"No Divorce, Ever"

In the April number of Columbia, the Knights of Columbus magazine. Mr. Justice Joseph Morschauser (also of the New York State Supreme Court--who presided at the Stillman case and other divorce suits) advocated the abolition of divorce in the United States. "Divorce," said he, "is a cancer in the vitals of American life. . . . From my experience on the bench I know that halfway reforms are ineffective. The only way to cure the evils of divorce is to completely abolish divorce." This he proposes to do eventually by Constitutional amendment, but more immediately by refusing to recognize decrees granted to Americans in foreign countries, and by taking the power to perform the marriage ceremony out of the hands of irresponsible people, such as County Clerks and Justices of the Peace, who will marry almost anyone at a moment's notice. Justice Morschauser advocates this reform only as a measure to protect the home and national morality, and would still allow separation, which he believes is sufficiently well provided for in the present New York State marriage laws.