Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-05-06

For many years there las been
growing note Of alarm and opposition
on the part of Christian denominations
occasioned by the rapid growth in tic
number of divorces THIS antagonism
is now taking organic form. At Il re
cent church conference on divorce held
in ST. Bartholomew parish house
New York. ten Protestant bodies were
represented, and Archbishop Farley OF
the Roman Catholic church wrote
letter declaring his sympathy with the
objects of the gathering. The discus
sion of divorce problems by the minis,
ters present led to the expression Of
many different views, but unity OF nc,
ton was secured in the adoption of the
following resolution:
That in recognition of the comfy which
should exist between Christian churches
1t is desirable and would tend to increase
the spirit of unity for each church repre-
sented In the conference to advise and, il
authority will allow, to onj9in its minis
ters to refuse to unite in marriage any
pSl SUI u IlEiSollS NlCGt marriage lElC
ministers have coed reason TO believe Is
forbidden by the laws Of the church in
which either party seeking to be married
holds membership
This is regarded by the Living
Church as IAN indication of progress
and a happy augury Of a new crusade
against at least the grosser sins against
the inviolability Of the marriage tie"
The Boston Congregationallst, on the
other hand, declares that "however ad.
mirable this may be theoretically, it
has practical aspects which make any
thing like general acceptance of it
somewhat doubtful" And the New
York independent comments:
This resolution sounds fraternal and is
generally approved in its spirit, and yet
we question If 1t does not go too far. 1t
is aimed at the renlarriage of divorced
persons and yet it does not mention them
directly, but formulates a rule which has
a much wider application.
The subject is one of tremendous i'm
portanCe, but we shall have first to
thrash out the question before the bar of
public opinion as to what are the prop,
causes. in the interests of family life. for
divorce. We are convinced that the law
in South Carolina. which allows no d.
vorce at all, or the law Of New York,
which allows divorce cnly for adultery,
will not command the assent of the Chris
tlan conscience generally. At present the
first hopeful legisla ton appears to be in
the line Of the example set by Delaware,
which is intended to prevent migrations
for the sake of divorce. and which pro-
tf,,f ,,n ocI1o1 Ia tr.a tod fnr
any cause arising prior to the residence
of the petitioner in the state unless that
were also q ground of divorce in the state
where it arose. Further, congress might
well establish a commission to Investigate
the subject and recommend legislation for
the territories Such a commission might
work in harmony with unpaid state COM
missions already existing, whose work
moves too slowly.
The Roman Catholic Messenger offers
the following statistics, showing the eX'
tent to which "the national evil of dl.
vorce" has grown during recent years:
In the monthly bulletin OF the depart
ment Of labor for September, lSO- arc.
given the divorces granted in sixty cities
in all parts of the United States, the total
number of these divorces granted in 1901
being G, sos The population of these sixty
cities was at the time S,l4iS.3 or little
less than one-ninth that Of the whole
country; hence multiplying 6,9J3 by 9l-lO,
we obtain for the whole country G5,GSl d.
yorces. Yet it may be objected that it ii
net fair to take only cities because di-
vorces are apt to be more numerous in
cities than In the country. To remove
this objection we have also gathered tho
divorces granted in sixty counties. tho
total number of which was found to bo
If in The population of these sixty coun-
ties was at the time 13,359,7l4 or two-eev-
enths of the population of the whole
country. Therefore, multiplying 1,l2O BY
eleven halves, we again obtain for tho
whole country 61,1G0. Consequently the
lowest limit we can assign TO the number
OF divorces granted In 1901 Is 6l,l6o. THIS
II an increase Of rer cent a Sear gives