In Germany, under the rule of the National Socialists, the movement for the emancipation of women has suffered a certain setback because Adolf Hitler happens to be of the opinion that women could be of better use to the German nation by staying at home than by striving for equality with men; but in America women's struggle for equal chances with men has suffered no interruption. On the contrary, the forward march of the feminists has just recently reached another milestone, a goal worthy of the struggle. In keeping with a new state law, a local judge recently granted divorces to two ladies who had become tired of their husbands for one reason or another; but at the same time he imposed upon them the burden of paying alimony to their former spouses. Nobody has more reason to rejoice over this decision than the feminists, because now, for the first time in the history of divorce, women have received 2treatment on an equal basis with men. Until now, with hardly an exception, the husbands have been required to lighten the burden of everyday existence for the better halves of the matrimonial merry-go-round, either for the rest of their lives or at least until the ladies could hook new victims to spare them the necessity of earning a living--which would keep them away from bridge parties.

The tendency of American judges to make the male partners of bankrupt marriages support their ex-wives has created one of the most vicious rackets known in America: The notorious chase after a permanent "meal ticket," to guarantee the female racketeers not only a life of luxury and amusement during their marriage, but also a future free from financial worries after the divorce, which would naturally take place sooner or later, with the hapless male victim paying through the nose. The ladies, who strive for equality in all phases of life, must have been disturbed no end by this partiality shown by the courts. All the more will they rejoice over this new law, by which the privilege which the men formerly enjoyed, of 3supporting their ex-partners in matrimony, can now also be claimed by divorced wives. And that a judge has been found to put this newly gained right of women to a practical application should be a further reason for rejoicing in milady's boudoir. The men will bear the withdrawal of this old extra privilege, which had been theirs for so long, with quiet dignity. Perhaps they could even find it in their hearts to tender their congratulations to the ladies for this latest achievement.

Even though this goal unquestionably marks another milestone on the way to complete equality with men, it is obvious that the final objective is still far away. Much work has yet to be done before women become victorious on the entire front. Among other things, they have not yet been able to push through a law making jury duty compulsory for women as for men. Such laws have not been enacted in all states, or, at any rate, are not strictly enforced. Women should insist on equal treatment with men in regard to this issue also. And why shouldn't they have the pleasure of sitting in smoke-filled jury rooms, hearing and even participating in endless debates 4on the guilt or innocence of poor sinners caught by the long arm of justice? That would indeed be a welcome diversion from the humdrum routine of daily existence.

A colleague from an English newspaper even suggests that an old English law be amended to the effect that the better half may go to work on her husband with a stick "not thicker than a thumb". Men deserve this kind of treatment frequently, God knows. Furthermore, a lady living south of the Mason-Dixon Line should be accorded the privilege, by virtue of the traditional unwritten law, to send a home-breaker rival into a better world by means of poison, dagger, or pistol, after which she may forever assume the pose of a heroine--who knew how to guard her husband's virtue. In exchange for that, it would only be fair to give a man the right to sue a woman for breach of promise or to award him balm for his wounded heart, as the case may be. In the past this right was claimed by the ladies only. Women's sense of fairness will certainly favor this justifiable demand. If we pursue this course, the time of a blissful and contented state of 5complete equality between men and women will come, and life will soon be as it was in the legendary garden of Eden.