These splendid property laws are p.r.o.nounced by leading lawyers to be the greatest legal revolution which has taken place in our history.
A section of the new const.i.tution made it the duty of the General a.s.sembly to provide by law as soon as practicable for Houses of Reform for Juvenile Offenders. The State Woman"s Christian Temperance Union decided in 1892 to urge it to act speedily, and the Equal Rights a.s.sociation co-operated heartily, with a special view to securing provision for girls equal to that for boys, and women on the Board of Managers. A joint committee from the two a.s.sociations was appointed, with Mrs. Frances E. Beauchamp chairman for the former and Mrs. S. A.
Charles for the latter. They compiled a bill with legal advice of Senator Bronston, who had been largely instrumental in securing the section. The unremitting labor of three years was at last crowned with success in 1896, when a bill, essentially that prepared by the women, pa.s.sed the General a.s.sembly and was signed by Gov. William O. Bradley, March 21.[286] This bill provides for two separate inst.i.tutions, one for girls and one for boys, on the cottage family plan. The general government is vested in a board of six trustees, three women and three men.
From the General a.s.sembly of 1898 the E. R. A. finally obtained the law making it mandatory to have at least one woman physician in each State insane asylum, for which they had been pet.i.tioning ten years.
Representative W. C. G. Hobbs introduced the bill into the House, where it pa.s.sed by a vote of 77 ayes, 4 noes. Mr. Bronston supported it in the Senate, where it received 26 ayes, one no. It was approved by Governor Bradley March 15.
In the same year the benevolent a.s.sociations of the women of Louisville secured an act providing for police matrons in that city, the only first-cla.s.s one in the State, which was approved by the Governor March 10.[287] The first police matron was appointed March 4, before the law required it, at the request of women and through the influence of Mayor Charles P. Weaver, Chief of Police Jacob H. Haager, Jailer John R. Pflanz and Judge Reginald H. Thompson. By the action of the State Board of Prison Commissioners this year, two women were appointed as guards for the women"s wards in the penitentiary, their duties being such as usually pertain to a matron.
This year the Women"s Club of Central Kentucky set on foot a movement for a free library in Lexington. Senator Bronston secured a change in the city charter to facilitate this object. The act provides that the library shall be under the control of a board of five trustees and was intentionally worded to make women eligible. Mayor Joseph Simrall appointed two of the club women, Mrs. Mary D. Short and Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison. This is the first free library established in Kentucky.
Owing to the turbulent political conditions in the General a.s.sembly of 1900, the State a.s.sociation did not send its usual committee to the capital. However, a committee from the W. C. T. U. did go, and succeeded in securing an appropriation to build the young women"s dormitory at the State College, receiving in this effort the encouragement of the E. R. A., as agreed upon at their convention of 1899.
The history of the State a.s.sociation would not be complete without recording its failures. In 1893 an effort to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 12 to 18 was made a part of its work. It was deemed expedient to place this in the hands of a special committee, Mrs. Thomas L. Jones and Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys consenting to a.s.sume the arduous task. Mrs. Henry wrote a strong leaflet on the "age of protection," and Mrs. Humphreys sent many articles to the press. A pet.i.tion was widely circulated and bore thousands of names when the ladies carried it to the General a.s.sembly in 1894. They succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before an appropriate committee; but the a.s.sembly adjourned without acting.
In 1895, Mrs. Martha R. Stockwell was added to the committee, which again went to the a.s.sembly with the pet.i.tion; but without success, and the "age of protection" still remains 12 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment for life.
By special statute the Common Law is retained which makes 12 years the legal age for a girl to marry.
A law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children is one to which the State a.s.sociation has devoted much attention, but which still waits on the future for success. At present the father is the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child unborn. If the court appoints a guardian, the law (1894) requires that it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to the males."
The husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to punish him for non-support.
SUFFRAGE: Kentucky was the first State in the Union to grant any form of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first School Law, pa.s.sed in 1838, permitted widows in the country districts with children of school age to vote for trustees. In 1888 further extensions of School Suffrage were made and in the country districts, including fifth and sixth cla.s.s cities, i. e., the smallest villages, any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote for district school taxes.
In 1894 the General a.s.sembly granted women the right to vote for members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the second-cla.s.s cities, by a special clause in their charter. There are three of these--Covington, Newport and Lexington.[288]
In the one first-cla.s.s city, Louisville, the five third-cla.s.s and the twenty or more fourth-cla.s.s cities, no woman has any vote.
OFFICE HOLDING: In 1886 Mrs. Amanda T. Million was appointed to the office of county superintendent of public schools. Her husband had been elected in Madison County, but dying at the commencement of his term, Judge J. C. Chenault, after the eligibility of a woman had been ascertained, appointed the widow to fill out the year. Mrs. Million then became a candidate, and was elected for the remaining three years of the term, being the first woman in the State to fill that office.
Her case attracted much attention and at the election in 1889 four women were elected county superintendents; in 1893, eight, and in 1897, eighteen.
In 1895 Mayor Henry T. Duncan appointed two women on the Lexington School Board, Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison and Mrs. Mary E. Lucas, to serve until their successors were elected under the laws of the new charter. In August the women held a ma.s.s meeting, conducted by a joint committee from the local E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman"s Club of Central Kentucky, to nominate a woman from each ward. They named Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Ella Williamson, Mrs. Sarah West Marshal and Mrs. Mary C. Roark. This ticket was indorsed the same day by the Citizens" a.s.sociation (of men). Judge Frank Bullock allowed private houses to be used for women to register, one in each precinct, the registration officers all to be women--clerk, two judges and a sheriff. They were sworn in and did their duty n.o.bly. The Democratic and Republican parties refused to accept the Woman"s Ticket. The women therefore selected a man from each ward in addition to the four women nominated, making the required number of eight, known as the Independent Ticket, which was triumphantly elected in November by voters of all parties and both s.e.xes.
In Covington, three women were placed on the Republican ticket, but were defeated. About 5,000 women voted. In Newport two women were placed on the Democratic ticket, but it was defeated. About 2,800 women registered.
The Prohibitionists nominated Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for clerk of the Court of Appeals in 1890. Though in many places the election clerks refused to enter her name on the polling-books, doubting the eligibility of a woman, she received 4,460 votes. This case is worthy of note because it was the first in Kentucky where a woman was a candidate for election to a State office; and because, as she ran on a platform containing a suffrage plank, practically all the votes for her were cast for woman suffrage.
Women have been State librarians continuously since January, 1876, when the first one was elected.
In 1894 the Senate for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk, and women have held this office ever since.
During the session of 1900, stormy as it was, the House for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk.
Women serve as notaries public. (For other offices see Legislative Action.)
OCCUPATIONS: Women are engaged in all the professions and no occupation is forbidden to them by law. On Dec. 15, 1886, the Court of Appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. The case was that of Bessie W. White (Hager), a graduate of the School of Pharmacy of Michigan University. She applied to the State Board of Pharmacy for registration in 1883, complying with all the requirements. They rejected her application, whereupon she applied for a mandamus. The writ was granted but an appeal was taken. Judge William H. Holt delivered the opinion of the Appellate Court, saying in his decision: "It is gratifying to see American women coming to the front in these honorable pursuits. The history of civilization in every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement of its women."
EDUCATION: On April 27, 1889, at a called meeting of the Board of Curators of Kentucky University (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, it was decided to admit women students. This was the result of a pet.i.tion the preceding June by the Fayette County E. R. A. In response a committee had been appointed, President Charles Louis Loos, chairman, and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by unanimous vote. An immediate appropriation was made for improvements to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening was announced in the annual calendar and women invited to avail themselves of its advantages. This was the second inst.i.tution of higher education opened to women, the State Agricultural and Mechanical College and Normal School, also in Lexington, having admitted them in 1880.
In 1892 the work done by Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer resulted in the admission of women to Wesleyan College in Winchester. The Baptist College at Georgetown became co-educational through the influence of Prof. James Jefferson Rucker. The Homeopathic Medical College, opened in Louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed a woman upon the faculty. In 1893 the Madison County E. R. A. secured the admission of girls to Central University at Richmond.
Co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and in the majority of the inst.i.tutions of higher learning; the only notable exceptions being Centre University, Danville; Baptist College, Russellville; Baptist Theological College[289] and Allopathic Medical College, Louisville.
There are in the public schools 4,909 men and 5,057 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $44; of the women, $37.
The Woman"s Emergency a.s.sociation of Louisville, organized during the Spanish-American War, called a non-partisan ma.s.s meeting February 6, 1900, "for the special purpose of directing the attention of women to the importance and necessity of using their influence on behalf of good citizenship." The ma.s.s meeting was addressed by several prominent gentlemen, who deplored the spirit of lawlessness prevailing in the State and declared that the remedy rested with the women, but the suggestion that these should have the franchise was not once made.
The State E. R. A. sent a memorial to the annual meeting of the Kentucky Federation of Women"s Clubs in 1900, soliciting their a.s.sistance in securing from the General a.s.sembly the extension of School Suffrage to the women of all towns and cities. It was voted to give the co-operation desired.
FOOTNOTES:
[278] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Laura Clay of Lexington, president of the State Equal Rights a.s.sociation since its organization, and first auditor of the National-American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation since 1895.
[279] The State W. C. T. U. at its convention in 1892 adopted a franchise department, and has proved a faithful and valuable ally in educating public sentiment and obtaining desired legislation.
[280] In the congressional contest of the Seventh District, between W.
C. P. Breckinridge and W. C. Owens, in 1894, the women took such a share in defeating the former that their action became an instructive part of political history. Mrs. F. K. Hunt, president of their Owens Club, which did such distinguished service for public morality, afterwards became a member of the Equal Rights a.s.sociation, this campaign having convinced her, as she said, that "there is a place for women in politics."
[281] In the Presidential campaign of 1896, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and Miss Margaret Ingals spoke for the Silver Democrats, and Mrs.
Frances E. Beauchamp for the Prohibitionists, under the auspices of the party committees.
In June, 1898, Mrs. Beauchamp, president of the State W. C. T. U., was elected permanent chairman and presided over the State Prohibition Convention held in Louisville--the first time a woman ever filled such a position in Kentucky. She was also elected a member of the National Central Committee of the Prohibitionists in 1899. This party has retained the woman suffrage plank in its State platform since 1889.
[282] The other State officers have been, recording secretaries, Dr.
Sarah M. Siewers; Mesdames Mary Ritchie McKee, Mary Muggeridge, Mary R. Patterson, Sarah Hardin Sawyer, Kate Rose Wiggins; Misses Anna M.
Deane, Mary Susan Hamilton, Mary E. Light; third vice-presidents, Mesdames Sallie H. Chenault, S. M. Hubbard, Mary H. Johnson, Thomas L.
Jones, N. S. McLaughlin; Miss Belle Harris Bennett; superintendents of press, Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys; superintendent of legislative work, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry.
[283] This bill, drawn up with legal precision and clearness, was practically the one pa.s.sed four years later (1894), which raised Kentucky"s property laws for wives to a just and honorable plane.
[284] On the night of March 8 Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke in Frankfort on the subject of American Citizenship. The Legislative Hall was voted unanimously and the Senate, which was holding night sessions, adjourned to hear her address. The Property Rights Bill was on this night virtually dead. Mrs. Henry in her speech never alluded to this bill, but plainly asked the Legislature to create a power to which she could apply and receive her papers of citizenship, claiming that she had every qualification save that of s.e.x. The speech did not procure for her the right to vote, but the next morning, amid the greatest tumult, the dead Property Rights Bill was resurrected and pa.s.sed.
Minutes of Kentucky E. R. A., 1894.
[285] The wife can not dispose of real estate without the husband"s signature. He can convey real estate without her signature but it is subject to her dower.
[286] This year the E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman"s Club of Central Kentucky pet.i.tioned Governor Bradley to appoint a woman physician for the insane asylum at Lexington. He did appoint one, Dr.
Kathryn Houser, but placed her in the Hopkinsville asylum.
[287] A notable feature of this act is that none shall be appointed who has not been recommended by a committee composed of one woman selected by each of the following organizations: Home of Friendless Women, Flower Mission, Free Kindergarten a.s.sociation, Humane Society, Charity Organization Society, City Federation of Women"s Clubs, Kentucky Children"s Home Society, W. C. T. U. and Women"s Christian a.s.sociation.
[288] This Act was repealed in 1902 because more colored than white women voted in Lexington at the spring election. This is the only instance where the suffrage has been taken from women after being conferred by a Legislature. [Eds.
[289] This college was opened to women in 1902.