St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-10
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.


be dissolved except by the clearest and
strongest proof of breach of the duties
imposed by one of the parties to the
contract. Speaker CARLISLE thinks
that under our system of government
the regulation of marriage and divorce
belongs exclusively to the several states,
and that the laws upon these important
subjects should be made as near uni
form as possible. Representative WILL
lam S. HOLMAN does not think it de-
sirable to confer the power to regulate
marriage and divorce Cd the federal
government, especially as there is a
marked tendency on the part of the
states to come together in their legisla
ton on these subjects. Marriage being
the foundation of our domestic rela-
tions, he thinks all that relates to it
ought to be considered as a matter that
belongs exclusively to the field of local
legislation. President G. K. ADAMS, Of
Cornell university, believes there are
circumstances under which it is
far better for people to be legally
separated than to be compelled
to live together, and consequently
is satisfied with the laws that now pre-
vail. Rev. JOSEPH Cook, of Boston,
holds to his views expressed in his book
entitled Marriage" and while he is of
the Impression that loose divorce is be-
coming vast mischief, he is gratified
to note that it has not yet invaded re-
spectacle society. According to his
view, the mischief is yet confined to the
floating and more or less irreligious and
reckless part of our population. Con-
gresham MCADoo, of New Jersey. not
only opposes federal law of divorce,
but he goes so far as to say that abSO-
Lutte divorce should be sternly restricted
by state laws. He thinks good deal of
the divorce evil and loose notions
about marriage are encouraged by the
f1ippant and frivolous way in which
these subjects are treated by the press
and the courts. Mayor HART favors an
amendment to the federal constitution
giving congress the power to adopt a
uniform divorce law and to regulate
marriages. Bishop NEWMAN is of the
same opinion, as he thinks that what
ever belongs directly and pre-eminently
to our national life is proper subject
for national legislation. and he con-
SiderS marriage and its relations
fundamental to our republican life.
Among others who favor federal
legislation are Rev. DR.. CROSBY, Rev.
B. f. De COSTA, president of the White
Cross society; Miss FRANCES E. WILL
LARD, MARIAN HARLAND, KATE
FIELD, and the successful authoress
SARAH K. BOLTON. Mrs. ANNIE
JENNBss MILLER is a believer IN
divorces, and thinks that the states
should hold on to exclusive regulation
of the marriage contract. She believes
that liberal divorce laws are conducive
to morality and self-respect; for in
countries where no divorce is possible
statistics show the largest percentage
of illegitimate children. KATE FIELD
backs up Mrs. MILLER in this state
ment, and, in her emphatic style, says:
Legislators had better beware how
they put premium OH vice by forging
marital chains so tight as to make a
separation too difficult. Prohibition in
every form is dangerous" Bishop
WHITEHEAD, of Pittsburg, favors a
national law, and thinks it should be a
stringent one. One of the most pun
gent communications on this subject is
from the pen of the venerable Bishop
WHIPPLE, of this state, who says:
Marriage is more than a contract be-
tween two separate personS-it is a
union instituted and blessed by AL
mighty God, to unite heart to heat.
soul TO soul; to hallow and ennoble hui
man life, to give it higher aims and pur-
poses, to sweeter joys and comfort sor-
row, and call out all that is hottest and
best in human affection. Man can not
unmake what he has not made. All the
divorces in the world cannot separate
what God has Joined together Jesus,
the Son of God, said, The twain are
one flesh They are two separate per-
sons, clothed with their own individ-
uality, but by this ordinance and APP
pointment Of God there is a vital union
whose only type is the union of Christ
with his church. There is but one cause
of separation, and that '1pso facto' dis
solves the marriage bond.
whatsoever shall put away his wife,
except it be for fornication, and shall
marry another co mmitteth adultery and
whose marrieth her which is put away
doth commit adultery Around this
holy Institution are clustered all human
affections. Husband and wife, parents
and children, brothers and sisters, all
these find their sanctity in holy we'd
lock. These make home. where, in the
nj l,n
houseband, and the wife is the weben,
the wool to bind the home together. |
believe that the sha meless tide of i'm
purity and pollution which is sweeping
over our land is largely due to loose
ideas of marriage. If marriage is nothing
more than civil contract, to be made
in haste and annulled at pleasure, it is
little better than heather concubinage,
where savage man throws away
her who is the mother of his child. This
idea depraveS wOmanhood-itr obs child
of mothers love and fathers care,
and sends him out into this dark world
without that greatest gift for time and
for eternity-faith in God. No nation
has ever survived the loss of its religion.
1t may have been a poor religion, and
itstruths overlaid with superstition; but
wherever and whenever men have recog-
nized no obligation to higher power,
no standard of righteousness outside
of themselves, social institutions have
| persisted. [ know of no middle anchor
age-the moment the tie which binds
man to God is broken human ties snap
asunder."
| CIVIL SERVICE SLAMS.
| Secretary NOBLE is a reformer on
| nannr only His rannnf nrdoI c1,cnn,,d