sometimes
they have so many things that no individual could possibly infuse
himself into them.

These conditions may prevail even in primitive life, but to-day they
have been vastly increased through the fact that with advancing
civilization money was devised. This is a system of counters, generally
coin or paper, not really valuable in themselves, but always resting
back for value on the earth, or on something derived from it. In the
past it was supposed that there were some things which, because of their
nature, were not marketable, while others were beyond price. To-day we
set values on everything, even on men's bodies; eyes, ears, legs and
lives can be priced. There are, in fact, insurance companies and
factories that have regular schedules of value for various parts of the
body. Our courts set prices on blighted affections, damaged reputations,
social advancements, impaired digestions, damaged complexions, nervous
shocks and extreme humiliations. Even a woman's honor may have a price
in dollars.

These property rights, like the rights of the person, have always been
subject to violence. Powerful individuals and groups have always been
able to overstep legal restrictions and public opinion, and seize what
they desired. The land grabbing going on in North Africa and Persia
to-day and the activity of great industrial monopolies at home, show us
that some property rights still need to be secured by force. In this
struggle, it has come about naturally that men, being stronger, freer
and less scrupulous than women, have outstripped them and have so far
had a pretty complete monopoly of wealth. In fact women themselves have
at times become property. In such times a man who stole or bought a
woman, naturally took over with her all her rights in real estate and
personal property as well as her person and her services.

Only gradually did women gain power to hold property themselves. Mainly
because fathers wished to preserve property in their families, the right
of women to inherit became slowly established as civilization advanced.
In Judea, Greece and Rome, certain rights of a woman to hold property
were clearly settled. In the reversion to force under feudalism, woman's
rights to outside property suffered; but they have been gradually
restored during the last few centuries. To-day, in civilized lands, a
woman's rights to property, inherited or definitely given her or
purchased by her, are everywhere recognized, if she