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i§ i — M i Here's aOo. j§ 1 Big Thinff, Sure Enough I 1 ... .Too Much Stock 1 sap ' . ■■■ - .... , rT g2s| n. . a jaya Consider the source of this announcement, and you who need Clothing will be promptly clothed. You all know what it means lor sag p|| Mullen, Bluett & Co. to talk shop. We have altogether too much stock in Men's and Boy's Summer Clothing, and must unload at ||| once. Beginning g£|j m Monday, June Bth H 1 -— — — ■ ||8 Remember the Time and the Place, for this is your opportunity. Our stock comprises the best goods from the best makers, and all Summer Goods must go. The sharpened scythe has mowed them down and the deductions mean for Spot Cash. swp W From 10 to 20 Per Cent. H I|| This is no half-hearted effort. We mean to reach you promptly and decidedly. We have moved around and touched them all off; §rrs something will strike, but it won't be your pocket. Ss® SSI iH Choicest Clothinsr Chopped m I • ij I 101 North //%M 201=203=205=207=2091 j I Spring St. West First St. | H 1 —~1 H THE SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT (Under the above head The Herald will publish each Sunday for a limited time, contributions from the public discussing the proposed amendment of section 1. ar ticle 2, or the California constitution. The amendment, which would give to women the same rights of suffrage enjoyed at present by men in this state. Is to be voted on ut the next general election. Contribu tions to this department must not exceed 100 words, written legibly on one side of paper only.j Law vi. Mother "God give us men! A time like this de uiumlH Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready bauds: Men whom the lust of oflice does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who are possessed cf opinions ami a will; lieu who love honor; men who will not lie." The progress of a nation toward higher civilization is determined by the conditions of its women, whether bound by the hideous deformity v>f the feet, yoked to the cattle in the lields. dwarfed In Intellectual pursuit! or manacled by equally inhuman laws. No man can rise to sell' respect and higher plane of action held back by chain and hall; a nation cannot rise to the acme of a true civilization where one-half of its people are hound by old time customs and prejudices. "You cannot unlock the future's por tals with Time's blood-rusted key," where its women are manacled by a common law that should have been a disgrace in a crude civilization. The property laws regarding woman, the ace of consent, the probate laws that degrade the mother and widow are among the heinous crimes of the nine teenth century, and their name Is le gion. Jt Is our purpose to bring to the light of day, for the; general public, some of the laws that should arouse tho right eous wrath, not only of the motherhood but the fatherhood of the land: for there are true-hearted men. While we shall speak of California in general, better In some respects than other states, yet California joins hands with thirty-six states to make motherhood and widow hood a crime. Several years ago I said to one of our lawyers, writhing under the Injustice, "I am under bonds and looking for a bondsman." He looked at me In bewilderment and stammered out, "Anything criminal? I —" "Yes," I replied, "the crime of being a mother and a widow." He drew a long breath of relief as he said, "That isn't a crime." I was lighting two states at the time. "Yes, It is." I said; "the accursed laws of the land men have made and men sustained deny the natural right of the mother as guardian and force her to a legal right solely to be placed by the minions of the law." He may riot yet have recovered himself. How these law yers steer clear of a woman who dares to assert the infamy that has set a seal upon the statute books of America! Aed woman, some comfortably Ignorant of these laws, of the stigma and dark dis grace attached to her womanhood.cooily say: "I. have all the rights I want. I would not turn my hand over to secure the bal lot." And men, good men and Intelli gent, make no effort to repeal these per nicious laws, and others care less and never Beck to know what is hidden with in the covers of these dark tomes. If a man dies insolvent, if he owns no real estate or livestock, but his wealth is In less tangible form, the law can rob the widow of everything to meet the de mands ot the creditors. If he dies In solvent or intestate with a homestead, livestock or landed property, a certain portion, together with the homestead, is set aside for the bereaved family; but without this, if in stock, bonds, mort gages, household furniture, etc., In a rented house, everything of value, com munity property Is not then recognized, but all must be swept into the Insatiate maw of the probate court and and cred itors, real or trumped up; even the wife's own presents are seized to sat isfy their greed, and the widow dragged through this seething cauldron of law. Did you ever see or hear of the widower passing through this mill and the com munity property swept Into the cease less vortex and the man beggared? Never! If the wife dies does the law step in with its sacrilegious hands, enter the abode where the Angel of Death has been, overhaul everything from garret to cellar, appraise the household goods, entering H lilt their unholy presence where the Heaper so lately passed, label every cherished memento? No! Only the widow and mother Is subject to such sacrilege and Indignity. The civil code of California reads: "The property of the community Is not liable for the contracts of the wife made after marriage, unless by a pledge or mortgage thereof executed by the hus band." Hut the community property is not protected to the wife. The husband may contract any debt, rush Into any mad speculation or dissipation, wreck the home, squander the property, sell the crops or live stock that the wife may have worked for and grown old with .toil and cares. Hut she has no redress. The husband Is the absolute master. .If he dies, out from the wreck the uttermost farthing goes to pay his debts. Another: "The husband has the man agement and control of the community property, with absolute power of dis position, other than testarnentaiT, as he has of his separate property." Under this statute he can convey the property away so effectually that the law cannot touch it, as the wife has no legal rower to prevent his squandering in life or bring a stay of proceedings after death. At marriage a woman forfeits all legal rights and freedom. She may in law hold separate property, but a shrewd scoundrel can get that in his grip, and leave her penniless of her own, and af ter being legally robbed of the last dol lar of community property. Again: "No person, whether parent or otherwise, has any power as a guard ian of property unless appointed." This does not hold water, for a father never forfeits his legal guardianship, except by crime, idiocy or insanity; during Ufa his control of property, wife and child ren Is absolute. Thank God, some men are too noble to take advantage of it. At the husband's death the mother be comes a serf, a hireling; the probate court sets aside her natural claims of ma'ternlty, and rules with a power more absolute and despotic than ever the hus band may have done. He may have pro vided well for the loved ones, making home an abode of love and comfort, but this court Bets aside all this and claims a legal mastership. With a heart of adamant, it crushes out the property and lives of tts victims. If,the mother marries again, a kind and judicious man, who might take the place, In part, of the father, no matter how capable both may be, still the legal (?) guardian holds its clutches upon the children. Again: "Parents adversely claiming the custody or guardianship, neither is entitled to it by right (who, then, has prior right), but things being equal, If the child is of tender years, it should be given to the mother; if it be of an age to require education or preparation for labor, then It should be given to the father." Here again is a wise decision of law. So long as the child will be a burden and care in Its helpless Infancy the father does not want It; the mother then only is her natural claim recognized to nur ture and support it, with or without ali mony. But If old enough, then the mother, no matter hotv superior her In tellectual powers to the mediocre of the father's, she Is wholly incapable. In law. jof educating and training the child. Though morally unfit to have the mould- LOS ANGELES HERALD: SUNDAY MORNTNG. JUNE 7, 1896. Ing of the plastic mind of youth, the law recognizes the first claim of the father, as in a recent case in our own city, when the judge acknowledged to the mother and the court that the father was unfit to have the custody of the child, but It was the law Inexorable, and he must maintain it. And women, mothers, will say: "I have all the rights I w ant." "I would not turn my hand to have the ballot." WAY ELMORE BENSEN. (To be Continued.) The Queition cf Equal Rights i Although an inhabitant of a sister I state I cannot refrain' from expressing a few thoughts in behalf of the women of the "Sunny clime," among whom I have found many true and loyal friends. God speed the day which will give them their free-born rights! Education is the solution now being offered for many of our national prob lems and we are rapidly awaking to the fact that in the great question of suf frage and social purity ignorance is an enormous factor, which must be elim inated if we would wipe this wrong out of our land. One blessed feature of the civilization of the nineteenth century is that Ignorance on the part of parents does not necessitate nor in any way predetermine Ignorance for the children. Where the law of the state does not compel them to attend school there Is a law which says: "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat." If machinery has so taken the place of manual labor that a man or woman without some head learning must needs struggle hard for a bare existence and not Infrequently goes under In the tight. Thus by the very demands of the case the children are pushed through the open doors of our public schools, and with the teach ers rests large responsibility for the so lution of this problem. Our hope is in the children and we believe that it is the little ones of this generation who are to lead this crusade on to Its final victory in this our grand republic. Yes, we must educate. We have good, grand laws, but there is a crying need of legis latures that will enforce them, and \yhere shall we Und such, if we do not educate the future members? We have laws that are a shame to any nation; shall the women not protect their men tal, moral and material estate by Join ing noble manhood In sending out from the ranks of our Christian colleges just and pure men who shall frame new laws in accordance with the divine law? We want more ministers who will never bo afraid to tell men and women of hid den evils, who shaU tear aside their cloaks of hypocrisy, exhort, rebuke, teach, plead, watfi. We need physicians who will dare to face public scorn and hate rather than wink at sin, that they may grow rich thereby. We want fathers and mothers, who, understanding the laws of life and health, can people the world with such men and women as these. It Is because of the children whom we mean to educate to a knowl edge of the whole truth that we dare to look forward to so fair a future and a republic where all shall be citizens with equal rights. Citizenship Is a natural right. It is the gift of God and should not be man-bestowable. Human claims will never be vindicated, civilization never be perfected, philanthropy will never be triumphant until woman en ters Into her full heritage. Suffrage is woman's heritage because, equally with men, women are parts of a whole, and suffer and enjoy the results of all good and bad conditions, whether in family, home, society or government. They, therefore, should have an equal share In all that pertains to the regulation of the same- It matters not whether women desire to be emancipated or not. that has nothing to do with the Justice of the question. When a convict's term has expired the law does not consult him as to his preference of liberty or I Imprisonment; he is set free. Mothers of the noble state of California will you not Join bands with the teachers to so rear, educate and Influence the coming generation that this our republic shall Indeed be the land of the free and the home of the brave. The colored people of the South were not questioned whether they would be free or not: tho time was ripe, the hammer fell, the links of slavedom were forever shattered. A greater slavedom holds, in these clos ing years of the nineteenth century, more than half of our population in bond age—woman, man's helpmate, the mother of the race, made in the image of man and God (man was only made of the carth —but she of better material, man's rib) is denied her freeborn right and privileges! She and her property are governed by laws in the making of which she has no voice—the under lying principle of our beloved constitu tion in outrageously violated, "No tax ation without representation." Amenable to law, women should have a voice in framing the code under which they live: the ballot means so much of power and influence as to cause a shame ful disparity in wages of equal work by men and women. We want the ballot because we respect ourselves and want the world to respect us. We want the ballot for every reason that can be assigned for giving it to men. "Right is right since God is God, And right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin." MRS. LOUISE LEVERING WEBER. May 28, 1896. Purely a Matter of Justice I will inquire of the ashes of legisla tors what causes have erected and over thrown empires? What are the prin ciples of national prosperity and mis fortune? What the maxims upon which the peace of society and the happiness of man ought to be founded? I stopped, and, casting down my eyes, I waited the reply of the genius. Peace and happiness, said he, deßcend from him who preaches justice! Volney. Constitutional law is the high-water mark of man's political rising, and a revised code, or an amended constitu tion, is the landmark and finger-board of his uprising—growing better. The average man rises no higher than the spirit of the law of which he is a part. Statutes are the record of his do ing and undoing, and like water sqeking its own level he never reaches higher than the high tide of the medium moral ity of his representative, our lawmakers. So it has been impossible for him to deal Justly by woman. The age of consent laws, divorce laws, property ownership laws, have been with few exceptions till very recently unfavorable to women. A few weeks ago here In our own city a widow lost considerable money by trust ing to the honor and chivalry of her hus band's debtors, who said, when finally appealed to for settlement, "It is an hon est debt, but it has been outlawed!" She appealed to her attorney. "Oh," said he, "it is too bad; it is gone by default—lim itation." Had she been a part of that law she would have felt to some extent responsible for its abuse. Ignorance has no excuse In law, and In this case, at least, man's knowledge did not save woman against the penalty of his own law. Another striking case came up in our city divorce courtß In regard to the possession of a child. Said the judge: "I know, madam, that man (her hus band) Is not a fit person to have the child, but it is the law, the law, madam." Our elective system has had a long changing- scale from the edicts of kings and priests, through the lords and nobil ity, until here in this country, and Cali fornia, especially, a male, white or black, 2i years old, with a little collateral of residence, and a native-born (male), Chinaman, are full-fledged sovereigns in a political court, amenities and per quisites considered. This has been regarded a full expression of Republican rights and the frui tion of true Democracy, "that all men are considered equal," was not the conception of a truth born in a day and revealed to one man only. It has always been an eternal verity ready to become manifested, to become self evident, embodied, incarnated, and in corporated into law when mankind was ready to receive it, and henceforth it would become the ruling principle of all governments. Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness follow as an economic fac tor and a beacon light directing the mid night traveler through the wilderness of special privilege, to the morning light of "all governments derive their just power from the consent of the gov erned." This has been a prophecy, and remains a dormant sentiment in our national life. Are we now ready for the ques tion? How much just power has been derived, if more than half the popula tion are unconsented women? And how much of this grand declaration that heralded to the world the birth of a new nation by the ringing of the liberty bell 120 years ago, how much is still a dead letter? And how much is to be delivered annually only, in patriotic allopathic doses, to the uneasy multitude as a po litico-therapeutics, warranted to cure all ills of a mal-administrative nature, and keep the citizen in a fair state of health till the next Fourth of July patriotic ex plosive climax? Our ancestors fought their battles, declared their rights, and are held up to us as demigods for their revolutionary spirit. Shall we continue tp wear their old clothes, obey their laws, be lost In their constitutions, con demned by infallable Judiciary inter pretations, submissive victims of a for mula out of date? Shall we, too, revel In too much glory and die of too much patriotism for the days of our forefathers? Revolutions are the result of a soulless power, whether it be king or a republic asking obedience through the dignity of the law, while continuing expediency of Jus tice, and trying to make past methods a security for the present. All history of national growth never exactly repeats itself, though it has carried a record of continual births of rights, a divine rev elation so to speak, to man, a new im pulse seeking expression in changed re lations. The eleventh amendment Is to day a moral awakening, a spiritual dis cernment of truth and justice that is to help pioneer reform and bring about a national equipoise, by readjusting gov ernment machinery to our larger growth and greater good. S. A. BOWMAN. From the Loving Nephew My Dear Aunt Sally: Where in this world did you imbibe such strange ideas as those expressed in your last letter? You are evidently a hayseed from way back, and In need of informa tion upon many subjects. Don't you know that this great and glorious government of ours is founded upon principles? What those principles are if you do not know them, you have only to come out from your cornfields and clover patches and attend the great political mass meetings this fall to learn that to be protected is the very rock upon which the nation rests. You will hear all about protecting the working men and pro tecting America for the Americans and protecting our people from the burden of foreign pauperism. That's what you will hear, and none of that bosh about foreign capital monop olizing our land, our Industries and our opportunities. What does it matter if our landless people legally cannot cross another per son's land in a balloon ? Why.Aunt Sally, don't you know that poor people can't afford balloons to travel in? And as for the poor old tramp, no one need waste pity on him, for was there not one who wandered over the hills of old India and "had not where to lay His head," whom the world delights to honor today? So the trampjnay con sole himself with the thought that nine teen centuries hence he may bo honored for having instituted a new order of things. Don't you see, Aunt Sally, that the monopolization of land drives folks into the cities and gives us a chance to rent our houses and raise the price of our city lots? And it drives people together so that they can be more easily handled at elec tion times? I tell you it would do your heart good j If you could see those poor landless peo ple listening with open mouths and bulging eyes to the glorious promises of some political orator as he tells them in glowing words how their wages will bounce up when our man occupies the presidential chair, and when some ward politician says, "Down wid the dirthy foreigner, be jabbers!" They will all throw up their hats and shout, hurrah! Oh! the glorious golden promises. Who wouldn't sell his birthright for such a mess of pottage? Now, Aunt Sally, you keep on darn- | ing socks and leave politics to us men. We can run this government without the help of any woman. Like our illustrious citizen, Mr. Otis, we are unalterably opposed to women meddling in politics. We men are the Neros that can fiddle the same old political tunes, though Rome Is a seething mass of internal fires, kindled by new ideas and new con ditions. You just attend to your own sphere of work and watch how we will pull the wool over the eyes of the home less, workless poor this fall. It will be a golden fleece. Weil rise, but it will effectually blind them, and we'll shout protection In their ears till they are deaf, and then when we have them blind and deaf we can lead them whither we will. You remember that quotation about being as wise as snakes and as slimy? Well, that is what the successful poli tician must be, so if you don't want to be like a snake keep out of politics. Your loving nephew, EZRA RAWLINS. In Rsply to Mr. (iullaeli.r In an article in the Times some days since Mr. L. H. (!. (iallagher asks If it ever occurred to Miss Anna Shaw that, if j the chances were given women to "go ' with the rabble to the polls and get into I men's Offices and out of the nursery and ! kitchen altogether, the day of social Ideals would really be over?" Now, I cannot answer for Miss Shaw, but it does not seem likely that it ever did occur to her. or any woman, that she must go to the polls with the "rabble" when she votes any more than when she goes to the mountains, oi*the beach, or any other place where people congre gate. When women vote they will go to the voting places Just as they go to other places, in company with their usual associates; Miss Shaw with hers, the Smiths and Browns with theirs. Nor is it likely that It has occurred to Miss Shaw that women ever would get out of the kitchen and nursery al together. It seems possible, judging from present indications, that men may in time monopolize the kitchen; but catch men doing service in the nursery If you can. It Is not natural for men to do that. Love of the young is im planted in woman's nature, not by finite man, but by the wise Creator, and will not be obliterated by human legislation. The woman who does not neglect her home duties for the allurements of so ciety will not neglect them for the duties of citizenship. Again we are told that "If women are admitted to all the fields of labor and politics that are occupied by men, and to : forever abandon the duties of home, j not a long time will ensue bafore they ] will have to take their places among , men, as men take their places among each other." Y"es, that is one of the advantages we hoped would result from women stand ing on equal terms with men politically. Men, when earning a living, compete with each other on equal terms, being paid for theiß work according to their ablllty; but women take thrlr places With men not on equal terms, but with j less remuneration because they are wo- | men and not voters. Women should j have equal rights and chances with men in the business world, as well as In the political. The latter will greatly aid In securing the former. Very soon after the enfranchisement of the women of 15 Wyoming a law was enacted requiring employers to payi them the same wages las men, for the same services; and a j severe penalty was imposed for its vio lation; and, when women be came voters, they took their "place among men as men take their place among each other"; that is, with equal chances. If, however, ■•>v<.2en ire itdmii* 1 to al-. («« fields of labor and politics that are occupied by men," how will there be men in those situations for women to "take their places amongst?" The men, we must suppose. In this very improbable case, would be in the kitchen and nursery. The sexes will simply have exchanged places. Would that be according to na ture's plan, think you? Then we are threatened with the loss of the "delicate respect paid for women a.s women; the readiness to grant them privileges on the score ot sex," we are told that this "will cease to exist and utilitarian conditions will prevail over sentimental ones." Women certainly are not insensible to manifestations of respect on the part of good men; but privileges that depend on their remaining political nonenti ties are not worth having. "Privi leges on the score of sex" are not what self-respecting women desire. They want recognition as equals on the score of humanity. To lose the respect of men would, indeed, be a great loss, but priv ileges do not put the mother in the gov ernment, no bread and butter in the mouths of their children. If women are compelled to choose be tween "privileges" and rights, sensible women will choose the latter. Sentiment i:1 till right in tls place, but a demand for recognition of rights should be met by the decision of reason and justice It is neither consistent nor reasonable for men of the United States to meet our arguments for political recognition— ! basing them, as we do, on constitutional ! law of man's own establishment —by ] argument of sentiment and expedien cy. Would Mr. Gallagher abandon the I doctrine that "governments derive their ! just power from the consent of the gov erned." rather than allow a voice in it? If It is "sentiment" that keeps women politically with the Idiot and the felon, the sooner "utilitarian conditions pre | vail" the better. But the gentleman is surely mistaken | when he thinks the courtesies between I women and men are the result of legis lation, or in any way the result of poli tics. They are the promptings of nature. And I have not a doubt that Mr. Galla gher himself will be as truly a gentleman in his conduct towards the women of Cal ifornia when they vote as he lis today. M. V. L. j A NOV TLA N P_V 0 V AOB i The tall ships Some un.l the tall ships go Across the purple hay: ; But there's never a ship so fair and line, I Never a ship so brave as mine. As mine Ihut sailed away. I Bright in the light and gray in the shade, And white when the waves glow dun: The gulls go by with their great wings spread: Hul the sails of my ship were gold and red. Anil they shone like the setting sun. They make cheer in the tavern here. The sailors home from sea: But the crow of my ship, they feast with kings. In emerald crowns, and opal rings, } And coats of the cramolsie. ■3 Fine is the freight their ships bring In, i Hut mine bears liner far: I'earls and loses and links of gold. Myrrh, ami amber, and rich bales rolled. As bright as the morning star. 'Twas May-day morn that my ship set sail. With the dew on her figurehead: j. Her bows were wreathed with the haw thorne bloom, As she stele through the dusk of the dawn ing gloom, I Hike a ghost, or a bride new-wed. ! Tho May-days dawn and the May-days die, 1 And the hours draw near. I know: The day when my ship shall come to me i To carry me back to my own eouutrle, . I Bast of the sun by the outmost sea, I In the heart of the Long Ago. —Romance.