Scrapbook Page 3443

              Women Held Affected By Trend of Events / /;??? ???>!??* 4Economic and Legal Status Of Women??? Subject Of Spech ???Every woman in the United States is actually affected by the sweep of economic and political events. University women have been trained to be more or less conscientously awake to the significance of such events. But it is one thing to watch passively the making of sex history, another thing to feel victimized, and something else to , share competently in the making of sex history. University women ' are not always alive to the creative opportunity.??? ??? These were the opening words of | the address given by Miss Harriet Bailey, attorney, at the meeting of the A.A.U.W. held at the home of I Miss Lucy McCammon, East Second i street, last evening. I After a short business session. Miss I Maree Pensyl reviewed the current [news of the month. , I Sally Doty, of the Senior Girl Scout Troop, outlined the purpose and services of the Girl Scout serv-i ice bureau situated in the court house. Dr. Marguerite Kehr, of the Bloomsburg State Teachers College faculty, spoke of American Education Week and what education has to do with national defense. The meeting was then turned over to Miss Bailey, who spoke on the ??????Economic and Legal Status of Women.???Miss Bailey contrasted the position of women with that of man in the field of employment opportunity; developed the thought that women have always been under a handicap in the eyes of the law, and then turned to the situation in Pennsylvania, where, she said, ??????women are legally about in the center of rights and incapacities in comparison with other states.??? This is what she had to say on the subject of their rights in Pennsylvania;???Aside from the rights of liberty, speech and religion, the individual right to own, possess and control property, whether real or personal, is the most important and one which is frequently barred upon entering into marital relationship. A short review of the tendency in this state may be interesting to glance at as a concrete example. ???In 1718, the provincial government acknowledging the handicap of a special class of married women provided that where any marineers or others are gone or hereafter shall go* to sea, leaving their wives at shopkeeping, or working for their livelihood at any trade in the province, all such wives shall be deemed, adjudged and taken, and are hereby declared to be as femme sole traders, and shall have the ability and are enabled to sue and be sued, plead and impleaded at law,  when judgments are given against such wives for debts due since their husbands left them execution shall be awarded against the goods of such wives and not against the goods of the husband, unless it appears that such* wives have out of their separate stock or profit, paid debts which were contracted by their husbands or laid out money for necessary support and maintenance of their children of themselves, then in such case, execution shall be levied upon the estate of their husbands to that value and no more. ??????Property acquired before or after marriage was declared in 1848 to be owned and used by a married woman as her own separate property, and not subject to the levy and execution for debts or liabilities of her husband. ???The year, 1855, witnessed the passage of an act providing that whensoever any husband from (drunkenness, profligacy, or other bause shall neglect or refuse to provide for his wife or shall desert \W, she shall have the rights and privileges of a femme sole trader, and her property shall be subject hereafter to absolute disposal during life or by will and in case of intestacy shall go to her next kin. ???Prior to 1872 a married woman was not entitled to her separate earnings, they not being independent of the husband, and subject to his creditors. \ ???The provisions of the laws promulgated in 1893 still defines rights of married women to hold property and to enter into contractual relationships with limitations. She may acquire, own and possess, lease, sell real and personal property, but she may not mortgage or convejf her real property unless her husband joins in such mortgage and conveyance. She may make any contract, but she may not become an accommodation endorser maker, guarantor or surety for another. ??????However in considering these gradual increases in rights, she accepts in return the lessening of protection, for she accepts liability |for,the above,, although she is given ithe right to sue, she in turn may Ibe sued. Where before her husiband was liable for all her obli*.ons, now is only for the neces- BS. ???The latest femme sole trader acts were passed in 1915 and 1927, which provide that where husband and wife live under the same roof and the husband fails to support wife and family for 5 years???the wife may be declared a femme sole trader and where husband and wife live apart for 1 year or more and he fails to support wife or children for that period of time her property is subject to her free disposal upon petition. ???The adding of additional grounds I fo* divorce in Pennsylvania which has enacted chiefly for the facility of the wife, has in return deprived her of the right to alimony for her support in spite of the fact that she is maybe the innocent spouse. This is a decided hardship for frequently after years of married life in a home, she is incompetent and inexperienced to hold a position and furthermore may have the added responsibility of a family. ???It has been said that women control 1 per cent of the financial resources of the United States. Though this appears to be an ffl* founded statement, Mary Sydney Branch???s research on Women and Wealth give ample evidence that women own, receive, and control a large amount of the national wealth and income and, as a class, occupy an economic position of importance. But this potential power that women have because of their ownership of wealth is not translated into fact. It evaporates more or less into thin air because women in general do not realize the extent to which control belongs to them, and are not prepared to exercise it. Many, many times women have begun some excellent project, only to have the work halted or warped when they got as far as the financing, about which they found they knew nothing. This is a frequent weakness in women???s activities. Women go to men for advice and direction, because men have this financial knowledge at the finger-tips. Women give their money to organzations whose governing boards are composed of men; they invest their money in business and industries manged by men; they pay taxes to government bodies made up of men. For these reasons women lack the recognition and prestige and status to which their share of wealth and income entitles them. If, on the contrary, women would accept clearly the fact of their large ownership of wealth and income, if they would buckle down to studying finance and the investment of funds, if they would learn to carry projects all the way through the fiscal aspects, if they would themselves supervise the immediate and ultimate use of their money, they could accomplish in direct stroke airas concerning the status of woH!p|K about which they only talk today. | ???From the surveys cf women onj governing boards and in  trative positions, we find a most striking conclusion that women, although present in large proportions on the' boards of charitable and re- f lief organizations, and present in * small proportions on the boards ot educational organizations, including school boards, were practically non-existent on the boards of cityand county governing bodies, the j agencies chiefly responsible for ? community management. ???Among the private organizations I | those which appeal to women fori j funds to which women contribute financially; it is amazing to find how frequently the governing I boards of such organizations are composed entirely of men or have men as chairmen. Frequently, too, I there are organizations, such as State Teachers Associations, most of whose members are women but most of whose governing and di- | recting officers are men. Some na-1 tional organizations, open to both I men and women, have local bran; ches which refuse to admit women, | either as members or officers,??? sheJ ?? concluded. Attending the meeting were: i Marguerite Kehr. Claire Dillon, | Beatrice Mettler, Cleora McKinstry, i Mary Serocca, Maree Pensyl, Marguerite Murphy, Miriam R. Law( son, Mrs. W. C. Forney, Anna Gari rison Scott, Margaret Hoke, Mrs. G. Paul Moser, E. Ruth Beers, Mrs. Deborah Griffith, Grace H. Woolworth, May Hayden, Barbara Crowl, Mrs. Roy Snyder, Mrs. James Law, Mrs. Harry Keller Jr., Mrs. S. Irvine Shortess, Mrs. H. A. Andruss, Edna J. Barnes, Mabel .Oxford, Harriet Bailey, Mary M. Whitenight, Margaret Montgomery, Mrs. Kimber Kuster, Ethel Shaw, Mrs. George Buchheit, Lucy Mc- Cammon, Mrs. Alice Mulford and Alice Johnston. SPEAKER MISS HARRIET BAILEY Speaks on Photography K9nm>*????? v> During the chapel period Mon-1 day Mr. Dobyns of Bloomsburg, j| spoke to the students of Bloomsburg | State Teachers College on the topic [ of photography. He explained the j different types of cameras that may j be used. He also explained dis-1 tance, shade, proper exposure, prop-1 er technique of holding a camera j when taking pictures. His talk was ! illustrated by slides. Dance Planned //-. ???Die Community Government Association of Bloomsburg State Teachers College will sponsor the masquerade ball Saturday night in the college gymnasium. ??? To Give Play Here ) I'Jti-f k On Monday evening at 8:15, The Hedgerow Theatre, one of the best /traveling groups in the country will present Candida???, by George Bernard Shaw at the teachers college.