New Britain herald., 1919-11-28

Ohlcago, Nov. 2S.--In Chicago. the court year which closed June 30 will go down on the records as the great est dlVorce year. Decrees numbered o,@zV' which is almost 15 per cent. of the marriage licenses issued. .
 Ihe war, liquor and an increasing laSity of views regarding the solem- nlty of marriage are blamed for the unusual number of ruined romances, according to the experts.
 The war; which promoted hasty marriages, has greatly increased the number of domestic tragedies. War Weddings in seven cases out of 10 proved failures. The young brides were afraid of those strange men they married two years ago. A great cause of unhappiness in married life is liquor.
 United States Census Bureau.
 According to the United States census bureau, million divorces were granted in this country between 1887 and 1907. Tor the preceding 20-year period there were only 32S,0O0.
 or this immense number of di- Norces, which includes two persons for every decree, Q great proportion remarry. Just what is the proportion it is now impossible to determine. but enough is already known to amaze the most casual inquirer. For one thing, thousands of American citizens arc married who could not prove that they are husband and wife if they were called upon to do so.
 It is also true that 200 persons are only half divorced, and it is matter of record in some states that there is 8 flaw in the divorce of one out of every five, necessarily Involving the legitimacy of children aud large property rights.
 An illustration of one phase of li- vorce is afforded by the case of Rhode Island man, who while pack ing trunk to go on summer out ing with his wife, found a decree of divorce which she had procured four years before. The husband had been away on business trips several times, and his wife had charged failure to provide. On his return they had sometimes quarrcled and his wife left him. but she had never spoken of obtaining a divorce, and between times had lived with him usual. They talked the matter over, put the decree away, and departed on their vacation.
 Ore circuit court judge has spoken of divorce and re-marriage as legal ized Mormonism Another charac- terizcs it as progressive polygamy,' while at one of the. conventions Of the Protestant Episcopal diocese or Albany the late Right Rev William Croswell Doane recommended tnat''fe- marriage be made civil contract and that the church wash its h;nds of it altogether. .e .s 4r
 No Legislative Remedy.
 A judge of the superior court or Chicago before whom many dlNorSe cases havo been tried, once sald: .'Therc is no remedy for divorce at least as far as legislative enactment ie concerned" Now law is defined as the perfection of human reasoning, and if the law is powerless to stop an evil especially when the evil is sup noscd to right the wrong of an unhap- nv marriage, what is the logic or lhc situation? Is itl not that we have come to the end of the law, ana must find another remedy than dlNofce! Whatever the answer may be. 1t IS the purpose of this paper merely to glance at a few unique instances aiforded py our divorce laws and the subsequent liberty of romarriagc.
 1t lS a we'll knOWn 1dCl tlitt IitStS are numbers of men who arc literally supporting two moro wives, by dl- vorce and alimony; and we have now reached tho stage where more than one wife attends the bedside of dy- ing husband. Mike McDonald the well known Chicago gambler, died ! with his divorced wife kneeling on one side of the bed. and his wife, herself out on bail for killing her young lover, weeping on her knees on the other side. His divorced wife had eloped twice first with a minstrel and then with an unfrocked priest. Mcdonald had provided for her ever since he dl- vorced her. He had also furnished S5O.0OO bail which got his wife out of iail for shooting a man. He died worth about S3,0O0,Oo0. and the two women fought long in contesting his will.
 A few years ago the case of Mrs