The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-21
THE CAUSE OF WOMAN.
WOMEN HAVE NOT YET GOT MORE
RIGHTS THAN MEN.
Not Likely That They VIII for Some Time
20 COme-The Facts About Their
RiEhts-WOmen In lnsurance-N Mayor
Lows Dislike for Women Onicials
chicago Cniversity's Baby Room"
Does Not segregate the Sexes.


Lows Dislike for Women Onicisls
chicago University's Baby Room"
Does Not sesresats the Sexes.
T;:,ie could not he q more striking H.
lustration Of the changes wrought in the
POSITION of woman during the last half
century than the assertion made so fire.
quently nowadays that she has more rights
than man. We are having editorials on
this point. and symposiums with scare
headlines. and speeches by the anti-suf-
fragists begging TO be protected from the
chivalry Of man" In fact il 1t we're not
FOR the bad weather, We might think the
millennium was at hand. II one half-yea.
II one-tenth-of what is being published
were true, one could almost believe that
one might as well be born of the feminine
a. Of the masculine gender. but on the
contrary there does not live a man. no
matter how dependent defective or de-
hnquent, no matter Of what race, color
or condition, who would change places
with any woman. The time may come
when in the struggle for existence il will
he more advantageous to be a woman
than a man, but this will be only after
maternity has been abolished. the do
mestic instincts destroyed, conscience,
tenderness and affection eliminated. and
the love of virtue blotted out. So long
a woman is helpless through motherhood.
fettered by her innate clinging to home,
weak because of her conscientiousness and
affections and encountered by the respon-
sibility of preserving the virtues of society
il Is idle to talk of her having an even chance
with man in the material world. absurd to
TO speak of her having more advantages.
What are few Of the facts in the case?
A great deal is being said as to the property
rights of the wife being superior to those
of the husband. Taken az whole, this is
not true in one State in the Union. In
thrce-fourtlIs of them she may own and
control her property, collect the rents,
&c. but what is meant by her" property?
Simply that which she owned before mar
riago or received by gift or Inheritance
afterward and only the smallest fraction
of women ever have any such property.
But what of all that is accumulated during
the years of married life? II il the abso-
lutte property of the husband. every dollar
of il. a. long as he lives. Out of this he
furnishes the wife such support as he
thinks she ought to have, and she
j. not legally entitled TO another penny.
He invests the profits, or he spends
them, Just as he thinks best. The
personal property stocks, bonds. cash,
&c.--he has the entire right to dispose of
as he pleases. without the wife's consent.
The laws in most, but not all. of the States
require the wife's signature to a mortgage
or conveyance of real estate. and the
average married woman knows what it
would mean to refuse to sign it. Should
the wife die before the husband she cannot
dispose by will of the smallest port ion Of
what they have earned together, not even
to her children or her parents. At his
death he may dispose as he chooses of all
the property. real and personal. except
such portion as the law has found it neces-
sary to secure to the wife. This amount
varies from life Use of one-thrd of the
real estate and, after the debts are paid,
one-thrd of the personal, as in New York,
to one-half of both absolutely. as in Kansas
and Wyoming.
In every State, however. tine husband
mus, die before the wife has any control
Of the Joint accumulations, and after this
happens there must be a general upheaval,
administrators appointed. Inventories taken
and i'm many States only a lmited number
of days allowed the wife to remain in the
home. The widower, on the contrary, Ii not
disturbed, and at the end OF an allotted num-
Der Of days instead of having to move ou.,
he may bring In another partner to take the
chances on her thirds. The endless tinker
ing with the property laws for women has
resulted in few States in giving the wife
more liberty than the husband In regard to
separate property, but these are the excep-
tons and in no instance have they been
asked for by women.
Inabout two-thirds of the States a married
woman is entitled to the wages she earns
provided she goes outside the home TO
earn them. but in no State to dollar IN
money for any services rendered in her
household. In New York il has been de-
cided that where third person was taken
into a home and nursed by the wife through
long illness with cancer. her wages for
this work belonged to the husband, but II
ehe had gone elsewhere and nursed the
patient they would have been her own.
II has also been decided in New
York that where a wife earned money and
contributed to the support and education
of her children. ii was evidence that her
wages belonged to her husband, but if
she had boarded or invested them they
would have been her own, Columns could
be filed with laws from different States
declaring the husband the head of the
family, yet requiring the wife TO con-
tribute by her labor and separate property
10 its support although giving him full
control over their Joint earnings. II Is
not necessary topDint out the immense
HlSluEanldDe uflutF winch u
,empts 10 earn money outside her home
in addition to her household and maternal
cares.
In the District Of Columbia and nine
States a mother has equal guardianship
with the fathers over the minor children
In all others he IL the sole guardian Of their
persons. property and education, and in
a number may dispose OF them by will,
In every State the husband decides abso-
lutely upon the domcle, the wife who
refuses to accept his decision has no claim
for support. and in some States may he sued
for divorce on the ground Of de-ertion.
Not a woman in the United States has
any authority in fixing the age of con.
sent" for girls, which in five States still
remains at 10 years. in four al IL, in nearly
half OF the States at IA. Not a woman has
voice in naming the punishment for any
one of the crimes committed against women
and children. One Of the leading lawyers
Of New York was quoted few days ago
as saving that "f women ever should sit
on juries tho interests OF women would
suffer" Can any reasonable person be-
lieve that this would be true II women
could sit In Judgment on the rapists, the
seducers, the fathers of illegitimate child
rem, the wife beaters and slayers who are
constantly brought to trial? No, indeed
All the present terrors of the law fade into
insignificance in the eyes Of such criminals
60 Tn