The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1895-10-11


rortance ia Its way a. the right 10
vote after hard fight a clause was
added to the consultation which pro
hibits the granting OF divorces for any
carse and which forbids the rccogni-
tion o. divorces granted in other
states
This is highly radical departure,
and, as has been suggested, it may be
the result Of South Carolina's humil-
iating failure TO ,ecure a divorce her.
self when she endeavored to 90 out Of
the Union. Curiously enough, South
Carolina has no divorce laws OF any
kind. IL is taken for granted that
when people get married i'm that state
IL is for geod and for all, and that
neither party TO the contract can rue
the bargain or jump the game. At
least nothing like nullidca tion or Sc
cession seems to have crept into The
domestic life of the people, and the
constitutional convention, by vote
of nearly two TO one, aiiirms the sa ne
tity OF the marriage vow and proposes
to hold IL inviolate through the organ
ic law of the state. This
act will be looked upon as
intensely arbitrary by South Dakota,
Oklahoma, Chicago and other states
and municipalities where the conjugal
relation is held so lightly that it may
be Dissolved upon any pretext by the
payment of an attorneys fee of suf
ficieRt magnitude Some modification
of this dangerous license seems TO be
demanded for the safety of society,
but it is a serious question whether
South Carolina has not gone too far in
the other direction. To prohibit di-
vorces for any cause is undertaking a
great 1eal--much more, it may be pre-
dieted, than can be successfully carried
out A protest against the travesty
which many people make of matri-
mony Is in order. but the South Caro-
lima scheme wholly ignores those con
ditions which dot infrequently render
the separation OF husbands and wives
wholly justifiable. 1t is true that no
law can compel people TO live together
who are so distasteful to each other as
to become sources of mutual torment,
but in such cases it has no right to for
/ bid the dissolution of the hateful bond
by proper decree of the courts. II
the divorce clause Of the South Caro-
lima constitution shall be ratified, the
result will be that marital ntracts
which have become irksome will
be broken without the sanction of
law, and in numerous instances new
relations will be entered into which
will be Illicit because OF the inability
OF the persons SO offending to legalize
them. The standard of virtue and
chastity will not be elevated, because
there is as much human nature in
South Carolina as there is anywhere
else, and because no legislation can be
enforced which seeks to interfere with
those affairs which are purely personal
and individual and with which the
state has no business to meddle.
Because divorces are too easily OBJ
tanned in some states and communities
IL does not follow that South Carolina
can forbid them altogether or that II
has the right not TO recognize divorces
which have been allowed elsewhere.
The South Carolina convention would
better decide to stand by the Cons titu'
tion Of the United States In the treat
ment OF the race question aud give up
the impossible attempt to render mat
rimony eternallv binding and irrevo-
cable by the law. One Is about as i'm.
prA, teal aud foolish as the other.
Neither is in accord with the spirit OF
the American reople, who Insist upon
.he privilege OF governing their do
nestle affairs to suit their own tastes.