passed in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington;
Oregon decreed that male applicants for a marriage license must produce
a physician's certificate showing freedom from certain diseases; and it
authorised the sterilisation of habitual criminals and degenerates. The
necessity of inculcating chastity in the newer generation, whether
through the teaching of sex hygiene in the schools or in some other
form, was widely discussed throughout the country. Mothers' pensions
were granted by fourteen States; minimum wage boards were established by
three; and three passed laws for the punishment of family desertion, in
such wise that the family of the offender should receive a certain daily
sum from the State while he worked off his sentence. Tennessee removed
the disability of married women arising from coverture. Ten States
further limited the hours of labour for women in certain industries, the
tendency being to fix the limit at fifty-four or fifty-eight hours a
week with a maximum of nine or ten in any one day. The hours of labour
of children and the age at which they are allowed to work were largely
restricted. A National Children's Bureau, under the charge of Miss Julia
Lathrope, has been created at Washington; and Mrs. J. Borden Harriman
was appointed to the Industrial Relations Commission. The minuteness and
thoroughness of modern legislation for the protection of women may be
realised by noting that in 1913 alone New York passed laws that no girl
under sixteen shall in any city of the first, second, or third class
sell newspapers or magazines or shine shoes in any street or public
place; that separate wash rooms and dressing rooms must be provided in
factories where more than ten women are employed; that whenever an
employer requires a physical examination, the employee, if a female, can
demand a physician of her own sex; that the manufacture or repair for a
factory of any article of food, dolls' clothing, and children's apparel
in a tenement house be prohibited except by special permit of the Labor
Commission; that the State Industrial Board be authorised to make
special rules and regulations for dangerous employments; and that the
employment of women in canning establishments be strictly limited
according to prescribed hours.

The unmistakable trend of legislation in the United States is towards
complete equality of the sexes in all moral, social, industrial,
professional, and political activities.