The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-28

MEET THE DEMAND or MAN >
CULTIVATED PASSION Scion pur-
chased women and fixed prices. and 1t
became a profitable business TO the gov
eminent. A similar asystem started in
Roma at a later period. Among the
English-speaking people this legislation
started by the licensing OF houses or
prostitution in the city OF London in
1851. AS has been already shown, the
American laws regarding age OF consent
were taken from England.
THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF ALL
iAGE-OF-CONSENT LEGISLATION IS
THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF NOR
Atty. II there must be two standards,
then somebody's daughter must be made
an outcast to sustain the mans standard
: while he breaks the woman's. The double
standard position is utterly and absurd
" illogical. Aside from that, however,
: and having discussed the origin and his
tory Of a~ge-of-consent legislation, what
ma ybe said about its results The nat
uarl results of such legislation as that
which has been pointed out as existing
on the statute-books of the various
States, might, be easily foretold even If
| hideous illustrations did not already
! po;nt to the horrible crimes that are per
mitted under the cloak OF such laws,
which not only allow but even encourage
Boys and men to become moral lepers,
and then allow and encourage these lepers
to ruin thousands of our u girls
and maidens and thus send them either
to early graves, or, worse still, TO houses
of prostitution
Do not imagine, my fellow citizens,
that am dealing in mere figures Of
speech, or exaggerating for the sake of
effect. What 1 have said, or shall say, is
easily capable Of proof, and | would like
for that sober fact to burn itself into
YOUR brains. The results of such age of
consent legislation are seen in the case
of little Nellie Conroy, a 12-year-old
child who was sold by a drunken mother
TO her own paramount, and after being
cast adrift, entered a house of ill-fame
-where else would society permit her?
There was no law to punish this mother,
| and the law was a cloak to protect the
| brute who ruined the girl.
It's results are seen in the case of a
man enticing an unsuspecting young girl
into a house of bad repute on the night
of December 90, 1886, in Chicago, and
running her. When brought before the
| courts the man was fined the sum OF
ONE DOLLARS, A human soul going,
going, gone at one dollar. Can the
slave market surpass this?
l am not bringing these awful instances
to your attention without a purpose; and
| that purpose is to give you concrete in
stances-and they are by no means ex-
ceptional ones-showing the i~nadequacy
Of existing laws for the protection of our
| young girls from bruteS, and showing,
also, how such laws actually serve as an
encouragement to boys and men to wal
low in sexual vice.
To show how legislation discriminate
in favor of boys and men and against
girls, | might mention the instance Of a
lad under Is enticing a girl 13 years old
from her home and taking her to his
sisters for a few days, where she yielded
two or three times to his desires. What
said the law? The girl was one year I'M
der the age of consent, but the boy could
not be touched because he was under Is
and therefore not responsible. Here is
a boy Is and not responsible, while the
girl, had she been IA, could have been
| responsible in the sight of the law and
could have consented to her own ruin;
and the scoundrel who ruined her, were
he u or IS or 20, could walk out of the
court room as innocent as a saint, SO far
as the law is concerned.
| Another instance is on record where a
charity organization was appealed to, to
invoke the aid of the law to prevent the
! parents of a. 14-year-old girl from forcing
her into a life of shame. The attorney of
: the Society filed the necessary papers in
the case and was informed by the court
that there was no law in the State to
cover the case. The Judge of the Circuit
Court, after carefully investigating the
matter, seriously advised the Society to
kidnap the child in order to save her.
Here is a Judge, the upholder of Law,
advising a charity organization TO
BREAK THE LAW IN ORDER TO
SAVE A LITTLE GIRL FROM RUIN!
| What is government for? Is it to pro-
tect the strong in their wrong-doing, or
is it to SHIELD the weak from injustice and
oppression, and to secure equal rights for
all? What a state of hellish anarchy is
this, my ~fellOWmen, when the State pro-
tects the parents who would sell their
daughters virtue, and protects the brute
who robs her of that which should be
more sacred than her life. and all because
she was IA years old and could consent"
to her ruin. Why need one go outside
Of this State to speak of such instances?
Doubtless investigation o show them
to exist in North Carolina also. / am
told by a lawyer that the same thing
could happen in this State; that a parent
could sell his Cor herr daughters virtue,
if the child is IA, and the law could effect
nothing. In this State a girl from IA to Is
may not legally marry without consent
of guardian or parent. If she does, the
register of deeds is liable for a fine OF
5000. In other words, a girl may not,
before she is Is, consent to marry with
out her parents or guardians permission,
but she may without his permission or
i knowledge, consent to her own ruin. She
may not legally be enticed at IA, Is, Is
or II, to enter into an honorable mar
riage, but she may legally be enticed
into a dishonorable alliance and give
her consent to something. the true mean
ing of which she very probably does not
know.
A girl in North Carolina is not sup
posed by the law to be capable of de-
Gliding upon entering the marriage state