The Washington times., 1922-06-10
LOVE-MATELAW
ADVOCATED BY
WOMAN LEADER
Would Compel Public AcknowI-
edgment OF cIandestine
Affairs.
BY MILDRED MORRIS.
Cosmopolitan News Service.

Cosmopolitan News Service.
A law requiring that every man
and woman who carry on clandes-
tine affairs acknowledge publicly
their love mates is proposed by
Mrs. Edith Houghton Hooker,
woman leader and wife Of DR.
Donald Hooker, prominent Balti-
more physician, and member Of
the faculty Of the Johns Hopkins
University Medical School,.
Starties Feminists.
Mrs. Hooker has startled even
feminists here by a book on sex she
has just published in which she ad
vocates abolition Of present marriage
and divorce laws and. in their stead.
a marriage contract which either
party could dissolve al will when
love ceased or incompatibtlity eN.
listed.
Eternal lover There is such thing.
but laws cannot decree it. says Mrs.
Hooker.
Laws cannot regulate love, and ali
the statute books in the world cannot
enforce q time limit on human az.
fections and emotions. she declares
For men to attempt to legislate
about love Is to embark upon An en-.
terprise bound from the outse' TO
meet misfortune she says.
Men know too little about love in
their own lives to venture to pre-.
scribe it's limitations.
Love is not amenab: 10 human
law. for II 10 not force compre.
hended by human beings.
Even true lovers do not know
what the indomitable force is that
brings them together"
The woman leader makes the
startling statement that presenr
economic conditions place monogom.
beyond the reach OF many"
In her book she advocates a pro
gram which she calls standardiza
ton Of sexual conduct"
She proposes that the parentage OF
an Legitimate child shall constitutr
marriage automatically and when
either parent is already married, h.
or she shall be branded by the law
as a bigamist.
She pooh poohs the theory that q
man is capable OF loving two or NOR,
women at one time. She declare g
men, like women, are monogamou.
by instinct.
Opposes Free Love.
Today Mrs. Hooker. who fears
her views on marriage may be mis-
understood. emphasizes that sh
does not believe in free love"
AT the present time a condition
Of anarchy obtains In the realm Of
sex" she said NO comprehensivc
law exists even on the statut.
books for the maintenance OF sexual
order
Marriage has changed from n
more or less natural friendship into
an institution surrounded by arbi
trary religious and legal restric.
tions. The homogeneous idea has
become firmly intrenched, but with
the rise OF democracy reaction
has set in denying the secramental |
nature Of marriage and dema nding
relaxation OF laws governing di,
vcrce.
The later the civilization the
easier Is divorce. as exemplified in
the Western parts of the United
states; moreover, when divorce Is
facilitated, monogamy still remain
the accepted code. a legal relation
merely su1planting that which
otherwise would be concubinage.
Present economic conditions.
particularly in the absence OF ef,
fective methods OF birth control
place monogamy practically beyond
the reach Of large proportion.
THE custom. reinforced by law
which demands that men and wo
men shall remain mates when they
no longer love one another is not
only cruel but contrary to a deep
and subtle ordinance of nature, I"
continued Mrs. Hooker. For so
ciety to condone and even encour
age sexual relations when love has
pcrished Is to reduce marriage to a
kind Of prostitution for which the