The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-06-05
LIMITS POWER OF JUDGES
New Law Provides That Bride and
Groom Must Have Resided in State
Thirty Days Before Special Permit
for Marriage may be Issued to them

There is weeping and waiting and
crashing of teeth in Kenosha today
and it comes not only from the tents
Of the Israelites, but also from the
camps of the IshmaeIites as the state
legislature in one fell swoop has kill
ed one of the biggest businesses in
Kenosha. The wall goes up from the
ministers Of churches, from judges of
courts of record, from hack drivers,
hotel men and any number Of other
people who have in the past been ac-
customed to get their spending money
out of clipping Chicago couples.
Wisconsin has new marriage law
and under this law it is just about as
easy for a camel to go through the
eye of the provenbial needle as it is
for a couple from another state to get
married in Wisconsin without public
ity. Under the new law the court or
der which has been used so freely to
secure happiness for the romantic
clipping couples of other states and
especially from Chicago, has been 50
restricted that the business of the
marrying parsoh and the marrying
Judge has been knocked into cooked
hat. Incidentally it means a big loss
in revenue to the ministers and Judges
in Kenosha The new law was slipped
through the legislature, hurdled the
governor $ desk ana got on the statute
books before any of the Kenosha PEG
pie interested heard that it was even
pending and the first information that
these people got was when the engross-
ed act arrived this morning to be filed
as a part Of the laws of the state.
Judge Taylor was the only judge of
record in the city. He read the law
once and then just to make sure that
it was not joker he read it again.
80 very well,' was his only comment,
but he admitted that the passage of
the law reduced to material degree
the compensation received by every
Judge and minister and that it would
make the marriage of Chicago couples
in Kenosha practically thing Of the
past. The law is regarded as pro
gressive law, but certainly no legis-
lator in league with cupid had any
thing to do with the passage of it. 1t
not only cuts off the Chicago couples
from marrying without the wait of five
days, but it puts the same restrictions
on nearly all of the local couples who
seek to surprise their friends by Sc,
curing license on the same day that
the marriage is to take place. It puts
all the fees collected by judges in the
past from the issuance of such orders
into the county treasury.
The new law reads as follows:
Upon the application Of either of
the parties to a proposed marriage
any county judge, court of record, OF
presiding judge thereof, in his descre-
ton, upon satisfactory evidence be-
ing presented that either of the parties
to the proposed marriage is dangerous
ly i'll, such illness being liable to re-
suit in death, or that the female is
pregnant with child or at the request
Of the parent or parents or guardian
if any, of the female by order may
authorize the marriage without the de-
lay of five days after the issuing of
the license. The person applying for
such order or dispensation must be a
resident of the state for at least
thirty days. =
The law further provides that the
Judge issuing the order may not re-
ceive any compensation for it but may
collect two dollars for the order and
this sum must be paid by the judge to
the county treasurer of the county in
which the order is issued.