The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-18
The Divorce Problem.

In a recent contribution to the press
Cardinal Gibbons outlined and defend
ed with characteristic ability the po-
stion Of the Catholic church upon the
subject of divorce. which is that mar
rage, once entered into, cannot be dis
solved for any reason save death. Af-
ter an argument touching the Scrip
tural warrant for this position the car
dinal proceeded to consider the divorce
problem in its social significance and
incidentally gave some interesting
statistics. He pointed out. for exam
pie, the existence in the various states
of twenty-five different causes for
divorce, and noted that in two states
Illinois and Mane-the whole matter
Of granting or Withholding a divorce is
left to the discretion of the judge. He
added:
There was a total Of 22S,7l6 divorces
i'm the United States in the twenty
years 1S67-lSSG. or these there were
122 12l in the first half of the period and
206, 59j in the last half That is to say,
the divorces in the latter half We're 60
per cent. more than those in the first
half. The population between 1870 and
1880 increased only 80 per cent. The
divorces in 1870 were l0.9G2 and in 1880
they were 1865 and they are in 1886
more than two and One-half times
what they We're in 1867. ! have not at
hand the figures for the last decade,
but there is no reason 10 believe that
Ia, oh n a nj
industry of the divorce courts. From
the figures | have quoted it is pain
fully manifest that the cancer of di-
vorCe is rapidly spreading over the
community and poisoning the fOun-
tains of the nation. Let the imac ina
tion picture to itself the fearful wrecks
daily caused by this rock of scandal
and the number of families that are
cast adrift on the ocean of life. Great
stress is justly laid by moralsts on
the observance of the Sunday. But
what mockery is the external repose
of the Christian sabbath to homes
from which domestic peace is banished
by war, where the mothers heart is
broken, the fathers spirit crushed and
where the children cannot cling to one
of their parents without exciting the
jealousy or hatred of the other. And
these melancholy scenes are followed
by the final act in the drama when
the family ties are dissolved, and
hearts that had vowed eternal love and
union are separated to meet no more.
This social plague calls for radical
cure; and the remedy can be found
only in the abolition Of our mischievOus
legislation regarding divorce and in an
honest application of the teachings of
the Gospel"
Commenting upon the cardinals de-
liverancc the Times Herald well says:
People who eagerly desire a reform
differ among themselves as to a rem
edy. Some of these insist, like the
cardinal, ON the one cause and ban
against remarriage. They would have
a rule absolute. Others, while de-
ploring the ease with which separation
is procured along with the right to
remarry, are not SO certain about the
single cause. They will reflect, for
example, upon the case of a woman
who is bound with more CALLING bonds
than those OF a slave TO a habitual
drunkard. Here there may not be
only humiliation and a mental anguish
that is frightful to endure, but a dis
tinct bodily peril. In the long list of
drunkards, foolish, filthy, stupid, we
at length come to the class that are
ugly and brutal. When a woman is
tied to a creature of this class it is
literally true to say that earth to her
is a hell. 1t is a hell also to her chill
dren. In that household there can
be no rest, no joy. no hope save in
death or the divorce court. Surely