DIVORCE ALARM IN AMERICA.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 230, 11 September 1922, Page 2

DIVORCE ALARM IN AMERICA.

ONE MARRIAGE BROKEN IN EVERY NINE. Latest available figures show that the United States has granted twice as many divorces during tne last thirty five years than all the rest of Christendom combined. This startling fact has caused an outcry bj r reformers in America to alter the Divorce Laws, so that there will be one law for the whole country. Scandalous cases recently occurred which showed how a New Jerseyite might technically escape being guilty of bigamy by marrying in Connecticut, although he had a lawful wife at home. According to Senator iTanffsuell only 9937 divorces were granted in the United States in 1867; that was an average of 27 per 100,000 of the population. In 1916 there were 112,036 divorces, or 112 per 100,000 of the population. Thus in fifty years the divorce rate had increased 415 per cent. Figures for the interven'ing years show that the increase was If divorces multiply at the same rate in the future as in the past —and there is every indication that they will increase faster—then before the middle of this century America will have annually 275 divorces per 10,000 population, or one divorce tor every five marriages. In 1887 there was one divorce for every seventeen marriages ; in 1906, one for every twelve marriages; in 1916, one for every nine marriages, and at the same rate we will have in 1946 the appalling figure of one divorce for every five marriages. _ America’s closest competitors in Europe are Switzerland, acTlli forty divorces annually per 100,000 population, and France, with thirty-three per 100,000 population. England stands in bold contrast with the United Staten. In 1919, with a population of 38,000,000, she granted only 5763 divorces or fifteen per 1(M),000, wtnle the United States in 1916 granted 112,036 divorces, or 112 per 100,000 population. The women’s clubs are now suggesting that laws should be made making it more difficult for the young