That there should be a head to every family, is self-evident. A man and
his wife, according to Scripture, should be one; and the corporate head
is best qualified to govern a family, or manage an estate in which both
have a common interest, and therefore ought to have an equal voice. What
one lacks, the other may have. The man may be overconfident, the woman
too cautious; by counseling together, a proper and safe medium is
arrived at.
One-half of the property in the matrimonial firm should always be
regarded as belonging to the wife. And if a man and his wife fail to
agree as to the advantage, or even safety, of a proposed scheme, and he
is still determined to act upon his own judgment, contrary to that of
his wife, he should never, in such case, risk more than one-half of the
property.
What right has a man, except that "might makes right," to hazard all he
has in wild speculations, or by indorsing for some friend or boon
companion, despite his wife's expostulations, or without her knowledge?
Yet it is done every day, and all lost; and if women who see their
children and themselves thus reduced to poverty, complain, they are
stigmatized as fretful, unwomanly grumblers. Their husbands, says the
world, had a right to do as they pleased with the property in their
possession. What if the wife had earned or inherited half, or even the
whole, of it! what should women know about business?
In indorsing, especially, a man should be restrained by law, under pains
and penalties, from indorsing to amounts exceeding one-half of his
property; and no indorsement in excess of that amount should be allowed
to constitute a legal claim.
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