New Britain herald., 1915-06-05
(By Doris E. F'leischman in Nes


| (Ey Doris E. Fleischman in New
! York Tribune.)
+! Swapping wives and husbands ha!
become as common as swapping
horses in our country said Justic.
Frederick i. Crane from his bench
! in the supreme court, Brooklyn. AND
! he further bewailed the lamentabi,
state of affairs which makes Judges
| TAG supposed guardians of the law
! practically to sit back and wink a
| felonies and watch the offenders &C
| free
! marriage is the cheapest thing
| under our law. Marry one day ant
| then come back in court the follow.
ing morning and get divorced. If we
| want polygany, why don't we come
| out bravely and establish it here,
said the eXasperated judge.
Mrs. PutnaIn's Views.
We asked Mrs. Nina Wilcox Put.
nam, novelist and short story writer,
who is preparing to make definite
scientific research into this very
problem, to give her views on Judge
Cranes assertions, and in her char
acteristically direct manner OF
speech she denounced the entire sys-
tenn of moral, religious. social and
economic training which found di-
vorce a dangerous practice
"Our entire view of the matter is
wrong. This man states that we are
having lot of divorces at the pres
emit time OF course we are. That is a
hopeful sign.
There is nothing more immoral
than forcing people by law to live
together after love has ceased. And
therefore I think that if two people
do not want to live with each other
any longer that should be sufficient
ground for divorce.
Naturally Polygamous.
I'VE are not naturally polygamo Gus
I firmly believe that every man and
every woman will remain constant it
they but marry the person whom they
love. and if the conditions Of mar
rage are as they should be.
And chief of these conditions is
the economic independence of wom-
en-. If women can earn their own
living they will not marry except for
love. And love is the only reason for
marriage. And If they maintain this
independence they will not fear di-
vorce. 81 ~.
Happiness BASED on Freedom.
And freedom Of love Is the only
conceivable ideal arrangement. Hap
piness is based on freedom. and un-
less there Is freedom in marriage
there will be no happiness.
Love should be q, free gift. And
1t should have the witching element
Of romance. But clean romance
hasn't had a chance in the world, be-
cause women have been making a
capital Of their only profession. They
have conmercialized love-
Married Nine Years.
Mrs. Putnam, who has been mar
ried for nearly nine years. and who
looks surprisingly young, then told Of
the chief fault In behavior which
characterizes most marriages. And
strangely, her cure seems to beard
the Hon and make it the instrun1 ent
to keep out its own evils. For accord
ing to her society has restricted the
social intercourse of married people
to members Of their own sex, on the
ground that breaking down barriers
would lead to the desire to swap
wives and husbands too, very FREE
quently. It has also held that laws
which made separation difficult pre-
vented people from marrying when
they were unsuited, and prevented
them from putting themselves in a
position where they should desire to
swap"
But both these Mrs. Putnam de-
c,ares to be false. "Nine-tenths of
the Illicit romance in this world is
caused by the charm which lies In the
secrecy. But If a man and woman
are not sure of each other, If the
charming uncertainty OF the court
chip is never entirely removed, the
husband and wife will continually try
to gain each others regard anew.
They will never find the bonds Of
,.iatrimony irksome-for if they do
they know they can cast them off
without opprobri1m attaching itself
70 their action. Hence I say that it
is freedom to attain divorce which will
directly and radically decrease the
desire to have divorce.
Old idea or Possession.
you see, there Is now too much Of
the cid idea Of possession. A hus-
band and wife see each other to the