Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1925-03-27
MARRIAGE LAWS
NEED REFORM
IN ALL STATES

By International Labor News Service
New York City, March 26.-There
is need for important reforms in the
marriage laws and their adminstra-
ton, either or both, in virtually every
State in the United States, according
to 15O-page report on Child Mar
riages," issued here by the Russell
Sage Foundation as the result of a
several years investigation extending
into 30 cities.
The report takes the position that
at this stage reforms must be effected
State by State. The report calls upon
associations of parents, women's or
CARNATIONS, school authorities, minis
terial associations, social workers,
Legislators, and others interested in
the problem of child marriage to un-
dertake the following ten steps to-
ward a solution of this problem:
|. Work toward a reasonable and
enforceable minimum manageable
age law; the minimum for girls should
be at least 16; in many States ii is
still II.
2. Procure in States which now are
without it "a law requiring five days
advance notice of intention to marry;
such law is now in operation in eight
States.
3. Put the marriage market town
out of business; there are at least 40
notorious Gfetna Greens wheer the
eNnloitation and commercialization
of marriage are responsible for
numerous child marriages.
1. Through cooperation with adjoin-
ing States, discourage hasty mar
riages across the State border, where
out-of-town marriages are railroaded
through either at the license office or
the justice of the peace office, or both.
3. Know the work of your license
issuers, so that the difficulties with
which they are now contending single
handed may be brought to light, and
that they may be encouraged to use
the discretion which the laws of mony
States now empower them to exercise.
6. Destroy the fee system; in so
far as the system of fees in lieu of
salaries to licenes issuers survive, it
interferes with the disinterested char
aeter of their service.
l. Strengthen requirements as to
proof of age of applicants for mar
rage licenses, at present no proof of
age is required in most marriage
license offices "nd the practice of ac-
cepting atfidavitS leads to falsifca-
ton by applicants and sometimes by
their parents, making possible the
marriage of children II, IL, 10, and
Ii years of are.
:. Substitute better evidence of age
for atIidavits; no other form of evil
denee is so unsatisfactory. Aside
from birth and baptismal certificates
10 other forms of documentary evil
dence of age are suggested in the
report.
9. Require both applicants for a
marriage license to appear in person
before the license iSSuer.
10. Harmonic the different State
laws in which a minimum age is re-
qulfed; the minimum marriageable
age should not be lower than the
minimum working age, and the COM
pulsory school attendance age should
mt into both these others.
Adoption of such reforms, says the
report, would act as check upon
those parents who are willing to
marry off their boys and girls while
they are still children. What is more
important, they would protect other
parents who at present never know
when some designing person or i'm
pulse Of the moment may spirit away
the immature girl or boy from the
home and make the child the victim of
an administrative system which is
without proper safepnards.