Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; two years in District of Columbia, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Tennessee; three years in Alaska, Connecticut, and Massachusetts (if when married both parties were residents; otherwise five years); five years in North Carolina; actual residence at time of bringing suit in Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, and New York (if married in the State). Absolute, Causes for.-The violation of the marriage vow is cause for absolute divorce in all the States and territories, except South Carolina, which has no divorce laws. The living of husband or wife at the time of the second marriage is a cause in most States, and physical incapacity in all the States except California, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Vermont. In most of these States it renders marriage voidable. Willful desertion, one year in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indian Territory, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; two years in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; three years in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaiian Islands, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia; five years in Rhode Island, though the court may decree a divorce for a shorter period. Both parties living apart without cohabitation, five years, in Kentucky; ten years, Rhode Island; no time specified in Louisiana and New Mexico. Habitual drunkenness in all the States and territories, except Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. "Intoxication from the use of intoxicating liquors, opium, or other drugs," in Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and North Dakota. "Imprisonment for felony," or "conviction for felony," in all the States and territories (with limitations), except Florida, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North and South Carolina. "Cruel and abusive treatment, "intolerable cruelty, "extreme cruelty," "repeated cruelty," or inhuman treat 66 ment," in all the States, except District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, and discretionary in Georgia; treatment seriously injuring health or endangering reason, in New Hampshire. Failure by the husband to provide, one year in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Wyoming; two years in Arizona, Indiana, and Nebraska; three years in New Hampshire; no time specified in Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Washington Fraud and fraudulent contract, in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Absence without being heard from, three years in New Hampshire and Ohio; seven years in Connecticut and Vermont; voluntary separation, five years in Wisconsin; ten years in Rhode Island. "Ungovernable temper," in Kentucky; "habitual indulgence in violent and ungovernable temper," in Florida; "cruel treatment, outrages, or excesses as to render their living together insupportable," in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas; "indignities as render life burdensome," in Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wyoming; attempt to murder the other party, in Illinois, Louisiana, and Tennessee; "pregnancy at the time of marriage without husband's knowledge or agency," in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, in Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia; insanity lasting ten years, in Washington; in Florida, four years; insanity and six years' confinement in an asylum, on six years' residence, in Idaho; permanent insanity in Arkansas and Indian Territory. Other causes in different States are as follows: "Commission of the crime against nature," in Alabama; "husband notoriously immoral before marriage, unknown to wife," in West Virginia; "fugitive from justice," in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia; "gross misbehavior or wickedness," in Rhode Island; "any gross neglect of duty," in Kansas, Ohio, and Oklahoma; "refusal of wife to remove into the State," in Tennessee; "joining any religious sect that believes marriage unlawful, and refusing to cohabit, " in Kentucky, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; "vagrancy of the husband," in Missouri; "refusal of wife to cohabit for twelve months," in North Carolina; "excesses," in Texas; "where wife by cruel and barbarous treatment renders condition of husband intolerable," in Pennsylvania; "concealment of sexual disease," in Kentucky; obtaining divorce in another State, in Michigan and Ohio; "conviction of a felony prior to marriage," in Arizona, Missouri, Virginia, and West Virginia; “incurable Chinese leprosy," in Hawaiian Islands, "offering indignities, rendering conditions intolerable," in the Indian Territory; voluntary separation for five years, in Wis consin. Public defamation of other party, in Louisiana. In Georgia an absolute divorce is granted only after the concurrent verdict of two juries, at different terms of the court. In New York absolute divorce is granted for but one cause, adultery. Collusion and connivance bar a divorce, also any condonation of a violation of the marriage vow. Startling Facts.-The statistics tell a story of marital disruption that seems almost incredible. In Ohio, one divorce in every twenty-five marriages was the ratio in 1870, and one divorce in eight marriages the ratio in 1902. Other states might be cited as illustrative of the tendency to seek relief from marital responsibilities and incompatibilities in the courts. In 1867 Indiana had 1,096 divorces, the largest number for that year in any State. In 1900 the number had increased to 4,699, or one to every 5.7 marriages of the year. Michigan divorces increased from 449 in 1867 to 1,339 in 1886 and 2,418 in 1900. The ratio in that State is now one divorce to eleven marriages. Illinois granted 1,071 divorces in 1867 and 2,606 in 1886. Connecticut and Vermont appear to be the only States in which the divorce evil has been checked. The former State had fewer divorces in 1900 than in 1867. Changes in the statutes and in the administration of the various county courts largely account for improved conditions in these States. Alarming Increase.-In the United States during the twenty years from 1887 to 1906, inclusive there were 945,625 divorces granted, representing an increase of 200 per cent, while the population increased little more than 60 per cent. In contrast to this picture it is interesting to contemplate the divorce statistics of Canada. In the latter country sixty-nine divorces were granted in the thirty-four years between 1867 and 1901. |