Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-27
BLAMES LAW AND CHURCH
FOR DIVORCE AND PERJURY

Los ANGELES, May 22.-[Editor
Herald: Judge e. W. Houser. accord
ing to the press reports, delivered a
speech before the Church Federation
in which he arraigned the divorce con-
testants severely and declared that not
one in five is free from perjury, and
that a majority of the people care
nothing for the civil oath. He might
we'll have added that the other one of
the five also committed perjury. only
ne did not know it, and that ninety
out of every hundred contestants in
not only divorce, but all civil actions,
have absolutely no regard for the oath
or the laws as administered under
present conditions.
And l presume that the percentage is
even greater in criminal actions.
Judges now on the bench and promi-
nent attorneys of this city have said
to me land they should know that
prosecutions for perjury and contempt
Of court are absolutely out of the ques
tion and If attempted, would lead to
arrests in every civil and criminal case
before the courts.
| am glad this address was given
by a judge to the ministers, because
they represent the two factors to
blame for the conditions of which
Judge Houser complained-the law and
the church. BY the law we mean to
include the lawmakers as well as t
courts. The causes for which divorce
IS granted make 1t imperative for
couple who have lost all love for each
other, if they ever had any, either to
commit an offense or to lie on the stand
in order to secure a divorce, without
which their life together is a veritable
hell
To desert a wife he hates and loathes
is a felony for the man. And the only
relief from this intolerable state is
divorce. And the only way to obtain
divorce is to commit an offense, a
felony or perjury. The causes of di-
vorce are drunkenness, desertion
cruelty. al offenses: failure to provide,
non-support. conviction of crime or
adultery, all felOnies; or the securing
of divorce by agreement between the
two parties either open or secret, to
do which they must perjure themselves.
Our opinion of the remedy Is to re-
peal these causes for divorce entirely,
save possibly incurabe drunkenness
and adultery. where the other party
can show conclusively that it was not
their actions that drove to them. As
or mating when thOughtfully and con-
entered into, and none
other is n real marriage, ii seems to us
that when both parties have become
there Is no longer any love
existing between them, that should be
the only cause for divorce or separa-
ton. unless it be the two enumerated
above.
We believe the power to grant di-
Ia rriX n a
commission composed of men of known
Christian virtues and fatherly instincts
(or Dossibly women of like graces), TO
whom either party could go In strict
confidence and privacy and before whom
the other party could be summoned
likewise. without the necessity OF
either lawyer. relative or friend Deins
present Such referee or commission
could patiently hear all complaints and
+efenses and prescribe such remedies
for the troubles, real or imaginary, as
they deem wise and just
But the cause for the failure OF love |
matches is not the fault of the law
That we believe is the fault of the |
,hurch Her failure to teach the truths
he Nazarene taught so as to impress
he Young hearts the sacredness and
,olemnitv of the marriage vow IS the
,ause of the lightness with which /
hese vows are taken.
Suppose that after June no minister
vould marry any couple he did not
lnow to be absolutely pure, Vlrtuous'
lonest truthful, Just, religious
lealthy. moral and p-ffectlv mated to
.ach other and who did not convince
lin that they knew the sacredness ana
,oliness of married life and were pre-
jared to accept it's joys and sorrows
auaIly cheerfully. How many divorces
would there be among these couples?
Jot one in a thousand, whereas there
re n6v one in five. j. e. b.