The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-28
Age of Consent Legislation
Continued from First Page.)

vember. 1894, the age of consent in North
and South Carolina and Alabama was
10 years: in Texas, Kentucky, Wiscon-
sin, and Louisiana, II years II was
raised in North Carolina in 1895 by the
last Legislature to Il years, the law OF
rape, however, remaining at 10. as be-
fore. 1t was just a little over 10 years
ago that ". I. Stead, editor of the Pail
Mall Gazette, London, published his reve-
lations of the crimes committed against
young girls in that city. These horrible
revelations caused the British Parlia-
ment to raise the age from 10 to Is years,
and attention was at once attracted to
the age Of consent laws in the United
States. 1t was found that in most OF the
States of the Union, little girls 10 years
old could, according to law, consent to
their own ruin. while in Delaware the
statute books revealed the fact that the
age of consent was SEVEN YEARS! Up
to November, 1894. only two States, Kan
sas and Wyoming, had raised the age to
Is. In Tennessee, our sister State. after a
ilcng and bitter fight the age was raised
from 10 to Is years and one day. the
one day being added as a bit of facetious-
ness By some one who moved it as a
compromise between IS and IS years.
i W. DIIlS ii DtGu luII OtIuttd dShiHS
that the age be raised to 16 and IS years
respectively. The latter passed the first
and second readings, but the Judicial
Committee then rejected it and recon-
mended the former, amended, however,
so as to make the age II years! Fort
unately, the legislature took a four
weeks recess, and at the end of that
time the good men and women and the
papers of the State had made it SO warm
for the lawmakers, that the members
dared not pass such an amendent. The
Nashville Christian Advocate editorially
denounced the action of the judicial Com
mittee as worthy a parliament OF Hot
tentots!" One member argue against
the bill that IAN eminent lawyer had
told him that if the bill passed, it would
SO crowd the dockets of the courts that
business would be materially blocked"
The following States now have the age
of consent law at 18: Arizona, Colo
RADIO, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri (serious
defect in law, Nebraska (~serious defect
in law New York. Wyoming. The fol-
lowing have Is as the age: Arkansas.
! Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massa-
chusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana,
North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island,
South Dakota, Washington, Ohio. Texas
has the age at Is, and California, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Yer
mont, Wisconsin have IA. New Hamp-
shire has IS as the age, and Indian Ter
ritory, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, Vir-
ginia and West Virginia have the age
fixed at u. New Jersey has 16, but the
offense is merely a Unable misdemeanor.
| Pennsylvania has Is, but the girl must
prove previous good character after 10.
Georgia has IA, but the wording Of the
law permits a jury to place the age at
FIVE YEARS or any other age up to IA.
In regard to this monstrosity the Sec
rotary of State of Georgia writes me:
I'VE have no statute in Georgia fixing
the age of consent other than that au-
tborizing a minor of IA to choose her own
guardian, contract marriage, etc. Our
courts in cases of rape, seduction, etc,
have uniformly held that IA is the age
OF consent as a rule, but the courts and
juries have a wide discretion and always
take into consideration the degree of in
| telligence of the female"
Florida has II, | think, but rape law
with consent" ends with 10. Mississippi
has 16, with law similar to Florida. There
seems to be a confusion as to the Della
/ ware law. The present law seems to be
Is, with rape law ending at Z years.
Alabama has 10 years as the age. North
Carolina rape law ends at 10. For improp-
err relations with previously chaste young
girls, not involving the crime of vio-
leDcc, the age is IA years. In several
of the States the ages nave been very
recently raised to the figures mentioned.
Puritan New Hampshire has 10; Puri-
tan Maine and Vermont, IA; Puritan
Connecticut Massachusetts and Rhode
Island, 16; while Mormon Utah, be-
nighted Kansas. wild Colorado and
Wyoming, and the barbarous inhabitants
CT Arizona have IS! 1t Will be noticed
that there has been a steady tendency
upward IN the age since the agitation of
1885 started.
But there has been more thar one
desperate fight made to lower the age
in some States. In 1890, in the New
York Senate, a bill was introduced to
lower the age from is to Il. 1t was ia
vorably reported by the judicial Com
mittee, but the protests were too strong
and the measure was defeated. It was
understood that the bill originated with
a Rochester lawyer who wished to pro-
vide a means Of escape for a client who
had despoiled a girl under is years. An
other attempt vas made in 1892 to amend
the penal code by lowering the age to
IA and a motion to that effect was
adopted by a viva voce vote, but when
a member called for the yeas and nays,
i'll order to put all voters on record, the
motion was defeated!
So opposed is all "age Of consent leg
~islation to our boosted Anglo-SaXon
/, chivalry, so revolving is it to our no
less boosted sense OF fairness, and so
foreign is it to Christ's Interpretation of
the Seventh Commandment, that we nat
urally inquire as to the origin of such
legislation. DR.. A. H. Lewis, who has
written vigorously along this line, says
hat it has it's origin in sex-worship.
Time permits only a short discussion of
this point. DR.. Lewis thinks the system
was first formulated in Babylonia. Ac-
cording to Herodotus and Strabo any
j stranger might demand the presence of
a woman in that country within the doors
of the temple OF Mylitta Venus or
Astarte) and once there she was equired
to yield her virtue. A silver coin was
then given her. which she was required
to take and which was regarded as sa-
! cred. This sex-worship spread every
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