The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-28

straight. I'm willing to conform to this law, since it's law I can approve of. came here because my convictions wouldn't allow me to employ the lies, tricks and subterfuges that are associat- ed with obtaining a divorce virtually everywhere else, when it's a case of the other party not being willing. I didn't want all the usual shabby practices"
 As such talk the Spanish citizens of the better class show a slight smile of critical hostility That smile expresses the attitude of the conservative Catholic hacendado class toward the Merida di- vorce colony and the innovations in social legislation that marked the career of the late Felipe Carrillo as goy- ernor of Yucatan, including the Utopian divorce law.
 Divorce is granted on request. No reason, other than the desire of the applicant, need be given. It is based on the theory that when love fails on the part of either husband or wife, marriage should be dissolved.
 No opportunity for opposing the di. vorce is provided. An official notice in Spanish in the morning mail may be your first intimation that your husband or wife, has. divorced you under the laws of Yucatan.
 The most liberal divorce law in the world, not excepting that of soviet Rus sia, survived the four months control of Yucatan by the de la Huerta rebels, enemies of all the works of Governor Carrillo and his revolutionary doctrines, though the rebels executed the governor, three of his brothers and nine others last winter,
 This trpphical limestone peninsula. putting from Mexica between the Car ibbean and the gulf, with a population 80 per cent Maya Indian, enjoying through the recognition of Mexico by the United States a place of parity in the international acceptance of it's radical laws not vouchsafeds to Russia. promises to outrival all other divorce Utopias,
 Each arriving steamer brings a grow ing quota of divorce-seeking Ameri cans. They have learned of a place easier than South Dakota, Reno, Alex andria, Paris. The hotelkeepers look forward eagerly for the cooler season. The hotel clerk confides to you that among the pioneers were a Russian princess of New York associations and a few others whose names if divulged might. be of interest. But privacy and seclusion have been among the attrac- tions.
 s1OO Covers The Fee Of Divorce
 A local lawyer, one of the few with a perfect command of England, a man with experience in Washington behind him. thus summed up the case for Merida:
 At Reno six months legal residence is required; in most other American States two years. In Paris wealthy persons have been known to get di- vorce in six weeks, under favorable conditions. Eight months or a year is more regular. Here in Merida it is thirty days.
 'The fee of Reno divorce lawyer runs from $200 to thousands; the court costs. are thirty or forty dollars. There is the cost of living for six months. At Paris the lawyers fees are apt to run high, from two thousand dollars up. In Merida it is not necessary to have a lawyer, but if you have one a fee of 100 to 200 pesos-50 to 100 dollars will see you through. Court fees range from 40 to 250 pesos. The rates are scaled so that a divorce by mutual con- sent. with no children, is the cheapest, while where either husband or wife ob- jects it is highef. The rate increases also with each additional child. The money collected in fees Carrillo planned should be used for the benefit of homes for children of divorced couples.
 Lawyers fees here are for routine services. There is no litigation.
 "Traveling expenses. from New York say, are less to to Merida than to either Reno or Paris. The first class steamer fare is $102. Hotel expenses are lower than in New York.
 But, chief consideration, in no other place that know of is it legally pos sible to obtain divorce without the consent of the other party where that party is balmless. Even in Russia that party must be heard.
 ''As for legality in the United States, one of your most prominent legal lights on international divorce was quoted the other day as saying that Merida decrees are just as good as any, if Mexico con tinues to be recognized"
 Almost any morning nowadays over at the Registro Civil (civil register of- fice), as early as seven o'clock by pref erence-for activity begins here before the scorching sun is too high-you can see enacted before the kindly, copper colored old judge a scene in which the principal figure is an American man or woman.
 And The Natives Grin
 With faces pressed against the iron bars of the high open window that gives upon the street, there is in observant at tention an audience of a dozen or so Indians, men, women and children, dressed in the spotless white that is the Maya's customary dress. bare-footed or sandaled, and radiating indulgent smiles. In front of the judges desk stands the American, flanked by his witnesses native attendants picked up around the office or a chance American acquaint- ance enlisted at the hotel. A clerk reads rapidly, in Spanish, an entry written