The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1904-02-02
MUCH NEEDED.

An exchange tells of an attempt
which is being made, by certain circles
in the Roman Catholic church, to
check the tide of divorce and attendant
immoralities by social influence. Find
ing, says the writer, that not even the
ban of the church, unequivocal as 1t
is, sufiices to prevent divorces and the
subsequent marriage of divorced per-
sons, a society of ladies, styling them
selves Daughters of the Faith" has
been organized, to apply social ostra-
oism to such Offenders. They pledge
themselves not to recognize the guilty
partner in a divorce case, and not to
accept invitations from, nor extend
hospitality to- such persons. There are
other rules of the society, which pledge
the members to abjure certain customs
prevalent among women of wealth and
station, which, in the opinion of these
ladies, tend to immortality.
While it will be interesting to watch
the result Of this new movement, and
while some check TO the disgusting
prevalence of appeal to the divorce
court is needed, yet we note that the
first social movement comes, in this
effort, from the church which has for
ages stood for the purity and strength
of the marriage VOWS. Those of other
faith it would seem, should have been
first to aid in this matter by social
stigma. while nothing is done by the
regulations of their organizations.
The actions in the courts, with the
disclosures incident TO them, show a
moral laxity which is menace to the
home and disgrace to our country.
We do not have TO go from home to
find this deplorable evidence. Only
last week there came to our desk a
trial list of cases pending in our local
courts, and out of the twenty-five cases
listed, fourteen were for divorce. Such
evidence as this is shocking to the
domestic and moral sensibility of a de-
cent public, and calls for decided pres
ent action.
However, in this. as in the meeting
of every evil, people are wont to get
at 1t from the wrong end. Divorces are
not made after marriage in many cases,
but are the product of the homes from
which the contracting parties go;
homes without that training and moral
moulding, which brings respect to the
sacred compact which they make in
taking upon themselves the marriage
vows.
lnen there Is another cause for the
increase in divorce, cause which can
not be eradicated until we, to some ex-
tent, go back to the principles and
practices or our forefathers. 1t is
found in present business customs.
While we are thankful for the business
woman. and while we believe she fills
her place in the present business econ
omy OF the country, we are Just as
certain that her entry into Office and
store and profession has robbed the
American home of, to a large extent,
Its sweetest, strongest influences.
and to this change in woman's sphere
Is largely due the increased business
in the divorce courts.
There are plenty of exceptions TO
the rule, but IL is questionable always,
we think, whether a woman who has
been a successful factor In business
circles, until she is twenty-three or
five, will ever be a successful wife
Not that II has affected her morals
or her womanhood in the abstract but
1t has made her self-reliant and easily
dissatisfied with misfortune. A girl
twenty-four years or age marries a
man with a moderate income, an in
come but little beyond that, which as
an expert in come line, she command
ed herself, and when the first blissful
days are over, and the time comes for
dividing the loaf, her miad most nat
urally goes back to her own independ-
ence. That our modern business ar
rangement is the greatest feeder OF the
divorce courts there is not the slight
est doubt.
Aside from this. there is the fact
that the modern society marriage never
counts on the bankrupt court, and the
divorce court action logically follows
any appeal to the first. Societies. like
this Of the Catholic church, may place
upon this evil some check, but for its
correction we must look to old-fash-
Toned love and old-fashoned business
customs.
Abolish Infirnary Directors