The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-08-30
THE SINCLAIR DIVORCE,

THE SINCLAIR DIVORCE.
The dispatches in The Tribune yester-
day morning announced the beginning
of the Upton Sinclair suit against his
wife for divorce. 1t seems 20 be a re-
markable casc of callousness on both
sides. Sinclair charges his wife with
adultery, naming the correspondent. The
| Sinclairs and this correspondent are
quoted as sitting amicably together in
.he lobby of hotel and discussing the
matter in a way that would indictae
an utter lack of squeamishness or feel.
| ing. The wife is so dense on the prop
ostiOn that she does not consider dj-
vorce a disgrace. even when the cause
for it is adultery. 1t might change her
views radically if the criminal law
would take her in hand and send her to
Jail for her crime; that is, assuming
that she has been guilty rs charged
which so far from denying. she appears
20 consider Of no consequence. The
whole affair exhibits such an utter lack
Of spirit, of decency, and Of moral fiber
as to rank the trio concerned in it as
not only immoral, but as immoral as
cattle.
With regard TO the marriage Of Sin
clair and his wife, he is quoted as say
ing not long after that marriage:
When my wife and fell In love with
each other We talked the whole marriage
business over very conscientiously. We
both hated the idea Of being tied together
by either religious or legal ceremony,
and we tried to make up our minds 10
set the right kind of example TO the
world. But we knew that Mrs. Sin
ing crazy II we did what our consclences
told us was right. SO, 10 case their
minds. we let some one humble q few
words over us and made them happy
This appears to be practically con
firmed by Mrs. Sinclair in her inter
view printed in The Tribunes dis.
patches yesterday morning. Even such
small regard for the foundation Of so.
ciety as Sinclair himself showed in the
quotation above made. Mrs. Sinclair re-
iects for herself. She considers that
Sinclair. in spite Of that indecent dec
laration is conservative, that he is
merely radical as he persuades himself
10 be, but that inherently and by in
stinct and nature he is conservative.
We suppose that this conservatism con
sjsts in his objection 10 her alleged
adulterous relations with Harry Kemp,
the correspondent in the divorce case.
That sort Of conservatism, however,
would not 90 very far with man or
woman Of decent training, or one pos
sessed of any sort OF manly, natural in
stincts
Sinclair is quoted as saying that the
marriage tie is merely slavery Mrs.
Sinclair. however. docs not seem to have
considered it slavery, and has acted
with a freedom tAat gave emphasis to
her opinion on this point, If what ls|
charged upon her is true. Sinclair mas,
in his Socialistic writings, seemed 10
incline TO the opinion that wife has a
right 10 do exactly what he charges
Mrs Sinclair has done; but when the
test is applied to himself and to her he
revolts, which shows that there is some
virility left in him, and that his man
hood is not altogether submerged in
his filthy theories. The fact that Mrs.
Sinclair IS mother takes sides with SIN
clair and against her daughter indicates
her belief in that daughter guilt.
There is one further complication in
the case which the court will have to
settle besides the main matter of di-
vorce The Siuclairs have child
which neither appears TO have thought
worthy Of being discussed in this con
nection. Perhaps that child was not
even considered. But the court will
not be so careless. demand will neces-
sarly be made as to what is TO become
of that child, and on the answer TO that
question a good deal may depend.