New Britain herald., 1917-08-30

husband, and she could not sue for
her services, whereas, whatever the
husband earned, legally belonged to
him, and his wife had no interest in
1t.
8. If a wife died without a will,
her husband was entitled to all her
personal property and life interest
In al her real estate, excluding any
ch1loreh there might be, entirely,
even though the said wife had inher-
tied her property from a former hus-
BAND ana the children of such mar
rage might be living. On the other
hand, if the husband died without a
will, the widow was entitled to onlv
| one-thrd his personal property and a
life interest In one-third his real es-
| tate.
4. Ii vile received injury of any
klnd' compensation could only be OBJ
| ta1ned IN the Joint names Of herself
and husband, and when obtained be-
longed to the husband. In a similar
case, the wife had no such claims on
the husband.
o. II children had property and
both parents were living, the father
was the guardian. The father could
appoint guardian for minor CHI
dren either by deed or will. and said
children could be taken entirely
| from the mother at his death IF
both parents were dead, the children
went to the nearest of kin. male rel
atives preferred, If the degree of re-
lationship was equal.
6. A married woman could not act
as administrator in any case.
The spring of 1860 seemed ripe for
action and radical change was
promised In the state of New York.
In March of that year Elizabeth Cady
Stanton went before a joint session
of the legislature at Albany and made
an eloquent plea for the repeal of
the unjust laws. The next day a
very radical bill which had been in
the hands of the Judiciary Commit
tee for sometime, was passed and
signed by Governor Edwin D. Nor
gan.
This new law gave to a married
woman the sole possession of her
property, free from control by the
husband. She was allowed to carry
on business on her own account and
her earnings were her own. She
could buy sell and make contracts
without her husbands consent if he
had wilfully abandoned her, was in
sane, an habitual drunkard or a con-
Wet, she was allowed to bring legal
action and receive damages for her
self. She could be joint gurdian Of
children with her husband and she
had this same property rights at his
death that he had at hers.
This bill appears to us today to be
no more than the simplest-Justice,
and yet it had taken ten years of Ia
borious and unremitting toll on the
part Of women to create the public
sentiment that was back of the leg
islature.
The strongest opposition to the
Suffrage among women today, comes
from the sheltered women Of the
leisure class who are in the full en-
joyment of their property, investing 1t
and handling it as they see fit, and
who are amply protected by their
dover rights. I wonder If they ever
stop to think when they are voicing
their opposition to Suffrage that
they won this comfortable condition
to the self-sacrifcing pioneers of the
Suffrage movement! And the splen-
did advantages open today to young
girls for education and developme nt,
were obtained by the same noble
women. They gave their time and
their utmost effort without faltering,
and in the carrying-on of their work
thew endured jeers, insults, ridicule
and misrepresentation from the press.
and opposition and abuse from I'M
| thinking members of their own SEX
When the Civil war broke out, the
| women attempted to keep up their
| Suffrage conventions, but it was
| urged upon them Gas 1t is today that
they should efface their claims and
bend every effort toward the pros
ecution of the war. They allowed
! themselves to be persuaded and en-
| tered into the war work. heart and
soul to the neglect of all Suffrage agi-
| tation.
AS a result of this, the New York
Legislature in 1862, finding them off
| guard amended the law of 1860, TAX
! ing from mothers the right of guard
| ianship over their children and re-
pealing the law securing to widow
| the control Of property for the care
| of minor children. This came about
because the women did just what
they are urged to do now, that is,
| they neglected their cause and gave
| themselves wholly to war work
At the close of the war when they
| again attempted to bring the question
! forward. they found themselves rele-
gated to the background. Miss An
thony was not surprised, but she felt
1t keenly. She had never been mis-
led for a moment by the sophistry
that the women's work in the war
| would compel the recognition OF
their demands when it was over She
believed that the close of the war
| would bring before the country such
| a quantity of unsettled questions
that the women would be less con-
sidered than before, and time proved
| her judgment to be correct.
The work of women in that war
can never be justly estimated They
used the opportunities that were
open to them to the utmost, supple