Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 195, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1911 — MARRY TOO YOUNG [ARTICLE]

MARRY TOO YOUNG

New York Judge Declares War on Hasty Marriages. Declares Mating of Children Is Sin Against Humanity and Should Be'. Stepped at Once by New Laws. New York. —“It is a recognised fact that at least 75 per cent of the hasty marriages made between young people result unhappily. Nearly 5(1 per cent end in the divorce courts and more would If such a course could be afforded.” Judge R. C. Cornell of the domestic relations court has not only been making a study of the cases of young married people who come before him but has been waging war against hasty marriages. “It is getting so nowadays," said the judge, “that a boy of 19 may marry a girl of 16 and the authorities are none the wiser until about a year afterward, when the young couple, tired of playing ‘keeping house/ come to this court for aid. “This condition of affairs is not only a reflection on the parents and their laxity in caring for their children, but it is also a disgrace to the city government, and. I bfelieve that unless it is stopped the city will be so overrun with families, poor and discontented, that it will be the laughing stock of the country. "There Is a remedy for this, and one that should be put in force. In the first place no marriage should be made between young people unless their ages are attested by some relative or a guardian. This may seem a little matter but it is an important one, as any one who sits in this court will realize. There is a great difference in the girl of 16 and of 18 or 20. The girl of 16 is nothing more than a child and it is a sin to let these marriages go on. Many marriages are taking place between children of 18 and 19 who lie to get marriage licenses.

“The parents or guardians should be made to swear to the ages, and understanding what an oath means, should be duly impressed with the consequences if they commit perjury. “In many such cases the marriage would not be made if its com tern plation were made public. Those d iterested in the good of the young, people would prevent it But the secrecy that is possible now makes rash" and hasty marriages of mere children easy. It would be an excellent, thing if a law was passed making it necessary for the contemplated manage to be published a month in advance of the time of the wedding. “Such a law would guard the children in two ways. It would make possible the Interference of the parent or guardian if the marriage was ill-advised and it would also give the foolish children a month in which to think over the situation.”