The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-07-12
A LITTLE GRAIN OF THOUGHT
ON THE DIVORCE QUESTION.

Justice Brown of the United States
Supreme Court (retired) has aroused "a
great deal of comment by contending
that the evils of divorce are mainly of
incautious marriage. The learned
jurist stated it thus;
In view Of the fact that unhappy
marriages are often the result OF
hasty or i'll considered action, 1t is
evident that refOrmatory measures
should begin not at the divorce court
but at the altar. a system which
permits a young couple, still IN their
teens, without the consent of their
parents, the knowledge of their
friends, or opportunity for reflection,
to appear before a justice of the
peace or u minister of the gospel and
enter into the most solemn contract
of their lives cannot but result in
many fatal mistakes and often life
long misery.
Well, 50 it does. In the twenty
years ending with 1906, there would
seem to have been practically mil
lion of such mistakes, the total num-
Der of divorces for that period having
exceeded 945,0OO. This is in the ratio
of one mistake to every l3.5 marriages.
According TO the census, moreover,
these mistakes have borne themselves
in upon the mutual victims at the end
of five years of life together. Where
from it would appear that the young
people had struggled against the truth
long enough to make sure.
Now. row to prevent it? Would the
Justice eliminate all runaway mar
riages? Would he require the renewal
of the old custom of publishing bans
IF so. would he have any assurance that
marriages made with more delibera-
ton, particularly those made by fond
and calculating parents, would better
the average?
More formality might help. But it
is not certain to do so, The real trou-
bic goes back further, is deeper than
any matter of mere time. The stu
dent of the question who comes into
touch with those who seek divorce
will be brought face to face with that
fact. Hall the candidates for DEGREES
in the largest colony now in America
entered into the marriage relation with
every conceivable formality and every
possible ceremony.
The greatest single cause Of divorce
is not defect in law, but disagreement
as to standards Of life. The young
woman of today has an altogether DIFF
ferent conception OF her position in the
household from that which her grand
mother accepted in willingness. She
expects general equality with her his
Iband-intellectual financial, and social.
/ Her husband does not usually realize
this. His expectation is of helpmate
under his direction. When this
initial misunderstanding is complicated
as often it is, by lack of employment
for the wife, by difficulty over house
hold accounts. by disagreement in
ideals, by the progress Of the one and
failure to progress of the other, then
divorce looms before young people to
whom cruelty. infdelity, even desertion
would be otherwise inconceivable
Education is needed as a preventive
of divorce as we'll as more formality.
education which viii incline the Ameri-
can husband Of the modern American
woman 10 treat his wife as an equa.
which will teach the modern America
woman the need of economy and in
dustry, which will emphasize the mu-
tuahty OF the contract and not its seri-
business alone.