (outside C o o k
County agent (Cook C o u n t y ):
C o u n t y )____ 14 4;-1 49,152-155
duties o f ___________________ 24, 30 ,123
Alien women, status o f :
investigation o f cases by___ 2 3 -2 4 ,1 2 3
under aid - to - mothers l a w
power of, regarding source o f
(1913) __________________ 12 ,1 3 ,
p e n sio n _______________ 123—124
14, 16, 17, 85, 95,
S ee also Outdoor relief, public.
96, 106, 116, 123, 124
under aid - to - m others law
County judge (outside Cook C ounty) :
(1915) __ 1 4 ,1 5 , 7 9 ,8 3 , 9 6 ,1 1 6
opposition of, to pension law ----- 12 7under Chicago court ruling____ 1 5 ,1 6
132, 144, 146

172

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INDEX,
County judge (outside Cook County) —
Continued.
Page.
pow er o f_________________ 127, 169, 170
responsibility o f, fo r m aladmin
istration
o f the pen
sion law ______________ 168—169
County outdoor relief. S ee Outdoor
relief, public.
County supervisor (outside Cook
County) ;
opposition o f, to pension law ___
127
power o f ________________________
127
Delinquency :
definition o f ____________________
7
relation o f aid-to-m others law
to _________ _______ 1 1 6 ,1 1 8 ,1 1 9
D ep end ency:
definition o f ____________________
7
relation o f aid-to-m others law
t o ____________1 1 6 ,1 1 7 ,1 1 8 ,1 1 9
relation o f funds-to-parents act
t o ______________________
10
Dependent children, m aintenance of,
in in stitu tion s_________ 115,117
Dependent or n e g l e c t e d children,
comm itm ent o f , u n d e r
ju venile-court law (1899) _
7 -8
Deserted women, status o f :
outside Cook County_________ 144,147
under aid-to-m others law (1 9 1 3 )_
12,
13, 14, 73, 9 5 ,106
under aid-to-m others law (1915) _
14
under Chicago court r u lin g _____
15
under funds-to-parents a c t _____
11
D ietitian. S ee Field supervisor.
Divorced women, status o f :
outside Cook C ounty______ :__144,147
under aid-to-m others law (1913) _
12,
13 ,14, 73, 95, 106
Dower interest, effect of, upon eligi
bility fo r pension________
146

173

Funds-to-parents a ct (1 9 1 1 )— Con.
Page,
relation o f juvenile court to pas
10
sage o f __________________
te x t o f---------------------------------------10
Funds-to-parents department (C hi
cago ju venile court) :
11
duties o f ________________________
personnel o f ____________________
11
H ealth conditions a t tim e o f grant
ing pension_________ 93, 9 4 ,1 0 6
Health conditions, effect o f w ith
drawal o f pension u p on - 10 3,10 4
Homestead exemption, effect of, upon
eligibility fo r pension----146
Housing conditions a t time o f grant
ing p en sion __________ 3 0 34, 93, 99
Housing conditions, effect o f super
vision upon__________ 30—34, 99

E ligibility fo r pensions, lack o f veri
fication o f (outside Cook
C o u n ty )------------------------- 140-141
Employment o f mother, gainful_____
33,
35, 36, 38, 43, 46, 53,
54, 57, 59, 61, 62, 63,
102, 103, 104, 106,
108, 109, 110, 111
Expenditures fo r pensions ( C o o k
County, 1911—1918)
112-115
Expenditures fo r pensions (outside
Cook C o u n ty )___________134-135
compared with Cook C ounty___
134
relation o f population t o _____ 134-135
variance i n ______________________
134

Illegitim acy, status of, under Chi
cago court ruling________
15,
77, 79, 80, 158
Illinois ju venile-court law (1 8 9 9 ).
S ee Juvenile-court law.
Incapacitation fo r work, permanent,
interpretation o f________ 15 ,158
Incom e com pared w ith budget :
d e f i c i t ____________ 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64
no surplus or deficit_____________ 63, 64
s u r p l u s ______ ________ ! 57, 61, 64, 65, 66
Incom es, com parison between present
and past__________________ 66 -68
Increase in pension.
S e e Pension,
change in am ount of.
Industrial schools.
S ee T raining
schools.
Ineligibility fo r pension.
S ee Pen
sion applications, dismis
sal o f ; see also Pension
fam ilies, ineligibility of.
Institutional care fo r children :
causes necessitating_____ ____ 118,119
effect o f aid-to-m others law
u p o n __________________ 11 6,11 8
o f fam ilies made ineligible by
changes in the pension
l a w ______________________ 97—100
Insurance money, expenditure o f ___ 20—21
Investigations by the county ag en t- 23—24
Investigations, prelim inary :
inadequacy o f (outside Cook
C o u n ty )_____ 140—141, 143, 144
length o f tim e required fo r ____ 21—22
method o f procedure in _________ 19—23

F a m ilie s :
ineligibility of. S ee Pensioned
fam ilies, ineligibility o f ;
se e also Pension applica
tions, dismissal of.
pensioned. S ee Pensioned fam i
lies.
Fathers. S ee Pensioned fam ilies on
roll in 1917.
23,
Field supervisor, duties o f ______
28, 48, 57
Funds-to-parents a ct (1911) :
adm inistration o f___________ 7 ,1 0
rules by Chicago court fo r
aiding________________
11
amendments to.
S e e Aid-tom others law (1 9 1 3 ).
enactm ent o f________________
7
number o f fam ilies pensioned
under, by C hicago ju v e
nile c o u r t ___________
16
pensions granted under________ _ 1 1 ,1 2
pow er o f courts under________ _
10,
11 ,12, 48
provisions o f ______________ ._____ 10 ,1 1
purpose o f__________ i._________ _ 7, i o

Jew ish Charities o f Chicago, A ssoci
ated.
S ee R elief socie
ties (p r iv a te ).
Jewish Home F inding Society. S ee
R elief societies (p riva te).
Judge, county. S ee County judge.
Juvenile court :
adm inistration o f aid-to-m others
law by, reasons fo r ___ 169—170
adm inistration o f the funds-toparents act by---------------7, 10 ,11
power vested in— j,;
under th e aid-to-m others
law (1 9 1 3 )________________ 1 2 ,2 5
under the funds-to-parents
a c t (1 9 1 1 )_________ 7 ,1 0 ,1 1 ,1 2
under
the
juvenile-court
law (1 8 9 9 )_____________
7
relation of, to passage o f fundsto-parents a ct____ ._______
10
Juvenile court o f Cook County :
hearings in, w ith reference to
granting pensions— _____ 2 4 -2 5
maximum pension granted by__
16
method used by, in determ ining
__
pension grants____ ._____ 57 -63

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INDEX,

174

J u v e n ile c o u r t o f C ook C ou n ty — C on.
P age,
n u m b er o f fa m ilie s p en sion ed
by, u n d er fu n d s -to -p a r
16
en ts l a w ----------------- — ----p en sion p o licy o f, as com p a red
w ith th a t o f o th e r co u n
ties _______ u.____________156—158
p ro v is io n s fo r e lig ib ility u n d e r - 11—12,
15, 16
ru les o f a d m in is tra tio n fo r m u
la te d b y —
u n d er a id -to -m o th e rs la w
(1 9 1 3 ) ___________________
15
u n d er fu n d s-to -p a re n ts a c t - 1 1 ,1 2
J u v e n ile -c o u r t ju d g e (o u ts id e C ook
C o u n ty ).
S ee C ou n ty
ju d ge.
J u v e n ile -co u rt la w (1 8 9 9 ) :
a m en d m en t to.
S ee F u n d s-top a re n ts a ct.
p e n sio n s
g ra n te d
in s titu tio n s
8
u n d e r ______________________
p o w e r o f c o u r ts u n d e r -----------------7
J u v e n ile -co u rt officer. S ee P ro b a tio n
officer.
J u v e n ile p r o t e c tiv e a s s o cia tio n , reg
is tra tio n o f un fit p en sion
a p p lic a n ts b y -------------------121
t ra in in g s ch o o l a ct. See
T ra in in g s c h o o l sta tu tes.
M a rried w om en , sta tu s o f :
un der
aid - to - m oth ers
act
(1 9 1 3 ) _______________________1 2 ,1 3
u n d er
a id - t o - m oth ers
act
( 1 9 1 5 ) _____________________
14
M a xim u m a llo w a n ce .
S ee sp ecified
a c ts — p en sion s g ra n ted
b y.
.
,
.
M e d ica l su p e rv isio n o f p en sion ed
fa m ilie s __________________ - 2 9 -3 0 ,
3 3 -3 4 , 35, 36, 37, 39
“ M o ra lly u n fit,” d efin ition o f ----- 15, 77—78
M o th e rs ’ p en sion fu n d . S ee P en sion
fu n d , m o th e rs’ .
M o th e rs’ p en sion law s.
S ee F u n d sto -p a re n ts a c t ; see also
A id - to - m oth ers a c t .
(1 9 1 3 ).

M anual

N eg lected ch ild , d efin ition

o f -------------

O pposition

to a id -to -m o th e rs law
(1 9 1 3 ). S ee A i d - t o mothers law (1 9 1 3 ), op
position to.
Outdoor relief, p u b lic :
assistance given b y ------------------- 8, 30
59, 9 7 ,1 0 1 ,1 0 7 ,1 1 3 ,1 1 5
expenditures fo r s p e c i f i e d
115
period____________________
inefficiency o f----------------------------170
refusal of, t o pensioned fam
ilies _____________________ 5 9 ,7 1
relation o f county agent t o -------24, 97
S ee also County agent.
Pauper act, provisions o f-----------------19
P e n sio n s:
.■
.„
adequacy o f (Cook C o u n ty )-----_ 48—71
budget estimates as a test
o f _____ ____________________56—65
adequacy
of
(outside
C ook__
C o u n ty )----------------------- 159-164
source o f data concerning—
159
am ount o f (C ook C o u n ty )-------- 48—
method o f determ ining---------48, 50
am ount
of
(outside
Cook
C o u n ty )-------------------------159
by whom g r a n t e d
(Cook
C o u n ty )--------------------------24
by whom granted (outside Cook
C ou n ty )--------------------------127
change in am ount o f (Cook
County) ----------— 45 -47, 56, 63
increase, reasons fo r ----- 45 -46, 56
reduction, reasons fo r — 45 -46, 63

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P en sion s— C on tin u ed .
P age,
co m p a riso n b etw een a llo w a n ce s
o f, a t e a rlie r a n d la te r
p e rio d s (C o o k C o u n t y ) —
51
com p a riso n b etw een a m o u n ts o f,
in
and
o u ts id e
C ook
C o u n ty ---- --------------- ..------- 1 6 1 ,1 6 2
d ifferen ces b etw een g r a n tin g and
a p p ro p ria tin g a u t h o r i
ties—
e v il
e ffects
of
(Cook
C o u n t y )________________ - 170—171
e v il
e ffe cts
of
(o u ts id e
C ook C o u n t y ) ------------------1 2 7 ,1 6 2
e xp e n d itu re s fo r (C o o k C ou n ty,
1 9 1 1 - 1 9 1 8 ) _____________ 1 1 2 -1 1 5
e xp e n d itu re s f o r (o u ts id e C o o k
C o u n t y )___________ 1 3 1 ,1 3 4 - 1 3 5
m axim u m n u m b e r o f fa m ilie s
r e c e iv in g (C o o k C o u n ty ) 49,
50, 51, 52, 53
S ee a lso u n d er sepa ra te
la w s.
m eth o d s o f p a y i n g
(C o o k
C o u n t y ) - - --------- ------------—
25
d u m b er o f fa m ilie s re c e iv in g , by
specified p e rio d s (o u ts id e
C ook C o u n t y ) ----------— r 1 3 1 ,1 3 2
nu m ber o f fa m ilie s r e c e i v i n g
specified a m ou n ts o f, fo r
specified p e rio d s ( C o o k
C o u n t y ) ------------------------------ 4 9 - 5 2
p ro ce d u re b e fo r e g r a n tin g (C o o k
C o u n t y ) ______________ ..------- 1 9 -2 4
reco m m e n d a tio n f o r r e v i s e d
m e th o d o f p a y in g (C o o k
26
C o u n t y ) ---------------- -------------re fu sa l o f co u rt t o g ra n t.
S ee
P e n sio n a p p lica tio n s , d is
m is s a l o f .
re fu s a l o f p riv a te a g e n cie s to
99
g r a n t (C o o k C o u n t y ) ----re la tio n b etw een in co m e , b u d get,
a n d (C o o k C o u n t y )--------- 5 7 -6 5
s u p p le m e n tin g o f, b y p r i v a t e
,
a gen cies (C o o k C o u n t y ) - 69—7 1 /
te sts o f a d eq u a cy o f ( C o . o k
C o u n t y )__________ _____ 5 0 , 5 6 - 6 9
w ith d ra w a l o f (C o o k C o u n t y ) — 1 3 ,1 4
interval
b etw een ,
and
private
r e lie f
( C ook
1 06
C o u n t y ) ---------------------------m o ra l e f f e c t o f
(Cook
C o u n t y ) — J---------------------- 1 0 4 ,1 0 5
p h y s ica l e ffe cts o f ( C o o k
C o u n t y ) __________________ 1 0 3 ,1 0 4
re a so n s f o r (C o o k C o u n t y ) 39—
44, 6 8 , 82, 95, 9 6 ,1 0 6 - 1 1 1
P en sion a p p lic a t io n s :
d ism issa l o f (C o o k C o u n t y )—
m a r ita l s ta tu s o f w om en re
fu s e d _________________ 72—7 3 ,1 0 6
n u m b er o f fa m ilie s r e fu s e d 72,
1 2 1 ,1 4 2
re a so n s f o r _______ 72—8 1 ,1 0 6 ,1 1 3
d ism issa l o f ( o u t s i d e C o o k
C o u n t y )—
nu m ber o f fa m ilie s r e fu s e d 142
re a s o n s f o r --- ---------------------- 1 42—143
re la tio n b etw een n u m b er o f
fa m ilie s re fu se d a n d nu m
142
b e r r e c e iv in g a id ------------P en sion d ep a rtm en t.
S ee A id -to m o th e rs d ep a rtm en t.
P en sion fu n d , m o th e rs ’ , p ro v is io n
fo r , u n d e r a id -to -m o th e rs
la w :
13
1 9 1 3 _______________________________
112
u n c o n s tit u t io n a l!t y o f ------191 9 ( a m e n d m e n t ) ---------------------114
P e n s io n p o l ic i e s :
.
d e te rm in a tio n o f (o u t s id e C ook
C o u n t y )------------- ------------ 127—130
d ifferen ces b etw een C h ica g o and
d o w n -S ta te co u rts c o n
ce r n in g __________________ 156—158

INDEX,
P e n sio n r e c o r d s :
Page,
in a d eq u a cy o f (o u ts id e C o o k
C o u n t y )-----------------------------166
in a d eq u a cy o f, u n d er p en sion
la w ---------------------------------- 1 6 5 -1 6 6
P e n sion ed fa m i l i e s :
case r e co rd s o f (C o o k C o u n t y ) 27,
3 3 -3 9 , 4 5 -4 6 , 5 7 63, 1 0 3 -1 0 5 , 1 0 7 -1 1 1
ca se r e co r d s o f (o u ts id e C o o k
C o u n t y ) ------------------------ 1 4 5 -1 4 9 ,
1 5 2 - 1 5 5 ,1 5 6 - 1 5 7 ,1 6 3 - 1 6 4
ch a n g es in a m ou n t o f g r a n t to.
S ee P en sion , ch a n g es in
a m ou n t o f.
h o u sin g c o n d itio n s o f ( C o o k
C o u n t y )------------------ 3 0 - 3 4 , 9 3 ,9 9
in elig ib le—
g r a n ts t o (o u ts id e C o o k
C o u n t y )-------------------------- 1 4 4 -1 4 9
n u m b er h a v in g r e c e i v e d
pensions
of
sp ecified
a m ou n ts (C o o k C o u n t y ) £7
n u m b er on r o ll fo r sp eci
fied
periods
(C ook
96
C o u n t y )-----------------------------p ro v is io n f o r (C o o k C o u n t y ) 9 7 -1 0 0
in e lig ib ility o f (C o o k C o u n ty ) —
th r o u g h ch a n g e in fa m ily
c ir c u m s t a n c e s __________ *. 3 9 -4 4 ,
4 7 ,1 4 9 , 1 5 3 ,1 5 4 ,1 6 3
th ro u g h ch a n g e in th e la w _ 1 2 ,1 3 ,
14, 15, 1 6 -1 7 , 68, 82,
. . .
95 , 96 , 123, 124, 144
lia b ilit y o f r e la tiv e s fo r su p p ort
o f -------------------------—
n ,
1 3 ,1 9 - 2 0 , 140, 1 4 7 -1 4 8
m ed ica l su p erv ision o f (C ook
C o u n t y ) ---------------------------- 2 9 -3 0 ,
3 3 -3 4 , 35, 36, 37, 39
m oth ers o f —
g a in fu l e m p loy m en t o f (C ook
C o u n ty ) ---------------------------- 3 3 -3 6 ,
38, 46, 57 , 61, 62, 63,
101, 102, 103, 104
g a in fu l em p loy m en t o f (o u t
sid e C ook C o u n t y )_______
148
1 4 9 ,1 5 7 ,1 6 3 -1 6 4
n a tu re o f a ss ista n ce given , by
, p riv a te s o cie tie s ( C o o k
C o u n t y )___________________
122
n a tu re o f s u p p lem en ta ry r e lie f
fo r (C o o k C o u n t y )_________7 0 -7 1
n u m b er o f —
e ffe ct o f ch a n g es in a id -tom o th e rs la w u p on (C ook
C o u n t y ) ----------------------------116
r e ce iv in g a ss ista n ce p rio r
to c o u r t p e n sio n (C o o k
C o u n ty ) ------------------------ 1 1 9 -1 2 2
r e c e iv in g g r a n ts b y sp e ci
fied
p e rio d s
(o u tsid e
C ook C o u n t y ) ------- 131, 132, 133
re ce iv in g m a x im u m p en sion s
(C o o k C o u n t y )___ 5 0 -5 1 , 52, 53
r e ce iv in g no a ss ista n ce p rio r
t o c o u r t p e n sio n (C o o k
C o u n ty ) ------------------------120, 121
re ce iv in g sp ecified a m ou n ts
a t tim e p en sion w a s first
g ra n ted (C o o k C o u n t y ) 52
re ce iv in g sp ecified a m ou n ts
f o r sp ecified p e rio d s (C o o k
C o u n t y )------------------------------ 4 9 -5 1
r e ce iv in g sp ecified a m ou n ts
(in
an d
o u tsid e
C ook
C o u n t y )--------------------------161, 162
r e c e iv in g sp ecified a m o u n ts
tw o or m ore y ea rs a fte r
p en sion w a s first g ra n te d
(C o o k C o u n t y )___________
52
n u m b er o f p ro b a tio n officers ca r
in g f o r (C o o k C o u n t y )__
29
n u m b er v is ite d a n d h o w o fte n
(C ook C o u n t y )___________ 27, 28

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175

T en sion ed fam ilies.— C on tin u ed .
P a ge,
p e n s io n in g o f c h ild re n o v e r 14
in (o u t s id e C ook C o u n ty )
,
149, 153, 154, 156, 1 57
re la tio n b etw een in co m e an d
b u d ge t o f (C o o k C o u n t y ) 56
re la tio n betw een m o n th ly in
co m e an d n u m b er o f p e r
s o n s in (C o o k C o u n t y ) _ _ 5 5 - 6 3
re la tio n betw een p e n s io n a n d
n u m b er o f ch ild re n in
,
(C o o k C o u n t y ) __________
50, 52, 53, 5 7 -6 3
size oif, b y n u m b er o f ro o m s o c
cu p ie d
(C o o k C o u n t y ) —
3 1 -3 2
s u p erv isio n o f
(C o o k C o u n t y ) _2 7 - 4 7
re s u lts o f, as s h o w n b y ca se
r e c o r d s -----------------------------s u p e rv is io n o f
(o u ts id e C ook
C o u n t y ) -----------------------------139, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153 , 1 54
v a c a t io n p ro v is io n s fo r (C o o k
C o u n t y ) -----------------------------, 34
w a g e ea rn ers in (o u ts id e C ook
.
„ C o u n t y )--------- 1 5 3 - 1 5 4 ,1 5 6 , 157
P en s ion ed fa m ilie s o n r o ll A u g 1,
1913. to M ar. 1, 1 91 5
(C o o k C o u n ty ) :
a m ou n t o f f a th e r ’s in s u ra n c e ___
92
in te rv a l b etw een fa th e r ’ s d e a th
a n d a p p lica tio n f o r p e n
sio n
_________ i,____ ______
P en s ion ed fa m ilie s on r o ll in
(C o o k C o u n t y ) :
n a tio n a lity o f _______________
n u m b er o f ______________________ “ “
’
n u m b er o f ( J a n u a r y )_______ 2 2 ,8 2
p e rio d o f re sid e n ce a t tim e o f
a p p li c a t i o n ____ ___________
85
ch ild re n , p en sion ed , n u m b er o f _
83
ch ild ren , p en sion ed , nu m ber o v e r
14 y e a rs _______ __ ;_________
84
fa th e rs , age a t tim e o f d e a th o f _
89
ca u ses o f d e a th o f __________
in ca p a cita te d , a g e s _________
87
in ca p a cita te d , n u m b er_____
in c a p a c ita tio n o f, ca u se s__
n a t i o n a li t y __________________
85
o cc u p a tio n s o f, b e fo re d ea th
o r in c a p a c ity — _________
w a g e s o f, sp e cifie d a m ou n ts
p re v io u s ly e a rn e d b y ___ 91, 92
m oth ers, m a r ita l s ta t e ___________
P en sion ed fa m ilie s.
S e e a ls o Case
re co rd s.
P r o b a tio n o f f i c e r :
a p p o in tm e n t o f (C o o k C o u n t y ) 138
a p p o in tm e n t o f (o u ts id e C ook
, . . C o u n t y )-----------------------------1 38
ch ie f, d u tie s o f (C o o k C o u n t y ) 16,
23 24 27
d u ties o f (C o o k C o u n t y )_______ ’ l l , 19,
, „
,
2 5 ,1 3 6 ,1 3 7
d u ties o f
(outside
Cook
, 137
C o u n t y ) -----------------------need
of
fu ll-tim e , q u a lify in g
(o u ts id e C ook C o u n t y ) —
138,
u
,,
1 3 9 ,1 5 0 ,1 5 1
nu m ber o f , ca rin g f o r sam e fa m
ilie s tw o yea rs o r m ore
.
(C o o k C o u n t y ) ___________
29
o p p o sitio n o f, t o p en sion la w
(o u t s id e C ook C o u n t y )__
128
typ es o f p erson s a c tin g as (o u t
sid e C ook C o u n t y ) - 1 3 6 - 1 3 9 ,1 5 0
P ro p e rty o w n e r :
p ro v is io n fo r p e n s io n in g _______
1 46
s ta tu s o f —
ou tsid e C ook C o u n t y - 1 4 4 - 1 4 7 ,1 6 4
un der a id -to -m o th e rs la w
(1 9 1 3 ),------- 12, 13, 1 2 3 ,1 2 4 ,1 4 6
un d er a id -to -m o th e rs la w
( 1 9 1 5 ) --------------------------------u n d e r C h ica g o c o u r t ru l
in g -------------------------------------- 12;

33-39
137
30

1917

84 85
83

88
86
86

136

14
15

INDEX.

176

Page.
P u b lic o u td o o r relief.
S ee O u td oor
relief, p u b lic.

R eduction in pension. S ee Pension,
change in am ount of.
R e la tiv e s ,

lia b ilit y
o f,
fo r
su p
p o r t - 1 1 , 1 3 ,1 9 - 2 0 ,1 4 0 ,1 4 7 - 1 4 8
com p a rison b etw een p u b lic
an d p r iv a t e ------- 68—6 9 ,1 0 0 —105
R e lie f so c ie tie s (p r iv a t e ) :
__
a c t iv it ie s o f — .,--------------- — 9, 7 8 ,1 0 0
A sso cia te d Jewish. C h a ritie s o f
C h ica g o—
J e w is h A id S o cie ty , a c t iv i
ties o f ___________________ 7 0 ,1 2 3
J e w is h H om e F in d in g S o
cie ty , a c t iv it ie s o f -----------58,
70, 74, 9 7 ,1 0 0

R e lie f,

view of, as to supplement
in g pension aid _________ 69, 70
c h u r c h e s - ______________ 7 0 , 7 1 ,1 0 6 ,1 0 7
St. V in c e n t de P a u l, a c t iv it ie s
o f __________________________ 71, 97
su p p lem en tin g o f p e n s io n s b y — 69—71
U n ited C h a rities o f C h ica g o—

activities o f _______________

9, 71,

79, 97 , 9 8 ,1 0 0 ,1 0 3 ,1 0 4 , 106
a m ou n t o f r e lie f com p a red
w it h c o u r t g r a n t--68
fa m ilie s
re fu s e d
su p p o rt

by__________________ 9 9 ,105

v ie w o f, a s t o su p p lem en t
in g p e n s io n a id __________ 69 , 70
R e lie f, su p p lem en ta ry , n a tu re o f,
g iv en p en sion ed fa m ilie s - 70—71
R esid en ce, req u ired len g th o f :
u n d er a i d - t o - m o t h e r s
act
( 1 9 1 3 ) _______________ _ 12, 13, 85, 95
un der C h ica g o c o u r t r u lin g — —
16
u n d er fu n d s-to -p a re n ts a c t ___ —
11

P age.
V in ce n t d e P a u l.
S e e R e lie f
so cie tie s ( p r iv a t e ).
S ch o o l re co rd s, e n te rin g o f, on ca se
re c o rd s (C o o k C o u n t y ) —
30
S o cia l s e rv ice re g istra tio n bu rea u
(C o o k C o u n t y ), a d m in is
tr a tio n o f ----------------r i 7 —
19
S ocieties, r e lie f. S e e R e lie f so cie tie s.
S ta te ch a r itie s co m m issio n , co o p e r
a tio n o f, in o b ta in in g
d a ta
(outside
C ook
C o u n t y ) -----------------------------125 ,
1 2 6 ,1 2 8 ,1 2 9 - 1 3 0 ,1 5 9
S u p erv ision o f p e n sio n e d f a m i l i e s :
C ook C o u n ty -----------------------2 7 -4 7
ou ts id e C ook C o u n ty -----------------137,
1 3 9 ,1 4 9 ,1 5 0 ,1 5 1 ,1 5 2 , 153
S u p erv ision , S ta te, la ck o f ---------------125,
1 2 6 ,1 5 5 ,1 6 7 , 170
p re ce d e n ts f o r ------- ---------------1 6 8 -1 7 1
St.

T a x p ro v id e d by a id -to -m o th e rs la w
( 1 9 1 3 ) _____________
13
fa ilu re t o le v y (o u t s id e C ook
C ohinty) -------------------------127
u n c o n s titu tio n a lity o f ---------------112
T a x p ro v id e d by am en dm en t t o la w
H4
( 1 9 1 9 ) -----T ra in in g -s ch o o l s t a t u t e s
(1 8 7 9 ,
1 8 8 3 ), p ro v is io n s o f — 8, 13, 117
T r a in in g s ch o o ls , nu m ber re c e iv in g
p u b lic g r a n t s -------------------117
U n ited

C h a ritie s o f C h ica g o . S e e
R e lie f so cie tie s (p r iv a t e ) .
U n m a rried m o th e rs, s ta tu s o f, u n d er
C h ica g o co u rt r u lin g - 15, 77, 79

W it h d r a w a l o f p e n sio n . S e e P e n
sion , w ith d ra w a l o f.

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Full text of The Administration of the Aid-to-Mothers Law in Illinois, Legal Series No. 7, Bureau Publication No. 82

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