Baxter Springs news., 1919-02-14
LAWS F.
UNJUST TDWOMEN
WOmen's Clubs of Kansas Are
Making Effort to Secure
Law Granting Equal
Property Rights

1.-THE greatest injustice in the law
providing for the property rights OF
women" said Mrs. C. W. Smith, OF
Stockton, in an address before the To-
peka Woman's Club last week, us
that which may come upon the child
rem in case of the death Of the moth
er before the father"
This statement is the Salient point
of the women's property right 'bill'
which is occupying considerable atSen-
ton in women's clubs in Kansas. 1t
is the very essence of a bill. upon
which the Good Government club OF
Topeka has been working for eight
wears under the direction Of Mrs, Lila
Day Monroe, of Topeka. Each session
of the legislature the bill approaches
closer to its goal. In a near future
session, perhaps the present session.
the women believe the bill will be
enacted into q law making the wife
the partner of the husband, giving her
special property rights and permit
ting her to dispose of her half Of the
property by will or otherwise as she
chooses.
Children May Be Left Out
Mrs. Smith, in her address, pointed
out that whatever property a husband
and wife accumulated ordinarily stood
in the husbands name, and the wife
had no existing, subsiding rights in,
that property, until the death OF her
husband. If the wife dies first, leav7
! ing husband and children. the property
stands as it did before her death, IN
the husbands name. He may sell and
convey it all without the consent OF
the children.
at seems strange that this appar-
ent Injustice should SO long have re-
NAMED part of the law Of Kansas"
said Mrs. Smith. "In the state OF
Washington there is a provision
whereby the same right in community
property, by that l mean the property
accumulated by the husband and wife,
is vested in the wife as in the hus-
hand. There is a provision that at the
death of either the descent is the
same, and that the wife has right to
do as she sees fit with accumulated
property after the death of her hus-
band, just as the husband may do up
on the death of the wife. That the
wife also may make provisions us to
the descent of her portion Of her
property after her death" y...
Advance in Education
With little change the Kansas law
regql ding the property rights Of mar
ried women, justice might be extended
to ..tcm, Mrs. Smith said.
Mrs. Smith dwelt on the laws re-
garling children but briefly. She said
that ctten the relations of the '.hih
and mother were SO intimate that laws
favoring one favored the other, that
laws smeliorating the conditions. for
rnotl ors were beneficial to her rhil !
zen -
She reminded the club women that
Kansas already has enacted some very
progressive measures for education.
Improvement IssSeen- =:
1--WE have a compulsory law on the
statute books compelling parents to
send their children to school d certain
number of months in a year" Mrs.
Smith said. "Also a penalty for the
violation of the rule. We have laws
regulating the hours children UNDER
certain ages may work. For depend
ent children there are laws in regard]
to institutions for them. They are not
adequate for the need, but in time
may be improved. There are laws re-
garding the furnishing Of narcotics to
children. These laws may not be per-
feet but they are a step in the right
direction.
"Our legislators have undertaken
to provide labor conditions favorable
to the health and welfare of the work.
ing women. The rights-of citizenship
have gradually come to the women Of
Kansas until now they stand on an
equal footing with men as citizens,
and are free-to express their opinions
at the polls and to have those Opin-
ions counted" j