Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1915 — MANY DIVORCED IN MUNCIE. [ARTICLE]

MANY DIVORCED IN MUNCIE.

Mini.sterH.and Lawyers unable to Explain Situation. Muncie, Ind., January 2. —The records show that in Dele ware county, last year, a fraction more than one divorce complaint was filed for every two marriage licenses issued. Hitherto, the average has gone as high as one divorce complaint 'to three Tnarriage licenses/but the average usually has been about one to four. But 512 marriage licenses were granted in the last year as against 290 divorce complaints filedr -An analysis of the situation fails to give any good explanation. Muncie lias good schools; is without legal saloons, and has no “red light” district. In the point of morals it is doubtful whether any city of its size could make a more favorable comparison. Judge Frank Ellis, of the circuit court, and Judge Robert Van Atta, of the superior court, before whom all domestic difficulties are heard, have no explanation to offer. The Indiana laws bind the courts closely. Some times, jn case of default, the defendant is proscribed from marriage within a period of two years. The court can not go further. “The situation in Muncie is appalling,” said a Muncie minister yesterday. “I doubt that it h,as-its equal anywhere. When one begins to think of the fact that more than one out of every two households is so beset that the husband or wife goes into court he must also think of the many unhappy households where neither goes into court. It almost causes one to believe that our boasted civilization is a sham and a fraud.” A prominent lawyer of the city said: “Something like_a divorce craze has struck Muncie. I like to make money as well as anybody, I suppose, but I do not like to, concern myself" with divorce suits. If I were to file alKthe complaints that Injured husbands and wives wanted filed, I would have little else to do. I’ve talked a lot of them out of the idea, though, and that’s something.” More than a third of all coihplaints filed in superior court in 1314 were for divorce. It is likely that some systematic investigation of the divorce evil in Muncie Will be undertaken by civic and church bodies soon.