The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-25
JUDGE CURRAN
 FIXES TROUBLES
 OF WEDDED LIFE

New York, Aug 25.-"A magistrate sitting in the Court of Domestic Re .ations- can do more good or harm than a magistrate sitting in any other court, the Supreme Court not ex- cepted. If I could send two couples cut of this court room each day knowing that they have adjusted their differences and will give mar ried life one more trial, feel that I have accomplished something much worth while"
 So declares Magistrate Henry H. Curran, who presides over the Court of Domestic Relations at No. 131 East I7ifty-Seventh Street. Magistrate Cur ran has only recently returned from France, where he served as a Major with the 3O2d Ammunition Train of the Seventy-Seventh Division, and he takes up the work with fresh eyes and a new vision.
 "Yes," said Magistrate Curran, q have just come back from France, and I and every other man just out of the army have come back to find what is the root of present day evils. I refer to the high cost of living. I know that this is one of the jokes of the hour, but it is no joke to the peo- pie in this court. The Court deals with non-support cases, and it's bus mess has increased fifty per cent. since last October. There are only too many fine men like the young bugIer who was here this morning. He and his wife were both splendid young people. The trouble is that since he has been discharged from the Ser vice he has not been able to keep abreast with present prices,- and he simply is not able to support his wife.
 This is the simplest, homeliest, and saddest court there is," continued Magistrate Curran. "In the higher courts there is money available for r the people to fight their battles. Here the question resolves itself down to the high cost of living, and to nothing else. This is where 1t hurts. Scenes like these, which are enacted here daily, are only a few of the thousands which must be charged to the Ger mans.
 T wish that some of the profteers we read of could take one glimpse into would realize that it is a criminal thing for any man to get more than his share"
 Magistrate Curran is not one who believes in' the pomp and majesty of the law. Beginning with this week, he has issued the order that women with babies or who are i'll need not rise as he enters the court room.
 ''Why all this mummery of rising to me as I come in my black gown'' he asks We are here to adjust family matters, not to display pOmp. I am here to help the people, not to start a parade. If you have any heart at all, it's a hard enough job as it is''
 The Magistrate must get the very atmosphere Of these peoples homes to understand their stories, according to M. Curran. The Magistrate must make them forget they are in court so that they will tell him their troub- les just as they would tell them to any friend to whom they had gone for advice. "If you are alert enough you may be able in a twenty-minute talk to brush away the cobwebs of years,' '' said Magistrate Curran.
 A great many cases he investigates personally. At present he is con- cerned with a truck driver who had the misfortune to have s55 case of cologne fall from the back of his truck. The firm by which he is en- ployed is holding the man personally responsible for the loss and taking it's cost out of his weekly wage of S20 The man has four children to sup port, his present wife and a wife from which he has been divorced. Magistrate Curran says that S55 means more to the driver than s55 900 would to the firm, and that the firm should realize that
 It is not all a dark side which the