justed that there are no unequal
marriages, the question of divorce always will be eminent. The ever
present agitation about uniform divorce laws and the divorce problem
cannot be settled until there are more stringent marriage laws. Trying
to settle the divorce question without first settling the marriage
question is like trying to keep chickens in a small yard surrounded by
enticing fields without first constructing an adequate fence.

Divorce is the concession of society to its inability to solve the
marriage problem. Anyone can get married! Mere children can meet on a
pleasure excursion and in a moment of fun or infatuation walk over to a
justice of the peace and be married. In some states not even a license
is necessary. A large proportion of the marriages in the world are
consummated without a proper consideration on the part of either bride
or groom as to the responsibilities of the marriage state. Many of the
marriages are made simply as a matter of convenience--in order to
inherit property, for social position or in a spirit of pique. Such
marriages are not natural marriages and are in violation of the right
spirit of the law of marriage. The much quoted saying, "What God hath
joined together, let no man put asunder," surely does not apply to these
marriages; for that very admission would be a condemnation of the wisdom
of God. He surely never would give his sanction to many of the marriages
contracted in a spirit of lust or of greed.

It is as impossible to keep mismated people together as it is to keep
chemical incompatibles together. No chemist would try to keep chlorate
of potash and sulphur together even if they did, by some accident,
happen to be in the same locality. It is just as impossible to keep two
incompatible people together and not expect an explosion. The law may
keep such people legally bound, but it cannot keep them so mentally or
physically. A prominent reformer is reported to have said that fully
one-third of the married population of New York City is unfaithful to
the physical obligation. And New York is not so very different from
other parts of the country. Many who are not physically disloyal are
mentally so. The no-divorce law will not prevent this condition of
affairs. Whites and blacks cannot marry legally in the South and yet in
some of the Southern states which have a no-divorce system a large
proportion of the colored population is _mulatto_.

Nature's laws tend to provide an indi