ing the best interests of the
people. And, moreover, we are taxed to support the very
legislators and judges who make laws, and render decisions
adverse to woman. And for refusing to pay such unjust
taxation, the houses, lands, bonds, and stock of women have
been seized and sold within the present year, thus proving
Lord Coke's assertion, that "The very act of taxing a man's
property without his consent is, in effect, disfranchising
him of every civil right."

_Unequal codes for men and women._ Held by law a perpetual
minor, deemed incapable of self-protection, even in the
industries of the world, woman is denied equality of rights.
The fact of sex, not the quantity or quality of work, in
most cases, decides the pay and position; and because of
this injustice thousands of fatherless girls are compelled
to choose between a life of shame and starvation. Laws
catering to man's vices have created two codes of morals in
which penalties are graded according to the political status
of the offender. Under such laws, women are fined and
imprisoned if found alone in the streets, or in public
places of resort, at certain hours. Under the pretense of
regulating public morals, police officers seizing the
occupants of disreputable houses, march the women in
platoons to prison, while the men, partners in their guilt,
go free. While making a show of virtue in forbidding the
importation of Chinese women on the Pacific coast for
immoral purposes, our rulers, in many States, and even under
the shadow of the national capitol, are now proposing to
legalize the sale of American womanhood for the same vile
purposes.

_Special legislation for woman_ has placed us in a most
anomalous position. Women invested with the rights of
citizens in one section--voters, jurors,
office-holders--crossing an imaginary line, are subjects in
the next. In some States, a married woman may hold property
and transact business in her own name; in others, her
earnings belong to her husband. In some States, a woman may
testify against her husband, sue and be sued in the courts;
in others, sh