Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-07-01
NEW YORK'S ENOCH ARDEN
DIVORCE LAW DISCUSSED
Daily Letter by Frederic J.. Haskin

NEW YORK CITY. June Is
Albany which is usually quite over
Swallowed by the dazzling person
atty or its sister, New York City,
mas recently acquired a brilliant
lame Al its own. 1t is the home
or the new Enoch Arden divorce
law.
/ As such, it is attracting much at
tention, distinctly fl~attering to one
whose Importance has at times been
sighted. People who never heard
of Albany before know of its exist
ence now. The desks of officials are
piled high daily like those of movie
stars, with letters from enthusiastic
o fans all over the
eager to know If their matrimonial
status may be ended under the new
statute. which makes five years alb
sence a second ground for divorce in
the state of New York.
These letters are written upon all
sorts of stationery, from the elabo-
rate. monogrammed and family
scented kina to the cheap scratch
pad variety. About five out OF ev-
cry six are from women, showing
that the male Sex is more inclined
to leave home and forget to send a
forwarding address than Is the fem
mime. Many inquiries have also
been received from law firms both in
ard out OF the state, indicating that
numerous divorce suits of the Enoch
Arden variety are in preparation.
The first edition of the law in
pamphlet form has already .,esn
exhausted and another is now rap
idly giving out under the constant
demand. Indeed. as one state Off
cial dryly remarked, if it keeps up,
the new divorce law will rank as
'one of the six best sellers of the
year"
While some of the letter writers
merely request copies Of the law.
others se.ze the opportunity to pour
forth all then grievances to Secre-
tary of State Lyons. to whom most
of the notes are addressed. Perhaps
this is because they think he may
be able to offer them legal advice
upon their W particular problems.
At any rate, they spare no details.
One woman confided that while her
husband had been gone five or six
years. she was very happy to get
rid of him and now looked forward
to the complete preservation of that
ANoff4ANoS ~ II dStitts
One who Drifted Away
Another woman in asking for a
copy of the law casually informed
the secretary that her husband, who
had been q professional b~alloonist,
performing for the benefit of county
fairs, must have "drifted away as
she heard nothing from him since
1016 when he was in the Middle
West.
Many of the letters consist Of long
and eloquent praises of Governor
Miller who signed the Swift act,
"thus opening an venue of escape"
- as one woman put 1t ito thousands
of helpless women who would 9TH
erwise remain TIED hand and foot for
years" Mr.. Swift, who is the au-
thor of the law and therefore the
real hero of the situation. seems to
have been rather overlooked in deal
ing out the applause. While the
law bears his name, one woman evil
IDENTIFY assumed that the word
swift referred to speed rather
than the author, for she wrote for
a copy of quick divorce law"
Since the law has gone into effect.
some puzzling cases have come to
the attention of the Secretary OF
State. One man stated that he
was a former resident of New York
state. but that he had married a
Canadian and had been living in
Canada for the past OF eight
years. His wife suddenly left home
about five years ago and has not
been heard from since. The hus-
band still living in Canada wants TO
know if under the new law he can
obtain q divorce.
Other inquiries of a complicated
nature have also been received from
hundreds of alleged New Workers
dwelling in other states. Apparent
ly everybody who has ever lived
in New York and has since been de-
serted by a nomadic spouse wants
to take advantage of the Enoch Ar
den feature. Most of the cases. how
ever, are brought by permanent res
idents here IN the state of New York,
who have hitherto been handicapped
by the striugency of the old divorce
law.
The tremendous popularity of the
! new Swift act is probably due to the
fact that it is regarded as essenti-
| ally fair and just. When one Of the
kpartners to q marriage contract sud.
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