The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-04-15

IN
but Minnesota has not yet taken any
steps in that direction. While the adop-
ton of this law may not be of any ad-
vantage to the legal profession as such,
since it materially reduces litigation,
am confident that every business man.,
who frequently handles negotiable in
struments, would be greatly benefited by
its enactment. Is it wonder that under
the present complex system of financial
laws and incompatible rulings of the
courts thereon, that an ordinary business
man, who cannot afford to hire a COM
petent attorney, will hesitate before as
Stunning any obligations under negoti-
| able instrument? If he is fortunate
enough to have business extending in
| to an other state, he will need another
| attorney there. Time will permit me to
mention only few of the hardships i'm
posed on the business man under the
present system. The bill of exchange
and promissory note have become great
factors in the development of the North
west, and there is scarcely merchant,
manufacturer, professional man, or even
a farmer, who has not at some time been
confronted with some of the >perpleXing
conditions of negotiable paper. Many
business men have by experience, been
taught that days of grace and legal holt
days do not exist in the State of Mime
sofa as in the neighboring states. Some
have even learned that the acceptance,
! the transfer and the rights and liabilities
of the holders of negotiable paper, are
not the same in the state of Minnesota
as in the neighboring states. But very
few have had occasion to ascertain that
by becoming an indorser, a surety or a
guarantor of promissory note in a
neighboring state, he has assumed OBJ
legations different from those which he
would have assumed by doing the same
act in the state of Minnesota. uni
form, negotiable instrument law, would
| HUI UCHo W pldCC lIioiO SOiiiioSiiNS
in floating financial obligations and en-
nance their value, but would also tend to
diminish fraud, Misrepresentation, and
consequent litigation. The most bene-
fetal result, however, would be the tend
ency to harmonic the decisions of the
courts, so that the decisions of one
state might safely be accepted as good
law in the other.
While on the subject of finance would
suggest the abolition of private banks.
The history of our own immediate vi
cinity has taught us the instability of
these institutions. Perhaps the greatest
danger lies in the fact, that the parties.
who own the bank, practically invest no
money of their own, and it does not take
very long before they begin to look upon
the funds of depositors as the easy
means for private speculation, which
usually results in strong dose of "Nel-
son Cure" Three or four criminal trials
and lot of angry investors, who are
ready to abandon all faith in banks, law
justice, and even humanity.
Since the family forms the foundation
of the state, it follows that the ties
which bind the family together and the
laws which affect the various family re-
lations should not be trifed with. Here
is unquestionably the most important
field for enactment of uniform laws
1 am compelled to omit the laws govern,
ing descent of property, the laws of he.
redity, and the various domestic relations
except that of husband and wife, and
only briefly mention the subdivision OF
divorce.
The question of divorce is one which
demands more attention than that which
it has received. Everywhere, the divorce
evil seems to be on the increase An ex.
animation of our own judicial records
shows that divorces are increasing while
all other litigation seems to decrease
There is now scarcely no pretext so in
significant that some state will not
recognize it as a sufficient ground fol
divorce. South Dakota has received the
distinction of being the ideal state fol
adjusting all matrimonial difficulties
Only six months more or less continuous
visit to this state is necessary to es
tablish a residence for the purpose OF
maintaining divorce proceedings, and fire
quently the wealthy easterner spends the
greater portion of this proba
ton period in company with
his new love at some conven.
vent divorce center of South Dakota, OIL
Oklahoma, while the preliminaries are
arranged, When the "Divine Goddess OF
Justice" has put her seal upon the trans
action, the license clerk and justice OF
the peace record another SACRED MARI
age VOW and then two happy beings
made one flesh disappear in the bosom
of New York's, ''four hundred" while
the courts of New York proclaim the
groom bigamist and his newly selected
helpmate companion in crime.
The various causes for divorce, set
down by the legislatures of the different
states as sufficient to sever the marri-
age relation and "put asunder what God
hath put together" have contributed to
the agitation for change in the Federal
constitution which would permit the en-
actment of a national divorce law The
statutes. of the various states are so
different, complex and conflicting that
there is now no hope of securing state
uniformity. Infdelity is cause for di-