Evening journal., 1915-02-25

the law. He even contended that this
rule should be carried out in ques-
ton Of alimony.
Suppose we consider alimony IN
The sense Of payment for injuries re-
ceiyed." he said. "If a woman Is en-
titled TO IL because her husband was
at fault, does il not seem fair to say
that a man is also entitled to it when
his wife was at fault? Such is not the
case now. but it seems the logical
result of putting the political equal
ity idea into practice"
Mr.. Wheeler referred to a recent
decision of the Supreme Court in the
case Of the Mann white slave law as
a sample of what might be expected
when the law deals impartially with
mon and women. Until this ruling the
white slave law had dealt only with
the man in the case. II now has been
brOadcned so as TO hold the woman
equally guilty. The result, accord
ing to Mr. Wheeler. will be TO put
stop to blackmail by women who had
hitherto enjoyed immunity under the
Mann act
"The privileges the law gives them
enjoy" continued Mr.. Wheeler LAS
every lawyer knows, there are priv
ileged class in court. | have been try
ing cases in New York for fifty years.
and | do not hesitate to say that wo-
men in court get special cOnsidcra-
'tion from lawyers. juries, and even
judges. These are privileges not
granted by law, but by courtesy anu
long custom"
Mr.. Hayden pointed out that men
lawyers in this State had begun to
grant women their so-called rights"
long before the suffragists ever
thought of campaigning for the vote.
He referred to the Married Women acts
of 1860 and said the whole tendency
since then had been to break away
from the old English law. In doing so
/ New York had gone TO the other eX.
treme and substituted laws which
\ Disseminated against the husband
/ for those which formerly recognized
/ few If any rights of the wife. And
this, Mr.. Hayden pointed out had
been done by men legislators without
any prOdding on the part of women.
The Married Women acts. which en-
{
with her own property, put stop to
the evil arising from good-for-noth-
ing husbands living on and often
quandering the fortunes of wealthy
wives. according TO Mr.. Hayden The
custody of the children. in cases of
separation. was also taken out of tho
husbands absolute control and left as
a matter of settlement i'm court. ac-
cording to its opinion as to which OF
the parents was the most competent
to take care of them.
Mr. Hayden argued that the changes
in the law had given women all the
best of it and that they were now in
danger OF sacrificing many privileges
in return for the vote.
LAS a matter Of fact" he said "thoy
are asking for privilege which is be-
yond their power to exercise. No prop
osition is sound unless it stands Tho
test of reductio ad absurdum. There
are close TO 100000 women Of voting
age in New York State They out
number the men by a small margin
Supposing we let them vote and the!
all go TO the polls. Il is conceivable
that they would cast more votes thar
men. Say they do, for the sake o
argument. and they get control o
the Legislature. They will then b.
in a position to pass any laws the,
may see fit to pass.
"Now, suppose. just for example
they took it into their heads to pu
through a law which was so repug
nant TO men that they unanimousl.
refused to obey it. Suppose that sucl
law were put on the books, how ar
the women going to enforce il?
"The answer is. they can't An
/ that is the whole truth. They haven
the physical makeup for it, Whel
you come right down to it, they simpl
can't play the game. and that is wher
the whole suffrage argument fall
down"