The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-11


Our English judges, magistrates
and ministers of religion have lately
been deploring the prevalence of big
amy as one of the collateral evils OF
the war.
The point of view of the Germa n
leaders of opinion is different. They
have been, and still are, clamoring,
not merely for bigamy. but even for
polygamy, as a means of repairing
the ravages which the war has
wrought.
Rumors of a movement in that di-
rection, encouraged, and even instiga-
ted by the state, have been current
for some time. They seem traceable
to a letter written by a German lady,
at one time a governess, to her for
mer English patrons. She herself, she
said, had successfully resisted a pres
sure to which her two sisters had
yielded. These sisters had, under "of-
ficiaP' auspices, contracted unions as
the result of which they expected
shortly to become mothers, and they
would, in due course, receive a pecu-
mary reward for the services which
they were thus rendering to the com
munity.
Another rumor, similar and supple
mentary, mentioned some time ago in
the French press, was to the effect
that the German military authorities
were conniving at unions between
farmers wives and daughters and the
prisoners of war working on the land
Children, it was said, have been born
as the result Of such unions; and
when the mothers, as generally hap
pened, showed no desire to keep the
babies, they were adopted by the
state and carried away to be brought
up in public institutions.
Now on the top of these reports, we
get a pamphlet, published at Cologne,
| by a certain Herr Karl Hermann
Torges, setting the stamp of phiIo-
sophie approval on these polygamous
| Cor, rather polyandrous) proceedings.
The title of this remarkable work is
1.-THE Secondary Marriage as Only
Means for the Creation of New and
Powerful Army and the Publication
of Morality" 1t breaches polygamy
as a religion, and expounds it as a
programme for the rapid regenera-
ton Of an Empire weakened by heavy
losses in the field and impaired vi
tality at home. The scheme pro-
pounded-to be worked out by "the
women and the clergy, assisted by
the stats''- is broadly speaking as
follows:-
1t is to be 'up to- every German
spinster on attaining a certain age
to contract an alliance-to be styled
a secondary marriage''-with some
married man to whom she feels af-
Ifectionately disposed. In order that
unpleasantness may be avoided, it will
be ''up to" every legitimate wife to
give her free and amiable consent tc
her husbands extra conjugaI anours
In order that the secondary wife may
feel quite sure that she is an honest
woman, she must wear a secondary
wedding ring of elegant and readily
recognizable design. But the union
will not be permanent. 1t will be dis
soluble at any time at the wish OF
either party, and if neither of the
parents has any love for the children
resulting from it, the state will take
charge of them and bring them up tc
some useful calling.
That in bald outline is the plan, anG
the author appeals to the clergy tc
do what they can to remove the "mor.
al scruples" which stand in the way
of it. The divines who had no mora
scruples about the torpedoing of the
Lusitania can hardly be expected t.
be shocked by this new departure il
morals.
The first object obviously is tt
: mobilize the full woman power of tn,
Inn fnT-
ing its man power. The second OBJ
ject, NOTICES. clearly, is to provide tn
country with an inferior caste of citi
zens, who will be to all intents AM
purposes, slaves. The mothers will
rarely be able to afford to retain tn
children, even if they desire to d.
so, after they have been cast off b
their temporary husbands. The i'm
mediate fortune of the infants there
fore, will be that of foundIings an
in the end, the boys will becorn.
caste of soldiers like the Turkisl
Janissaris, and the girls a caste O
domestic servants in time of peace
and munition workers in time of wal
All that, admittedly, in order tina
Germany may recover quickly fror
! her losses and rear a fresh breed G
lHuns.to overrun Europe again in an
other twenty years time.
; Proof of Moral Decadence
: The proposal, put forward in cold
blood, supported by philosophic argu
ments and a snuffling appeal to piet!
! is as good a proof as one could hav
of the moral decadence which tn
war has brought about in German,
The only question is: Will the pla
9 work?
= We may pretty confidentially an
: swer that it will not-and for tw
Q reasons.
e In the first place, polygamy ha
g never yet in the history of the worl
: resulted in any rapid and abnorms
: increase of the population. In the sec
: ond place the plan, SO carefully draw
f up, is mans plan, and cannot pos
sibly be carried into effect withol
the candid cooperation of the We
a men; and that cordial cooperation
hardly likely to be secured withol
stronger inducements than Herr Tol