The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-05-06
Tho End of Indiana Divorces.

The glory of Indiana divorces is gone. The
law which for so many years was beacon
light OF joy for distressed husbands and wives
has been so amended that it offers now only
the merest glimmer of hope to the would-be
divorced. Three years bona .fde residence is
required ere divorce for any cause can be
obtained, and in case of the application being
made on the ground of acts committed in
another State, it must be shown that those acts
are legal grounds for divorce in the State
where they were committed. These are i'm
p0rtant notifications of an obnoxious law,
and in case they are rigidly enforced they will
do away with the scandal and pest of Indiana
divorces, which have for years been the fruit
full source of unhappness and crime, not
In Hooserdom alone but in nearly every
State in the Union. The three years
clause is in itself sufficient bar to
all proceedings on the part Of citizens of
another State; for it is not likely that
any one, whatever his or her grievance,
will consent to live in that State for three
years in the hope Of release at the end of
that time, unless, indeed, we except citizens
OF Chicago, who are not likely to have any
pressing need for divorces which they can
not obtain at home. There is hope springing
eternal in the human breast which makes every
one, whatever his distress, believe that some
thing will turn up ere three years to relieve
him.
The traffic in divorces in Indiana under
ulot;O oF
profit to that enterprising State, and we can
not sufficiently commend her liberality and
self-sacrfce in amending the law 80 as to put
no more money in her purse. II is estimated
that the transient custom alone was enough to
run all her newspapers. 1t is probable, there
fore, that there will be some contention for
the succession among other aspiring States.
Illinois, which means Chicago, would carry
the field without any trouble but that divorces
there have become SO cheap owing to compe-
tition among her divorce attorneys, that they
are not priced very highly or considered
very substantial, and the higher priced and
more elaborate article for the extravagant
classes has not as yet found sufficient demand
to make it paying commodity. Connecticut
has heretofore had promising record in this
direction, and Rhode Island has quite recently
shown an earnest and determined spirit that
may 60 far to entitle her to the succession.
Massachusetts has shown reasonable willing
ness in the matter, but there are 80 many
better modes discovered in Massachusetts, of
serving all ends without divorce at all that, ex-
cept for the benefit Of strangers and the profit
that may attach thereto, it is not likely that
she viii present her claims very forcibly.
Some of our enterprising States, therefore,
have a gold placer before them which may
equal the California mines or the NewTound-
land seal fisheries in richness. The Legisla-
lures or Governors ought at once to hold a
consultation with some hero or heroine of
divorce are at present prominent
before the public-and discover just how
the law could be made most satisfactory and
at the same time how it could be made to
work most proftably.