Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-01-05
MARRIAGE BASIS
Of LEGISLATION
OKLAHOMA LEGISL NTURE WILL
BE ASKED TO ENACT \
PURITY LAW.
STRONG MOVEMENT BEGUN
Bill Would Require the Medical En-
animation of people before
Being Married.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA, Jan. 4.
That determined effort viii be
made at the forthcoming Legislature TO
enact a law requiring the presentation
Of health certificate by both parties
contemplating marriage before the is
suance Of the regulation marriage H.
cense is forecasted by the activities Of
the State Public Health Department.
the State Federation Of Women :
Clubs, and other organizations, includ-
ing many Of the medical societies Of
Oklahoma.
In the Piennial report Of the state
Health Department, state Commission
er Mahr gives some interesting infor-
nation on this subject He declares
that the records of inspection recently
made by his department Of all state
institutions will show that had medi-
cal certificates been required OF the
contracting parties 80 years ago, many
Of the inmates Of the penitentiarles,
reformatorics, asylums and poor
farms would not nov be charges Of
the state and a source Of expense to
the public.
Commissioner Mahr says I'm part:
Society recognizes only such unions
as are legalizcd by n license and a
regularly performed marriage cere-
mony. Yet under this cloak there
daily performed crimes every bit as
heinous, and far more blghting than
that for which an Oklahoma man re-
Gently arose in his might as father,
and took the life Of his daughters
seducer.
statistics throughout the United
States show that from 60 to 80 per
cent of all abdominal operations per
pelvic diseases in married women are
the result Of a contagious disease
from which the husband was suffering
at the time Of marriage Statistics
from our state home for feeble mind
cd located at Enid, show that 75 per
cent of the inmates Of this institu-
tion are part Of the crop Of wild
oats" sown by their fathers when sin
Gle men. Forty per cent of the chill
dren in the state school for the blind
are denied the right to see the beau
ties Of this world. because their fath-
ers sowed wild oats They must suf-
fer and nav the penalty for their
fathers few years Of reckless life
There are at least 200 inmates in the
state HOSPITALS for insane whose brains
are as blank as a stone wall They
are doomed to live in a mad house for
the rest of their natural lives as the
result of alcohol. vice and immortality
on the part of their fathers and neg
lect Of their maternal grandfathers
In the state deaf and dumb school, To-
Gated at sulphur, 40 per cent Of the
inmates can safely attribute their pres
ent physical defects to parent indif-
ference"
Commissioner Mahr declares that
such conditions viii always exist until
they are remedied by law and become
a well understood subject that is fear
lessly handled by the pulpit and the
press. He declares that there are
many doctors who, for fear Of losing
business. will not advise patron that
should his daughter marry the young
man Of her choice that he win be per-
mitting her to dedicate herself TO a
life Of mental and physical suffering,
with the prospect of her-becomlng a
lifelong invalid"
Comuissloner Mahr further says:
"The writer regrets that he is not
sufficiently gifted to draw pen pic
ture so vivid that he might impress
upon his readers the danger Of pater-
nal Indifference in permitting, daught-
ers who have been treasured and
guarded, innocent OF all worldliness,
without knowledge of the diseases
which are a result OF immortality and
vice, or of the dangers that le in wait
for them. to become a sacrifice when
they give themselves up at the altar to
the man whom they hope to make
happy.