A Short History of Women's Rights Part 30

12--For the inspection of private eleemosynary inst.i.tutions by the State Board of Charities.

13--Various steps toward prevention of cruelty to animals.

14--Providing that foreign life and accident insurance companies, when sued, must pay the costs.

15--Establis.h.i.+ng a juvenile court.

16--Making education compulsory for all children between the ages of 8 and 16, except those who are ill or those who are 14 and have completed the eighth grade, or those whose parents need their help and support.

17--Making the mother and father joint heirs of a deceased child.

18--Providing for union high schools.

19--Establis.h.i.+ng a State travelling library commission.

20--Providing that any person employing a child under 14 in any mine, mill, or factory be punished by imprisonment in addition to a fine.

21--Requiring the joint signature of the husband and wife to a mortgage of a homestead.

22--Forbidding the insuring of the lives of children under 10.

23--Forbidding children of 16 or under to work more than six hours a day in any mill, factory, or other occupation that may be unhealthful.

24--Making it a criminal offence to contribute to the delinquency of children--the parental responsibility act.

25--Making it a misdemeanour to fail to support aged or infirm parents.

26--Providing that no woman shall work more than eight hours a day at work requiring her to be on her feet.

27--Restricting the time for shooting doves.

28--Abolis.h.i.+ng the binding out of girls committed to the Industrial School until the age of 21.

29--A pure food law in harmony with the national law.

[418] In the _Boston Herald_ for June 4, 1910.

[419] Quoted in the _New York Times_ of Jan. 9, 1910.

[420] See, for example, Lyman Abbott in the _Outlook_ for Feb. 19, 1910.

[421] _American Magazine_, July, 1909.

[422] _History of European Morals_, vol. ii, pp. 379 and following. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1869.

[423] Note, for example, that in Maryland a man can get a divorce if his wife has had s.e.xual intercourse before marriage; _but a wife cannot get a divorce from her husband if he has been guilty of the same thing_. In Texas, adultery on the part of the wife ent.i.tles the husband to a divorce; but the wife can obtain divorce from her husband only if he has _abandoned_ her and _lived_ in adultery with another woman.

[424] On Jan. 12, 1910, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives to check the "White Slave Traffic" by providing a penalty of ten years' imprisonment and a fine of five thousand dollars for any one who engages in it.

[425] In some it is even lower; _ten_ in Georgia and Mississippi for example.

[426] In _Collier's Weekly_, Feb. 5, 1910.

[427] Note what the officers of the Chicago Juvenile Protective a.s.sociation, many of whom are women, accomplished in 1909-1910. These women are fighting the agencies which make for juvenile crime mostly and each officer has a specified "beat" to patrol. Last year their work amounted to the following:

Complaints of selling liquors to minors investigated 295 Complaints of selling tobacco to minors investigated 52 Complaints of selling obscene postcards investigated 49 Complaints of poolrooms investigated 203 Complaints of dance halls investigated 92 Five and ten cent theatres visited 1,013 Penny arcades visited 67 Saloons visited 735 Relief visits 174 Cases referred to relief organisations 374 Legal aid cases referred 105 Referred to Visiting Nurses' a.s.sociation 7 Housing cases referred 51 Applications for work referred 264 Placed in hospitals 103 Sent to dispensaries 192 Children placed in homes 240 Slot machines removed 223 Work found for men 57 Work found for women 81 Work found for boys 84 Work found for girls 90 Visits to ice-cream parlors 356 Visits to candy stores 805

VISITS TO COURTS

Juvenile 451 Munic.i.p.al 1,809 Criminal 211 County 86 Grand Jury 26 Conferences with state or city officials 1,244

PROSECUTIONS

Cases of abandonment 99 a.s.sault and battery 8 Contributing to delinquency and dependency of children 232 Crimes against children 12 Disorderly conduct 141 Immoral dancing 4 Intoxicating liquors 33 Juvenile Court cases 78 Larceny 4 Tobacco 10 Sale of cocaine 4 Other cases 110 Total prosecutions 738

RESULTS Convictions 311 Settled out of court 100 Nolle pros, or nonsuit 52 Dismissed 93 Acquittals 50 Pending 92 ----- Total complaints received 5,047

CHAPTER X

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS

In the four years intervening since this book was first written, the progress of equal rights for women has been so rapid that the summary on pages 175-235 is now largely obsolete; but it is useful for comparison.

In the United States at present (August, 1914), Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Was.h.i.+ngton, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, and Alaska have granted full suffrage to women. In the following States the voters will pa.s.s upon the question in the autumn of 1914: Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio, the last three by initiative pet.i.tion. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New York, and Ma.s.sachusetts a const.i.tutional amendment for equal suffrage has pa.s.sed one legislature and must pa.s.s another before being submitted to the people. The advance has been world-wide. Thus, in 1910 the Gaekwar of Baroda in India allowed the women of his dominions a vote in munic.i.p.al elections, and Bosnia bestowed the parliamentary suffrage on women who owned a certain amount of real estate; Norway in 1913 and Iceland in 1914 were won to full suffrage. The following table presents a convenient historical summary of the progress in political rights:

On July 2, 1776, two days before the Declaration of Independence was signed, New Jersey, in her first State const.i.tution, en-franchised the women by changing the words of her provincial charter from "Male freeholders worth 50" to "_all inhabitants_ worth 50," and for 31 years the women of that State voted.

GAINS IN EQUAL SUFFRAGE

Eighty years ago women could not vote anywhere, except to a very limited extent in Sweden and in a few other places in the Old World.

TIME PLACE KIND OF SUFFRAGE

1838 Kentucky School suffrage to widows with children of school age.

1850 Ontario School suffrage, women married and single.

1861 Kansas School suffrage.

1867 New South Wales Munic.i.p.al suffrage.

1869 England Munic.i.p.al suffrage, single women and widows.

Victoria Munic.i.p.al suffrage, married and single women.

Wyoming Full suffrage.

1871 West Australia Munic.i.p.al suffrage.

1875 Michigan School suffrage.

Minnesota Do.

1876 Colorado Do.

1877 New Zealand Do.

1878 New Hamps.h.i.+re Do.

Oregon Do.