The Wahpeton times., 1917-02-22

Sniiu IaDOr ana compulsory Educa.
ton, certainly of vital moment to the
young. are covered by excellent legis.
lation in ten of the twelve western
states, (S3 per cent? where mothers
are enfranchised. Out of the thirty.
SIX male suffrage states, only twenty.
one t9S per cent? have fixed four.
teen as the legal working age of
boys and girls. The idea Of com.
pulsory education has made more
neadway. Mississippi being the only
non'suffrage state which has no
school attendance laws. In Virginia,
South Carolina, Florida and Arkansas,
however. the law is enforced only in
certain counties and is not statewide
in its application.
Laws establishing an eight or nine
hour day for working women are pre-.
valent in eight equal suffrage states
(66 >" per cent? and in ONLY ten com.
monwealths (2S per cent? where men
have regulated industrial conditions.
Kansas has an excellent Industrial
Welfare Commission which looks
after women's hours of labor. A
minimum wage for women prevails
IN six western states ESQ per cent?
and in only five male IA per cent.).
In massachusetts and Nevada there
are minimum wage commissions
whose powers are merely advisory.
The Massachusetts Employers worst
punishment for violation is the publi.
cation OF his name.
In spite of the wide spread agita.
tion for mothers pensions, it is only
the equal suffrage states that have
lined up in solid phalanx (1OO per
cent? for this first aid to the destitute
nome maker. In eighteen male suff.
rage states. ESQ per cent? the mother
is helped by the government to sun,
port her children. Contrasts may be
made. too. showing that the western
group is more generous than the Others
in its degree of help. For instance, in
New York, the mother must work
when the father is disabled, and she
receives only ten dollars a month for
the first child. In Wyoming mother
Is pensioned II the father is disabled.
dead. or has deserted the family, and
twenty dollars a month is allowed for
the first child.
The equal guardianship by parents
OF children is popular in the west
Eleven (91 per cent? equal suffrage
states having put this law on the
statute hook, while this bit of justice
is accorded women in only twelve (3s
l-3 per cent? non-suffrage states.
Making the age of consent eighteen
years has seemed the right thing to
do in nine (75 per cent? enfranchised
states, while only ten (2S per cent?
legislatures throughout the rest of the
United States have passed this law.
The Red Light Abatement and In.
junction Law exists in nine suffrage
(75 per cent? and in seventeen non.
suffrage states az per cent?. In
some male suffrage states, there Is
no adequate law to regulate CONNER
cialized vice.
Prohibition Is an established fact in
seven (58 per cent? equal suffrage
divisions of the United States, while
its roll call of male suffrage states is
but sixteen GA per cent?.
When We realize that we must thank
the progressive voters of the west for
the idea of Juvenile Courts, for Wei.
rare Commissions and for the Honor
and Trust System for prisoners, It
Will be seen that the women votorc
can proudly assert that they have
helped their communities more by a
direct control over public affairs
than their disfranchised sisters have
by their boasted indirect influence.