Show i w e f r Y r rf L q r IJ h Y A r r Y 4 I 0 q 6 Y r f I IJ a ds a J 1 r f fry c 5 l i ik k r y ys y's I. I 11 tl s Ti r. r r r E re y R t 4 S c nL a v v T Ta s r f a yr b M ry yi G ri f f r r e r pr 0 4 M if a F s k r a s iI i a F as lla Y I I rY k Z 4 i r b. b Y r t hi jj 6 r j t J e 0 i l 6 Y YN T F f.- f. N S V V Yve h wn IMn w p r jj At 11 A if Why Do So M Many Married Couples Drift Apart 2 0 V Vir Why Are So Many Homes Broken Up Why I Much America ir MM v Is There S So Much Domestic Discord in r Heres Here's an Answer From One o of f Our t Leading University University Sociologists Who Wh Y ff tM Has Been Investigating the Matter Matt f- f y Y r f i. i I t Y er r A As S T Told 0 ld J x A IY y t i j U h Y Nl 0 V. V r f By Clarence G G. Dl LL mers 1 ft t l Professor of Sociology New York University J i Ij O 0 OUT UT of every eight couples s Who vho make th the triumphant trek to the Marriage 4 License Bure Bureau U in 1927 one PM pair will have nave sought ought relief in the divorce courts tai before merrymakers gather to bury the theold old Y year tit and welcome in the new This is the prediction in an article written Clarence G G. G Dittme of t by s professor sociology at New York University UniV rity t Without throwing any philippics at atthe atthe 4 the present gener generation tion Prof analyzes the situation in a dispassionate r. r and nd philosophic manner His figures are based on od on t the e census his census his opinions on discus discussions ions tie and nd interviews in Various arioUl t ak- ak cities and towns throughout the country In reading over some statistics statistic compiled com corn r piled by John L. L Gillin Gitlin of the University of Wisconsin n I was startled to dis discover over 1 that in the year 1870 we had 35 divorces for every marriages marriages and that by 1922 we had an increase o ot of more moreth th than n p per r cent tent he said when asked what hat led to his nis writing the article re referred re- re e- e to Further Furthermore moie our divorce rate is the highest on record with the theY Y t y possible exception of bf Japan At the present present pres- pres res resent ent time tin calculating the continued in increase in in- crease for the last five years I found th that t the probabilities are ate that one out A of every eight marriages contracted this J year jear ear will end on the divorce rocks I asked is this fr Now No myself why ti Why cant can't we Ameri Americans ans stay married Of course the most obvious explanation tion is in terms of gen general ral cussedness cussedness' O Our r 4 c civilization tion is deteriorating and We Ve are areg g getting bad We are ale mores mores' interested ina ina in a new try for fot marital felicity than in continued continued- socially approved union with Y an h unfortunately un chosen mate We are w apt ait to speak p k of the divorce evil and so long as we do we nr are comp compelled to think of divorced persons persons' as evildoers rs J TUT U UT th that's S only a a s surface r a e na tion The sociologist is skeptical He wonders if it W we should sp speak ak of divorce as an evil or search for the evils which cause ue divorce He He Heis is perturbed by the disaster which seems SeeM to threaten the family institution tion but a 1 number of other F reasons come to him and sad make n hi him hiVon wonder wonder won Von Vondel der del where to place l e the blame Comparing our Atlantic with our Pacific States State We ve find the movement is I westward A low divorce rate however does does' not mean that the marriages marriages' in r. r that section are more successful than in ini int i t tho thou which h have ve a higher rate In Int InI t I gener general l it is har harder Ier to get a divorce in inan f. f an n Eastern than in a Western State h In New York only the one scriptural ground round is recognized while in New Hampshire there are fourteen grounds 5 1 In all there are thirty six six different grounds for divorce ranging from froni thel the l most serious to the most trivial such iJ as us incompatibility of ot temper Ia Ii womans woman's economic independence i f tr l c responsible responsible ibl to a any y gorM great extent for th tJ large larg increase in the divorce r rate t V h Prof was asked Oh undoubtedly he answered d. d It lilt has hu a whole lot to do with it A husband hus band was womans woman's only m meal al t ticket in inthe inthe inthe the old days days- and she was obliged to tomake tomake make the nest most st of it when she struck a abad abad abad bad bargain If sho divorced her husband husband husband hus hus- band she was made to feel the pressure of public disapproval In the small communities communities com com- wh where re there are no jobs for women and arid Where th that t old stigma still obtains we ve have ver very few divorces The largest larg st number of litigants who bring their domestic tangles to to the courts belong elong to that class dass where the husband earns earns between 2500 and 10 a n year Des Desertion by the husband or wife solves solves' the problem for the poor who have no ho money for lawyers and social and business obligations prevent the very rich and from airing their family scandals scandal in public However in iii the 2500 to class clus most m men n marry young women who have e earned ined their own living in some way or other in business or in some profession lavin If Having been ac accustomed s- s tomed to sp spend nd d their s salaries laries on themselves themselves them them- selves these young ung wives feel very keenly the necessity to economize They have haye a lot of sp spare re time on their hands and not being tr trained ned to toi Spend i end it properly they join clubs chase thase around on shopping orgies go to mati matie nees pees and teas and so 80 on When they find that th their lr husbands husband's salary alary will not cover coverall coverall coverall all these expenses many of them go goback b back ck to bus business ness That Is is' very often when mother law in in law in-law steps in and causes tro trouble she he makes her daughters daughter s husband husband hus hus- band ie feel l th that t he is a failure e as a provider pro pro- provider vider and of c course urse though the young man m may y have b been een en the girls girl's only chance she is quite quit convinced that dar dar- w re L r. r o eI mt e f MM y y pa y dv r cv L To love honor and cherish till titI death do us part ling ting daughter could h have ve done so much better I IThen Then it was suggested to the the professor professor pro pro- fessor the woman who goes back to busin business s after marriage is is liable to join t a the great army of discontented discontented discontented discon discon- tented wives who seek to sever their marital bonds N Not ot altogether he said thoughtfully I wouldn't a say that I approve or disapprove disapprove disapprove dis dis- dis- dis approve of a woman won continuing continuing continuing con con- her work outside the home after alter marriage but I Ido Ido do know that the great majority majority ma ma- of men men and and their masculine friends believe that it casts a reflection on the husbands husband's ability The bad effects ar are not always on the surface This disorganization nl of the old-established old relationship relationship relation relation- ship between husbands and wives is just as hard on the women as on the men The saying that man Iman works works' from sun to sun womans woman's work is never done is now reversed Womans Woman's ns n's job has been taken away from her and she has nas not yet been readjust herself to s i t III able to r the new state stat of things Electrical devices and andre re ready made mad dy-mad C clothes l lot o t h e s s' s sare are bought by almost everybody in the smaller cc communities es as well as in in the larger cities My grandmother used to sup supervise the bringing in of the po potatoes off the farm see to the storing of meat in the cellar made all aU my grandfathers grandfather's underclothes even weaving the material she sewed in her spare time she made rag carpets and so on In the farmhouses today except among the immigrants of the first generation generation generation gen gen- all mod modern rn appliances are re Used m order mail ord il-ord r houses send the family I their clothes painters from nearby towns town's run runo o out t in the flivvers and do the painting throughout the house and the modern farmers farmer's wife would have been considered considered consid consid- ered a lady of leisure in the old days FOR FORa FOR T OR a few years when the children are very young the modern wife and mother finds her time pretty well occupied but as soon as they reach each the school age she finds time hanging heavily on her hands and doesn't know how best to employ it As they grow older the Boy s Scouts outs and the Girl Scouts and the theY Y i M. M r. r C. C A A. A and the Y W. W C. C A A. A and the basketball teams and the baseball teams and the various junior leagues of one kind or another take charge of the youngsters and train them in the way they think they should go While womans woman's work has been so much lessened mans man's work is very much heavier He may work only eight instead instead instead in in- stead of ten or twelve hours but the pace is so so much faster and the competition tion is so much ke keener ner that he does far more work in the eight ho hours rs than he 1 r rIl Il A D 1 1 Each member of the family has his own kind of entertainment Mother may be a bridge fiend father a golf bug sister loves to dance and son spends his t time me with the team The old family amusements in which all participated have gone Unity of the family disintegrates l j 1 i I. I 1 i i f 1 0 Ni p- p 1 f dt M J I did In the twelve Besides there 18 ilia always a great deal of overtime work and when the man arrives home tome at night he is all fagged out He ne Is obliged to work very hard bard in order to cope with the high cost of living and the greatly increased cost of entertaining his family Did you ever hear the story of ot little boy who came running In to nil his mother crying A man out there hit hi me Mother asked him im W What at man 1 and the boy replied That red headed man who is around here Sundays Even after he gets home tome from hi hi ha job the ambitious husband and father has iS his thought on the om office e. e He cant can't get away from it He hasn't the strength or energy to enjoy his leisure hours with hi his family So they drift apart Each member of the family has his or her special ial type of entertainment nt Mother may be abridge abridge a ft bridge fiend father a golf goIt bug daughter loves to d dance nce son spends hi his time practicing pray with the team The old family amusements in which all participated have gone IN TN MANY cities girls going to high school refuse to give their parties at home they insist on tenting renting a sorority hall for the occasions Besides that they j wont won't have their parents present A friend of mine a professor in inthe the athe University University Uni Uni- of Wisconsin put his foot down He insisted that his daughter entertain her friends in their home It is a beautiful beau beau- r I place The g girls girl's rl's mother did everything everything every every- thing in her power to make the affair a asu su success ess Refreshments were the nic nicest s to be had bad ad The blase youngsters Wh who attended however took no pains to hid hide hida their boredom It wa was Only after they had rolled ba back k the carpet and put a jazz jaza record ecord on that any semblance of Interest interest interest inter inter- est was manifested All this is the underlying cause of the great increase in divorce There i ino is il no longer the family spirit or love of home which we used to have Woman has been given her freedom and a voice She does not yet know exactly what t to todo do with the freedom nor what to say with that voice The man too is still all at sea Out of this chaos the recklessly independent independent independent inde inde- pendent sons and daughters dash up to the tha altar When they find they have hav taken on responsibility they never stop stopped ed to consider they are not sporting enough to play the game long enough to tomake tomake make an effort to win As casually as they entered into the alliance they tk tAk steps to smash it 1 I 1 T DO not believe that the outlook is I. hopeless In time tima men and women will learn to adjust themselves to modern mod mod- ern conditions Won Women n are re not fools et T nitwits They are far flir more intelligent and attractive today than they were in inthe inthe inthe the good old days days' But there has been such a tremendous upheaval in the tho last two generations that it will win take sometime sours some r time for both men and women to learn learD to play th the new game The problem will not be solved by making div divorce laws stricter but by th the saner regulation of marriage We must not make the mistake of thinking that the divorce problem Is the tha problem of page front-page sensations Reno and Paris divorces are few in number and and comparatively unimportant in relation relation relation rela rela- tion to the gr great at volume of divorces which cumbers our courts and scarcely ly caus causes S a ripple on th the social surface o oj things These however the however the divorces of the great middle class class are are the really important ones which should cause causa u us UJ worry II by Leto w i. i |