The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-15
NEED OF A NATIONAL DIVORCE LAW.
Many Complications Caused by the VARYING
Statutes Of Different States.

After years of controversy over the
eavisa bility of establishing a uniform
divorce law for all parts of the Union,
President Roosevelt is now considering
O recommendation to Congress to pro-
vide for an exhaustive inquiry into the
subiect. The divorce laws now in
force are considered by many to be
a national scandal, says the New York
Tribune.
1--WE are confronted IN this country"
said Cardinal Gibbons the other day,
"bv polygamy-I mean the polygamy
that exists in every state of the Union.
There is no law against this kind of
polygamy, but, rather, laws that rec
ognize it and make it possible"
"A uniform divorce law" says Bishop
Doane. would make our courts cease
10 be schools for scandal and would
tend largely to remove from America
the evil repute which has come upon
her for loose methods of dealing with
a question which is of paramount i'm
portance to society and humanity"
The divorce laws of the various
states of this country" said Justice
Gray of the United States Supreme
Court, make us a laughing stock in
the minds of other nations. In no
country of the world are the laws
used to promote divorce as in the
United States. Other civilized nations
have uniform laws dealing with this
subject"
Lawyers whose business brings them
into every day contact with the work.
ings of the laws on divorce all agree
that the present chaotic statutes
should give way, if possible, to a uni
versal law.
1T is a lamentable fact that the
laws affecting marriage and divorce"
says Abraham Hummel, ARE in
chaotic condition. Their reform would
be not only opportune, but welcome.
The old idea that the marriage tie is
perpetual-'until death do us parts
honored in some states more in the
breach than the observance"
1T must first be learned If Con-
gress has the power to pass divorce
laws which will supersede those of the
states" says De Lancey Nicoll. IF
it has this power it should go ahead
without dela-."
Cases are of every day occurrence
which show how the present divorce
laws are made farcical, and the funda-
mental principles of justice are sub
verted by men and women who have
grown tired of one another
The state of New York recognizes
only infidelity as a cause for divorce.
With the exception of those of South
Carolina, which does not permit di-
vorce granted by its own courts, the
divorce laws of this state are stricter
than those of any other state in the
Union. And so it has become the Gus
tom for husbands and wives of this
state to seek other states to obtain
liberty from their matrimonial bonds.
Every now and then New Yorker is
heard to have gone to South Dakota
or Utah or California, and those who
are in not quite as great haste seek
the hospitable shores of Narraganset
bay. Thus it is that the courts of
Rhode Island grant as many DEGREES
to citizens of this state as of their own.
On May 81, 1901, the Appellate Divi-
sion of the Supreme Court of Rhode
Island granted in one day three de-
crees of divorce to New York people of
fashion.
A case where a wife sought a divorce
by going to another state, but was
frustrated by her own candid acknowl-
edgment of her purpose, occurred re-
Gently and the friends of the husband
and wife are still wondering as to the
final outcome. The husband had been
charged with murder, and throughout
the first trial the wife befriended him
and sought to save him. Upon his
conviction she made her home near
the state prison. On the reversal of
the courts decision and during the
second trial the wife did not show the
interest she had maintained before, and
soon after the prisoners acquittal she
went to a Western state and took
apartments in a hotel. 1t was reported
that she furnished her rooms in sump-
tuous style, and through a tempestu-
Gus winter she bided her time. In the
state where she had settled only six
months are required for the period of
residence prior to a suit for divorce
In this case, however, the courts re-
fused to grant divorce, because she had
not kept her secret.
In certain states such as Arkansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and
Texas. divorce is granted to husband
and wife where "cruel treatment, out