Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-12-04
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PREVENTING HASTY MARRIAGES
Touching upon the question of
criminals and insane, of which we
had something to say in our editor
lal columns yesterday, we find a. COM
ment in the New York Times that is
germane to the subject under discus
sion. We suggested yesterday that
greater safeguarding of marriages
and care in the granting Of permits
sion to marry would work perhaps
more good than the plan of execut-
ing criminals and insane, to prevent
their being charges on society. 1t
will be remembered that number of
years ago a North Dakota legislator,
H. M. Creel, of Devils Lake, intro
duced a bill to require physical and
mental tests before marriage licenses
could be granted. The bill failed of
course, and it is not probable that
such bill will be enacted into law
for many day. But the bill was
doubtless along the right lines and it
may be that time approaching the
millennium such measure will re-
ceive the consideration it deserves.
The Times comment of which we
spoke is as follows:
Rhode Islands legislators-for
once-were we'll inspired when they
decided that public interests were not
served when the state provides fac
ilities for the contracting of hasty
and quiet marriages. 1t has long
been rather widely recognized rule
of Jurisprudence that anything which
tended to make marriage either ex-
pensive or difficult was against pub
lie policy, and of course in more ways
than few that idea is true. Ac-
cording to another view, however,
and one that is gaining ground
among careful observers, while some
obstacles to marriage are harmful,
there are others which it is desir-
able to nterpose-obstacles not in
superable for anybody, and yet large
enough to provide at least the oppor-
tunity for deliberation before the as
sumption of life's gravest RESPONSE
bilities.
Only few days ago we quoted
Prof Howard of the Nebraska Uni
versity as saying that better mar
riage laws were much more needed
than better divorce laws, since the
former would decrease the number of
persons resorting to the latter, and
so, to whatever degree they were eff
fective, prevent a social danger in
stead of trying to cure it. The Rhode
Island plan is to make it's marriage
licenses invalid until five days after
ISSUE This is an extremely simple
expedient, but or course that is moth
ing against it, and the expectation is
that the interposition of this delay
between the issuance and the use of
the marriage license will save the
state from continuing to be, as 1t
long has been, favorite resort for
runaway or clandestine couples who
for one reason or another find it
unpleasant to get married in their
own state or impossible to get mar
ried there as quickly as they wish.
It is easy to imagine circumstances
in which this delay would work real
hardship, but in the vast majority Of
cases it would involve no measurable
inconvenience, while in not a, few it
would prevent unions the result OF
which could hardly fail to be disas-
trous, both to the parties to them
and to society. 1t must always be
remembered that marriage is not
wholly a private matter. To some ex-
tent every marriage concerns the
whole community, and it is that fact
which justif1es the legal. formalities
which have been thrown around the
fastening of this particular tie The
ideal law would make proper mar
riages easy and improper marriages
impossible. Such a law will not be
passed, in Rhode Island or anywhere
else, for many year to come, but 1t
isl encouraging to see that the pro-
bIem is under serious consideration,
and that the movement of change is
In the right direction.