The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-03-01
DIVORCE SYSTEM
mo Matter of Discussion by tho
Council Of Womon. 4
The ENTIRE DAYI DEVOTED To]T.
Rho Official Report OF tho Committee
On Divorce Noform--Tho Women
Complain That only Mon Arc An.
pointed TO rTlnkor With Divorce
Laws, and They Show n Coutcmpt
FOR tho Opinion OF Womon.

WASHINGTON, Feb. oS.-Compluint
against tho prcscnt Bystom Of divorce
laws was tho burden Of to.day's aesslon
Of tho National Council OF Women. Tho
entire day session was devoted to this
theme aud number Of interesting nd.
dresacs woro delivered before n crowded
hail. Tho discussion was lod by tho
official report OF tho Committee on
divorce reform, road by Chairman
Bottolle Deitrick, OF MASSACHUSETTS,. 1t
embodied responses received from a
large number OF state governors, who
wcro asked to call tho attention OF
tho Legislatures to the status Of tho
divorce laws and to appoint commit.
toe to consist OF nh equal number OF
men and women to consider tho ma,ter.
Tho question, tho report said. was ono
vitality concerning tho happiness and
welfare OF 100000 people, OF whom
half arc OF tho female sox, and added:
Women should thoughtiully consider
tho Significance OF tho fact that thirty.
one oil tho masculine servants OF tho
people mado no response TO this Just 70.
quest OF representative women"
Only two, Greenhalgc, OF Massachu.
sctts, and Brown, OF Rhode leland,
promised to do all in their power to
carry out tho request. Tho governor OF
South Carolina wrote that that state
had no divorce laws and Its people were
bettor satisfied than their noichbors
whose states have divorce laws. Tho
report said that the fact that twcnty-
three states have appointed bodies OF
men to tinker with divorce laws, with.
out appointing any women, ought to
show women in what estimation tho
men OF the United States hold their
opinions. The officials serving the in.
terests OF the United States cherish
frank contempt for woman's opinions
and wishes, was tho conclusion ex-
pressed in the report.
Mrs. Elizabeth B. Graums, OF New
York. president OF the National Civil.
ization League for tho Promotion OF
Social Purity. asserted that no text book
on marriage and divorce Ia SO safe in its
teachings and practice as tho New les.
lament. upon which, sho said, the Now
York law ia based. She advocated a
universal marriage and divorce law
throughout the federal government,
recognizing no divorce except for adul.
terry. ..
Miss Harriet 4. Shinn, OF Illinois,
delegate Of the National Association of
Loyal Women OF American Liberty,
made plea for tho children who were
held to be the greatest sufferers from
tho unwritten laws OF society which
govern the home, and for the creation
OF broader and truer public senti-
ment in favor OF those whose domestic
life Is so unhappy and unwholesome rs
to render legal and final separation
imperative. She held as unchris.ian
the attitude OF some OF the religious de-
nominations on this subject. Parties to
an unhappy marriage contract arc en-.
titled to relief on their own account,
but the presence Of children makes it
necessary for them to be removed to n
purer atmosphere than that which sur
rounds the homo whore love ia I'm.
known. The only court. she concluded
that adjudicatcs the spiritual rights oil
the child is public sentiment.