Show THE MOTE AND THE BEAM the united states government has been loudly called upon by all the religious world in america to suppress plural marriage in the territory of utah this they think 0 will soon be accomplished by ine means ans of the recent special legislation enacted for this purpose by congress A few professors of the christian religion arc are now turning their attention to the system of wedlock with which they are in in many respects respect s dissatisfied both the marriage and aud divorce laws of the different states arc are considered by far too lax in fact they arc are looked upon asa as a burlesque on aright i g lit and justice A general law zo on n these subjects is now demanded tho marriage laws and nd the divorce laws in the several states are very dissimilar in some of them I 1 they arc are loose while in others they are stringent in one state persons can marry who could not do so in in another they can procure a d divorce divore 1 in ono one state for reasons which would not be considered valid in in I 1 I 1 another mere incompatibility of temper in one place is considered sufficient cause for granting a divorce while in other placed places nothing short of criminal conduct will procure a legal separation but whether a man and a woman arc are husband and wife or not nowadays 11 appears to depend upon the state they happen to be in in no part ef of the union are divorces so easily obtained or of such I 1 frequent occurrence as in the new E england states as dr L W bacon has fins so recently shown in one place he lie tells us at the silver wedding of a highly respectable couple having no very extensive circle of a few months ago they were recounting their reasons for thankfulness in tho tile retrospect and recalled during the twenty five I 1 years twenty eight families of their acquaintance that had bad been broken up by the issue of permits from the superior court the marriage vows appear to be lightly esteemed by the people of I 1 all castes of the community in the new england states As soon as a man tires of his first lovo love ho he can cast east her off with or without her I 1 children with or without provision for their maintenance and turn them into the street friendless and homeless in fact the usages of society I 1 require him to do so before he lie is allowed to take another wife sir bacon says the phrase until death shall part you still lingers by force of habit in I 1 most marriage formulas but from the wedding a day and from before it the tile statute book whispers intelligibly in the ear car of bridegroom 0 and bride if you find that you dont like each other or if you find that you like some one else better there is a cheap easy quiet and perfectly respectable way out of it and every new instance of prosperous comfortable and bigamy repeats the whisper of the statute book in a resounding voice I 1 of the modus operandi ope randl for a man in tile new now E england states to get rid of his present wife and obtain i another dr bacon speaks as follows I 1 in nothing is the peculiarity one olle might inight almost say the eccentricity of puritan society more oddly illustrated than in the procedure to bo be followed by a man wishing to bo be authorized b by the tile court to exchange wives by art all means the first thing to be done when practicable is to secure the first cifes consent and when lie is indeed enamored of another this is often an easy matter consent obtained obtain edby by far his best course is to present his claims on tho the favor of the court not in his own person but in the person of bis his wife tho drollest drol lest thing about the procedure is this that as a condition of this favor he be is required to plead by the mouth of his hia wife not that ho lie is a person osgood of good moral character nor that his conduct as a husband and father lias has been unexceptionable but that ho lie has been guilty of adultery or of intolerable cruelty towards liis his wife or of habitual intemperance or of some other very reprehensible conduct in the family relation to be I 1 Burc the allegation and proof required arc are hardly more than formal the refusal of a petition thus presented be ing almost unheard of but tha the form I 1 is rigorously exacted an intend intending im bigamist who should send his wife in into i to court with the representation resen tation that he is a man of blameless character whose conduct as a husband was above reproach so that I 1 I 1 having baying fallen in lovo love with another woman ho he might bo be reasonably expected to make bey her happy and that therefore tho the customary permit ought to be issued would find hia his case turned butof out of court in a very unceremonious manner perhaps with some strong expressions of horror from tile bench let him now being better advised send back his wife to certify with some show of proof that ho lie has complied 1 iid with tho the requirements of the tile r law w by criminal intercourse with liis his intended future wife or somo some other woman or by inflicting indic ting violence on liis his present wife and ins his wishes will bo be promptly complied with the court will issue its decree to the efrece that having been found a faithless cruel or otherwise worthless husban dhe is accordingly authorized to marry marry at his discretion any other woman that will take him subject to none of the pains or penalties of bigamy the tile wife whom ho lie has tal taken c n t to 0 his bosom whom he lie has sworn to honor linor to love to protect and provide for until death do them part is now dishonored and undone sho she la is required to go into court and perjure herself to furnish her husband the tile means to gratify his lowest brutal instincts with another woman wham ho he has looked on to lust list after her if the wife revolts against such a procedure and refuses to go before the courts and mid swear as directed the law appears to provide a way to force her into compliance with the wishes of her faithless lecherous lord dr bacon tells us the law virtually says to th the C man inan it will bo be nee necessary mary for you to make y your our boine a hell liell upon earth for a certain time until the endurance of your wife is exhausted if you can add to intolerable cruelty somo some flagrant evidence of your adultery it will strengthen your case with the court if your wife will not consent like a reasonable woman to bring your case into court in an ami amicable cabi e way she will certainly have to do it sooner or later in id a hostile way and you will do well t to furnish her with wit the tile materials ofa of a good case persons acquainted with the course of new england pl practice might be apprehensive that the course thus indicated as is the only way in the case deser described bed to a 1 lawful and peaceful bigamy y might bring one as it certainly would under some governments into collision i ision with the civil or criminal law but the history of new england jurisprudence on this point is 0 reassuring in proceedings of this nature facts of a revolting character arc aie often brought to light and provoke a transient popular horror and clamor but the courts of justice take no notice of them and ind a man mail of ordinary nerve may well brave the mild form of popular indignation which prevails in an orderly new england community when he lie coin comes es out of court triumphantly bearing the prize which he lie all along has had bad in in view the permit for bigamy and which the indignant hostility of his wife has procured for him just as her friendly collusion could possibly have done 0 it will bo be observed chatir that tha tIr mr bacon calls everyone a bigamist who puts away one wife or husband and then marries another it is as easy to obtain a permit to put away the second wife when the husband is tired other as it was to procure one to put away the first he ile is then at liberty to barrry a third or even to ro re mar marry the first if she is not already married to some one else in fact the latter is by no means an occurrence we are told of one couple who had bad received 41 permits from the superior court to separate t and to remarry re marry cadi each other three times among other incidents of this kind dr bacon relates the following A thrifty liquor seller tiring of his wife 0 and captivated by a new charmer sought comfort of the competent tribunal and of course had no diali difficulty in securing the tile necessary documents to authorize and legalize his ila happiness wife no I 1 being thrown out of business set up an opposition liquor saloon the licensing board being constituted of ardent prohibitionists were of course prompt in furnishing in 0 m every facility the twice married husband soon began to feel in liis his cash account the drawback on his new wedded bliss and after an agony of mental struggle between two of the mightiest of human passions be made his choice and came to the superior court once more for relief authorized by a new set of documents ho lie nerved himself to signify to wife no 2 that it would be necessary f for or her to retire and remarried wife no 1 so consolidating the rival interests in a sin single gle saloon caloon I 1 on the above the doctor makes the tile following caustic comments it is a noble testimony to the democratic impartiality of the courts of connecticut that its highest judges can stoop to sympathize with the loves even the roving loves of BO so I 1 0 0 humble and despised a citizen and arc are not incapable of being b touched by the disasters of tile retail liquor trade all chii is done in puritanical new now england by the sel self f righteous descendants of ofilio tle pilgrim father fathers who have united with tho the rest of the fanatical caliri christian iia iian zealots zealous zea lots in calling on the government of the united states to pass laws and appoint commissioners to come to utah Uta hand and purify the marital relations of the tile cormons mormons Mor ALor mons and to proscribe them in the exercise of their religious and other rights b they remind us of tho the class of puritans described by tho the savior in holy writ lie ile eaid said they ivero like whited sepulchres chres they put on a very fascinating exterior but internally they were full of dead mens bones and corruption it will be a good thing for them and all other pious crusaders ar against tho tile cormons mormons Mor mons to first cast the BE BEAM out of their 0 own wit C eye e before they undertake to remove the moto from their neighbors eye |