The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-02-05


Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free,
neither male nor female, but all are one
in Christ Jesus"
STATUTORY EXPRESSIONS.
.|..
Barbarity of the Laws Toward Women.
Tie great Improvements in the laws
relating to women, writes Alice Stone
Blackwell, in Woman's Cycle, have
been brought about chiefly by women
who advocate woman suffrage, and men
who are of one mind with them. And
their uniform testimony is that they
have found these improvements much
harder and slower to get because the
changes asked for were in the interest
of class that had no votes. Hon. Sam
uel E. Sewell, for years the chief cham
pion of the property-rights of women
before the Massachusetts Legislature,
expressed himself often and strongly to
this effect. But it was hardly neces-
sary. 1t is notorious that the average
legislator will attend first to the real or
supposed wants of the men who elected
him, and only secondly or nineteenthly
to the wants of class that has no vote.
Witness the respective treatment &C.
corded by government to the Irish and
to the Chinese.
Improvements in the laws for women
are not only harder to get. but harder to
keep. than if women were voters. In
New York, the law empowers every
husband to bequeath the custody and
guardianship of his children away from
their mother by his will. A married
mother has literally no more legal right
in her own children than she has in the
Emperor of China's children. Her hus-
band may separate her child perma-
neptly tom hst, at any time, and with-
out anj--reas6n beyond his caprice.
Once the advocates of woman suffrage
succeed in having the law SO modified
that the mothers consent was necessary.
Nine years after, this just and merciful
provision was repealed, and the old
statute was restored in all it's pristine
barbarity. Would that have happened
if women had had votes? 1t would have
been political suicide for any legislator
to propose it. Our codes are not yet
'cleared of statutory expressions" al
though women gratefully recognize how
much has been done in this direction
Value of the Vote.
The Pail Mall Gazette thus describes
some of the good results that have come
to the English agricultural laborer
through the suffrage:
Lord Spencer's plea for village coun-
ellis was one of the most useful speeches
of the recess. 1t is quite true, as he
says, that nothing can be more i'm
portant than to infuse life into our vii.
lagos, to vivify the intelligence Of the
poor people in them, and to create
among them feeling of responsibility
But until the agricultural laborer had a
vote, no one cared for him. Now he has
become the pivot round which our whole
system revolves. The change in his
status, of which Lord Spencer's speech is
the latest illustration. is an immense in
centive torenewed zeal in the cause of the
enfranchisement of women. In politics
the interests of the unrepresented are
ignored. Not until your name is on the
electoral register do statesmen remem
Der that you exist. Nothing can bt
more obvious than the truth of Lore
Spencers observations: What could bt
of greater interest than the sanitar,
condition of the cottages of village t.
the poor people who live in them, or thu
management of the schools or the waite
!, supply, or the proper management of tn
village charities?'' But this truism wa
ignored by everybody until the day whel
the poor people who lived in the cot
tages of our villages were admitted with
in the pale of citizenship. AS it ha
, been with Hodge, so it will be wit
women Let them seek first admission
to the electorate roll, and all othe
, things will be added unto them.