The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-19
AN OUTRAGEOUS PROPOSITION.

~A%N CS HAOA oSAA
 It is difficult to imagine a more out rageous proposition than Is contained in a bill recently introduced in the Legislature of Colorado. It is, in briet, a scheme for an experimental or trial marriage prior to the real union. It provides that all marriages shall be by legal contract, and that if the parties choose, the marriage shall be for three-year term only. If, after the ex- piration of that period, the parties de- sire to continue the union, 1t Is then to be entered into for life-"for bet ter or worse"
 Among all Christian people mar riage has been considered the most sa- cred of all human institutions. It should not be entered into lightly, but when two people enter into the solemn marriage contract nothing but an ex- traordinary cause should part them: When Christ attended the wedding in Cana He gave the sanction of His holy name and character to the institution and from that day all who believe in Him and His teachings have reverenced the married condition, without which there can be no virtuous citizenship and no true family relations.
 This Colorado scheme Is not a mar riage at all. It is to make of matri- mony a mere business operation, with no more of sacredness or delicacy about it than there Is in horse trade. It is to strip the marriage relation of all semblance of solemnity, to remove all feeling of obligation and to degrade the woman who agrees to 1t. It is in a measure to 1egaIize adultery and to make fornication popular.
 And what of the children who may result from these trial marriages? If the union is dissolved at the end of the trial trip, the child is practically an outcast, without either legal or moral standing. a thing to be gotten rid of by either or both the parents, who may not care to be burdened with 1t and will dispose of it in the most expedi- tious manner. If the Colorado propo- sition should become law it should have an amendment tackled on. provid- ing that the offspring of such out rageous unions should be put to death. Why stop half way?
 It is 0 melancholy fact, and one to which we cannot close our eyes, that the belief in marriage as a sacred re- lation has been very seriously impaired. With all our advance in civilization, in the arts and sciences and in all others Of merely human achievements We are going backward in the one thing that is second only to the doctrine of sal vation. Men and women assume mar ried obligation in many cases with less thought than they give to buying their clothing. We have marriages of convenience, marriages for profit and marriages for place and power. and in some quarters the marriage for love and for all time Is looked on as a myth.
 And the natural result of these nasty and ill-considered unions is seen in the crowded divorce courts all oyer the land. As there was no love in the first place, there is no respect for the ties that are supposed to bind an ill., matched pair, and they find It as easy in some States to throw off the mar riage bonds as 1t is to cast off a gar ment. It is a reproaeh to our civili- zation that divorce Is so easy and so common. It Is a repFoach to the holy institution of marriage. shame on our civilization and a grievous wrong to the little ones who come into the world under such circumstances and must bear the odium of parental wrong doing. This Colorado plan is designed to give quasi legal sanction to human beastllness, and an attempt to give re spectability to lechery. It is a refec- tion on our Government that any State should even consider such proposi- tion