Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/325

Rh Third Motion — Attempts ought to be made, and especially ought to be recommended to the central committee in New York, to see to it that at least two women, and one of them a German, are appointed as members of the board of "Commissioners of Emigration."

The reason given for this motion was that according to everything that could be learned, either through the press or incidentally, of the existing arrangements for the protection of immigrants, these arrangements did not benefit the women in the same degree as the men, although the former needed protection more than the latter. This want could only be remedied through feminine watchfulness and care. At present the chief aim of the board is to secure the immigrants against pecuniary losses through swindling; but the immigrating women and girls, especially those who arrive without male companions, were threatened with entirely different dangers, besides the loss of money, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, had already perished, because there was no one to pay especial attention to their condition and their welfare. It was also natural that a stranger, upon her arrival, would at once confide her plans and grievances to a woman, appointed to guard the new-comer's interests, while she would be reticent toward a male official, This would be especially true with regard to the treatment on board ship, concerning which scandalous stories get abroad subsequently. It was most urgently