Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-10
TENDENCY SEEMS TOWARD
AN INCREASE IN BIGAMY
RY ROBERT G. BENCHLEY
LEASED Wire Service to The Journal.)
(Cnnvriphf 1421l

NEW YORK. May 7.-Either more
men are marrying more wives than
ever before. or they are getting more
careless about it. During the past
| week bigamy has crowded baseball
| out of the papers and while this may
| be due in part to the fact that It
| was a cold, rainy week and little
baseball could be played, yet there is
tendency to be noted there some
where. All those wishing to note a
tendency will continue on into the
next paragraph.
There Is, of course. nothing new
in bigamy. Anyone who goes in for
it with the idea of originating a new
fad which shall be known by his
| name, like the Daguerrotype or "Po-
| tatoes O'Brien." will have to reckon
with the priority claims of several
hundred generations of historical
| characters. most Of them wearing
brown boards. Just why boards and
bigamy seem to have gone hand in
hand through the ages is a matter
for the professional humorists to de-
termine. We certainly haven't got
time to do 1t here.
But the multiple marriages I'M
| earthed during the past week have a
certain honey flavor lacking in some
of those which have gone before. For
instance. the man in New Jersey
| who had two wives living right with
him all Of the time in the same
here, no deceiving one about the
other. It was just a matter of walk
| ing back and forth between the din
ing room and the study. This is, of
| course, bigamy under ideal condi-
lions.
But in tracing a tendency like
this. we must not deal so much with
concrete cases as with drifts and
curves. A couple of statistics are
also necessary. especially if it is an
alarming tendency that is being
traced. The statistics follow. in al
00 IN the u Hffed. States during the
years 191s-1919 there were 4,956,673
weddings, 2,475,S45 of these were
church weddings, strongly against
the wishes of the bridegrooms con-
cerned; In these weddings 1o.4S9,:
392 silver olive forks were received
as gifts.
Starting with these figures as a
basis, we turn to another report
which covers the manufacture and
sale Of rugs. This has a picture of
a rug in it. and darned good like
takes q Navajo Indian only eleven
days to weave rug 12x5, with a
swastika design in the middle: Eleven
days! It seems incredible. Why, it
takes only 365 days to make a year!
Now, having seen that there are
$4,000 men and women in this coun-
| try today who can neither read nor
| write, and that of these only per
| cent, or a little over half, are col
- al IzO IL,
is to be the effect on our national
morale? Who is to pay this gigan-
| tic bill for naval armament?
Before answering these questions
any further than this. let US quote
from an authority on the subject, a
or at any rate, some very good years
| of his life, to research in this field
| and who now takes exactly the stand
which we have been outlining in this
article.
81 would not" he says in speech
delivered before, the Girls Friendly
society, of Laurel Hill, Il would not
for one minute detract from the glo-
ry Of those who have brought this
| country to it's present state of finan-
Of the world, and yet, as 1 think
back on those dark days, I am i'm
PEELED to voice the protest of mil
lions Of American citizens yet On
born"
Perhaps some Of our little read.
ers remember what the major prom.
Use of this dispatch was. If so. will
they please communicate with the
writer.
Oh, yes, bigamy!
Well, it certainly is funny how
many cases of bigamy you hear
about nowadays. Either more meI
are marrying more wives than eVel
before, or they are getting more care
less about it. (That sounds very
very familiar. 1t is barely possible
that it is the sentence with which
this dispatch opens. We say 81
many things in the course of on
dispatch that repetitions are quite
likely to creep in).
At any rate. the tendency seems tt
| he toward an increase in bipamy