SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEM

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23321, 3 October 1945, Page 6

SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEM

Divorces In America With one out of every five marriages ending disastrously, divorce has become America's most serious social problem, threatening the very foundations of family life, declares an American correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald.” While America s population has increased 300 per cent, since the Civil War. the divorce rate has soared more than 2000 per cent., according to latest statistics, and is continuing to rise in spite or the fact that most States have tightened their divorce laws. Sociologists are predicting that within 20 years 51 per cent, of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation unless drastic are taken to halt the present dangerous trend. .. ® ome Judges are hearing cases at the rate of one every 30 seconds in Los Angeles, which has one of the highest divorce rates in the country. In one recent day in Chicago, one Circuit Court Judge disposed of 79 divorce cases. The story is the same in most large cities in the United States. Rubber-stamp judgments Hard-pressed divorce judges are trying to keep pace with the suits filed by opening their courts at 8 a.m. instead of the usual 10 a.m. Most of them no longer take the time to sign orders, but simply use the rubberstamp technique. Witnesses are lined up before the Bench instead of being placed in the witness-box. In fact, divorce in America is being treated as an industry. It is now-mass-produced on an assembly-line basis It is only on rare occasions that you hear of a divorce suit being contested. Usually the husband and wife come to an agreement out of court on property settlement, custody of children, and other controversial matters, and the wife then gets her divorce uncontested. This is the chief reason that “mental cruelty” is the popular charge. It means absolutely nothing, because it is the result of collusion. Mental cruelty, you may have observed, i s the favourite charge of the much-divorced movie stars, because it covers a multitude of sins, requires only a single corroborating witness and prevents unsavoury details from being aired publicly. There is little doubt that Hollywood's cynical attitude toward marriage has set a bad example to the rest of America. Many stars seem unable to wait for Californian laws to set them free from an unwanted husband, so they take a quick trip to Mexico, where they can get themselves a 'quickie” divorce in one day and be free to marry their next victim on the very same day. Usually, this Mexican divorce and marriage is not recognised in the United States, but the marriage does not constitute bigamy because it did not take place in America.

Example of Hollywood Such alliances are not frowned upon in the movie colony. Often, those involved m such cases later get themselves a legal Californian divorce, and remarry the husband they married in Mexico just to make sure the marriage will be legally recognised in the U.S. Sometimes, how’ever, the stars have grown tired of this new husband before they are legally free to remarry Some stars even get their Mexican divorces by mail. This procedure saves time, but is anything but legal in the United States. The State of Nevada also offers an easy way out for discontented wives, but its divorce factories require the complainant to live six weeks in the State in order to establish “legal residence. ' Many wealthy persons take advantage of this State's laws because at the end of six weeks they are free to marry again.

Most other States refuse to grant a final decree under 12 months. This appears to be too long to wait for most Americans, who seem anxious to rush from one unsuccessful marriage into another. Incidentally, Nevada practically exists on its revenue from its divorce mills and from its licensed gambling saloons, which help wives while away their six-week wait.