The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-05-04
]. 5. LEADS IN DIVORCES
Make Marriage lrremediable,
SAYS DR.. ParkhurSt.
A WAY TOENTER SOCIETY
clergymen Aroused-The Episcopal
Board introduced a Canon Doing
Away With Divorces-it Is Now
Within Discretion of Ministers to
Decline to Marry Divorces.


Los Angeles, Kansas City, and Seat
tie count divorces at the rate of one
10 every four marriages is all the
more significant when it is considered
that Paris, long famed for the laxity
q its morals, records nineteen mar
rtages to every divorce.
In 1901 Paris had 9.404 more mar
Yiages than Chicago, and 4SG less di-
vorces. Nor is 1t only in France that
the United States suffers by compar-
ison.
The statistics compiled by the Unit
Cd States Commissioner of Labor
show that the increase in the num-
Der Of divorces granted in this coun.
Try has been at the rate of 5.4 per cent
. year. On this basis, those permit
ted in 1905 will number ASSOC, says
The Globe.
On the other hand recent statistics
II Great Britain, France, Germany.
Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Rus
MA, and the Netherlands show that
the increase in Europe has been al
the rate Of .075 per cent year. This
would place the total for Europe and
Australia for 1906 at 23,127.
II. therefore, the increase has been
maintained at 5.4 per cent a year. as
every indication would seem to point,
The United States at the present time
issues each year twice as many di-
vorces as Europe, Canada, and Aus
trAIia combined.
Thinking mon and women the world
over have not been slow to recog-
nlae this great menace to society ana
the home. w. e. Gladstone himself.
shortly before his death, sounded a
note Of warning particularly directed
st the United States.
'The future OF America in its high
ct features" said he, naturally de.
pends upon the incidents Of marriage.
No country has ever been so directly
challenged as America now is to
choose It's course definitely with ref
srerce to one, Of the very greatest
q those Incidents.
"The solidity and health of the so
cial body depend upon the soundness
of It's unit That unit is the family:
and the hinge Of the family Is to be
found in the great and profund insti-
tuition of marriage.
ut might be too much to say that
a good system Of marriage law and of
the practice appertaining to it, of It.
self, insurcs the we'll being of n cnrn.
munity. But cannot doubt that
this converse Is true. and that. II the
relations OF husband and wife are
wrongly comprehended in what most
belongs to them, either as to law
Or as to conduct, no nation can rise
to the fulfiiment Of the higher dos.
tinfes of man.
while divorce Of any kind imrq'rs
the integrity Of the family. divorce
With re-marriage destroys If with root
and branch"
On this side of the Atlantic. the
highest minds of the clergy have
sought a remedy. The Methodist Enis.
copal church, at its last general CON
Terence, recognizing a united effort
On the part of the Protestant churches
OF the United States "to rouse the
religious and moral sentiment of the
land In defense of the purity and
stability of the marriage relation"
appointed representatives to the in
'er-church conference. and urged upon
it's ministers the strict enforcement
of the law of the church forhidding
the re-marriage of all divorced per.
sons. The law makes an exception
in the case of the innocent party in
divorce obtained for infdellty.
The general assembly of the Pres.
oyterian Church North enioined all
the ministers of the church to re-
fuse to perform marriages in the
cases OF divorced persons. except
those divorced for causes allowed by
the standards of the church.
At the general convention of the
Protestant Episcopal Church a canon
doing away with all divorce was in.
troduced in the House of Deputies.
Although this failed of passage,
provision was made that it would be
within the discretion of any minister
to decline to celebrate the marriage
of divorced persons. In this way
those ministers who have conscien-
tfous objections to the re-marrlage of
all divorced persons are left free to
decline to officiate at such marriages.
The National League for the Pro.
lection of the Family, an association
with such men as Nathaniel Shin.
man, Bishop Lawrence of Massachus.
etts, Seth Low, and President tieorr-
Harris Of Amherst at its head, has al.
90 been very active in its efforts to OBJ.
tain uniform divorce legislation for
the whole Of the United States. Prac.
tically every clergyman of note in this
city has assailed the evil from his
pulpit, but the sore spreads, and rad.
ical measures are needed in order to
check its progress.
In one unbroken nocturnal fight
the European bird known as the north.
ern bluethroat has been known to
travel from Central Africa to the Ger.