Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-04-04
LIKE BIG STEAM SAW.
CHICAGO DIVORCE MILLS CUT
BONDS WHILE YOU WAIT.
Courts Turn Out DEGREES by the Hum
dred- Separations Granted in Three
Minutes, the Average Time Being
Only Ten Minutes.

Chicago has justified its pretension to
be the largest hog market, the largest
cattle market, the largest lumber mar
ket, the largest grain market. the largest
packing center and the largest rail-
road center in the world; and now
it seems to be reaching out for the dis
tinetion of being the largest divorce
manufacturing city in either hemisphere.
OF the divorces applied for only = per
cent are contested. There are few delays
or the law, no long arguments. no rhetor-
ical appeals by lawyers The divorces
laws are constructed to work like a
steam saw and they do so with direct
ness and expedition which must be
shocking to many.
Saturday, which is the great default
divorce day of the week. the Illinois laws
can be seen cutting the bonds of mar
riage at the rate of ten minutes TO
marriage, and by the dozen. There are
usually four courts grinding out divorces.
The speed with which husband and
wife are parted is like the flash of the
guilotine. While three witnesses are
generally heard-the complainant and
two friends, who tell of the cruelty, of
the desertion or other act alleged against
the absent husband or wife--no superfu
Gus time is consumed. The Judge fire.
quently asks the questions himself, to
bring out the salient and necessary
points as quickly as possible. There is
no jury IN defaults, and the cases are
heard Ill open court. Sometimes the
granting of decree occupies only five or
six minutes; sometimes only three min
utes. The average time is ten minutes.
The Illinois law permits divorce for
eight causes, including such as desertion
or habitual drunkenness for two years,
cruelty, and attempting life of spouse.
Those from other States who may seek
release under Illinois law are required
to live one year in the commonwealth.
A FourMonths' Record.
That the divorce mills are working
full time is evidenced by the following
figures, covering the past few months. In
the last two weeks in October there were
81 cases heard and 63 new suits filed. In
November the cases heard numbered 134,
with 40 new suits. In December 135
cases were heard and % applications for
separation We're recorded. Januarys
record is 1859 cases heard and 6S suits
filed; and during the first three weeks
of February there were &c cases heard
and 2S new applications-in all 5S5
cases heard and 254 new suits filed. And
the leases heard" might virtually be
written DEGREES granted" for divorce
decree is not refused in more than one
out of so cases brought to trial.
1t is women who keep the Chicago
divorce mills grinding, four out of five
suits being brought by the wife. De
spite this fact, one of the most notice
able things about the Chicago divorce
courts is the lack of the sentimental,
the lack of feeling. Sorrow, regret,
shame, disappointment are not displayed
by the average woman complainant As
a rule, the woman seeking divorce in
Chicago gives as practical and business
like an exhibition as can be seen in a
court room. She retails the story of her
married life with almost as much uncon-
Germ as though she were suing a laundry
company and were describing the running
of a shirt waist. 1t is business propo
sition. The law gives her eight chances
for a divorce. and she's going to land
decree through one of them. AS a rule
both husband and wife punctuate their
evidences with smiles and laughter as
they recount the faults or offenses of the
one from whom release is sought.
But while many of the applicants
seem to treat the matter as a joke, or
agreeable diversion, there are, too. tears
and pathos and tragedy. Sobbing and
heartbroken women take the stand to
tell of lives of abuse ard degradation
caused by brutes TO whom ii would seem
that no law should require them to con-
tinue united.
They tell of years of wifehood and
motherhood during which they have sew
ed or scrubbed or washed to keep bread
in the mouths of little ones and whisky
in the mouth Of the father They tell of
struggles and self-sacrifice on their part,
year after year, met by kicks, blows,
curses, attempts to kill or MAIN.
Husbands too, tell of sad years-of
devotion. generosity, kindness, patience,
love, ending in the divorce court because
Of woman's viciousness. drunkenness. or
depravity Pathetic cases, however, are
in a minority so great that the general
impression left after hearing hundreds of
trials is a memory compounded of bust
ness and joking.
All classes of the community seek the
divorce mills. Lawyers, doctors, business
men, clergymen, fashionable people, all
figure in connection with the eight d.
vorce causes, just as do policemen. butch
ers, plumbers. railroad conductors, iron
molders and stock yard laborers. The
body of divorce litigation is, however re-
cruited from the mass of small shopkeep-
ers, artisans and manual workers