Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-21

number represented only thoee csses where
complaints were made on the ground men
coned. 10 notorious that this practice Do
mot infrcquent tn what 10 called good" society.
THE DEPENDENT HELPNErr.
There 10 not state where the wife can own .
penny Of the family income. unless she poe
seeses property in her own right or earn. wages
outside of the household She i- Obliged 10
beg money from her husband He ..rivess IL
TO her. She Is dependent on his bounty. not
withstsnding the fact that she does Ai least an
equal share Of the work involved in the domes-
TIC Partnership. bearing and rearing the
children. acting as housekeeper. &c. This
practice Of putting the woman in the place %
beSgar also prevails In ''good" society. There
is nothing quite go mean in this world as
ssingy husband. and there is no joke about the
oft-quoted query. What did YOU do with the
70 cents i gave you week before lastI''
GUARDIANSHIP OF CHILDREN.
There are only six states out Of the forty
four where the woman has equal rights with her
husband as to the guardianship of her children.
Elsewhere the father has absolute control over
them. He can take them away from their
mother IL he likes. and can do with them ~ he
pleases. II he chooses TO send the girls to sell
flowers IN saloons and TO apprentice tho bovs to
q brutal shir master he can do ID, no matter
how much she NAV object. He can even will
away into the hands of a stranger the guardian
ship of her child unborn at the time of his
death. There are only a few states where
women can make any contract with their hus-
fands or testify in court as TO any matters
wherein their husbands are concerned. IN the
southern states the carpet-bagger legislatures
framed laws similar to those in force in the
north regarding the right of women to own
property. and those legal enactments still afford
protection to the women OF the south.
Even now women are Disseminated against
everywhere rs to wages. In all OF the govern
ment departments at Washington women doing
exactly the same work as men get only two
thirds as much ray. Why is this so? Simply
because they belong to a disfranchised sex.
subject not long ago, replied: Madam. IL We
gave as good pay to women as TO men. all of
the women would soon be driven out OF the de-
partments. The voters Of the country are OF
the male sex, and the demand for places by men
Is so great that we are only able to retain the
women on the plea Of economy. because we can
get them cheaper"
IL SAVAGE STATE
OF existence women are always treated in every
respect as slaves. Tie tendency of civilization
is to emancipate them. The day OF their
freedom has only dawned, and the rotion that
they possess rights is rs get 70 new that it has
not ceased TO excite ridicuie. Popular pre-
1udice against this movement il passing away.
though much of il still remains. At q ladies
luncheon IN Washington the other day one OF
the guests happened TO remark that she was in
favor of woman's rights. This utseranee ex-
cited a murmur of surprise and Interpretation,
whereupon soc who had spoken said:
You do not agree with me because you have
never looked into the matter. think. Permit,
me to uggest a case in point. suppose that
one OF you was arrested in shop on a charge
OF stealing. Such things have frequently hap.
pened through mistake, aud adroit thieves will
sometimes slip stolen articles into other peo-
pies pockets. In such an event Won would be
taken to the police station and searched The
searching would be done by men. How agree
able may ! ask. would you find that"
There was another murmur, this time o!
horror.
"You would not like it, 1 magine," the lady
went on. well. it rs for the purpose of rem
dering such things impossible that the woman q
right movement has been to q great extent car
ried on. one of its most important objects be-
ing to secure the appointment of matrons a,
police stations, who should look out for female
prisoners"
1t has been seriously suggested that in trials
OF women the juries should be composed of wo-
men because they understand the motives and
mental processes of their own sex so much bet.
ter than men do. RENE BAcHE.