Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-02-22
DIVORCE REFORM.
Opinions of Burlington Thinkers
upon the Subject.
Interviews with President Buckham,
Rev, Messrs, Dawson, Bras
tow, Jump, Parry and others,
An Interesting Symposium upon an
important Matter.

cudcd but in what direction and in what
an important one, and to aid in a proper un.
derstaudng of it VIC have secured interviews
with number of our local leaders in thought
and opinion, aud their views will, We are
sure, be read with interest and profit
President Buckham of the University Of
Vermont (who is an officer of the New Eng
land Divorce Reform League has made "A
special study of the subject, and his conclu-
sions will carry great weight with them. To
our reporter President Buckham said;
The common explanation of the great
increase in divorces attributes it to causes
sprinping out of an artificial and luxurious
civilization. But recent invest cations re-
ly in rural communities and among not the
poorest but the poorer classes. Now while
one section OF this population contains the
best elements of our social HE, another con-
tains Just those conditions which favor
lsxty in the family relations. The bond
which holds the family together must he eth
or natural affection, or moral principle, or
legal restraint. In the classes referred to,
the first is put to a severe strain by the hard
ships of life. When re enforced by the re-
ligiJus feeling, it survives. Without this it
too often fails. Moral principle, too, does
not get the aid from social opinion in these
classes which is so eirectual an ally of NOR
atty in the higher classes Legal restraint.
also, is well nigh removed from all alike.
The condition Of our laws, and the practice
OF our courts, hold out an ever presen temps
tati)n tOall who desire TO escape from the
bonds OF the family. Why these causes oi
the frequency of divorce should be operative
more actively now than in former times
am unable to guess.
1T is easier to say what is the remedy.
The family is natural institution, but the
true and complete family is Christian in
stitution. Frequency of divorces is an evi.
dence If an enfeebled Christian sentiment
relative to the family. We must awake,
reform, int sify Christian sentiment, and
get it embodied in more Christian laws.
Laws alone will accomplish no reform. Laws
resulting from an elevated moral sense, and
from strong convictions shared by tie whole
community, will be powerful tor good
GAS re ards national legislation on the
SUI jet Of divorce, ! am not ~ mpali mt a.
some others. | doubt Wheeler anything can
be gained in this way. 1t seems to b.
much shorter way Of attaining good aud uni
form divorce laws than it really is. To an
HlllCluDuS ItlOIHtI, IL SlCllS " NC
an easy thing to get an amendment
to the constitution, and then to secure
Congressional legislation which would give
us one uniform and just divorce law for all
the States. 1t seems TO be hard, long,
tedious, process to get the laws of the sever
al States uniform by bringing up public sen
tlmcnt to the point of demanding that they
be just Dut think that not only would
the latter method he the only effective one,
but that it W luld be the cas-. cr, and am very
certain that it is the mcth-d that will have to
be pursued
Hsr. Billiards. Views.
Hon, Henry Ballard, one Of the best
known lawyers in Vermont, was interviewed
by on. reporter.
cone reason, said Mr.. Ballard, why,
in years gone by, Ncrmonrs proper
tion of divorces seemed unduly large
was this: In New York, YOU know, an
absolute divorce is granted for but
one causc-adultcry. To evadc this law,
a great many Yew Workers would come to
this State, live here the statutory pcriol-onc
year-sue for and obtain their divorce, and
then return to New York. But law passed
by the Vermont Legislature in 1878 put an
end to that sort of thing. This law provides
that no divorce Shall be granted if the
parties have never lived together as
husband aud wife in this State that
no divorce shall be granted for any
cause which shall have accrued in any other
state or country unless The parties had before
such cause lived together as husband aud
vile in this state or unless one of the parties
was then living here. This law has had the
effect OF largely creasing the number OF
divorces in this side Of the s tate-say in
Franklin, Chittenden, Addison and Rutland
counties.
Then again" continued Mr. Ballard,
"onr judges were very lax in this matter, up
to within II recent period, but now they have
adopted sllicler rules. Our divorce law is,
on the whole, emiueIty satisfactory us il
now stands. i do not al Present STE how
it Can be materially improved. The scheme
Of a uniform law for all the States is highly
Impracticanle. such Il law would probably
be good thing, but it can never be enacted,
probably"
Rev. NJ. ID. Jump,
pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church,
expressed himself as follows:
'Dvorc is coming to be grave question,
ESPECIALLY in New E gland, Our table OF
statistics presents an alarming condition OF
aff airs. II New Haven, II centre OF learning
there is one divorce to every eleven mar.
riaues. la New Hampshire there il one I,
fourteen, aud in Vermont there is about on,
to every fourteen marriages,
lone great mistake has been, that peODl.
In the East have raised great hue and cry
about easy divorces in the West, and hay,
been bind until within a few years to III,
facts in our own communities. Ihr fact /,
that the per cent Of divorces is larger il
Connecticut than in Chicago. IL New Eng
land the law puts premium upon domestic
quarrcls and lust and the laXlly of the couri
has the same tendency.
LAS the influences which have resulted II
the increase Ia divorce, | think there are To-
many clu,es for which II divorce may b.
obtained. n prominent lawyer related I,
me as fact how TWO men wanted TO OK
change wives aud went To court and nv col
IN ion got divorces and So mace an exchange
1t was n mutual agreement between the par
ties, aud the lawyer s'Id he was knowing f.
the laCt Such preceding Indicates lax
ity in the courts, and it strikes at the yer
foundation Of society
"The idea # granting divorces on he groun
of inc compatibility Of temper is simply dc
grading marriage to a species Of eg4lze
hbcrtnism. A man ties up woman, O
vice versa, until he is sick of her, then cast
her off until he is again ready to repeat tn
process. When Mr.. Dixie published his sta
tistics Of divorces, people all through Nel
England were surprised.
"lt seems to me that the great danger is III
frequency Of divorce in high life. Fashio
filters down through the strata of socet,
and frequency Of divorce IN high life wi
finally influence the lower orders Of societ,
At present there are comparatively few case
of divorce among the middle classes.
III there were only two causes for whc
divorces might be oblained-,he Scripture
ground aud absolute descrllon-thers wou
not be so many cases. | hardly know abnu
the latter, and on the whole don't kno
as II would be safe 10 allow but the drs