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Show ' Judge In 6500 Divorces i . Tells Why He Needs Rest I j From Shattered Hearts i Wailing Of Children Separated From Parents, Attempts At-tempts to Conciliate Warring Couple and Problem of Fixing aud Collecting Alimony Unnerve Celebrated1 Cele-brated1 ( Chicago Jurist. ' e By MARGARET DADE, (Special Correspondent of The Standard-Examiner i (Copyright 1922, Standard-Examiner ) CHICAGO, June 10. "I need a vacation va-cation from broken hearts," In theso words. Judge Joseph M. Saoath. the I great doctor of the Chicago divorce I courts worn and broken by the strain of years of listening to the marital trouble of others, told today why he I has as)ced for a temporary transfer to the civil bench. The walling of the children la Id my ears the little ones injured by the separation bl their parents. I must forget it for a nme until I get strength to deal with them Again. I wll bo ready to go back to It In September, but for a whllo I want to settle differences dif-ferences by pocketbooks and not by hearts," In tho two years he has served In the divorce court Judge Sabath has heard C.500 divorce cases, an average Of nearly ten a day, and three phases of them have unnerved him. he says,! attempts to conciliate discordant cou-l cou-l li s custody of the children where ro-l conciliation was impossible and tho' question of alimony. He points proud-1 1 to the fact 'hat out of matrimonial! wreckage that has drifted into his' I court, ho has been able to salvage thej 'domestic happiness of 660 couples. ' These reconciliations have all lasted without a single exception. ' he said to- i day ' I have followed them up and many of tho couples have come back to me. with tears In their eyes to ; thank me for saving them from dls- aster. This quaint little, old Judge of 62 rcntful years is resting from hi la- I bors in the apartment ho occupies Wl h his wife. at their Chicago beach ! hotel But he was not too tired to talk about his work, the work that liiis br.fken him The room was full ly '-l'"'l -l:h flowers, mostly from those lie had laved from themselves The Judge was seated in an invalid j, chair but he did not appear 111; nevertheless no had the appearance of u man who was all tired out. And there was that air of Judicial dignity about him de-spite de-spite tho dark green yellow etrlped dressing gown ho wore and rather squat figure Judge Sabath came up from the people and he boasts that he understands them " Born In Bohemia Bo-hemia in a poor family of 11 children he came to America as an immigrant at the age 0f 15 His first job was In B I'.'hlng store, but he decided to be- ( Con tinned on Page Two ) JUDGE IN 6500 DIVORCES RESTS "I Need Vacation From Broken Hearts," Jurist Tells Interviewer ( Continued from Page One.) come n lawyer He sold clothes hy i dav and studied law at night. When I he finally was admitted to the bar ho , I practiced law with such success thai 1 2.600 Bohemian citizens of Chicago pe- j Itltloned him In 1910 to run for muni-, . tpnl Judge. Only the other day he-1 was re-elected by tho largost vote of; any of the candidates. ""When I was transferred to the divorce di-vorce court." Judge. Sabath said "my I Job seemed to be to wreck homes and I tried to turn it into one of building them." Thirtv-four years of happy married Hie have made Judge Sabuth a great believer in marriage 'Marry young. " he alwayi advises. He was married when he was 19 and is the father of three children. "A judge mud deal with a divorce ease as a doctor deals with a case of; Illness,' he continued. "He must diagnose tho cause of the trouble, not J merely treat the effects If the root ( i of the trouble is found and means are shown by which it tfan be cured, tho result need nut always be disastrous. Most people will listen to reason. Long :iko 1 ceased to believe thai I wus serving the best Interests of the people by granting them whole-, I sale decrees regardless of circumstances. circum-stances. People leap Into divorce! I court as Impulsively as they leap Into murrlaire Sometimes, of course, ih.- sooner a couple can be separated the better. But there are other case where the opposite Is irue." It was for those latter cases that! Judge Sabath established his famous 1 "reconciliation room." Whenever there seemed to be tho slightest chanco for the unhappy ones to compose their, differences he sent them to the room Eft metlmes he had to send an officer of the court to separate them but many tlme3 they would emerge, smiling, smil-ing, arm In arm ufton he suspended court and offered himself In the role! of peacemaker From seven in the morning until .six at night ho worked for six days a week without even stopping stop-ping for lunch "I can't keep the poor people wait ing," he wo'urd answer impatiently j when urged to take a reces9. "It Is upon the children whom the worst tragedies of divorce fall,' thQj Judge said "They suffer not only D' m the decree which makes a divided di-vided home, but also from tho notoriety. noto-riety. Their playmates in school point fingers of scorn at them. Other par-1 ems advise their little ones not to 1 play with Willie and Jennie, 'they I don t come from a nice home.' They are shunned, whispered about and made self-conscious and unhappy without any realization of tho cause. "But It WAS trying to decide the1, heart-breaking question of custody of the children that If ou will pardon me 'got my goat' 'I ho other terrible terri-ble question Is that of alimony Some men will do any thing In the. world to avoid paying alimony. They will glvo up the best Job thCji ever had and present pre-sent themselves actually out of work and needy when they might he earninv; good money. They will fake injuries and disabilities, coming Into the court room with arms tied up in bandages with doctors' certificates of ill health or clad in garments not fit to be seen. If it can be proved that they are playing play-ing off. it is easy to judge the payment pay-ment But the difficulty Is to judgo .a man's actual earning capacity and Just how much the wife deserves." Tho largo present number of divorces di-vorces Judge Sabath attributes to hard times rubbing tho last vestige ofj "bloom' from hasty marriages. Ho said the contract made in a time of uii-i natural strc.-s und excitement was not' strong enough io stand the dull monotony monot-ony of scarce jobs and small pay. There is also tho Interference of parents," declared the Judge, "This mother thinks her girl deserved a better sort of a man and that mother' Is suro her boy married beneath him j I find many parents v ho ontlnually I nag their morrled SODS and daughters reminding them how they might have done better. This is a veritable crime." on |