The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-12-27
DIVORCES IN KANSAS.


DIVORCES IN KANSAS.
Our State, like Indiana, Is getting |
to smell unsavory on the question OF
and there Is n general looseness
about the business that calls for the |
rem odeling OF the law relative to the |
same. Tho present term OF our Dis
rrict Court has some ten cases OF this |
kind, and the county furnishes an aver |
age of at least 20 such cases yearly. |
Suppose the balance of the State fur
nishes an equal number, we have an |
aggregate of ,2e0 divorce cases year. |
", as we have some sixty-four organ |
lied counties In the State. In ten
years we should have 12,S0O divorced
couples, and In 20 years the large num-
Der OF q, 600. The magnitude of such an
evil will be seen at n glance, and Its
Injurious effects on the morals of
growing young State like ours cannot
be oyerestimated. People rush head
long into court for divorce, and in
many Instances il is preconcerted plan
on both sides, the parties sometimes
marrying before u divorce has hardly
been registered In the courts. This Is
radically wrong, and tends rapidly to
cap the honorable foundations OF mar
ried life, that ought to be protected by
the most solemn safeguards OF law.
Our State Legislature should exam
inc this subject carefully, and, IL nee
essary, give us additional legislation
TO make the present law more effective.
Burlington Patriot.
We endorse all the above except
Its illogical conclusion. Tho present
law" Is too effective" already, and
that is exactly what is the matter.
1t was intended to further the
interests or small-fry lawyers,
and set of loosemoralists, who
would abolish tho marriage re-
lation altoYe her, and not being able
to accomplish that directly, have
done the next best thing. 1t pre-
vides about q dozen causes for
divcrce--balf of which are frivol-
Gus aud utterly unworthy of o de-
cent community. But, bad as the
law is, the practice under IL is
worse. The rule OF law universally
laid down In the books, and which
prevails in most States, and which
should prevail everywhere, lie that
where there ia collision between
the parties to q divorce suit the di-
vorce will not be granted. But the
universal practice of our courts is
the reverse. and all that is necessary
TO procure divorce is an agree
ment of the parties to that effect,
An uncontested suit for divorce,
accompanied with the understand
ing that the defendent IL willing, il
the surest of all suits to win, aud il
IL entirely safe to say that there is
not a married couple in the State
who could not be divorced at the
next ensuing term of the District
Court for the county they live
in, If they were to agree to work
together to that end. 1t Is, there.
fore, readily seen that the law,
in its practical operation, carries
out the odious free-love doctrine
to very great extent, IN substi'
tuting the whims and passions
of persons for the public policy
which is interested in the perpetu.
ity of the married relation.
The remedy is two-fold. Let the
law be 30 amended as to diminish
the causes for divorce; extend the
absence necessary to constitute
abandonment to at least five years
enforce the old rule about collision
and prohibit the party whose faul
is found to be the occasion of the dI
vorce from marrying again for, say
ten years. And let public opinion
aid tho law, by frowning upon thu
prevailing looseness and upon those
who aid and abet and avail them
selves of it. Plenty of men and
women there arc who can be relied
upon to inveigh against rum-selling
drunkenness and other kindred
evils, and give their influence Il
erect social barriers against thos,
endorsing or practicing these sins
The evil we IRE considering IS {
greater ono, and is there any reason
why society should not taboo i
along with the rest, and thus con
tribute 10 healthy public sentiment
concerning it? Much ia said about
the evil of hasty marriages. In ,
majority OF cases they result from {
knowledge and full consideration
of the fact that the bond can be al
hastily broken If the pleasures o
the union pail, or clo-eness of inter
course develop incongrnities which
the Incomplete courtship did no
discover. Even worse, they are
often contracted with the full in
tention, ON the part of one or both
parties, that they shall be dissolved
after short period. The State Il
ful of grass widows and grasI
widowers, of children OF divorced
people, growing up without prop
er maternal or parental care
preparing for tho penitentiary
and work house; of "fast" mar
ried women who are seeking by
display of physical charms to secure
some new passional admirer for 9
now connection before finally
throwing on tho old.
Society in Kansas, as in all new
States, is in its formative period.
AZ tho foundation is so will the
superstructure be. IL tho evils Of
which we have spoken fasten them.
selves permanently upon IL, in &
few years the State will be . place
TO be Stunned. Let there be q unit.
ed call upon the legislature for such
remedy as 1t can enact, and mean
while snd always, let society 10 its
part
PAUPER ISIMIGRATIoS.-PaupcI
Italian emigrAnts are arriving al
New York in such numbers as to
give rise to the suspicion that the
italian government are systematic.
ally ahtnninO the lazzarOni IN this