64
THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
door the word “ Investments.” Chicago courts of this year disclosed a most appalling state of affairs that women should blush to acknowledge. A firm consisting of four brothers closed their doors one morning, and in the investigation following, this fact was brought out: One of the brothers testified that his duties in the transaction of the firm’s business was to look up widows and women of means, and by a system of flattery and attention gain their confidence and a full statement of finances. He claimed a few lunches, a theater party, a ride or other attentions of like nature usually gave him the information desired, and he soon had the management of the woman’s property, borrowed her money, and the best account he could give was a memoranda stuck in his vest pocket and afterward destroyed. That women should be such weaklings is a matter of both regret and shame to all the world, and that such a case could be recorded against her good sense and.judgment is a great blot upon her.
Very few men would say to their wives or daughters: “ Here, take care of the bank or store, or factory; I shall take a trip around the world, and may remain indefinitely. You attend to the affairs and take care of the children’s interests.” Yet every day we see women thrown in that position, in addition to the grief attendant upon a sudden bereavement. She must take up a work in which she has had no preparation—and too often no knowledge. She must either see her interests ruined or lay aside her grief and begin where, until now, she was not supposed to have ability or comprehension to warrant even her husband’s confidence. This very fact has made woman what she is today, and it will make her the rule, not the exception, in business relations of the future.
Women soon discover that the mysteries of business are not as impenetrable as she supposed. The time has come. She must occupy chairs in directors,meetings; must keep informed on the subject of money making, as well as money spending; must know her check book from her bank book; her deposits from overdrafts; dividends from assessments of stock, and be willing and ready to vote and lend her ideas in this branch, as she has elsewhere in the world with such good effect.
Insurance formerly offered to man a contract with two conditions, viz.: First. Payment of a certain sum at a stated time until death. Second. Return to the family a specified sum upon proofs of death being satisfactorily given. It now offers to woman more than that. There are no reforms or changes so marked as in the insurance world of today and that of the past. Women are now considered equally as good risks, are carried by companies for the limit of their indemnity, and by this investment may have many opportunities never offered before. For instance, a woman may insure her life and have the policy payable to herself at a certain time. That is, she need not die to win. This policy is as negotiable as a government bond, and may be used in business transactions as are other securities. At the expiration of a stated time she may have all the money she has invested in this manner returned to her, together with interest on the same for the time, thereby giving her the same advantages of savings banks with greater security than they can afford, or, if she so desires, she may turn the cash value of her policy into an income for life, thereby providing for the old woman a safe and happy old age, without the worries of business details. This last feature of the investment in insurance is a most important one, for with the continuance of life there is for all of us an old woman for whose care and comfort the younger woman is responsible. Charity, no matter how sweet, is yet a bitter dose to the old. None of us can foresee our peculiarities in the future, and we are too well warned by the fate of old women of our acquaintance to neglect our own declining years. A woman owes it as a duty to herself as well as her children to place herself in that position which will make her not a burden upon any. A son-in-law cannot be expected to love and care for the mother-in-law, unless she is a rich one. A daughter should not be expected to add to her own cares that of helpless imbecility of a husband’s relative. We will be as unwilling as the most unwilling of our relatives to take that which is given under such circumstances. Do you know,