The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-09
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
By DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman wdtsr.
10 Be divorced or Not to Bc-1.

A family is in moderate circum-
stances The man makes enough
money not only to support it in COM
fort, but to give it many Injuries. The
children are we'll dressed: they are
being wen educated and given a fair
chance in life The wife is a middle
aged woman, thrifty. industrious and
good housekeeper, but she has been
trained to no gainful occupation. and
she never earned a dollar outside of
the home. Suddenly the wife dis
covers that her husband is unfaith-
full to her, and that he is phiiandering
around with other women.
What shall the wife do? Shall she
forgive" her husband, as the cant
phrase goes, or shall she divorce him?
This is problem that many women
ask me to help them solve. To them
1 would say this:
We are so accustomed to looking at
divorce from the moral standpoint
that we often forget that 1t has a prac-
teal side as well. Marriage may or
may not be religious sacrament, but
it is certainly a meal sticket to the
average wife. A man may break the
VOWS that he swears at the altor to
love and honor the woman he is
marrying, but the law holds him to his
oath to cherish her, in so far as sup
porting her is concerned, as long as
1t is to this aspect of the divorce
question that would like to direct the
attention of the hurt and outraged
women who are trying to decide what
they shall do with their unfaithful
| husbands.
Personally. I have no prejudice
against divorce. In many cases di-
| vorce is not only right, but a righte-
| Gus thing. In many other cases di-
vorceis a privilege and>a luxury. 1t is
no woman's duty to live with a hus-
band under circumstances that de-
| grade her, or in an association that
| brings out all that is worst in her
nature. nor is any woman called upon
| to be faithful, patient wife to a man
who flouts her and insults her by his
infidelities.
Marriage is a contract, and when
a man defaults on his part of the bar
| gain. 1t automatically releases the
woman from I'll moral obligations to
fulfill her end of the trade. Undoubt-
ediy. q woman has right to separate
herself from a flirtatious husband
but unfortunately. rights very OTTER
are cold and barren things. and be.
fore woman in this unhappy situa.
ton takes the fatal step, she does well
| to consider her case from the unemo-
| tional and practical side, as well as
from the side Of her wounded pride
and affections.
So shall she saw herself from add.
ing lost home, lost comforts, and q
lost social position, to a lost husband
for 1t is not to be denied that many
woman who gets her divorce find.
her last estate worst than her first
and that she has merely jumped from
the frying pan into the fire.
To begin with, divorce is really {
luxury for the rich. If a woman ha:
an Independent fortune, she can afforS
to indulge herself in it If -her hus
y band does not properly toe the matri
'moniaI deadline. Also, if a man haI
property upon which the law can la.
its clutching hands. his wife may di
vorce him. if he does not walk tn
straight and narrow path, and he cal
be made to properly support her ant
her children.
But 1t is easier for a camel togo thr'
the eye of a needle, than it is for tn
, divorced wife to collect alimony from
! a man of small mans. The orders o
! court to such men to pay their wive
certain weekly or monthly stipen
are just so many scraps of paper
There are a thousand ways in whfcl
the ex-husbartd can conceal his rea
earnings, and keep from handing owe
: the money he wants for his ow
: pleasures, to a woman that he on1
: thinks Of with bitterness and hate.