I make no statements which you cannot verify. My love for our young friend here and my allegiance to every member of my sex impels me to tell you "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”—and I do so in the full consciousness that, if such ever becomes known, I shall be victimized to my very grave.

But there is France, a republic, at your very door, and you need not cross the sea for an example of democracy. France has accomplished less in the elevation and in the practical amelioration of woman's condition than any other advanced country in Europe. Woman in France, as wife, as daughter, in her relation to divorce, in her political, legal and civil life, has about the lowest status in Europe.

Then there are the republics of South America where neither legally, politically, nor educationally, is woman much advanced beyond her mediæval conditions-in fact, her legal and educational status generally is far inferior to that of woman in parts of the Orient (especially in Turkey); while her political standing is not so good as in Japan.

But let us return again to the government I live in the American Republic-that government which eternally brags and prates about liberty and equality and see if it does better generally for women than a government which never brags or prates about liberty and equality. Let us see the wife's legal status therein-in sixteen States a wife has no right to her own earnings and the husband can collect the same for his own use; in eight States she has no right to her own property; in several States she has no interest in the estate her husband owned at their marriage, and on his dying she has no dower therein. In no State of the Union, if the wife dies first, can she bequeath any part of her property which she, as wife, has helped the husband amass, even to their children, for during the husband's life she has only an interest of a pauper or dependent in such estate. In several States a wife has no right to her own inherited property, which, unless placed in the hands of trustees (and away from her own management) becomes absolutely her husband's property at their marriage, and at his death she is only en

titled to a fraction thereof as dower. In thirtysix States the wife has no right to her own children, for the law gives the father legal control and guardianship of them.*

Thousands of husbands, when they die, leave wills which are marvels of injustice and cruelty. Men have even willed from their wives the very property that they received through their marriage. Even the guardianship of children has been given to others. In nearly every State, the father is next of kin to the children, the law thus averring that the father is, in its eyes, a nearer blood relation than the mother. To illus

*A father may, without the mother's consent, by his last will or testament, appoint a guardian for his child, born or unborn. This guardian will have control or management of the child's property, and, in case the mother dies while the child is still a minor, he will be entitled to the custody of the child, and the mother can in no way prevent his having it.

If the father dies without having appointed a guardian, and it becomes necessary to appoint a guardian of the person and estate of the child, or children, the Probate Court appoints said guardian, but the Probate Court is not bound to appoint the mother. It may appoint a stranger, and that, too, without the consent of the mother.

trate: A boy fourteen years of age was killed by a railway train some time ago. His father having permanently deserted the family, the boy helped toward the support of the family. The mother, therefore, brought suit against the railway company to recover damages for her loss. The case was decided against her because, by the statute of the State in which the accident happened, the next of kin to the child is the father; and the mother was, therefore, entitled to no damages. In one State the husband may perpetrate any wrong, outrage or infamy against a wife; but under no conditions or circumstances can she divorce him. In the same State the husband may make contracts which, for years at a time, will bind his infant girls (as soon as they are six years of age) to labor as factory hands. The children can be compelled to work for twelve hours a day. The mother has absolutely no redress at law. Large numbers of these little girls receive only from six to ten cents a day for their work, and many of them work from six o'clock at night until six o'clock the next morning.

In five States husbands can bind their little

girls as factory hands for years (they usually only live four years after being thus bound, and those who live longer are mental and physical wrecks). The helpless wife has no redress; she cannot interfere. In whole sections in the South in the country districts women have practically all the work to do; and they support their children and their husbands. In one of the oldest States the law allows male brutes to lead girls of seven years of age to their ruin; in six of the States at ten years of age; and in four of the States at twelve years of age. The helpless mother has no right to change these laws.

By the wills of some of our millionaire magnates, the faithful wife and mother finds herself poor compared with any of her own sons, and one son is made the head of the family, with the lion's share of those millions left to him to do with as he sees fit. Please remember that there is only one country in Europe (England) where the law of primogeniture prevails, and even in that country the eldest son is simply a life tenant of the real estate. This is an entirely different matter from a boy inheriting the