Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-03-07
UNIFORM DIVORCE LAWS.

There has been some agitation late
ly for a uniform divorce law through
out the country, High church digni-
taries have taken the matter up. They
have denounced the growing evil Of
severing the ties that should be sacred
and warned against the immortality
necessarily growing out OF the dis
regard for a divine Institution
One would suppose that there should
be practical unanlmity on such a prop
ositlon, at least among those who are
In the habit Of giving serious matters
serious consideration, but there is not
Among the opponents Of uniform d.
yorce law Is Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
In the March number Of the North
American Review she takes the view
that the hardshlps Of the welded state
fall more heavily upon women than
upon men. and she expresses her belief
that the States which have liberal d.
vorce laws are to women what Canada
was TO the slave before emancipation.
Any effort to create a national divorce
law would surely result in making a
maximum Of restrictions where there is
now a minimum. and in depriving wo-
men OF opportunities for relief from
oppression and unhappiness.
She refuses to consider marriage as
religious institution. and argues:
Questions involved In marriage and
divorce should be, IN the churches,
matters Of doctrlnal teaching and dis
cipline only; and, after having discussed
for centuries the question as TO what
the Bible teaches concerning divorce,
without arriving at any settled conclu.
sion, they should agree somewhat
among themselves before they attempt
to dictate State legislation on the sub
jeot II simplines this question TO
eliminate the pretenslons OF the church
and the Bible as to its regulation. AZ
the Bible sanctions divorce and polyga-
my. In the practice OF the chosen people.
and Is full OF contradictions, and the
canon law has been piiable in the
hands of ecclesiastlcs. enforced or set
bles II would simplify the discussion to
confne Il wholly 10 the civil law. re-
sarding divorce as State question"
1t is certainly most narrow view Of
the union Of man and wife, created in
the image OF the Godhead, to see in II
nothing but clvil contract. But even
II that is the point of view, IL does
not follow that It Is best to leave an
opportunity for it's hasty annulment.
Were It more difficult to obtain
divorce, people would enter the union
with greater clrcumspection. They
would, perhaps. be more anxious 10
abide by the advise OF their friends and
parents. There would be fewer broken
covenants, We're they made In accord
ance with the demands Of a ripper judg-
ment.
II cannot be denied that the facility
with which marriages are dissolved
causes people to look upon such unions
as trivial 1t leads TO hasty and III
advised contracts. Sometimes II stimu-
lates husband, or a wife. to lawless-
ness and sin. perhaps for the express
purpose Of finding a ground for COM
plant u makes the home rest on
shaky foundations and endangers the
existence OF the State, which Is but an
aggregate OF homes
Mrs. Stanton may succeed In elimln-
ating from her mind the religious ele-
ment Of the marriage covenant. but
neither she nor anybody else can avert
the calamity that would befall a nation,
should II remove from It's institutions
al religious influence. When the light
Is suddenly removed, the darkness be-
comes all the more intense France
during the period OF reason" is an In
stance.