The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-05-28
OPPORTUNITY
FOR TREATMENT OF
CUPlD'S CRIpPLES
Divorce Entries Made After
June 8 Are Subject to a Six
Months Handicap.

Sioux Falls, S. D., May 26.-Last call
for hurry-up South. Dakota divorces!
Only a few days remain IN which the
fundamentally unhappy may have as
surance OF relief after six months OF
residence In South Dakota.
Any abused wife or neglected hus-
band who arrives In South Dakota on
June 3 will be barely able Il bring a
suit for divorce after a wait OF six
months. Any arriving on June 4 may
be required to do pennance for one
year., for or November 3 the voters OF
South Dakota wiz 9 upon a law
submitted to them under the initiative
and referendum, providing that d.
vorces shall not be granted to any per-
son married outside the state who has
not resided, in South Dakota for one
year. The initiative and referendum
provides that bills submitted TO the
people for a vote shall become laws, If
approved, after the result OF the cleo
tion is off1cially announced by the state
~canvassing board. This board meets
December 3, so that, IL the law is APP
~proved--as in all likelihood II will be-
II will take effect IN that day.
Divorces arriving now are expecting
TO get their suits started between day
light and breakfast. as IL were. II will
require fast work by their attorneys to
bring their cases under the present law.
Perjury Committed Daily. y
OF h $50 divorces granted in South
Dakota last year, 1914 were to non-resi-
dents, every n Of whom came here
for the purpose Of a divorce and COM
mitted perjury by taking the required
oath that their residence was estab-
lished In good faith. OF the total num-
Der, 134 were issued In Sioux Falls, the
chief divorce center. Without doubt
the enactment Of the proposed law will
reduce the number Of divorces in South
Dakota to less than 200 a year.
Another change h a will be made by
the new measure, II approved. is to re-
quire hearings Of divorce cases at reg
nlar terms OF court Heretofore the
Judges have beer very accommodating,
listening in chambers almost any time
to the complaints OF those chatting
under marriage ties.
Otherwise It will be no more difficult
to dissolve marriage bonds in South
Dakota n the new system than at
present, providing the disconnected are
willing to wait a year before beginning
their actions. .:.g
The courts In all probability will con-
tinue to be as complacent with di-
vorcees as heretofore. and the divorce
lawyers will lose none of their cunning
In shielding their clients from publicity.
Without a doubt, the approval of
oouth Dakota's new law would have
the effect OF giving the Nebraska d.
vorce business a big impetus. A resi-
dence OF six months before beginning
action Is all that is required there, but
there is h handicap OF a prohibition
of remarriage within six months. How
ever. this would require those wanting
TO be rid of their mates to live away
from home only six months. as COM
pared with a ear in South Dakota.
But, on the other hand, the grounds
for divorce in Nebraska are not so con-
venlent as those in South Dakota. They
are, in Nebraska, abandonment two
Years, habitual drunkenness, physical
incapacity, adultery, felony, failure to
support W years, cruelty. In South
Dakota they are cruelty, adultery, de-
sertion one year, physical ~incapacity,
neglect one year, drunkenness one year,
felony. The ease of these grounds for
action in South Dakota Is shown by the
fact that in 1907, of the 562 divorces in
the state, 25b were for desertion, 1853 for
cruelty, 80 for non-support and "a for
wilfui neglect, all general charges,
which in the cases Of no~n-residents. are
often no much more han nominal.