Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1905-10-08

table. Teachers of religion and pa
rents ought to give frequent and earn
est instruction on all these points.
Another potent influence against di-
vorce would be for all clergymen not
to marry persons who have secured a
divorce, except the innocent person
when the divorce has been secured on
scriptural grounds. Many clergymen
are greatly to blame for the needless
way in which they officiate at mar
riages. On the other hand, some
churches go to the opposite extreme,
refusing to marry any divorced person.
"It is always the part of wisdom care
fully to follow the teachings of Him
who spake as never man spoke. All
the decisions of ecclesiastical councils
would not affect me one particle in
marrying those whom Christ permits
me to marry and in refusing to marry
others whose former marriage certain
ecclesiastics, acting against the laws
of both God and man, have declared to
be null and void.
1.-THE frequency nth which divorces
are granted in the United States is a
national reproach. The vulgar details
in the newspapers of marital infelicities
! as they are aired in the divorce courts
are simply abhorrent One would sup
pose that almost any degree of infe-
licity would be preferable to the nau-
seating publicity of the divorce courts. Al
contemporaneous case with some de-
gree of scandal brings the family life
of the officers of the United States army
| before the public. 1t is not surprising
that these officers are specially sensi-
| tive because of these distasteful de-
tails in the life of some of their num-
| Der.
Laws affecting divorce are extremely
lax, and it is to be feared that some
courts interpret the laws with still
greater laxity. The sacred1ess of mar
riage is most seriously endangered when
ecclesiastical dispensations are granted
! and marriage declared null and void
simply because one of the parties to the
marriage was not baptized according
to the formulas of a particular church.
The dissolution of the marriage tie on
this ground is simply abominable. 1t
sets at nausht civil codes and is de-
structive OF family life.
I 1.-THE time has come when strenuous
efforts must be made to reduce divorces.
What course can secure this result?
Uniform marriage and divorce laws in
all the states of the Union would have
potent influence. AS matters are now,
some persons are married while in the
state of New Jersey, and when they
cross the river into New York they are
not married. This is a ridiculous and
utterly reprehensible state of things 1t
calls for prompt and effective rene
dies"
Rev. DR.. James B. EIy's Idea
The Rev. DIR. James B. Ely superin-
tendent of the evangeistic committee
of Greater New York, with which Seth
Lowe. DR.. Hills and Dr. Huntington
are associated, says:
There is certainly great evil IN
hasty marriages and frequent divorces.
1t is due not to any one thing, but to
combination of evils. great and grow
ing disregard of law and things sacred
the church, family and government
and a disregard of the sacred character
of the marriage relation. And, worst of
all, it is not confined to the outside
world alone, but evil influences force
themselves into the church"
BY Mrs. Edwin Arden
Mrs. Edwin Arden, one of the most
prominent club women in New York,
said:
Marriage is only one of many estab-
lished things that modern life is alter
ing, in spirit and in fact. to suit its
changed conditions and marriage in
cludes divorce nowadays as a matter of
course. There we come, think, to the
root of your offhand marriage problem.
"The terror of divorce is passing
away, together with the stigma that
used to attach to divorce persons and
their children. 1t is not many years
since divorce was looked upon as
frightful disgrace, a personal degrada-
ton and a blot on the scutcheons of
the family Now divorced persons are
received everywhere, and their children
are entirely free from the social and
moral shadow which would have fallen
upon them half a century ago. A
woman who was divorced in New York
and married in New Jersey later may
be a bigamist in New York. but she is
received more than half the time by
her own world. Hence the fact that
legal separation is so easy to obtain
and so free from disagreeable conse-
uuences must have it's effect upon the
young girl who contemplates-if she
does anything so sane as contemplate!
an offhand marriage. 1t is no longer
a case of marry in haste and repent a.
leisure. She may repent as soon as she
likes. with impunity, and she knows it.
But there is bound to come a re-