Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-22
Making DEGREES More Difficult
ToGet Tends to Spur Perjury

Reputation Of the marriage VOW
has become q fashion if not a
scandal. A committee Of the
American Bar Association re-
ported to the National Confer
ence on Family Life in 1948,
"Our divorce laws are q mess.
They are rotten: they have to-
tally failed to accomplish their
declared objective; they aggra-
vate a condition that is already
cancerous."
Judges and conscientious
attorneys are. of course. appalled,
by the migratory divorces" in
which a couple, if the divorce
laws at home do not suit them.
simply take a vacation to a more
convenient State and get di-
vorced there. They simply must
stay long enough to become
residents Of that State in the
eyes Of the law.
Closet Divorces.
Some eyes Of the law are
pretty myopic. While conserva-
tive Massachusetts, requires i've
years and Connecticut three
years, Nevada and Idaho require
only six weeks Gust enough for
a dude ranch vacation) and
Florida requires three months
(the. preferred months being. Of
cource, December, January and
February when sun and sports
are at their beSt). In Mexico
you become a legal resident"
for divorce purposes in "a hours.
Arkansas, which has a three
months requirement, found it
self becoming a Little Reno" in
recent years. Travelling men
would pass through on their way
to the West Coast. rent a closet
to hang some clothes in, and
then collect a divorce on their
way back three months later.
Clothes hanging in a closet had
made them residents" But
Arkansas judges cracked down
last year and began examining
residence claims. Result: Di-
vorces in Pulaski County. where
much Of this had been going on,
dropped from 1920 in 1852 to
1,187 in 1858.
Claims Of mental cruelty are a
fiasco in many States. The hap
piest married couple could rake
up incidents that would qualify
them for divorce-if they wanted
one. What is mental cruelty? In
divorce cases it can be paying
more attention to a pet cat than
to a husband. opening windows
at night when a wife wants
them closed, saying uncomplf-
mentary things about a wife's
cooking, or hiding a husbands
fishing tackle.
IT have even presided over
cases where the argument which
led to divorce was over whether
the coffee should have cream in
it or not" Judge Samuel H
Silbert Of Cleveland has de-
clared.
NOn-SuppOrt Catch-All.
Abandonment and non-sup-
port, a ground for divorce in al
States but New York and NORTH
Carolina, is another catch-all
How it works was explained BY
Judge Harry Adams in Memphis
Tenn. "A1i a woman has to do II
come in with two witnesses. us
ually neighbors," Judge Adams
related. "Then the hearing goe'
like this:
"Did your husband abandon
you without cause for at least
80 days? Yes
Ibid he fail to provide ade'
quate support?'-'Yes.'
1.-THE witnesses give corrob'
grafton and that's all there il
to it," the judge continued. I'm
ashamed to say that during TIN
divorce calendar we have al
many as 80 divorces a day IL
each of four divisions"
The legal dilemma becomes
obvious. New York, with it
tough divorce law, hasn't solvet
the problem. States with cas-!
divorce laws haven't solved thu
problem. There is a grave ques
ton whether law itself ever cal
solve the problem.
Judge Senses Collision.
The legal dilemma tears u
between easy laws, which vitiat'