The farmer and mechanic., 1915-05-25

Jackson, Abraham I4ncola.- William |
j. Bryan and thousands OF others il |
has been adhered 10. Besides. unlike |
the State judges. the Federal judges
nave not yet been made elective by
the people. and that extent certainly
We do not yet have a government Of
tne people or by the people.
LincOin'S Ideal.
l have thus sketched TO YOU the ORR
gin or popular government and the re-
spects In which after the long passage
OF time since it was enacted by the
Declaration Of Independence at Phil
adeiphia We still fall short Of the
ideals expressed by Mr. Lincoln ex
pressed in his Gettysburg speech. Of
this being:
"A government of the people. by the
people and for the people
There Is another respect in which
TINS government. except in some of
the states, still falls short of that great
ideal. and that is that one-half OF
the people, OF adult age. and that by
no means the worst half pay their
share OF the taxes. bear fully one-haif
| or more OF the burdens of government
and of civilization and Yet have no
part whatever in its government
| L will not speak of the ages prior
| 10 the Declaration at Philadel phia
| during which the condition of your
| sex was that of entire subsection. Be
| ginning at the emergence Of men to
| a limited extent. as having a share
| in the government. the condition of
| any respect
Married Women Here.
| Up to 1868. little over forty years
ago the condition of the married
woman in North Carolina remained
exactly as it had been under the bar
barous common law in England By
the very fact Of marriage every dollal
Of her property became the property
of her husband and she could no
control a cent of it. not even the rem
, Of the land which had been hers. Tn,
. sole property right left her was tha
| while her landS belonged TO her hus
band during his life, at his death
| came back TO her. On the other han,
' if she ou1lived her husband she ha
2 an interest only third OF his land 70
t life and a chitd's part OF his persona
I property.
: 1t was not till 1874. nine years afte
e the negroes were set free. that on
$ Supreme Court condeScended 10 TAX
k | the lash out Of the husba nd'S hands
: for until that time-juss forty-On
q years aec-that court unanimousl
: held that ii a man thrashed his wifi
= the law would take no notice of it,
|
q The later decisions had someWh;
apologized for it by saying tn;
:; though it was not exactly right.
was such small matter that II
4 courts WoulG take no notice of it
4 an excuse which. it seems 70 m
fs was more insulting than the often
y, itself.
.S The Constitution Of 1868 intend
80 to put North Carolina abreast of Il
| or her DrDOreSSiVp States bV DrOEIdil
~ that married woman should reta
"a control Of all property which she h
- at the time Of marriage. or ShOu
y in any manner acquire during ma
,, riage, and all this 'as fully as if S
~ had remained single" Now an q
&c binary man would have thought II
~ very plain and inteIligible. But t
Judges then on the bench had be
raised under the old SYSTEM und
II which women had no rights that t
ia law or the husband would respect.
ne AS a consequence. they held tt
III though the Constitution said that S
IS. owned her property as fully as
she had remained single. she COZ
TO aOt draw her money out Of the ha
g unless her husband consented TO
al And this was only corrected later
AIS statute.
% More Inequalities.
)te Though Constitution said that a
|
riage should be hers, as fully as
he she remained single, the courts p
yas ceeded to hold that she could ma
gh no contract concerning it. and if
lot made any money by her needle.
27 taking in washing, or in any OIL
a manner it belonged to her husba
to and these rulings have only been c
rected by statute.
vas Though Constitution said tha
nd married woman's property should
the hers, as it she remained single,
lch though for thousand years any O
ing regardless of sex. who owned Il
But for life or a longer period was
,rs | 'freeh Olderer" when a statute
tx passed to protect landowners by p
,ee viding that in an election to levy
nd cal tax assessments of taxes tn
asa should be a preliminary petition
~ q majority of the freehOlderS.
no court held that a woman was no
80 freeholder. This has since been {
e. rected by statute.