Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-13
Drunkenness and the
Money Craze Cause of
Much Domestic TrOu-
ble---DivOrCes Too
Easy to Procure.
Written for The Atlanta Georgian
By Judge VIM. d. Ellis
Of the Allan ia Circuit.

: in the so-called lottery Of marriage
Instead of bringing his earnings
or his salary home the HUSBAND
alas, too often spends it for drink
or at the gaming table, and this
does authorize protest from the
wife. But she should not turn from
persuasion and further effort to the
divorce lawyer and the courts
Another frequent cause is that.
in this day and generation, our peo-
pie are constantly on the move. The
love of home-the family nest-the
place where children are born and
ought to be taught to revere, is all
affected iniuriously by change. TIL
husband goes, he works in other or
many places, he gets weaned from
home, and l have seen many cases
where husbands have sued their
wives for desertion, served the suit
by publication and obtained yer
diets, where, in all probability, the
wife never heard of the suit ano
probably was anxiOusly awaiting
his return 10 her and his children
Undefended Divorce Cases.
About 80 per cent OF divorce suits
are not defended. In many case
they are coliusive. and if this could
be made to appear. no divorce coult
or would be granted. But. unG,
the statutes of most, if not all. the
states, such cases proceed ex part
and in this state, for example, oX-
cept in case of adultery, a total di-
vorce may be obtained on the III
corroborated evidence of the com
planning party.
Cruel treatment, so tar as my 90
| servation goes, is by far the great
| est ground for divorce. That is o.
| broad and comprehensive term. Our
supreme court has defined crue
treatment to be the willful intlic-
/ tlon Of pain, either bodily or men
tai, upon the complaining party, to
| the extent of causing u reasonable
apprehension of injury to the life.
limb or health of such complain
| ant. This broad charge, and the
discretion left to the jury or to the
court, backed up by the absence Of
any defense, leaves the question
too much open to sympathy
aroused by the narrowing details
Of domestic infelicity, as presented
by the apparently distressed wife o.
the apparently afflicted husband
Husband Appears Later.
In Georgia it is left to the dis
erection of the jury to say whether
or not the disabilities OF the de
PENDANT shall be removed, and ger
orally, In undefended cases, the
plaintiff makes out such a case as
causes the jury to refuse to re
move the disability and allow the
defendant to remarry. Tor instance,
the wife gets on the witness stand
and testifies that the husband is
q brute or drunkard or deserter
the verdict fails TO allow him the
right to marry again, and at the
next term Of the court he comes II
with a petition for the removal Of
his disabilities, and tells his side
of the case, and demonstrates that
his wife was a termagant, and he
himself so inoffensive, so childllke
and bland that no divorce ought
ever to have been granted to her.
and that he ought to be allowed to
take another chance and get a wife
worthy of his affectionate care and
devotion
And so with the husband seeking
divorce. When she asks for re-
moval OF her disabilities, she shows
that instead of deserving him she
was the victim of abandonment By
I. him.