The Opelousas courier., 1895-08-03
Inc Age Of Consent Laws.

on,- oioo vi our uaV.
oPehed It's pages to a series of ar,
. elcles concerning the cage of con-
9 sent, laws. Those who have fol-
1owed up this symposium have GER
fanny received some horrible en-
= 1ghtenment on the subject of the
laws under which we live. One
: can scarcely believe that in this
gay OF general education, one of
our Southern States should have
upon It's statute books a law per-
uniting a child of seven to sell her
most valuable possession-yirtue,
ana with 1T her moral and physical
welfare. Yet in Delaware such
was the case until very recently,
"hen, after a hard fight, the ace
was raised a few years.
1t is to be observed that in no
state IS the age ever raised with
out a hard fight. Note that in
Texas there was a severe struggle
-dlscusslons behind closed doors,
andfhen it was not raised to IS
yealf, as desired, but only to l6.
lima struggle of this kind all the
torcesrf6Dgo have to marshal
Themselves against those for evil.
The prefs Chat part of it which is
Tor virttte), the women, the pull
PIT, thew. G.. T. u, the doctors
taIhosepf them who will speak the
tluth1,, the legislators who work
Tor right-all must combine efforts
and work for the single purpose,
and then ofttimes evil conquers.
The country at large owes a debt
Of gratitude to the Arena for it's
work in building up correct pub
lie sentiment and shameing wicked
legislators into correct action.
Letters were sent to each one of
the nearly 5000 legislators ask
ing his views and reasons there
for. And those who opposed rails
ing the age were not very anxious
to give their names to the public.
In this State the age is II years.
Think on it! What a blot upon
the e%scutcheon of our State! What
a monument to the selfishness and
%sensuality of mankind! New York,
after a bitter struggle, has recent
ly changed her law, raising the age
from II to Is. Can not Louisiana
do as well?
The subject is agitated in almost
every State, and these unjust, hor-
rible laws r being bettered. But
we would ask, Why any age of con-
sent laws? Why make womanly
virtue legally subject to barter and
sale? The subject is one which ad-
mits of deep study and far more
consideration than we can give it
in these columns. Our hope is
that the men of our State will
come forward and with true man
illness make laws for the protec-
ton of innocent girlhood, laws
which smack more Of unselfsh-
ness and common sense than those
we have so far had.
Helen Gardener, who expresses
our views probably better than we
could ourselves, has this to say
concerning the Colorado laws:
In Colorado the bill was intro
duced by Mrs. Holley, one of the
first three women legislators in
the country, and although her
bill asked that the age be made
twenty-one years instead of
eighteen, the age which is asked
for in most states, it passed
promptly. This would seem to
indicate that the presence of wo-
men in the legislature does tend
to secure better and more prompt
legislation to protect their sisters.
It is significant, too, that in the
first legislature in which a wo-
ever sat this bill to protect
the girls was introduced by one
of the three women, and that it
passed Immediately. There is an
old, time-worn saying that women :
are not SO kind to women as men
are, and that men would legis-
late better and more generously |
than would their sisters. At the
present writing this does not APP
pear on the surface as particularly
accurate, since [ believe there is
not on record any legislature
composed of men. where, during
it's first session, it fastened to the
of the honor of the little
girls of the state.
Colorado is rew the banner |
state. Two others, Kansas and \
Wyoming, had the age already at
and since January in
three others, at least, it has been T
at eighteen.
1t is significant that in many
cases the member who has in :
reduced the bill and made the
opening speech has been a physi-
in which case he has not
to point out the fact that
he age at which most of the
states withdrew their protection
rom a girl is the age at which
he most needs it; the age at
which nature is her antagonist;
When she is no longer a child and i.