Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1903-06-25
DIVORCE TRACED TO THIS CAUSE
IN MANY INSTANCES.
Federal Statute Might Aid in Solving
the Difficulty.

Marriage is a candle placed in win
dow of summers night,
come and SINCE their pretty
winglets there
Those without butt heads against the
pane,
And those within butt to get out again.
The hasty, thoughtless and reckless
marriages Of the present day and the
frantic efforts of men and women to
sever the bonds of matrimony are cal
culated to impress one with the truth
of the poets observations.
The variety and conflicts of laws
relating to marriages and divorce in
the different States of the union Illus
trate the necessity OF harmonizng this
uiost important branch of our civil law.
Those who have given the question
serious consideration are almost IN
animons in the opinion that a consti-
tutional amendment is the only prac-
tical solution.
Congress has no power under the
existing laws to regulate the marriage
relation and under the present consti-
tuition it is not within the federal
jurisdiction.
An infinitely greater amount Cf good
would be accomplished if the agitation
against divorce now going on among
our respected brethren of the cloth
were directed against the root of the
evil-viz.. hasty, reckless and crimi-
nal marriage contract-and in favor
of uniform divorce law, hedged about
with proper restrictions.
Serious Complications Result.
The complications resulting from
the marriage and divorce laws Of the
different States now tax the ingenuity
of men most learned in the law, and
when our well-meaning but misguided
ministerial brethren, who are popu-
larly supposed to be more familiar
with ecclesiastical than civil law, get
through tampering with the subject, a
federal statute will doubtless be i'm
perative
A law rendering the marriage rela-
ton indissoluble, as advocated by some
superficial persons, would result in un-
told misery and be productive Of lin
gering wretchedness and crime.
Our ecclesiastical friends take refuge
behind the scriptural injunction, "What
God hath joined together let no man
put asunder" but who would be so
unjust or even wicked as to cast upon
his Maker the responsibility Of a
transaction, the principals in which
are two silly, sentimental, amorous
creatures, the evanescent whim of a
summers day and Gretna Green JUS
tice of the peace!
Far be it from me to sneer at the
sacredness of the nuDtial bond when
entered into sincerely and intelligent
ly and inspired by mutual love and af-
depends on the unity and sanctity OF
the marriage tie.
AS our various state laws exist to-
day. the marriage ceremony may be
bigamous in one state of the union
and valid in another. The prohibition
against remarliage contained in the
DEGREES of absolute divorce is farcica
in the extreme. An instance can be
cited where man innocently con
tracted a second marriage upon the
strength of a decree of divorce OBJ
tanned by his first wife in Ohio anC
was convicted of bgamy.
Laws Much Mixed.
Similar to the above is the case o1
Faber, who was convicted of bigamy
for remarrying in New York after his
first wife had procured a divorce
Under existing circumstances it is
possible for man to be free in one
state husband in second and {
bigamist in a third.
It is somewhat inccnvenient, not tC
say embarrassing, for one removing tC
another state not to know whether he
is married or single. When we con
slider that property rights and the legi
timacy of children are directly affected