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Show U. of U. Teacher Proposes Change In Marriage Law Salt Lake City Changes in Utah marriage laws are advocated by Dr. Owen F. Beal, professor of sociology at the University 'of Utah, hi a monograph which he has just published, pub-lished, "A Legislative and Statistical Study of Marriage and Divorce in Utah." More interest should be shown in improving marriage laws than in improving im-proving divorce laws, according to Dr. Beal. He suggests that the minimum min-imum are required for marriage in Utah be raised to sixteen years for females and eighteen for males in line with the practice of other states. He advocates the requirement of a health certificate as a part of the marriage procedure, and an advance notice law of marriage to prevent hasty marriages. "Contrary to current opinion, the marriage rate in Utah has tended to inrcease slightly, rather than to decrease," de-crease," the report continues. "There were more married persons in proportion pro-portion to the population 15 years of age and over in 1930 than in any of the previous decades for which we have figures. A little more than three-fifths of the population 15 years of age and 'over are married." A greater percentage of rural residents resi-dents in Utah are married than are urbanites, according to the report. Of urban females 15 years of age and over, 60.4 per cent are married, and 65.9 per cent of rural females are married. Dr. Beal notes an increase in the divorce rate from one divorce in every 10.8 marriages in 1887 to one divorce in every 5.6 marriages in 1930. Somewhat more than three-fourths three-fourths of the divorces are granted to the wife, and the three principal grounds for divorce in Utah are neglect to provide, cruelty, and desertion. de-sertion. . "A background of law alone will not suffice," the University of Utah professor concludes. "When legislation legis-lation has done its utmost to provide pro-vide conditions favorable to the growth of wholesome family life, there still remains the problem of preparing the individuals for married life. This is largely a process 01 education. edu-cation. Among all general remedies known to us today, educational effort ef-fort offers the greatest hope to deepen deep-en the respect in which the family institution is held by the public in general, as well as to bring about needed reform in its operation." |
