The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-09-29

them out or to correct them is by easy
divorce" Well, before we yield to that
cry, let us find out how easy it is now.
/ have looked over the laws of all the
states. and / find that while in some
states it is easier than in others, in
every state II is easy. The state of
Illinois, through its legislature, recites
long list OF proper causes for divorce,
and then closes up by giving to the
courts the right to make decree OF
divorce in any case where they deem it
expe..ent. After that you are not sur
prised at the announcement that in one
county OF the state of Illinois, in one
year, there were S33 divorces. Ii you
want to know how easy it is, you have
only to look over the records of the
states. In Massachusetts. 600 divorces
in one year; in Maine, 473 in one year;
in Connecticut, 40l divorces in one
year; in the city of San Francisco, 1913
divorces in one year; in New England,
in one year, 2,113 divorces, and in
twenty years in New England, 10000.
Is that not easy enough? If the same
ratio continue, the ratio of multiplied
divorce and multiplied causes of di-
vorce, we are not far from the time
when our courts will have to set apart
whole days for application. and all you
will nave to prove against a man will
be that he left his slippers in the mid
die of the floor, and all you will have
to prove against woman will be that
her husbands overcoat was buttonless.
Causes of divorce doubled in few
years, doubled in France, doubled in
England and doubled in the United
States. TO show how very easy it is, l
have to tell you that in Western Re-
serve, ono, me proportion of divorces
to marriages celebrated was in one
year one to eleven; in Rhode Island.
one to thirteen; in Vermont one to
fourteen. Is not that easy enough?
l want you to notice that frequency
of divorce always goes along with the
dissolutenesj of society. Rome for 500
years had not one case Of divorce.
Those were her days of glory and
virtue. Then the reign of vice began
and divorce became epidemic. If you
want to know how rapidly the empire
went down, ask Gibbon. Do you know
! how the Reisl of Terror was intro
duced in France? BY 10000 cases of
divorce in one year in Paris. What we
want in this country and in all lands,
is that divorce be made more and more
difficult Then people before they enter
| that relation will be persuaded that
there will probably be no escape from
it, except through the door of the sep
ulchre. Then they will pause on the
verge of that relation, until they are
fully satisfied that it is best, and that
it is right, and that it is happiest.
Then we shall have no more marriages
in fun. Then men and women will not
enter the relation with the idea it is
only a trial trip, and if they do not like
| IT, they can get out at the first land
ing. lhen this whole question will be
Ia en- out of the frivolous into the tre-
mendous, and there will be no more
joking about the blossoms in brides
hair than about the cypress on coffin.
What we want. is that the congress
of the United States move for the
changing the national constitution so
that a law can be passed which shall be
uniform all over the country and what
shall be right in one state shall be
right in all the states, and what is
wrong in one state will be wrong in all
the states. How is it now? If party
in the marriage relation gets dissatis-
| fed. it is only necessary to move to
another state to achieve liberation
from the domestic tie, and divorce is
effected so easily that the first one
the newspaper that Rev. DR.. Somebody
q few days or weeks afterward intro
duced into a new marriage relation a
member of the household who went off
on pleasure excursion to Newport or
, a business excursion to Chicago. Mar
ried at the brides house. No cards.
There are states OF the union which
practically put q premium upon the
disintegration of the marriage relation,
while there are other states, like tho
state of New York, which has the pre-
eminent idiocy of making marriage
lawful at 12 and IA years of age.
The cong ss of the United States
needs to move for change of the ma
tional constitution, and then to ap-
point committeeman made up of
single gentlemen, but Of men OF fami-
lies, and their families in Washington
who shall prepare good. honest,
righteous, comprehensive uniform law
that will control everything from
Sandy Hook to Golden Gate. That will
put an end to brokerages in marriage.
That will send divorce lawyers into a
decent business. That will set peo-
pie agitated for many years on the
question of how they shall get away
from each other to planning how they
can adjust themselves TO the more or
less unfavorable circumstances.
More difficult divorce will put an
estoppal to a great extent upon mar
rage as a financial speculation. There
are men who go into the relation just
as they go into Wall street to purchase
shares. The female to be invited into
the partnership of wedlock is utterly
NJ in, dfcporfffo..