ave only in so far as jury
and militia service and political rights were concerned. A new statute
since the Oregon decision has been passed in Illinois and the law was
sustained, reversing the older case. On the other hand New York courts
take a position squarely contrary,[4] and so in Colorado.[5] The
constitutional justification of these decisions must probably be
that the health not only of the women themselves, but of the general
public, or at least of posterity, is concerned, for, as we shall find
more particularly when we discuss general legislation on the police
power, to justify an interference with personal liberty of freemen
there must, under English ideas, be a motive based upon the health,
safety, and well-being of all of the whole community, not merely
of the particular citizen concerned. He has the right to work in
unhealthy trades at unhealthy times, or under unhealthy conditions,
just as he has the right to consume unhealthy food and drink. If it be
prohibited, it must be prohibited when it has a direct relation to the
general welfare. For example, a railway engineer may be prohibited
from working continuously for more than sixteen hours, for that is
a direct danger to the safety of the public; but a man may not
be prohibited from taking service for long hours as stoker on a
steamship, although the life of a stoker be a short one and not over
merry. Apparently, however, a woman can be; and indeed there have for
a long time been laws prohibiting the labor of women in England and
regulating their hours. But then there are laws prohibiting women from
serving in immoral occupations, or occupations which are supposed to
be dangerous to their morals, as, for instance, many States have laws
against the serving of liquor, or even of food, by women or girls in
places or restaurants where liquor is served, or for certain hours, or
in certain places. Very conceivably a law might be passed prohibiting
women and girls from the selling of programmes, or attending upon dime
museums, or even selling newspapers, or being district messengers;
but, as we all know, there are women cabmen in Paris. Would
legislation prohibiting such employment to women be unconstitutional?
There is already a considerable amount of it. The cases are
conflicting, the earlier view, and the view taken in the South and in
at least one Federal court, being that such laws are unconstitutional.
The modern doctrine, backed up by that public opinion wh