right of acting as the child’s legal representative, we obviate the danger that that right may be misused by a dissolute or thoughtless mother by making fraudulent claims for a bastardy allowance in the name of the child upon various men who may have had intercourse with her during the period of pregnancy. In many cases, unmarried mothers are dissolute, extravagant, and therefore untrustworthy persons, and for this reason it is in the interest of morality that the unmarried mother should not be able to derive any direct pecuniary advantage as a result of her position. Often she cannot or will not make the necessary claim upon the father of the child, either from shame or from undue sentimentality, or, again, because she still secretly hopes that he will marry her, and fears to offend him, or, finally, because in many cases she is not herself certain who is the father of her child. The various reasons we have been considering are not altogether free from objection. The advocates of the emancipation of women, and also the socialists, contest these reasons with considerable force on the ground that other persons than the mother of an illegitimate child, who are suggested as guardians, are even less fitted for the position than she may be herself. (_b_) It is impossible, in any case, that the natural father should be the child’s guardian. How, for example, can he be expected to sue himself for the child’s maintenance? It often happens that the mother refuses to name the father of her child, but recommends him as guardian, and he actually is in some cases appointed guardian. To avoid this, many wish to make it the mother’s legal duty to disclose the name of the child’s father to the Board of Guardianship. (_c_) One of the child’s relatives is no suitable person for guardian. The mother’s relatives have in most cases broken with the mother owing to the birth of the illegitimate child. The relatives of the father of an illegitimate child are as little suited to act as guardians as the father himself. (_d_) A stranger is utterly unsuitable for the guardianship of an illegitimate child. In most cases he has no interest whatever in the child, and very frequently, from sheer laziness, he fails to make good the claim for maintenance against the father. Indeed, he is not in a position to make such a claim good. He is ill-informed, inexperienced, ignorant of the law, does not understand the procedure of the Boards of Guardianship, and is incompetent to overcome the mother’s opposition. His appointment is often long delayed, although it is a fact of general experience that a claim for maintenance can more readily be established the earlier proceedings are taken against the father. The father often changes his residence, and the guardian has no facilities for obtaining information about his dwelling-place or his means.