Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-12-20
\N|lDS Of AFRICA RENO FAR BEHIND
Chicago Judges In Two Hours
Try 100 Divorce Cases.
All Trials Are uncontested, and In
Most Cases Court Has No Aite"na-
tive but to Issue Decree-Chi!.
dren Arc the Sufferers.

Chicago.-Between the hours OF 10
a. m. and noon the other day judges
sitting in the courts of Chicago heard
100 divorce cases. Not one OF the
suits was contested. In nearly every
case the judges have no alternative
but to grant DEGREES.
Most Of the litigants have children.
When the DEGREES are entered Chi
tago will have at least 100 new "di'
vcrce orphans" The divorce orphan"
Is the most miserable orphan in the
world. Between the child and one OF
It's parents the law has placed bar.
rier. Too often the other parent
doesn't care"
Recent dispatches announce that
the Nevada legislature Is about to put
the easy divorce mill" at Reno out OF
business. 1t really daes not matter.
Compared with Chicago Reno Is an
lnf1nitesimal dot on the map as a d.
vorce center
Figures compiled from the census
returns show in spite Of the fact 1t
Is the best advertised divorce mill"
town In the world and that persons 60
there from all over the country for the
express purpose OF obtaining legal
separation. Reno Judges during the
period from 1887 to 1906 granted only
1927 DEGREES.
In the same period Chicago courts
ground out 1896 divorced couples.
AS an easy" divorce town there is
little choice between Chicago and
Reno. This is not because of the lax
ity Of Illinois divorce laws. 1t is due
to the fact that the flood of divorce
littgants In the Cook county courts Is
so overwhelming the judges find It a
physical impossibility to give every
case the consideration it ought to
have.
The record of fifty divorces an hour
made the other day repeats itself day
after day. There is no time for in
quiry, little opportunity for reconcilia.
ton, multitudinous chances for fraud.
| The court hears the story Of the plain.
tiff and the confederation Of one or
possibly two other witnesses. A
prima facie case is made out. The
evidence is written up" 1t comes
back to the Judge in due course Of
time and he has no choice under the
law but to enter the Judgment which
the bill Of complaint asked for.
The divorce courts make more or
phans in Chicago than death. Judge
Kavanagh said that an average of ITS
persons die in Cook county every
week. The divorce DEGREES granted
in the same weekly period quarduples
that number
divorce orphanage Is much more
pitiful than the orphanage Of DEATH"
the Judge added, because OF the dis
grace and shame that follows these
children throughout their lives. The
sanctity Of the marriage tie seems to
be becoming less and less regarded
Year by year more and more persons
come to our courts to be relieved of
wife or husband
Another shameful feature is thu
number of men called before the
courts because they neglect to pay all
mony after separation from their
wives and families. Many seem to
think their whole responsibility ends
when the divorce decree is signed in
the courts.
1T Is fact there are many in
stances in which the same man has
three broods of children by three diff
ferent wives.
One of the alarming features of
our divorce evil is the fact that It
pervades practically one strata of So
ciety here and that the largest body
Of our citizenship. 1t obtains especial
ly among the ordinarily well.to-do peo-
ple-the middle class. We have COM
paratively few divorce cases among
the wealthy class.
I'VE find almost no divorce cases
among the poor"