New Britain herald., 1923-08-11
DIVORCE MENACES
 OUR NATIONAL LIFE
One Every Four Minutes is
 Record in U. s.

Winona Lake, Ind, Aug. 11.-Di-
 vorces are granted in America at the
 rate of one every four minutes
 throughout the year. and are more
 numerous here annually in proportion
 to total population than in any other
 country which records marriage sta
 tistics. The annual total of docrees
 for the 4s states is in the neighbor-
 hood of l60,000 and is increasing
 three times as fast as the population.
 Such arc the conclusions of Judge W.
 H. Thomas of Santa Ana, California,
 former associate justice of the Cali
 fornia district court of appeals, drawn
 from world survey of marriage and
 divorce figures in preparation for an
 American campaign for national
 code governing marital relations.
 Judge Thomas survey included A 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 rela- tionships. Much of our trouble, he be- lieves, is chargeable to the chaotic state of our marriage laws, and his recommendation is uniform"law, ap- plicable to all American territory, bas- ed on wisdom and experience.
 Tn contrast with our records, one divorce for every nine marriages" Judge Thomas said, those of France and Germany, our closest competitors, dwindle into insignificance. We have cnly one rival, Japan. Until recently that nation has been grinding out di- vorces faster than our own. Now, however, the United States Census Bureau discloses rapidly mounting table of divorce which far outstrips the ratio of increase in population Our rate of increase in divorces be- tween 1870 and 1917, was for the en- tire country, exactly 400 per cent" In 1870, he said, we had 2S divorces for every 100000 of populations; in 1916 the figure was 112 for each 10O,- Ooo.
 Our country heads the list among the nations of the world in this down ward procession. In 1890 there were 3S,107 divorces here; in 1916 there were 112,000. In Canada in the whole year, of 1915 there were 59 divorces"
 Judge Thomas came here recently to present his findings to officers of the National Reform association at the organizations International Confer ence on Christian Citizenship.
 Seventeen states in the Union fix no age, he pointed out in commenting on our present varied law. In nine of these states-Flor- | ida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts. Missouri. Pennsylvania, Rhode Is- l land, Tennessee and Vermont, the law ages of 12 for girls, and 14 for boys have been formally rec ognized by the courts. In 19 states there is no law restraining feeble minded persons from marrying, and only three states forbid miscegentic unions, or marriages between people of different races.
 There are now in the United States more than 12,000 married girls under l5 years of age. Approximately 100,- 100 girls .,17 years or Younger are married.
 The need of uniform divorce law 5 apparent. Judge Thomas declares. Disregard for the sanctity of mar 'iages oyer-emphasis of sex, under emphasis of domestic responsibilities, ack of uniformity in the law were Lmong the chief contributing causes hat led to the downfall of Rome of Greece, of Babylon. We cannot all ow the rate of divorce in the United ;tates to continue at three times the ate of population increase.
 NO logical and sound-thinking 'erson any longer denies that in cer- ain circumstances, men and women rho cannot live harmoniously to- ether should be allowed to recon