Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1889-11-22
OUR CHICAGO LETTER.
els Divorce Wrong!!''

I papers IN the November AOTG
,s' american RericlC, bearing tn
NJ signatures of DR.. 5. w. Dyke, Car
dinal Gibbons, Bishop Potter ant
Colonel IngersOn. DR.. Dixie deal
in statistics. He says: There wer,
in the United States 1881 divorces
reported for 1857, and 1885 for
= 1856, or 4 total Of S2S, ZIG in the
: twenty years. This increase is more
than twic, as great as the popula.
ton. and has been remarkably uni
form throughout the period.
The movement IS well nigh as uni
versal in Europe rs here. Thirteen
European countries including
Canada, had $50 divorces in Is=S
and IO,919 in ISS5-ap increase Of
: 81 per cent. ~ud with us in the
: same PERIOD I2.5 per cent.
DR.. Dixie then stated that 20 per
cent Of the divorces were based on
! adultery, 10 on cruelty, IS on de-
r sertion, ! for drunkenness, for
: neglect TO provide. But he saws
: that a special study of %, 665 cases in
4 twelve different States showed that
20 per cent were directly or indi-
rectly attributable TO liquor. In 90
counties Of - States Is per cent Of
the applications for divorce Were
: granted. The duration Of marriage
before divorce occurs is nine years
The Doctor recommends some un.
form national scheme Of divorce
He thinks that under the present
system innocent parties are de
irauted, children rendered iilegiti-
mate, inheritance made uncertain,
and actual imprisonments for
eigamy growing out Of divorce and
re-marriage.
Cardinal Gibbons follows with a
scathing Indictment of our divorce
system, which he says is destroying
marriage, breaking hearts, wreck
ing homes and running souls. He
says the Catholic must answer the
question, Can divorce from the |
bond fmatrimOny ever be allowed" |
with an emphatic No. And for this
answer his reason is s'Thus saith The |
Lord." The wisdom Of this is ap-
! parent, he says, from the present |
social condition Ofthe United States.
Divorce made the first inroads into |
the integrity Of ancient Greece and
Rome, and I'm the latter place wo-
men were not ashamed of licentious-
ness, until finally a nation built on
family purity crumbled into rotten
ness. He calls divorce Christian
polygamy and parallels it with
Mormon pOlygamy to the advantage
Of the latter. Here is what he says:
We are filed with righteous indir-
nation at MormOnism; we brand il as
national disgrace and demand its
suppression. Why? Because, forsooth,
the MOrmons are polygamists. Do we
forget that there arc two species of no.
lygamy = simultaneous and success
sive? MOrmons practice without legal
recognition the first species; while
among Us the second species is in
duiged in, and with the sanction Of
law, by thousands, in whose nostriIs ,
Mormonism is 4 stencil and az ahomi-
nation. The Christian press and pull
PIT OF tho land denOunce the MoTmons I
a. an adulterous generation, but too ,
often deal very ienderly with Christian ,
polygamists. Why? Is Christian DO
lygamy less odious in the sight Of
God than Mormon pOlygamy? Among r
US, tbs true, the one is looked upon as
more respectable than the other. Yet
we know that the MormOns, as a class.
care for their wives and children: l
while Christian pOlygamisis but too :
often leave wre;ched wives to starve. !,
slave OF. sin, and leave miserable child
rem a public charge
He says the Catholic marriage is !
grounded on Mark Y, IL, II: Luke
xvi, Is; ! Cor. vii, 10, II. No @
divorce, but n separation. is granted :
for adultery, with no right for either d
party 10 marry again. :
The Cardinal then quotes from h
his namesake, the author Of the 4
decline and Fall of the Roman i
Empire, = TO show that divorce was o
destructive 10 happiness and virtue. a
lie quotes also from Prof. WooIsey h
and from John Taylor Coleridge. Il
anu then says: divorce as We II
Know 1t began when marriage was b
removed from the demand Of the h
church; divorce shall cease when Y
the old order shall be restored. Will Of
his ever come 10 pass? Perhaps 50. ..
after many days.''
Bishop Potter Of the Episcoual m
Church follows next. He refers his nj
readers TO the Church "Digest of "a
Canons, " 1857, to the reports of dis 81
'ussions in the diocesan and gener- m
Il conventions, and TO the public M
opinion Of the clergy and laity. He al
avs divorce Is very rare in his m
'hurch. 1t is little wonder This is g
o, If a candidate has TO hunt bs
Trough all the literature the bishon a,
eiers TO on the subject Of divorce. ~
81 the time csnons, discussions and br
ubllc opinion were searched the ~
prospective divorce seeker would be ~
more mt 10 grace the funeral naked N,
meats than the marriage festival m
The bishop seemed 10 feel his own or
inconsistency in dwelling on church Ia
minority Tor divorce, when his fe;
hurch don't hold marriage sacred.
Artlcle NV says: "NIatrimouy is ",
ot TO be counted for sacrament of nj,
ne Gospel" Yet the first section a.
canon ID and the "Form OF Sol Wi
affirm that Oif any M
ersons be joined together otherwise ise
nan as Gods Word doth ALLOW, -.
leir marriage is eot Lawful. ;, Tbe =,
shops article abounds in incon- ~,
stencies of this kind. However -,
says that divorce is granted for
iultery, and remarriage permitted n i
the innocent party. ~,
He also saws that aceoniino 20 ,b Wy
- general convention the Mo- hi
nc law still obtains in the church ma
ID then again he says that the do Too
y away OF circumcision also does 10,
way with the Mosaic law. For ey,
upluily, lneoherency and opaoue- ba,
-, the Bishop beats Dnns bo,
'otus himself But then the FnIs. ~; ne
'pal Is not a church. Itisa Kind TO
reflex OF the Anglican. and the ssIr
nSllcan according toAIacaulay is a ont
between Rome and Iitt
avn, between Luther and Henry I
e Eighth. Properly speakinI fro.
e Bishop is prelate in a cbnrrb ~ 81,
az don't consider prelacy divine sen
Col. Ingersol follows in his usual Ma
ploodle style. His mushy senti- wit
sht anu windy logic show them IGN
.ves quite prominently in this 7
Icle. He says by way Of dis are
ragement that ''the early Chris n h
ms regarded prosperous peop:e as the
children Of mammon, and the are
fortunate, the wretehed and the hnI
,eased, as the favorites OF God. ;, TO +
he does not say who were the mo
'sperous people in those days. yisi
ere they the men who gained \
attn by conquest and spoliation, volt
We're they the millionaires who flea
wealth by dishonesty and fraud. crv
1 who spent il in libertin. Sch
and licentionsness2 A. 81 = a