The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-12
CAMPAIGN INAUGURATED
AGAINSTTHE DIVORCE
EVIL.

1t is not too much to say that the
great meeting held in Raleigh on Fri
day night to voice the protest of the
Christian Sentiment of North Carolina
against loose divorce laws was the
most important gathering in this State
during the present year. The speak
ers represented four of the chief reli-
gious denominations Of the State and
their declarations will be applauded
by all creeds and those belonging to
no church who believe that the Home
is the mudsill upon which our civiliza-
ton rests. If the sanctity of the home
be destroyed, if marriage is a mere
matter of convenience, if courts must
grind out divorces while you wait" it
takes no seer to prophesy the loss of
those high qualities and that ster
ling character that make a noble and
a great home-loving people. No ma
ton has grown to greatness and pre-
served its greatness unless the Home
has been the foundation upon which
it was built.
The increase in the number of di-
vorces in North Carolina, the growing
laxity of the laws, and the apparent
readiness to submit to the resulting
evils have alarmed the best and wisest
leadership, in both church and State,
in this good Commonwealth. The press
and the pulpit have quickened the
conscience of the people and the time
h xxyI,a hYic
tan people of North Carolina have
resolved to put an end to the UNI
scriptural laws that are a blot upon
our statute books. The change in the
laws have been made insidiously and
gradually-the way that wrong al
ways creeps in. 1t is only by reading
the reports of the divorce mills that
the people have understood the full eff
feet of the nice sounding laws that
have let down the bars. Dr. Murdoch
estimates that there is one divorce
for every seven marriages in this
State-that is a record almost as bad
as i'm the State of Maine, and we had
always been priding ourselves that
North Carolinians were truer to the
martial ties than people i'm most other
States.
The coneensus of opinion at this
meeting on Friday night seemed to be
that the demand should be made and
insisted upon for the repeal of all
amendments to the divorce law of the
State, passed since the ratification of
The Code. In reality there are causes
permitted by The Code that ought not
to exist in a civilized community.
1t is to be hoped that the good in
f1uences of this meeting will be felt in
every section of the State, and that
every good man and woman in the
State will be fully enlisted to secure
the repeal of all lax divorce laws. Vic
tory will only be won by earnest eff
fort and pressing this important mat
ter upon the hearts and consciences OF
the people. The contest in the last
Legislature was lost by the op-
ponents to easy divorce laws, by
narrow margin. There are many
plausible arguments, most of then
based upon some special case of pc
culiar hardship, which will be brought
forward by those who will oppose re-
turn to the old laws. The best way tt
meet and answer these speciouS pleas
is by showing that the heart and con-
science of the State are fully aroused
to save the Home. When that fact is
so apparent as to make itself felt, NJ
Legislature will refuse to wipe of
those disgraceful amendments to oul
divorce laws.
Knox as Senator will continue to