96 Hattie Plum Williams 
marriages. Civil, in place of ecclesiastical, jurisdiction ftirnishes 
another opportunity for moral laxity and those who have over- 
stepped the law avoid the censure and punishment of the church 
by appealing to the civil authorities for the ceremony. 
Ignorance and misunderstanding are the cause for a variety of 
incidents in which Council Bluffs, Iowa, plays the part of a 
Gretna Green where the marriage laws of Nebraska may be 
evaded. Every class of irregular marriage is performed there, 
very often in violation of the laws of both states, and through 
perjury of the parties. Young people under age who elope, first 
cousins, those who are forced to marry, and divorcees who have 
received their interlocutory decrees in Lincoln but a few days 
previous, all journey to Council Bluffs for their wedding cere- 
mony. While the actual number of these is not large, yet the 
general feeling exists among the Russian Germans that whoever 
cannot marry in Lincoln can evade the law by going to Council 
Bluffs. None of these persons have ever been prosecuted, 
although they are often plain violators of the law, and the practice 
will continue so long as the authorities wink at its infringement. 
