Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-12-17

wv ASHlNGTON, ID. e.. Dec. 12.-The
wv searchlight is being turned, perhaps
more thoroughly than ever before,
on the laws which affect women. The ma
tional woman's party is going systematically
from state to state making surveys of these
laws. Then, when legislatures inquire in
nocently in what way women are bound I'M
fairly by their statutes, the feminsts are
ready with report showing concisely the
states legal attitude toward women.
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Ala
bama are the four states which so far have
been studied. These states were taken first
because the state legislatures were to meet
there. Now, the woman's party workers are
going on to collect evidence onsnine more
states where the legislatures convene early
in the coming year.
This is part Of the campaign to get each
state to pass blanket bill removing all legal
disabilities Of women. Wisconsin is, so far,
the only state to adopt such a measure:
Last spring, in a nine weeks campaign,
Wisconsin put through a bill which gave the
women of the state the same rights and
privileges before the law as the men hold.
The bill instructed the courts so take the
words he, his, him, and similar words indi-
eating the masculine gender in the state laws
to include also the feminine equivalents. One
exception to this was provided: the laws are
not to be so read where the construction
would ''deny to females the special protec-
ton and privileges which they now enjoy for
the general welfare" This refers, in part
to the laws protecting women in industry
Wisconsin made this sweeping change
without much ado. But when the proposal
came to the four southern legislatures that
met little later, it was given a chilling re-
ception.
Louisiana agreed to nine changes, but the
radical idea Of absolute legal equality for
women was turned down flatly The other
three state legislatures to which the meas
ure was admitted also rejected it. And yet,
the feminists point out, these states, pro-
gressive in many ways, are far behind some
others states in their legal treatment OF
women.
Marriage in Mississippi
The surveys of the state laws showed
many cases where the old common law holds.
For instance, wife in Mississippi was re-
fused the right to sue for damages for the
alienation OF her husbands affections The
laws of the state give the husband control
OF the W1te's personal property, and the court
held that in these circumstances if the wife
won the suit, the erring husband would bene-
fit by it as he could appropriate the money.
In this state. which is not the most back
ward of the forty-eight, woman practically
leases herself out to her husband for life. In
return for her services she receives her
board and keep. But she cannot require her
husband to pay her anything, She has no
right to any part of the family income and
she has no interest in her husbands property
unless he dies and leaves it.
Thus, when a woman was injured by a fall
on an exposed gas pipe, the wife received
damages for her personal injury, but the
husband was allowed by the court to collect
the amount awarded as the loss of her serv-
ices in the home
According to the report from Florida, the
women of that state are under the domina-
tion Of the old English common law to a
greater extent than perhaps any other state