Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-08
&C. C. Young.)


have heard of the white elephant"
ali my life, but for the first time !
have seen a big one, and so called by
the citizens of the capital city of Bel
sium. 1t Is the palace OF justice,
or law courts, an immense ten million
dollar structure. and because IL re-
quires thousands Of dollars of the Gity's
money each year 10 clean and heat
the building, tho citizens sorrowfuily
call il their white elephant" Tney
claim there is no need for sdch large
building, and this seems true when
see SO many rooms not being used,
! and others for which there could pos
lsibly be no use N court house.
Besides these facts, may add that
tho building is nearly as large as our
capitol at Washington, and this seems
out of place when recall that the
whole Kingdom Of Belgium is about
the size of an ordinary state in AmeTi-
ca. 1t is about the same proposition
as Cochise county erecting half mil
lion dollar court house when the ex-
lpense to keep up the present one is
about as much public money as ought
to be spent.
| I saw in the law courts of this great
building what never expected TO see
lawyers wearing costumes-they were
not supreme justices but the regular
practitioners. All were dressed alike
in long black gown or robe and for
il hat they wore a black turban about
half as high as a paper hat box. Meet
| ing them in the halls I thought they
were priests of some religious order,
II for their dress is similar to Greek
priests in Asia; but when saw them
pleading cases in the court made in
Quiry which informed me that this
was a rule all over Belgium. / Wis
tied another public building-the City
! hall proper-and among the many
rooms l was shown the marriage han
which was of special interest. In this
room all the marriages of the city
occur, as is the case in every other
city hall all over the kingdom OF Bel
GUM People may be married at home
but as the same legal process has to
| be followed there most of the people
come to the City hall for that cere-
mony In 1880 the church and state
were separated in Belgium and no
priest is permitted TO celebrate a mar.
riage, only an officer of the law can do
this On a platform in the marriage
room there are seats for the bride
and groom and on their sides are two
seats for Z e two parerts of each who
must by law be present at the cere-
mony; and behind these are seats
for two additional witnesses required
by the law. l was informed that the
man must be "a and the woman %
years of age before they are eligible
to marriage, with or without the con-
sent of parents. In every case the par
ents must consent to the marriage, or
the guardians in case the parents are
dead. Should a parent refuse TO give
up a girl in marriage the groom may
go to court and make what Is termed
"a CALI for her and then wait six
months. At the end of this time If
the parent still refuses he may make
another cali by law, waiting another
six months for the abdurate parent
to give consent. but if at the end of the
time consent is not given the groom
may take the girl in marriage by hav-
| ing present the two Witnesses re-
quired by law. In this way man or
woman may marry without consent of
parents but it takes one year to do it
At the same time incurring the cost
| of legal process. When all this was
explained to me I was not surprised
that there were so many lawyers, the
weddings and their legal tricks keep
them employed. Belgium mas gay
old king. Leopold IL. He is 73 years
old. the richest monarch in his per-
sonal property in all of Europe, and
in his personal conduct the gayest
king in these parts since many years
long agone. Brussels is not big and
| (: st enough for the rapid Leopold,
though there are twenty-six foreign
diplomats in his capital, and he spends
most of his winter season in Paris
which is only one hundred and fifty
miles away. I was surprised to find
what his people think of him, and
:, that with all his gay life at home and
tricks in trade on Africa, they say he
is a good ruler. The Flemish people
as a rule are not wild and immoral.
and they do not approve of the pub