Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-15
MARRIAGE ANDLAW
STUDIED BY WOMEN
Savant Tells Voters League
Eugenics and Easy Dr.
vorCe Are Needed.

Marriage made more difficult and
divorce made easier was the solution
| offered for the present marriage and
divorce problems in this country by
Prof. Albert j. Jacobs of Columbia Uni
versity, who addressed members of the
| General Council of the National League
of Women Voters at the Wardman Park
Hotel today.
Other changes in laws affecting mar
ried women recommended by Prof
Jacobs TO meet new economic and social
conditions were abolition of common
law marriages, passage of legislation
providing fer advance notice of intent
to marry, advancement in the minimum
age for marriage and eugenic marriage
| laws.
Prof Jacobs suggested that the sub
| ject of a wife maintaining a separate
domicile from her husband for the pur-
pose of voting taxation and holding
| office be seriously considered.
Married Women Topic.
The sessions for the entire day were
given over to a discussion of the sub
iect "A Married Woman and the Law
Mrs. William J. Carson of Philadelphia
chairman OF the leagues Committee on
the Legal Status of Women, presided
over the sessions.
while there are still determinations
against women in the laws of the coun-
try which should be removed, the ques-
ton of greater import is how the law
should shape up in the future to keep
pace with changes in women's economic
and professional status" declared Mrs.
Carson.
In her address, Mrs. Carson explained
that the purpose of the study of the
ciz IAo nv
which citizens have in the changing of
laws.
Tracing steps in the growth of pres
ent laws affecting marriage, DR.. Soph-
inisba Breckenridge, lawyer and profess
sor of social economy at the Univer-
sity OF Chicago. declared the old Eng
lish laws unsuited to conditions in
American life. so that gradually GER
tain details have been changed. leav-
ing results fragmentary and sometimes
unsatisfactory.
Round tables on "A Married Woman
Makes a Will, "A Married Woman and
Her Child" "A Married Woman and
Her Job" and "A Married Woman's
Nationality" were conducted by Miss
Dorothy Kenyon of New York. Mrs
Edith Valet Cook of New Haven, Conn
Miss Hildegarde Kneeland of the Blu
reau Of Home Economies and Miss Dor
otiley Straus of New York.
viii UnveiI Plaque.
This afternoon at o'clock a bronze
tablet in honor of suffrage pioneers will
be unveiled at the national headquarters
Of the League of Women Voters, at 532
Eighteenth street northwest.
Memoriaiizing 70 Women and amass-
ing Of q 100000 endowment fund, the
bronze plaque will be placed over the
mantlepiece in the leagues reception
room.
The names, headed by those Of Susan
B. Anthony. Anuna Howard Shaw and
Carrie Chapman Gait, were announced
last year at Louisville, KY.
Mrs. Gait, unable to attend the Louis
vile convention because of illness, ac-
cepted the invitation TO be one of the
three speakers at the brief afternoon
ceremonies She promised "reminiscences.
Miss Belle Sherwin, president of the
league, and Mrs. Malcolm Mcbride of
Cleveland, we're chosen to explain the
memorial plan and TO draw aside the
curtain.
In an address last night at buffet
supper. held at the Dodge Hotel by the
delegates attending the meeting, Miss
Belle Sherwin spoke.