El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-05

I'm his ante-nuptial marriage agree
ment Mr.. Robert Chanler made over
- his entire estate to Madame Cava-
neri, leaving himself entirely depen-
dent on her bounty. The verdict of the
world, given without a dissenting
voice, is that the man is insane or he
would not do such a thing.
What, surrender the liberty that goes
with financial Independence What,
have to go like a beggar to someone
else and ask for a dollar Of your own
for spending money, and explain what
you did with the last dollar, and expect
to do with thisi What, turn over to
another's judgment. another's whim,
the money that stands between you and
want! No one but fool, mailman,
would do it. There isn't jury In the
world that, on this evidence, wouldn' t
send a man to a sanitarium for the care
of the mentally afflicted
Women's Fortunes
Yet every day women do this thing,
and instead of also being sent to the
insane asylum where they certainly
belong, they are patted on the back for
it and encouraged in so doing Indeed,
until the last few years, the law did II
for a woma n. and on her wedding day a
bride was stripped of every dollar she
had and it was turned over absolutely
to her husband to do with as he
pleased.
He might be the most incompetent of
business men, utterly incapable either
of making money or taking care of it;
he might be swamped in debt incurred
before ever the woman he married
laid eyes upon him. 1t did not matter.
All of the wife's possessions becamt alb
solutely the husbands, to throw away
in wild speculations, to waste in dis
sipation, or to be swallowed up by his
hungry creditors, as it happened.
The wife had to stand helplessly by
and see herself and her children beg
CARED and nobody cried out that she
was insane to submit to it. On the
contrary, she was best supposed to IL
lustrate what the wifely spirit should
be when she meekly folded her hands
and let everything go without word
of protest.
It has taken a hard and bitter fight
that is more than generations long for
women to get any property rights, ana
evn yet in some states they are forced,
whether they want to or not, TO emu
late the example of Mr.. Chanler IN
Louisiana still, for instance. married
woman who owns real estate, no mat
ter whether she inherited it or herself
earned the money to buy it, cannot
even offer it for rent without taking
TO the real estate agent her husband
written permission to do so. Nor does
she own her own clothes, for being IN
the eyes of the law herself a chatteI'
she belongs to her husband along with
her stocks and bonds and false hair
and petticoatS.
Difference in Rights.
Leaving the legal aspect of the ques-
ton out Of the case, however, the mere
fact that Mr.. Chanler is considered
crazy for doing exactly the thing that
is Thought to be admirable in a woman,
offers a curious Illustration of the pop
ular view of women's and mems rights
That a man, even in the delirium or
love. should turn over all Of his prop
ertv to the woman ne marries, is some
thing so amazing that nobody can I'M
derstand it, 1t leaves as gaping, open
mouthed with wonder but ninety per-
cent of all the women who have at
tie fortune of few thousands give II