Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-07
By Leslie Curtis, n
Former Associate Editor OF t''
Gazette, Author of Keno
Reveries," Etc.

Reverico, ESc.
yERYBODY has agreed that o''
vorce is one of the most Sc
Il rious problems of modern
Aneriea. The law has dealt with IT,
society has dealt with it, and the
church is perpetually struggling with
II No one has yet found any Ell
fectiye remedy for the steady growth
o? marital shipwreck. nave at
last found the remedy.
The only real progress in the
world of science has been made
since the microscope was discoV'
cred. Only in the fields of chemis-
try, biology and physics has ire
rnendous progress been made, and
the reason is that in these fields
the microscope is available.
Science has discovered that we
learn from observation. If we can
see with the eye, we can learn.
would apply the methods of
science to the scandal of divorce.
! would, so to speak, put under the
microscope the whole wretched,
miserable story of matrimonial mis-
cry, and by seeing and studying
would learn the remedy.
My plan is to establish a college
O. observation here at Reno, where
the sad panorama of domestic mis-.
cry and misilts unfolds itself in
every possible phase and color.
Every expectant bridegroom and
hit Oh -.
given a course in my School of
Applied Domestic Research. | am
certain that six months course
of lectures and daily attendance at
the divorce courts of Reno would
make my graduates divorce proof
Under present conditions, women
marry more or less blindly, live
blindly. and often end up in Reno
or its equivalent with "Bachelor-ess
of Failure" written after each name
and a past full of knotholes as a
diploma. Why not reverse the us.
ual order and place Reno first?
Happiness would then be sure to
follow, based on a definite knowl-
edge of what marriage means-and
what divorce costs.
| am perfectly serious in my
idea. The utility of it has already
been tested, because it has been
noted by interested people that the
second marriages of Reno "gradu-
ates" are invariably successful.
This because six months observa.
ton of others has taught them to
choose more carefully. Another
instance lies in the fact that few
If any, divorces are secured by
home people. Boys and girls, min,
Cling with the human disappoint-
ments from the East, learn invalu.
able lessons and enter matrimony
with 4 seriousness worthy of ma.
turity.
/ believe in divorce, but not the
abuse of il, and two years in Reno
as an observer convinced me that
women are to blame for the ma
jority of unhappy marriages. Three
fourths of the women who go to
Nevada do not deserve diUOrceS. al
though they are evidently sincere
in thinking themselves abused.
They seek freedom because their
idea of marriage is fundamentally
wrong.
This is not true in all cases, but
in many.
Everybody knows good women
who have suffered agonies as the
wives of drug fends and drunkards
and who are perfectly justified in
seeking freedom. Men who marry
for money are also des2icable, but
II always takes two to make bar.
gain, and if girls knew how TO
choose intelligenty before mar
riage the drunkard, the drug fend
and fortune-hunter would be over.
stocked with mittens.
Husbands, in my opinion. are less
to blame for the prevalence of n.
vorce than their wives. Women
marry for any number Of reasons
but men usually for love. because
their field Of choice is unljmifed
and they always pick the one girl