Note 325 — Chapter XLV

In 1847 Lucy Stone began to advocate giving the mother equal guardianship of the children with the father. During the past thirty years the State Suffrage Association has repeatedly petitioned the Legislature to this effect. In 1902 many other organizations joined in the effort, and the petition for equal guardianship was indorsed by 34,000 women. The Committee on Probate and Chancery reported adversely. Representative George H. Fall's Equal Guardianship Bill was debated on two days and finally passed both Houses and was signed by Gov. W. Murray Crane in June.

The only society of women that has ever ranged itself publicly on the opposing side of this question is the Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage Association. For years it circulated with its official imprint a leaflet in defense of the law which excluded mothers from the custody and guardianship of their children.