The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-04
DRASTIC DIVORCE LAW INTRODUCED IN SENATE TODAY Senator Ramsdell Would Stop Divorced Persons
 From Remarrying stCHIEF MENACE TO
 SOCIETY AND HOMIE Remember the Fate of the Roman Empire, ; Echoes
 Author of Bill

washington, Feb. 4.-Divorce with the right to remarry would be proh1o- tied forever in the United States and in all places under the nations 1uris- diction by an amendment to the fed eraI constitution proposed in the Sem ate to-day by Senator Ransde1l, or Louisiana Enactment of uniform. marriage laws for all states and ter ritories, with provision for separation without permission to remarry. would be directed by the amendment.
 with the states of the Union grant ing more than twice as many divorces. as all the rest of Chrfstendom com bined, Senator RansdeH told his col. leagues that the time had come for the nation itself to put down this men the home-the maker of good citizens and the model son which every wise government is founded"
 :. The remedy by constitutional pro- hibition is draStic.'' said the Senator, ss but the malady is so fatal that nothing short Of it will prove effica- cious. In the United States divorce is spreading with alarming Frapidity. It has permeated every walk of life, and is prevalent among every class of people. The total number of divor- ces granted in 1867 was 9,937, or 27 per 100, 1000 population Forty years later, in 1906, there were 72,062 di- vorces. or S6 per 100000; thus in ac-7 tual numbers there were more than ' times as many divofces granted in increased population divorce had in- creased 319 per cent.
 ss If divorces multiply at the same rate in the future as in the past-and there is every indication that they will increase faster-then before the annually in the United States s275 di- vorces per. 10qaeo6 population, or one divorce for every i've marriages
 Eff the United States were to write in the Constitution an amend ment prohibiting absolute divorce, it would not be taking euch a radical step as might at first be thought, but would be following a beaten path. Our own State of South CaroIina-an hon. or to her-forbids divorce It is ab- solutely prohibited in Italy, Spain. and to two-thirds of the population of while the Latin American countries of Mexico, Argen- tine Republic, Brazil, Peru, Chile and others have similar laws.
 ss While many excellent people are divorced and some of them male new homes, the inevitable trend of divorce is to break up many more homes than 1t builds up, and to materially re- duce the number of children. When marriage is dissolved the true homes ceases to exist; the parents and the children are separated; and the sweet ties that bind father and mother to their offspring, and to each other, are broken forever.
 st As long as the Romans of old looked upon marriage as sacred, and held the sanctity of the home invio- late, their arms were invuInerable, and Rome became mistress of the world. But with the accumulation of colossal wealth came great laxity of morals; marriage became a jest, and child bearing a useless burden. The lux urious Romans lost all respect for fe- male chastity; the heroic virtues of their early years were forgotten, and the Empire fell. the victim of luxury and disregard for the binding effects of marriage.
 .. Shall not the United States take warning from Rome's examp1e?''