San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-08-25
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.
Why Young Men Do Not Marry-The
Evils of Divorce and Concubinage
Discussed.


Evils of Divorce and Concubinage
Discussed.
Editor San Antonio LIGHT.
Recently quite a number of articles -
grave, humorous, gay and dull, have
been written to account for and explain
the growing disinclination of single men
to enter into the matrimonial state, but
all of them have treated the subject in a
narrow and superficial manner. This
same disinclination by men TO marry,
manifested itself quite decidedly in the
reign of the Emperor Augustus and his
immediate successors, and il was felt to
be SO serious q drawback on the public
welfare, that laws to encourage mar
rage were enacted, and every effort was
made to render them effective. The dis
inclination in the time OF Augustus on
the part Of the male sex to contract mar
rage, arose from the sickeniDg dlsso-
luteness offemale manners-the frequen-
cy of divorce and the prevalence OF
years from the foundation of
Rome. no divorce was applied for
and concubinage was measurably I'M
known, but the moment that wealth
produced corruption of manners, dissO-
luteness and lasCiviousness almost put
stop TO marriage.
Ii is not unlikely, that the same causes
are at the bottom Of the growing disin-
OlinatiOn OF single men TO marry, that
has recently called forth so much dis
cussion and excited so much surprise.
The frequency of divorce has become the
curse OF the age, and lie entirely owing
TO the multiplication OF the grounds on
which O divorce may be obtained in
nearly every state in the union. 1t is as
easy to obtain divorce, as 1t is to fall
off of slick log" In fact, they are
granted, as q matter of course. IL hus-
band gets out Of work, the fashion now
is for his wife to apply for divorce, on
support her, and when she obtains d.
vorce, it Is miracle If she
does not drift into cOncubinage.
The ties Of marriage have become ex-
ceedingly brittle and are snapped
as easily as clay stem to q
pipe. Four-fifths Of the divorces granted
are procured by women. 1t goes with
out saying, that no man who respects
himself cares to marry woman, who,
in case he should fall into poverty,
would seek divorce from him in the
most heartless manner, by blackeniDg
his character, yet this sort of thing Is
growing, unhappily, too common in all
portions Of the union, especially in the
cities where manners are more dissolute
and corrupt. Marriage imposes on both
the contracting parties the obligation OF
mutual helpfulness, as well as OF shar-
ing together the good and ill-fortune
that may fall to their lot, but this old
fashioned idea of the sacredness Of mar
rage and Of its reciprocal obligations,
80 IaNa Nf fo oh nn
1t seems that many women marry only
to obtain support and to be enabled to
live in idleness, and as soon as their
husbands are unfortunate in bust
ness or get out of work, they
rush into the courts for divorces. There
are several such applications now pend
ing in the district court. | am sorry
that such is the case, since like the
weather vane on the church steeple, it
shows the tendency of things towards
concubinage. Just in proportion as you
bring marriage into contempt and dis
repute by dissOlving it upon trivial
grounds, do you increase its substitute
concubinage.
The brittleness of the ties of marriage
is without doubt one of the reasons why
single men hold aloof from marriage,
and this brittleness of the bonds of mar
rage is mainly occasioned by the women
who rush into court for divorces.
Four-fifths of the women living in a
state Of cOncubinage are either grass
widows" or divorced wives-a circum-
stance that shows what is the tendency
of the facility with which divorces may
be obtained. The more Goncu-
bines there are in the market
the fewer marriages there will be in a
city, for concubinage is a substitute for
marriage. Facility of divorce increases
the number of concubines on the market,
and the greater tho number Of cOncu.
bines the fewer the marriages, in any
city.
Again, marriage has grown to be too
costly luxury for men of small means
to indulge in, unless they are lucky
enough to marry an exceptionally
thoughtful and prudent woman. An ex-
| travagant woman is a curse to poor
man-nay, such women annually drive
thousands Of husbapds to seek oblivion
| in drunkenness, or to have recourse to
| embezzlement to crafty the extrava'
gance of their wives. The very expen'
siveness Of marriage deters single men
| from marrying, while young, and event
ually, bachelOrhood becomes sort Of
second nature to them. Women are tC
blame for the repugnance shown by sim
| gle men to marriage. Tony.