New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-05-12
DIVORCE IS W0MAN'S
PRIVILEGE, SAYS WRITER
Audience at Astor Hears with
Joy That Husbands Proposal
Means Wife'S Disposal.
"LIFE CONTRACT" ARCHAIC
But Everything Will Be Serene,
According to Mr.. Kathrens
When We Are Governed
by Natural Laws.

When should a woman be permitted
divorce? Whenever she wants IT. for
sooth. And when should a man? When
his wife is willing. This is the wisdom or
Richard y. Kathrens. writer on the
divorce marriage problem, who talked to
a roomful of women at the Hotel Astor
last evening, resolving to his own com
plete satisfaction all the phases OF the
question.
"All the ills Of society might be over
come if the marriage laws were made
natural laws" was one of the remarks Of
the speaker that were caught between the
spasms OF conversation that seized
woman in blue hat trimmed with pota-
toes and one wearing a corner Of prune
orchard.
There's that Mrs. -" said the wom-
an with the potatoes. II see her every
where. at all the clubs and luncheons
She always looks as if she had been
drinking, with her eyes half shut, like
that"
"Oh. dear, She never touches thing,
said the woman with the prunes. If you
were as old as she is you'd look dopey'
too. But II she Is president Of the -
lIllHh sue OlhiAA W " P'''.NN''N'
given her q bracelet and pin and ring
and handbag
so long as man proposes said the
voice OF the official speaker. 1T Is only
fair that woman should dispose. not only
because they are women. but because
they sometimes become mothers"
How true that is" said the woman
with the potatoes.
There's great deal OF negligence
nowadays in such matters" said the wor-
an with the prunes.
The unhappy victims OF matrimonial
mistakes" said the speaker.
Mrs. is so hard on things" said
the woman with the prunes "She lost the
bracelet. and II was no time before she
wore the fringe off the bag. She didn't
want II anyway. I'm glad I wasn't on
the committee that gave 1t 10 her"
IT'S good we came up front" said the
woman with the potatoes. I'VE shouldn't
have heard n word In the back of the
hall"
Marital unrest is a constantly spread
ing social distemper." said the speaker.
AT first we always combat suggestions
that We afterward adopt. When | was
boy the hereto and the unbeliever were
things 10 be Stunned, but now the hereto
has become q moose and the unbeliever "A
factor In the moral uplift OF the race.
liberalism IL sweeping forward like n
blessed wave. Many fixed beliefs and
long established customs are obliged 70
give way. We are adopting new and bet
ter philosophy, new ana better religion.
The right to doubt is working out the
salvation OF the world. Many OF the diff
ficulties we encounter are the result OF
adherence TO old and outgrown ideas.
The ancestor worship which we nave fol-
lowed has retarded the progress OF the
world a thousand years. The ecciesiasu-
cal idea that marriage is a life contract
makes a rnockery of wedlock."
There was sudden spatterng Of gloved
hands from one section and from another
cries OF Isn't that awful!'
The situation Of div )rce here in this
state has always been very shocking TO
ne" pursued the speaker. The law de-
mands OF those who 90 not love that they
shall hate. Tor Only hate could induce one
to commit The offence required for divorce
~ your statute"
Mr. Kathrens decried the so-called
model divorce law that was proposed by
Pennsylvania Congressman rs a uni
form law to be adopted by all the states
II was not only indefensible from every
point OF view, but even criminal. he said.