That the private charitable societies of Boston oppose the plan to transfer to the state the care of deserving widows with dependent children as an independent class is indicated by the hearings on the various bills now before the Massachusetts Legislature. Four bills have been introduced at this session. The first of these (House Bill No. 815) provides: “If the parent or parents of a 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 juvenile court, the probate court, or, except in Boston, any police, municipal or district 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 commissioners, or, in Suffolk County, the city council of Boston, to pay to such parent or parents at such times and as such order may designate the money so specified for the care of such dependent or neglected child until the further order of the court.” The second bill (House Bill No. 1369), which is even shorter, restates the general principles of the first bill without providing machinery for carrying its provisions into effect. It reads as follows: “Children whose parents are unable to support them shall not be placed in state, county or municipal institutions, but if either parent, or any relative or other suitable person, is maintaining a home, payment shall be made to such parent or relative or other person for the support therein of such children.” House Bill No. 1366, the third proposed act, was prepared by representatives of many of the principal charitable organizations of Boston.