The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-11-07
BY JULIA BLANSHARD
Stan Writer for NEA Service and Tn

IL you BOL urea Oh your VIE IN
Russia
You could divorce her more easily,
more quickly and more cheaply
than you could renew your auto
mobile license in America. And she
could do the same to you'll
You would not need a lawyer or
witnesses. Nobody would ask you
for grounds"
No newspaper even would men
ton the fact Of your separation.
There would be no public gossip.
For Russia considers divorce a
strictly personal affair. There is
not even a court procedure for it..
You merely step into Gags" (the
bureau of vital statistics and
write yourself out" as they call
the proceedings in Russia.
It's Your Own Business
This matter-of -factness extends
to all affairs of sex. Soviet Russia
has revolutionized sex standards
and legal forms are not of much
Importance in relation to love and
marriage.
Every child in Russia is legiti-
mate, whether his father and
mother are married or not. Adultery
is not a legal crime. This does not
mean that there is complete reck-
lessness of promiscuity in sex rela-
tons; it simply means that the gov
eminent regards such life as mat
ter of personal concern.
There is no Mann act to prevent
an unmarried young couple from
taking a boat trip down the Volga.
No sex gossip ever is printed IN any
newspaper. No one is criticised for
violating what Americans consider
conventional sex standards.
Many men and women live TO-
gether in free union,' never marry
ing each other, but bringing up
their children like the most prosalc
married couples in Iowa.
One Lands in Jail
This freedom does not mean that
the government does not punish
men for irresponsible relations. Ivan
S found this out.
Twice last summer Ivan had per-
suaded ignorant young peasants
from villages to marry him and
then left them after two days. The
third girl he registered with report
ed him when he failed to show up.
Ivan was tracked to his depart
mont store lob. He now is serving
a term in prison.
But even if men and women take
no marriage vows in Russia and are
not asked to promise single thing,
the institution hasn't gone on the
rocks, apparently. Russia has 10
marriages to every 1000 people, as
against Americas 1914. In Mos
COW the Gags bureau head told me
there was practically one divorce
to every two marriages, which al
most doubles our Reno.
But down in the smaller towns
and in the villages there are not
more than one in ten. In Rostov
the Gags bureau registers 2OO-25O
marriages a month and divorces
from forty to fifty.
Divorce for $3.50
It costs you exactly seven rubles
($3.5O) to get a divorce. If you
90 without your mate to get it,
il costs one ruble more. The extra
charge is to pay for sending a slip
to notify him that he no longer is
married to you.
Registering divorce seldom
takes longer than twenty minutes.
You can get married much more
quickly, and the cost is but 81.
Sitting in Gags bureau in Mos
COW for an hour one day saw
three couples married, one divorced,
two births registered and one death
recorded. It was slow day, the
marriage clerk told me.
The first couple who came in to
get married the first afternoon l
visited were textile workers. The
young girl wore a shawl over her
head. The boy was dressed in "store
clothes" and new visored cap,
which he kept on.
care YOU relatives?" mo" Are
you both healthy?" Yes" So ran
the few questions and answers.
She was 20-he %. Neither had
been married before. Both showed
their union cards, which told where
they worked, where they lived. She
would move into his room.
Sensible to Russians
Both signed on the dotted line
three timeS-once for the register
book, once for a receipt for her ano
once for a receipt for him. She
took her receipt the clerk handed
her and numbered out. He fol-
lowed.
Ten minutes from single state tC
welded!
The clerk does not ask why di-
vorceS are wanted. The govern
ment doesn't care. But it does care
what becomes of the children.
Unless the husband protests the
mother gets custody of the baby anc
the father pays alimony, up to one
third of his salary, until the chile
is Is.
An incapacitated ex-wife is en-
titled to support for one year, bul
no longer. Should the ex-husbanc
be incapacitated, and the wife hole
down a good job, she would have tt
pay him alimony for one year.
Russians accept this new morality
in their matter-of fact manner. Tt
them it is sensible and feasible
They feel that out of the change i.
coming a new kind of personal re.
lationship that means more to both
men and women.
Next-Red RuSSia'S children anG
how the government watches then