Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-11-09
COURT DOMESTIC
RELATIONS NOW
IS PROPOSED
Would Be in Conjunction with
the Juvenile Court, Ac-
Cording to New
Plans.

Omaha will have a court of
domestic relations, in conjunction
with the juvenile court.
The matter will be presented at
the forthcoming session of the legis-
lature in such a manner as to leave
no doubt of the success of the pro-
ject.
Among those who are interested
in the proposition are prominent
members OF the Omaha Noman' S
club, the Omaha Society for the
Betterment OF Boys and Girls. dis
trict court judges and many citizens
who have given years Of thought
and effort to sociological works
Plan Outlined.
The tentative plan is to obtain a
competent person who shall devote
his or her entire time to the work
of the new court and also preside
as Judge of the juvenile court.
District court judges who have
presided over the juvenile court
agree that they can not do justice
to this work by merely dropping i'll
once week, on Saturday mornings,
and then pass on cases of which
they should have more knowledge.
Judges Handicapped.
Take for instance,p said Judge
Troup, zone of the district court
judges may be engrossed in an i'm
portant litigation which may extend
over weeks of time, and then sud-
denly he goes into the juvenile
court to preside. y He can not do
it justice"
Judge Day stated, that from his
experience with divorce cases on
which he has passed many of these
cases would never actually reach the
divorce court if court of domestic
relations could get to them first.
"The success OF court OF domes-
tic relations would depend largely
upon the individual who presides,
and it is my opinion that the posi-
ton should be appointive," said
Judge Day.
Our constitution provides that
there may be such other courts than
we now have, as the legislature may
provide. UnGer that provision e
municipal court was established, and
under the same provision we have
the proposed court of domestic re-
lations. As | understand the Situa
ton, this court would not prevent
persons filing divorce petitions. but
it would operate to the extent that
before a divorce case may be heard,
the district court judge, if in his
opinion he deems it best, the case
might be referred to the domestic
relations court for settlement, and
no doubt many cases would be hap
PLY disposed of in that court.
"If the domestic relations court
fails to straighten out the domestic
tangles, the case may go to the
divorce court. Provisions no. doubt
will be made for appeal from the de-
: cisions of the domestic relations
court, but the real purpose of the
domestic relations court would be
to reconstruct, to find out what the
real difficulties are, and to advise.
Whisky is Factor.
'Many Juvenile court cases dove
tail into the divorce court. During
the last 10 days | have passed on
FIVE divorce cases where children
were involved. In each case mother
md father wanted the children. In
ar of those cases the husband was
earning $l3 per week when he was
married a few years ago. He spent
S. per week for whisky, and even
now, when he is earning only $40
per week, he spends several dollars
per week for whisky. | told him
that a man should earn at least $l0,-
600 year in these times before he
should feel justified in buying whis-
ky, if there were any justification
! needed"
Judge Day added that he believed
the court of domestic relations could
also investigate mothers pension
and county charity cases.