"Women should know what there is favor- A CONCISE COMPILATION OF NEBRASKA LAWS OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO WOMEN. BY MRS. ZARA A. WILSON. PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. LINCOLN, NEB.: THE FRANKLIN PRESS. 1897. 107616 Alece Stone Bruckend! Letters of Commendation. EXECUTIVE CHAMBER. Mrs. Zara A. Wilson: LINCOLN, NEB., July 13, 1897. I regard as highly commendable your compilation of “Nebraska Laws of Special Interest to Women." The pamphlet is not only of special interest to women who are directly interested, but to all others who care to study the gradual development of the laws affecting the personal and property rights of women. The work is worthy of an extensive circulation. Yours very truly, SILAS A. HOLCOMB, Governor. HOTEL PONEMAH, AMHERST STATION, N. H., July 22, 1897. Mrs. Zara A. Wilson, MY DEAR SISTER:-You have done that which ought to be done in every state in the Union. If women (and men too) knew what the laws are that are of special interest to the home they would be a hundred times more intelligent about how to improve them, and eager to have such improvement made. Ever yours with the kindest remembrance of DEAR MRS. WILSON:-I am glad you have undertaken this work.. It seems to be a most important one. I wish it might be done in every state. With best wishes for its success, I am, 396.20 W 75 Yours very sincerely, KATHERINE LENTE STEVENSON, Corresponding Secretary National W. C. T. U.. Introduction. In a majority of the states women are being graduated from law schools and colleges, or admitted to the bar to practice law. Women practicing lawyers, and women who have studied law for the benefit of the knowledge to themselves, will soon be the rule, not the exception, among professions. But while this is true the masses of women have not had the opportunity of studying the laws of their own state. Women being amenable to the law should understand its provisions in regard to themselves and their families. Although the laws of our country or of our state have not been written on "tables of brass" and elevated beyond the ordinary vision, yet they have been comparatively out of reach of women whose "work is never done." Public libraries are plentiful, but every one has not the time to visit them. The statutes are published biennially but are not easily accessible, as not even every lawyer invests in the latest edition. They make a cumbersome volume, and to one unaccustomed to their legal phraseology are a laborious study. The women of Nebraska are loyal to its best interests, and desire to be loyal citizens in fact as well as in name. Α study of the laws more closely affecting them and their families is made a necessity. To know the law is to meet its requirements or suffer the penalty. To be ignorant of the law is to suffer the penalty through blindness. When a broadminded man who lives a generation before his time, succeeds in having enacted a good law, one of more than ordinary merit, and public opinion advances to that of the spirit of the law, it is said "he builded better than he knew." When laws made to govern women and children are understood, and it is plain that women are disabled where they should be able to protect themselves, it is said " men are better than the laws they make," otherwise there would be untold suffering from the injustice found in them. The non-enforcement of good laws thwarts their purpose, and unjust laws stand that they may be enforced where their intention carried out may shield some person or interest, whether just or unjust. Shall the goddess of justice be always blind? Whether women enter reform work in the interest of temperance, health, or the cleaning of pavements, everywhere is found the need of law enforcement. A good law enforced shows its strength. A bad or unjust law enforced shows its weakness, and a wholesome public opinion will demand a remedy. In reading this compilation of laws it may be wondered why some laws have been selected and why others were not. Some laws have been inserted that a comparison might be made between those protecting birds and beasts and those referring to women and children. Others have been omitted only on account of the space required to make them intelligible. Excepting the new laws of 1897, all references are to the 1895 statutes, and where the full text is given the chapter and section is given. Where the original wording is not given it is marked with a * and the chapter and section given that an easy reference may be made. If the busy woman, the homekeeper, the reform worker, the club woman, and the student find the study of this little booklet interesting and beneficial the compiler's object has been accomplished. To all such it is affectionately dedicated. MRS. ZARA A. WILSON. 700 South 17th St., Lincoln, Neb. |