Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-26
R[NO MAY LOSE GLORY
As DIVORCE COLONY
Pickford Divorce MAY naVe
Spilled the Beans at Haven
of Mismated.

from New York pulplteers and puoliclsts'
standing knee deep in the radioiarian
ooze of the ancient indecenclcso OF trothahi.
Tho final soporific was administered 10y
Mary Pickford. Too much publicity al
tended Mary along the path that LED 10
her marriage with Douglas FAIRBANKS
And Nevada Is indignant, not at the
loss of the divorce colony. which Governor
Bowie claims has never paid dividends
hut because of, To quote Governor Boyle
again, that extravagant acrlmonN "i
Eastern criticism which Is not founded on
true conception OF the real national
morality.
Hence the next session of the Nevada
Legislature threatens To pass law re-
curing one wear 5 residence IN the state
before an action can be brought In the
divorce courts The experiment was trled
in lgl t and cut the state divorce business
down so per cent Statistics show that
with such cut the Reno divorce colony
ceases to be even n plmplc ON the talr
thought arid surface of Nevada,
A glance at the facts shows that Nevada
has some reason for choler. Her divorce
law has been on her statute books SINCE
1861. when ii was adjusted by the Ter
ritorial Legislature and the grounds ior
divorce in Nevada are practically the
same as those recommended to Congress
hv the American Bar Association IN the
proposal for a uniform divorce law through
out the country.
Fourteen other states grant divorces on
the same grounds as Nevada, whic sixteen
states are still more liberal. New Ork IS
one of the states less liberal than Nevada
in the matter Of divorce, and Novadans
have a strong feeling that it Is New ork-
ers more than any others who misuse the
Nevada laws and bring Il emo int o dIsrcputc
As Nevada Expresses it.
New York washes her dirty linen IN
Nevada and then criticizcs Nevada
Governor Bowie who n private life
IS n mining engineer, defends his state
with the rhetorical enthusiasm winch the
rareticd atmosphere ot the high attitudes
seems. to breed IN their dcnzcns lic said
In n recent interview
"Communitics everywhere seem prone
to attempt i monopoly Of the venerable
tnglo-SaNon Tait oi reforming their distant
brethren.
Per capita he mutual roproacheS
at New ork and Reno appear to me 70 be
on about d liftv-dtty basis
Good souls nj Reno ,plpc up their
protests against tile Occasional New
York cxemplar III the 1920 colony Of
metropolitan muscle dancing and cigarette
smoking, Just a~ New ork puipltccrS and
pubhrists. standing kncc deep IN the
radIolarian oo.e nf The ancient inicCcncicS
III Gotham turn from time to time
hvpcrmctropic and shrcWlSh eve on Nevada
10 extravagantIy charActcrizc her as q
composite of All the worms 1t the roots
of the family fig tree
So as provincial Nevada sometimes
Judges New ork bN the bleary looks Of
some Nevada husbands when they return
from a visit to the virtuous metropolis,
and By the activities 81 some Of her
snriChtlv danes in the divorce colony, 50
does provincial New York appear to
conceive Justice on the one hundred and
twentieth meridian a~ sort of AlkaiI
Ike bIindfoldcd with handanna and work
ing overtime to sever the marriage bonds
uf tho nation with i bowie knife
The impression is prevalent that the
Nevada divorce law j. a recent invention
II attract a colony q ms-mafcd 10 Reno.
This impression il faulty Cur divorce law
was enacted by the first Territorial Legs
iature in 1861 and has remained Inchang-
a since on the statues ri Nevada That II
contains no particularly Irregular on fam
taStic provisions i~ indicated by the fact
that il was together with the remainder
ef the Territorial statutes. approved by
Congress IN lS64. when. on the motion
al President Lincoln Nevada was admtt-
ei ~ statehood.
For reasons which appeared valid
II the farmers Of or constitution and 10
tho electorate which later adopted II
residence Of SIX months In Nevada en-
titles anv person qualified for citizenship
n the United States to full citizenship
here
ANY person residing il Nevada for a
period Of sIXmonthS may register and vot.
in all elections Il a qualified citizen II
other conventional respects. and i undel
thc jurisdiction of the Nevada courts
in al civil actions while lac or she con
tnueS TO reside here. There l. DO exception
al provision In the Nevada divorce Law
relating to term Of residence. The pro
vision requiring SIX months residence D
the general provision founded on the con
sttution affecting legal Jurisdiction in al
civii matters divorce included
The divorce law Itself sets up sever
grounds anv one OF which constitutes
cause Of action By either party TO 3 mar
riagr contract for the dissolution OF tina
contract
Fourteen other states grant divorces oi
the same grounds Sixteen states enumerat
IN their divorce laws greater number o
causes than does the Nevada law Seven
teen states enumerate fewer causes
IN outlining it conception Of the prop
pr grounds Tor divorce. the Auerlcal
Bar Association embraced in It's recon
mendafion to Congress Of IA uniform di
vorcc law throughout the I nited State
practically the same grounds included i
The Nevada law. thereby setting tenta-
= tive national standard with which Nevad
had already complied. is further iustilca
tion needed for Nevada
However, no other state than Nevad
brings its residents Of less than one yea
under the jurisdiction Of It's divorc
courts, save under exceptional cl.cum
stances. In consequence, a certain numbe
of persons from states where the ground
for legal separation are few or lnadequat
come to Nevada, obtain residence and sub
NIT to the jurisdiction of our courts.
y It might be of interest to state tha
prior to 1900 no one arose to criticize on
statute, either within Or without til
state. 1t was invoked occasionally I
lberate men and women within the stat
from undesirable entanglements, but ~
outsider made use of
In 1900, Lord Russell. an English peer
either by accident or design establishe
residence in Nevada and secured d 4
vorce from his wife subsequently marry
ing young woman with whom he return
ed to England There tho English court
held his Nevada decree invalid. He wa
tried by the House Of Lords. conylcte