The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-03-30
JUDGES ADDRESS
EM|NENTLY PRACTICAL
JUDGE STEVENS DISCUSSED SOCIAL
E1ILS IN OUTSPOKEN MANNER
Jurist Said That His Experience on the
Bench Indicated Parental Neg
ligence in Many Cases

Judge Mark w. Stevens address,
given at the union meeting held III the
M. E. church, last Sunday evening,
was valuable from the fact that ne
stated with force and plainness condl-
tionS of which every mature man ana
woman of average intelligence is cog
infant and of which every young man
and young woman ought to be cogniz-
ant, although many OF them are not,
in ali probability, through a reluctance
of their parents and elders to discuss
such subjects with them in the PLAIN
way which their Importance demands.
To be forewarned is 10 be fore armed
and thus considered the plain advice OF
Judge Stevens to the young men ana
women present at the meeting should
be a source of education ana nelptulneSs
to them, especially as it bore upon tie
first wayward steps that so often result
i'm ruined lives and wrecked careers.
The Judges first advice was TO the
girls, when he told them never to assoc
late with or marry man who drank TO
any extent whatever. He said that 1t
had been found that liquor was at the
root of more domestic unhappiness as
well as more crime than all other
causes combined. and that the girl who
married young man who drank, eX-
pecting to reform him after marriage,
generally met with failure that result
ed in misery and degradation to herself.
Following this, the Judge warned the
mothers to know where their daughters
spent their leisure hours and to inform
themselves as to the character of their
associates. He said that many ill-coi
sidered marriages and much unhappi
ness was caused through parental neg
ligence in this regard. He called at
tention to the influence of some OF the
picture shows running in Flint, where
demoralizing pictures were shown, and
which were attended by numbers OF
the young of both sexes who were
thereby led into associations that must
end, in many instances, in ruined lives.
He said it was "A matter OF greatest
Importance for girls to know the real
character of the young men who sought
their company and that they ought to
shun those whom an investigation on
the part Of father or brother showed
to be unworthy. He also said that the
centuries old query, ':Am ! my broth
ers keeper" is being answered by
society to-day in the affirmative as
never before in the worlds history and
told Of the efforts that are being made
in the settlement houses in The great
cities and by the auXiliaries of the
churches everywhere to throw elevat-
ing influences around the boys and girls
who are unfortunate in their home sur
roundings.
The speaker then took up the ques-
tion of marriage and divorce and said
there had been 250 divorce bills filed in
Genesee county in the two years that
he has presided over the circuit court.
He detailed some of the causes that
most frequently lead to divorce and
told of the efforts of committee to re-
wise the statutes, of which he had been
a member, to provide for segregation
of the mentally unfit and to exact
certificate Of physical purity as con-
dition of the issuance of marriage
license. The Judge then told of the
horrors that awaited the girl who mar
ried man Of questionable morals only
to find that she was shackled to leper
who would poison the current of her
life and that of her posterity.
Continuing, Judge Stevens said that
it was too much the aim of parents, at
present, to bring about financially adj
vantageous marriages for their child
ren, at the expense of worthier and
more important considerations. He
said that the young man and woman
who started out in life with only well
grounded love and decency and the OPP
portunity for useful labor before them,
were much more fortunately circum-I
stanced and had before them a greater'
prospect for happiness than those who
depended mainly on money to carry
them through the voyage of life.
Judge Stevens said that his purpose
in appearing at the meeting was solely
in the interest of reforms which he mad
deeply at heart and he asked his hear
ers TO disassociate entirely his appear
ance from his candidacy for circuit
Judge. The meeting was well attended