Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-04-27
COLUMN
EDITED BY JONESBORO W. c. 7. U
A VICTORY IN NEW YORK.

unanimous vote oil both houses mas
mended the barbarous old statue by
which fathers were the sole owners OF
their children, and has made fathers
and mothers joint guardians of their
offspring by law, as they certainly are
by nature. The bill was signed by
Gov. Flower on March 90. 1t reads:
l. Every married woman is hereby
constituted and declared to be the joint
guardian of her children with her hus
band with equal powers, rights and
duties in regard to them with the hus-
band. Upon the death of either father
or mother, the surviving parent,
whether of full age or a minor, of a
child likely to be born, or of any liv-
ing child under the age of twenty one
years and unmarried, may by deed or
last will duly executed dispose of the
custody and tuition of such child dur
ing its minority, or for any less time,
to any person or persons.
2. This act shall take effect immedi-
ately.
There are now six States in the Uuion
where mothers and fathers are joint
guardians of their children-Iowa,
Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, Washing,
ton and New York.
The passage of the law in New York
was secured by the Woman's Educa-
tional and Industrial Union of Buffa
10. They wrote to the Governors of the
five States where equal guardianship
| the law, and obtained from all of them
letters testifying that the system had
proved satisfactory. They printed
these letters in a circular, with ex-
tracts from the Woman's Journal and
other papers, giving instances of the
hardships suffered by mothers under
the New York law. and sent a copy to
every member of the Legislature; and
the bill passed without a negative vote,
to the great joy of the women.
For evils that are national-the
remedy must also be national. Prohi-
hibition is a national party, and opens
| wide its doors and invites to its stan
dard the good, the intelligent, the
| patriotic of all classes and conditions.
But when is to come the expected
exodus from other POLITICAL atfilia-
tionsY
Let me venture a candid thought.
Few, if any. will deny that it required
all the loyalty of all political parties
to save the Union in tn great rebellion.
Slavery existed in less than half the
| States. The evils that no threaten
10 engulf everything beyond the power
of remedy at the rate they are multi
plying unless soon confronted with a
remedy, are co extensive with our ma
tional BOUNDARIES and the mighty az
gregation OF all INTEREST,". That rene
dy, as | believe, is within the power o
the churches to supply, because they
have the power to be, and should be,
the leaders OF public sentiment in all
moral reforms. They are then more
responsible because more intelligent
than the masses.
When the churches became practi
cally unanimous against the sin CT
slavery, then, not till then, was slavery
doomed.
So with the greatest sin of our times
the liquor traffic. When churches and
pews, shall by the mightiest Of al
weapons which Providence has placed
in their hands, namely, the ballot
make common causes with Prohibition
reformation will become irresistible
and then, not till then, will these ga
looms and the liquor traffic be doomed
Chico, California. JOHN BIDwELL.
ALCOHOL AND THE HEART.
The nerve fibers are especially deteri
Grated by alcohol, and show by tn,