Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-02-23
DIVORCE EVIL DISCUSSED
Congregationalists Consider Meas
ures to Check It's Spread.
nr. Boynton Says the New Age De-
mands Men who Are brave
Enough to Express Their
own Minds.

years, was considered Friday after
| noon ut the annual meeting of the Con-
aregatlonal club of Western Vermont.
| which opened in the parish house of the
! First Church at $3.50 o'clock The meet
/ ing was presided over by the Rev S. H.
bGruum OF Jericho cc-presidont Of the
organization, and was well attended An
! executive committee meeting and a short
I business session were held just prior to
the opening Of the discussion.
The general discussion was on the
/ theme, "What Effective Attitude Can
| Church and State Take Toward Divorce?"
The discussion was opened by the Hon.
Robert Roberts OF this city, who offered
some very effective arguments. Mr.. Rob
crts said that while the church and the
state have already formulated laws gov
crning divorce these laws have not been
altogether effective in overcoming the
tendency toward divorce. When one con-
siders said Mr. Roberts, thc way in which
marriages are made. it Is not such a sur
rrisinE matter that many divorces result
Love always was blind. said the speaker
and It often occurs that the wiser young
people think they are. the more likely
they are to make mistakes.
7 The speaker enumerated the grounds
for divorce in Vermont. and went into
some detail concerning the various meth
cds employed in securing divorces. Speak
| I'M, of the rules of churches that demand
ifon-clad regulations IN the matter of di-
, vorce, Mr. Roberts said that although
-uch rules might tend to dignity the
/ church, It was a question in his mind
whether such rules benefited those out
sido of the church or those who had
! drftcd away from the teachings Of the
church
MI Roberts stated that he believed one
Of the main causes for increase in di-
vorccs was that women will not stand
what they once lid in the way of abuse
IT is much easier now for a woman to
secure employment that will make her
Independent, and these things so toward
making a divorce the easiest way out Of
bad deal
There is great deal OF collision, said
the speaker, in the matter of securing
divorces In many instances husband
and wife agree 10 separate and the court
has a hard question to solve in deter
mining when the granting of n divorce
Is lust ana right.
Coming down to some of tho ways OF
preventing SO many divorces the speak
er said it might he better if the law
waa SO adjusted that neither party to
Il divorce could remarry until a certain
period had elapsed. The clersymen also
might form a sort of a union and refuse
to marry divorced persons.
The most effective means, however,
suggested by Mr.. Roberts for keeping
down the divorce list would be to pre-
vent divorced persons from crossing the
lire into another State and marrying, by
making such marriage void in the
State in which the couple reside. In
other words, under such a law, two
divorced persons could not cross the lake
to Platts burgh and be married and then
return to Vermont. This method. in con-
nectlon with the suggestion to make 1t
impossible for divorced person TO re-
marry within certain period, would
&c, according to Mr. Roberts, one way
at least in which the number Of dl-
vorce- might be lessened.
THE DISCUSSION
Tho discussion of the divorce question
was continued by the Rev. Rufus c.
Flagg u. D., who quoted some interest
ing figures during his talk MIR. Flagg
said that statistics show that during tho
1907 the number Of divorce cases in the
United States was 945,625 OF this num-
Der, Vermont had 47i0 cases. Four hun
dred and sixteen of these were in chit
tenden county and Washington county
had GOO. This was an increase, according
to Mr.. Flagg, Of 1877 per cent, while the
increase in population for that same
period was only 81 per cent. OF this
total far tn ba
1868 divorces We're granted in cases
where the parties had been married
only a year or less and a3.5i9
were in cases where the parties had been
married p years and over. In Vermont
Nc Of these total cases were granted
Where the parties We're married one wear
cr less and 100 where tho parties had
peen married q years or more.
! What story these figures tell so,d
the speaker of the hasty marriages that
take place, The attitude Of the churches
said Mir Flag should he one of wake
InIness and alarm in this matter. Tho
church should avoid the iron-clad ruIe
with reference to divorce but there
should be middle ground The church
| should set for itself the task OF estab
! fishing a moral soundness on the o,ios
I
make use of every occasion to uphold
| the proper ideals. The speaker asked his
hearers to consider whether divorce was
really not a symptom of another disease.
| immortality. that lies deep-rooted in the
centuries Of the past If so, the SYMPTOM
should not be treated, but rather the
cause, The causes that are at work
which render family life unstable should
be investigated. Mr., FlaBg spoke OF the
numbers Of people who spend their lives
I'm hired tenements where there can be
: no semblance of the old-fashioned home
and OF the alarming decrease in the
birth rate, all of which. he said were
contributing causes toward divorces
The most forceful argument, however
mt forth by Mr. F1agg was that the
greatest percentage of divorces occur
among the people in the rural COM
munities, according to statistics Twenty
four per cent. said Mr.. Flag, of all
the divorces applied for I'm the United
States are among the people in rural
communities,
Has the mental and spiritual i'm
poyerishment Of the rural districts an
influence in the increasing number Of
divorces? asked the speaker
Another reason for tho increase in
divorces, said Mr. l'lagg was the
abnormal growth Of indivdualism. The
family has ceased to be a unit with
made for the individual rather than the
family, In the speaker mind, the