The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-10
HABIT OF DIVORCE
 |S GRAVE MENACE, ASSERTS JU R|ST.
America Breaking WedIock Links At Rate One Every
 Four Minutes

W1NONA LAKE, Ind, August g. (By Associated Press s.)-Divorces are granted in America at the rate of enc every four minutes throughout the year, and are more numerous here annually in proportion to total population than in any other coun. ltry which records marriage statis- ties. The annual total Of decrecs for the 4S states is in the neighborhood Cf 180. 900. and is increasing three times as fast as the population. Such are the conclusions of Judge W. H.. Thomas of Santa Ana, California, former associate justice of the Cali fornia district court of appeals, drawn from a world survey of mar rlage and divorce figures in prepara- ton for an American campaign for n national code governing marital re- lations.
 Judge Thomas survey included 54 countries, and the summary of his study, made public here, reaches back into the domestic relations of ancient Rome, Greece and Babylon. In his conclusions is the suggestion that our national life is seriously threatened by the present status of our family. relationships. Much of our trouble, he believes, is charge able to the chaotic state of our mar riage laws, and his recommendation ia uniform law, applicable to all
  dom and experience.
 Tn contrast with our records, one divorce for every nine marriages" Judge Thomas said, those of France and Germany, our closest competi- tors, dWindle into insignificance. We have only one rival, Japan. Until re- gently that nation has been grind ing out divorces faster than our own. Now, however the United States cen
 
 mounting table of divorce which far outstrips the ratio of increase in population. Our rate of increase in divorces between 1870 and 1917 was for the entire country exactly 400 per cent" In 1870 he said. we had ulation; in 1918 the figure was 112 for each 100000.
 We Head List.
 Our country heads the list among the nations of the world in this downward procession. In 1890 there were 33,107 divorces here; in 1916 there were 112,000. Tn Canada in the whole year of 1913 there were 59 divorces."
 Judge Thomas came here ecently to present his findings to officers of the National Reform association at the organizations international con ference on Christian citizenship.
 seventeen states in the union fix no marriageable age. he pointed out In commenting on our present varied law. In nine of these states-Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massa chusetts. Mis- souri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Vermont, the common law ages of 12 for gi- Is, and for boys have been formally recognized by the courts. In 19 states there is no law restraining feeble minded per sons from arrying, and only tn. ee states forbid mscegentic unions, or m~rrlages between people of differ ent races.
 There are now in the United States more than 12.OO0 married girls under + years of age. Approximately 100,- 000 girls 17 years or younger are married.
 The need of uniform law is appar- ent,' Judge Thomas declares. Dis regard for the sanctity of marriage. over emphasis f sex, under emphasis of domestic responsibilities, lack of uniformity in the law were among tn chief contributing causes that led to the down III of Rome, of Greece, of Babylon. We cannot allow the rate of divorce in the United States to continue at three times the rate of population increase.
 No logical and sound-thinking person any longer denies that, in cer- tain circumstances, men and women who can not live harmoniously to- gether should be allowed to recon struct their happiness. No one now argues against the necessity for mar piage laws which will make it i'm possible for the immature and unfit to marry and reproduce.
 O O O
 Sees Time To Act.
 Everyone is satisfied that these laws must be uniform. Hence the time for action has come. And be- cause men have dilly -dallied about. and b.cause, too, the integrity of the family is woman's quest. upon the women of the country must be laid the business of bringing about re- form.
 But legislation will not usher In an era of wisely planned marriages. The real hope of the world lies in putting as much painstaking and