The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-11-06
SOME EFFECTS OF DIVORCE.

1t is reported that the great number
of divorces in Oklahoma is having the
effect of decreasing the number OF
local marriages in that territory. This
is certainly a remarkable effect, but II
is not at all unnatural. Most or the
divorces secured in oklahoma are Sc
cured by people who have come into
the territory temporarily on account OF
the easy divorce laws Of the territory.
A very small percentage Of the divorce
suits are brought by the people living
there. But the long lists of divorce
suits on the dOckets, the daily accounts
OF marital troubles and matrimonial
conflicts in the papers there must have
the effect of a warning to some extent.
If there is any good in divorce, out
side of righting grieyous error or
estopping cruelty. this power Of pre-
vention viii be that good thing. If
the food of divorce suits viii make
young people, who are love-striclIen, a
bit more conservative the effect on the
whole will be good and to an extent
counterfeit the other deleteriOus effect
OF making the marriage bonds appear
trivial and unimportant
Divorce In itself Is bad. So long az
marriage retained its sacred character,
divorce was extremely dangerous and
in some cases impossible. When that
sacred character was dropped and it
became civil, the marriage bond be-
came no more binding than any other
civil contract, except on the important
matter of offspring. which today prob
ably prevents thousands of divorces.
The divorce evil is like many Of the
questions the country has before It to-
day. The evil is recognized and dread
ed but no one can offer practical,
immediate and radical remedy.
at cannot be denied" says the
Northwestern Christian Advacote of
Chicago, ''that public sentiment with
regard to divorce is UNNECESSARILY be-
low what a healthy social condition
demands In this country especially
the marriage bond is fast becoming n
simple matter Of contract, which con-
tract may be dissolved at the pleasure
of either party. The other day a well
known writer secured a divorce from
her husband upon grounds involving
only a matter of personal comfort.
There was not even incOmpatbility Of
temper alleged. The causes at work
to produce this condition Of affairs are
There IS the over-emphasis
of the idea Of individual liberty. with
a decrease in the sense Of individual
liberty, with a decrease in the sense
of individual responsibility; there is
the popular discrediting Of religion
and of the forces which operate in the
cultivation of the moral sense. There
is the weakening effect Of luxurious
living, and the friction caused by In
adequate resources to meet extrava-
CANT expenditures; there is the indus
trial gains of women who, finding
capable Of providing for
themselves. decline to submit to the
evil which comes from undesirable
and there IS the low view of
the marriage state itself which leads
TO unconsidered unions all the more
in that divorce may be
easily resorted TO. In this. as in other
social problems, there is urgent need
q l.
ter and stricter legislation. If il were
well understood that from marriage
once consummated there was no subse-
luent release but death, there would
which, after all, has an atmosphere
worth importing into our domestic re-
IationS."