Evening star., 1925-04-30
MEXICAN SCORES
ACTIVITIES OF u. S.
IN SISTER REPUBLIC

Continued from First Page,)
can be no promise of a continuous
policy. The United States, of course,
has great many men who would sell
their souls for money, If they see a
chance to get money out of Latin
America they will go to any lengths
to get 1t, and often, of course, they
are able to bring pressure upon the
government In power. In this way
the incidents have arisen which have
aroused the suspicious of our neigh
bors and they may happen again
But the pressure of public opinion
here is becoming more and more pow
erful against such incidents. l think
1t will grow more and more powerful
as the years go by. There is much
less likelihood today of these disturb
ing incidents. That is the best / can
offer"
Women of Latin America must be
much more diplomatic than those of
the north in working for their rights,
Donna Bertha Lutz, delegate from
Brazil, told the conference
Hits Presence of Y. w. C. A.
I'VE must stick absolutely to the
business in hand and steer away from
every issue, no matter how beneficent
or harmless it may appear A single
small group of members may do us
great damage when we think we are
moving ahead finely.
In this connection | must bring up
frankly a very delicate subjeCt-that
or the Y. w. &. A. | do not question
the objects of the Y. w. G. A. I feel
that in its field it has done a great
deal OF good. But there are people in
Brazil who feel differently, and the
presence of this organization in
Buenos Aires has done more damage
than good, SO far as legislative better
ment of women is concerned.
Such things forever are cropping
up In Brazil. Some woman has made
a wreck of her own life or some nan
mas made wreck of it for her. She
tries to get a divorce and lines TN
some local body of women In an effort
TO SO change the laws that il can Ls
granted. Right there our work has
been given terrible setback The
whole woman movement becomes as
sociated in the minds of some with
an eHort to secure easy divorce laws.
naturally very unpopular movement
in Brazil"
In a number of Latin countries the
women actually have secured the
active backing of the powerful Cath.
olic prelates, the conference was told.
Mrs. RayneSS said that in Argentina
the prelates, after listening to ths
aims OF the women, agreed to give
them their approval. In Chile, it was
pointed out. the church is in favor
Of full suffrage for the women. Dur
ing the past year, partly because of
The political upsets of the country.
women have gained their greatest
triumphs in progressive legislation,
tho conference was told.
Mrs. Sara Casal de Quiros. delegate
from Costa Rica, said there was every
prospect Of the women of that little
country obtaining full suffrage in the
next five years, since there seemed
to be no opposition and only legal
technicalities in the way.
Put in Difficult Position.
The women of Mexico, however, are
in a difficult position, Miss Torres
said, due to an error which nobody
could have detected at the time
When the recent presidential election
started, she said, the womens organ
ization drew up list of pledges and
took them to all the candidates. They
met with Indifferent success until they
approached de la Huerta, who un-
qualitiedly indorsed every one and
promised sincerely to work for more
liberal legislation for women
Consequently in every state of
Mexico the women's clubs were in
structed to work for de la Huerta.
Almost before they knew it the de
Ia Huerta revolution had started and
the women found themselves prac-
tically in the position of armed rebels
against the established government.
The delegates dined last night at
the Hotel Wa +H,a
lowing speakers discussed "a Dozen
Wishes for Any Intelligent Woman:
Mrs. Esther Niera de Calvo, Panama;
Mrs. Milagros Benet de Newton, Porto
Rico; Mrs. Sara CasaI de Quiros,
Costa Rica; Dona Bertha Lutz, Brazil.
Mrs. Pillar Morton de Menendez, Cuba;
Mrs. Maria Suarez de Coronado, Co
lombia; Mrs. Ella NJ. Thorburn, Can
ada; Miss Elena Torres, Mexico: Mrs.
Amanda Labarca, Chile: Mrs. Maria
de Becerra, Ecuador; Mrs. Jean T.
Raynes. Argentina, and Mrs. Maud
Park Wood, United States.
Property Rights Discussed.
The forenoon session today was de-
voted to discussion of the property
rights of married women in the vari-
Gus nations. 1t was brought out that
most of the Latin republics had adopt.
ed the body of the Napoleonic code as
their fundamental law, and that this
in turn was based upon the Ro-
man law.
In most countries, delegates stated
women did not retain property rights
after marriage unless a contract ex-
plicitly defining their rights had been
drawn up and signed before the cere-
mony. Such a contract fully protects
the wife but, the delegates said, 1t is
very rarely that woman dares be so
distrustful of her future husband as
to demand that he sign away his
rights.
In Chile, it was explained, the law
apparently protects women except for
a peculiar catch. The marriage cere-
mony contains the word obey" The
law does not provide for divorce
ARnnp n icrh l,rr fn,l