voice in government. But men have demonstrated that they are not truly gallant or kind toward women and the weaker members of society; for they have heaped the most unfair restrictions upon them, and have plainly shown the insincerity of their professed respect for womanhood.

Within the recollection of the present generation the condition of women has changed enormously for the better since they have taken the higher education; and therein lies their promise of safety; for if they trust to the uninfluenced generosity of men to grant them even decent rights, they will be disappointed. Until women began to take an interest in affairs of state, all laws which aimed to better their condition invariably met with effectual opposition, and whatever improvements have taken place in legislation regarding public morals are attributable almost solely to women and their influence. Because women have been silent, men have been led to believe that they are indifferent to public morals; but, though it is characteristic of women to close their eyes and avert their heads at the sight or suggestion of horrible things, yet many noble ones among them have bravely fought for the betterment of their social condition with the grandest results. Women are at bottom the real authors of the recent laws which have been enacted in many of our States-raising the "age of consent" from eight or ten years to fourteen, sixteen, and in some instances eighteen years of age.

The technical term "age of consent" denotes the age at which a girl can consent to her own seduction without incrimination of the violator. These statutes vary in the different civilized countries, but in all of them carnal knowledge of a girl under statutory age is punishable as rape, even though she consent.

It is a strange anomaly that a girl cannot make contracts or marry without parental consent until she is eighteen years of age, and that a man, though not permitted by law to make her his wife, may yet with impu

nity make her his mistress before she has attained that age.

In some States the "age of consent" has been fixed by law at seven years (Delaware); in many others at ten years, and in others at varying ages up to eighteen years. At the earlier ages the unsuspecting child does not, of course, at all appreciate the significance of the sexual act, or the shame and physical injury to which she is subjected.'

In England, in 1885, the "age of consent" was, by the influence of women, raised from thirteen to sixteen years of age; and without doubt the time is soon coming when

The Philanthropist for March, 1896, published the following data:

"PROTECTION FOR GIRLHOOD.

"During the year we have again secured an official statement, as given by the secretaries of the several States of the Union, concerning the age-of-consent laws. As a result we present the following:

"In four States-Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama-the Age of Consent is fixed at the shocking low age of ten years. In four States-Kentucky, Virginia, Nevada and West Virginia-the age is fixed at twelve years. In three States-New Hampshire, Utah and Iowa-at thirteen years. In the State of Maryland, in Maine, in Vermont, in Indiana, in North Dakota, in Georgia, in Illinois, and in California, at fourteen years. In Nebraska and Texas the age limit is fifteen years. In New Jersey, in Massachusetts, in Michigan, Montana, South Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, the age is sixteen years. In Tennessee, sixteen years and one day. In Florida, seventeen years. In New York, Kansas, Wyoming and Colorado, eighteen years. In Delaware, the original statute pertaining to the crime of rape is still unrepealed, fixing the age at seven years, but the last legislature passed an amended act which, practically, is designed to extend legal protection in that State to young girls to the limit of eighteen years.

"There is urgent need of added legislation to more adequately protect minors of both sexes against sexual defilement. The Alliance has under consideration, in connection with a committee of jurists, a measure to meet this need."

carnal knowledge of a girl under eighteen years of age will everywhere be punishable by law as rape.

In most of the interests of life the conditions affecting the sexes are identical; but one sex alone has never been able to and never can justly or intelligently govern the peculiar relationships of the two sexes; and for the proper adjustment of these natural differences the counsel of women is imperatively required. How can legislators, many of whom are notoriously corrupt, be relied upon to legislate favorably for women when they have no proper respect for them, nor appreciation of the evils and dangers of prostitution and its concomitant disease, illegitimacy, and criminal abortion?

The mere sentiment of women has often proved sufficient to defeat the election of legislators of impure fame; and the time seems to be fast coming when they will have the franchise, which is far more powerful than sentiment; and when that responsibility is accorded, and when they have accepted it, it may confidently be predicted, so the author thinks, that the world will improve at a bound.' Respect

"I have been seeking for some years a good, sound reason why women should not vote, and I have, after diligent search, found one,

and only one. It is because they are women. There is no other, so

far as I have yet been able to discover, which rises above the frivolous. . .

"When the war closed, many millions of men and women were made free. In order to enable them to protect their freedom, it was deemed necessary to place the ballot in the hands of the free-men. It did not apparently matter so much about the women; because, it is presumed, it was thought they could protect themselves or could lean upon the chivalry of the men. With all the power of the United States to back up the government, the black man had still for his protection to be endowed with the ballot. The women could get along without it, beause they were women. The only qualifications were that the voter should be of age-and a man. It would have been well to add another qualification-that he should be able to read and write.

"The next time we extend the suffrage it is to be hoped we will not

for womanhood is the great distinguishing mark of superiority of our modern times over the ancient civilizations, so we all believe; and we realize that when she who is the centre of home life ceases to be respected by men, or fails to uphold her own dignity, then society will be undermined and corrupted.

If men are wise, and if they are earnest in their desires for a high state of civilization, they will not oppose the noble efforts of women by ridicule, but rather seek their counsel for in the near future we shall be compelled to pay tribute to the justice, and humanity, and equality which they will have instilled into our hearts and into our laws.

repeat the same mistake, but bestow on women who can read and write the right to cast a ballot. Once in possession of the franchise, it would be strange, indeed, if she did not make a better use of it than ignorance and degradation have ever succeeded in doing.

"That the day for the enfranchisement of women in this country is coming cannot be doubted by any one capable of reading the very apparent signs which have been shown for some years past. One of the most remarkable of these signs is the desperate struggle those opposed to woman suffrage are making to prevent its accomplishment. Desperate struggles are not made against attacks less formidable and persistent than those which have been waged so long in favor of placing woman on the same legal level with man, by putting in her hand the only weapon competent for her protection."-" Why Women Should Have the Ballot," by General John Gibbon, U. S. A., in The North American Review, July, 1896.

CHAPTER V.

SOME OF THE INFLUENCES WHICH INCITE TO SEXUAL

IMMORALITY.

The Abuse of Spirituous Liquors is pre-eminently one of the leading factors which promote licentiousness, and the reason is not far to seek-for alcohol notably enfeebles the powers of resistance, confuses the reason, and at the same time awakens and stimulates the desire for sexual gratification by allowing the lower animal passions to transcend the higher.

No healthy person is benefited by the use of any fermented or distilled drink, and probably the habitual use of any liquor which contains alcohol is injurious to the normal person.

Alcoholic beverages are especially dangerous to the Anglo-Saxon and the Celt, since the tendency in these races is to rashly increase the amount of the alcohol until moderation is set aside.

Medicinally the stimulants are invaluable, and they have been called "the milk of old people"; but at best they are sharp-edged tools, and quite unsuitable for the ordinary individual.

Not to enter into an elaborate discussion, there can, however, be no dispute that the saloons are the disseminators of everything obscene and impure, and the very lighthouses of hell.