706 THE FAMILY 



The divorce movement in America is in part an incident of a 

 great transition phase in social progress. It cannot be denied that 

 the increase in the number of divorces is largely due to the new 

 economic and intellectual position of woman. The wife more 

 frequently than the husband is seeking in divorce a release from 

 marital ills; for in her case it often involves an escape from sexual 

 slavery. Indeed there is crying need of a higher ideal of the marriage 

 relation. While bad legislation and a low standard of social ethics 

 continue to throw recklessly wide the door which opens to wedlock, 

 there must of necessity be a broad way out. How ignorantly, with 

 what utter levity, are marriages often contracted; how many thou- 

 sands of parents fail to give their children any serious warning against 

 yielding to transient impulse in choosing a mate; how few have 

 received any real training with respect to the duties and responsi- 

 bilities of conjugal life? What proper check is society placing upon 

 the marriage of the unfit? Is there any boy or girl so immature, if 

 only the legal age of consent has been reached; is there any " delin- 

 quent " so dangerous through inherited tendencies to disease or 

 crime; is there any worn-out debauchee, who cannot somewhere 

 find a magistrate or a priest to tie the " sacred knot " ? In sanctioning 

 divorce the welfare of the children may well cause the state anxiety; 

 but are there not thousands of so-called " homes " from whose cor- 

 rupting and blighting shadow the sooner a child escapes the better 

 both for it and society? 



In some measure the problem of the family has now been stated. 

 What are the means available for its solution? The raising of ideals 

 is a slow process. It will come only in relatively small degree through 

 the statute-maker. Yet the function of legislation is important. 

 Good laws constitute a favorable environment for spiritual progress. 

 Already much effective work has been done, yet in almost every 

 direction there is urgent need of reform. In particular our matri- 

 monial laws should be thoroughly overhauled. The so-called " com- 

 mon law marriage " - - a fruitful source of social anarchy - - ought 

 to be absolutely abolished. The illogical and awkward system of 

 optional lay or ecclesiastical celebration should be superseded by 

 obligatory civil marriage on the European model. The adminis- 

 trative system governing the preliminaries of marriage should be 

 amended so as to relieve America from the scandal of clandestine 

 weddings of the St. Joseph (Michigan) pattern. The achievement of 

 a wisely conceived and carefully drafted uniform matrimonial law 

 for the entire country ought to be more zealously taken in hand. At 

 present, through the state commissions on uniform legislation, 

 practical workers are urging the adoption of a model statute relating 

 to divorce. Perhaps conventions of groups of states might be used to 

 advantage. In the end it may be found necessary, under a constitu- 



