Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-09-04
The Decline Of Marriagc-Again.

The Decline of Marriagc-Again.
It has been explained that the intro
ductiOn of II bill in the Georgia legislature,
laying special tax on old bachelors was a
joke, If so it was a joke with a serious side
to it, 1t shows that the tendency to ignore
and neglect the marriage relation, which
has been shown by statistics to exist in
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Ohio and others of the older States, pre-
walls also in the State of Georgia. There
is no doubt of the truth of the general
fact that marriages do not increase in pro-
portion to population among the native
white citizens of this country. To this is
to be added, the fact that of the marriages
contracted n considerable proportion
are dissolved by divorces and the
further fact, often noted by vital
statisticians, that marriages among our
native white population are less fruitful
than marriages among the parents and
grand parents were. 1t is, of course, a
very serious and profound question-in-
capable of being adequately discussed
within the limits of a newspaper article
how to restore the marriage relation to its
proper dignity, inviolabilty and popular
! ty in American society. The evil, of
course, is one which cannot be reached by
legal enactments. The problem is nothing
| less than how to infuse into the young
people of our land the views of life, which
shall show them that the welfare and
truest happiness of the individual, are best
secured in the divinely established rela-
ton of the family and the home; and how
to neutralze the causes which have
2 nj, la. Of
( And it is problem which may well enlist
the best thought and effort of philanthop-
lists and reformers.
The Cincinnati Commcrciul- Gu.cttc says
that "if Sherman is beaten the Repubil-
can majority in the Senate will lose their
business leader, Mr.. Edmunds being the
ornamental person - Is Mr.. Edmunds
really ornamental" and only that ;-NCiC
York. HCrdld.
The Commercials slur is in fact as
much directed at the United States Senate
as at Mr.. Edmunds. But it is so empty of
truth as to be absolutely pointless The
Commercial cannot make anybody be
lieve that the Senate has for so long Il
term of years kept in its leading chair
manship, that of the judiciary committee
and that it selected as its President when
a single death would make the President
of the Senate the acting President of the
United States, Il man of negative or mere
ly ornamental" qualities and qualfica-
tions. If the Commercial We're as igno-
rant us it pretends to be- we should advise
it to give little study to the index of the
Congressional Record. 1t would find il
pretty hard to find against the name OF
any Senator-not excepting any ohio Sen
atOr-more important measures intro
duced, advocated and carried through
more jobs and swindles defeated, or evil
dence of IL more industrious, effective and
leading share in the best legislation of
Congress, than stands credited to Senator
Edmunds by the official record. John
Sherman himself would never intimate
that our Vermont Senator is sham leader
he knows better. We trust that Senator
Sherman will be returned to the United
States Senate. That body is going to neet
al its strong and experienced Republican
:, members.