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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1920)
THE SUXDAY OREGOSIAX, PORTLAND. SOVJEMBER 21, 1920 1 V Expensive Solution Society '-'- fe.' 'ft, J Is Finding ior the Problem , : MfeSj,Ppk. ' : ' " " ' Mr. Jennie Emmet French has Just been Ktutcd a divorce from Wil liam Bartoa Frencfc, and under the -terms of settlement hcf allonanec will be 82,000 a year. - BY HELEN HOFFMAN. OPPONENTS of divorce and all di vorce laws .will be gratified to note that the cost of alimony has reached the $100,000-a-year mark and may go even higher. They will be inclined to agree that when the cost of a divorce, which generally in cludes alimony, reaches a prohibitive figure, then divorces will go quite out of style. The 100,000-a-year divorce settle ment was not attributed, however, to the leniency of a sympathetic divorce .judge. Instead it was due to the liberality of the husband in the case. Following the newly established so ciety code of making a handsome settlement upon the wife from whom the courts were expected to part him, he made her an allowance of $100,000 a year, thereby breaking all records in the alimony line. And now comes the announcement that Mr. and Mrs. "William Barton French have been divorced and that under the terms of the divorce settle ment she will have an annual allow ance of $62,000 to live on. There have been other generous divorce settle ments in recent months, all tending to a belief in In the existence of a social code which provides for a more lib eral treatment of divorced wives in the matter of alimony than Che law prescribes. As the Frenches have been mar ried only four years, it was a great shock to society to learn of the di vorce, for the young couple were great favorites in the smart social circles In which they moved. Chivalrous Husbands. But what surprised society even more was the chivalrous attitude taken bjr the young husband toward the beautiful young woman who had cast' him off. The young wife, who before her marriage was Miss Jean Emmet, be longed to a socially important fam ily, though not rich. Young French is wealthy, and In discussing the divorce, he spoke af fectionately of his wife, and he said he had generously provided for her. At the time of their marriage four years ago he said he settled $500,000 on her, the income from which would give her an annual income of $50,000, and this she will have so long as she does not remarry. Under the divorce settlement he said he settled an additional $12,000 a year on the young wife who would have no more of him. His small daughter, he said, he would care for independently of the sum given to his wife. Surely nothing could be more gen erous than such an allowance of $62,000 a year from a man whose wife had written finis to their marital partnership. No young man wooing the Idol of his love could have shown in finer terms his admiration and affection than young French showed his di vorced wife. Why do men treat their wives so generously, society has been asking. Is it from a sense of pride? Is it that they wish to have the world think of them as generous protectors of their ex-wives, or does some lingering feel ing of tenderness inspire such motive, as well as perhaps a desire in many cases, to try to make up in cold cash for any grievance or any wrong that an angry wife may have felt she suf fered? At any rate, whatever the motive is. it is a well-established fact in fash ionable society that wives fare bet ter at the hands of their husbands than they would ordinarily at the bench of justice, which, to the wife, most often, means the divorce court. Many judges have in scathing terms scored the applicants for heavy ali mony, claiming that a woman who desires release from a husband is no longer entitled to his support. Justice Charles 1, Guy of New York in discussing an extraordinary divorce case, aaia: "if marriage is a Vrf f- J: ' ' .dJ- -"TiVV'H V The record-breaking alimony received -V r. V JCrfSTA rr - A PkV t '-HPJ,; " ,. by the divorced wife of layman B. (1" J- ? vJV f r ' !st!52Sl i I Kendall gives her an allowance of I IV!i3 4 M '.A; til '-.000 a for l.ft. lottery, we Bhould not make the capi tal prize a luxurious alimony. A wife who elects to cancel the marriage contract under which she has certain recognized obligations as well as rights, must not expect to enjoy aU the benefits of a happy and success- i ful married life. She is not entitled to a life of ease and luxury without equivalent obligations. The law ac cords her reasonable and proper sup port for the station in life which she, as a married woman has occupied and based largely upon her former hus band's resources, but she is not en titled to any fixed percentage of his income for life." Many judges throughout the coun try whose days are occupied with lis tening to marital discords, voice sim ilar opinions to Judge Guy in the question of alimony. Not only judges, but leading fem inists as well, have scored the ali mony taker, and now with full poli tical enfranchisement, should women come to sit on the bench, the woman alimony applicant would likely fare even worse at the hands of the court than she does at present. Crystal Eastman Benedict, a leader among feminist speakers and writers, echoes the opinion of her colleagues when she declares: ''Alimony is not thought of by a real feminist. The whole purpose of the feminist movement is to get rid of the parasite woman." But, of course, in such matters, even the feminist movement Is not apt to control or influence a change, so long as hubby, who can afford It, desires to see his divorced wife kept in com fort, if not in luxury, and thus reflect his generosity and, it might well be noticed in many deplorable cases, per haps his forgiveness for the woman who has suffered to put him out of her life. As extraordinary as the generosity of young French was that of Lyman B. Kendall, whose sum of alimony I paid to his wife recently, made most alimony payers look mean and nig gardly. Aside from property valued at $4,500,000, Mr. Kendall alloted to his wife an annual income of $100,000 as long as she lives, and with this he gave his very good wishes for her happiness. After being married some years the Kendatls drifted apart, according to his statement, because he preferred the quiet life of his stock farm In Vir ginia, while she delighted in New York society. Kendall made his for tune after he married his wife, and therefore felt, no doubt, that she was entitled to some of it even though they chose to go their separate ways after it had accumulated. Vast, indeed, are tee of the sums paid to beautiful women who can celed their marriage contract with a divorce. Perhaps tha largest sura of alimony ever paid outright, was that settled on the former Mrs. John Jacob Astor. when she divorced Colonel Astor. This sum amounted to $10,000,000. Mrs. Astor Is living off this generous income in England today, where she recently took on a title by marrying Lord Ribblesdale. i New York society some years ago. riMi i1 "r,,','wTrmii'riiliH'iitfliiawmiiiirniimi-nfiimfT-T .vj: AmmmsiiiIii wmnfcnitaii I ' Copyright by Central News Photo Service. The former Mrs. Joha Jacob Astor, gasped when It was learned thatimony allowance of $36,000 a year Howard Gould had awarded an all. H. G. WELLS, WRITER OF FICTION, NOW TURNS PEN TO HISTORY - j Napoleon Described as Most Illuminating Figure, but Adventurer and Weakling. A MARVELOUS and book is H. G. Wells' fascinating "Outline of J- - History." Speaking of the end of the French revolution, he says :"The ebb of this tide of revolution in the world, this tide which had created the great Re public of America, and threatened to submerge all European monarchies, was at hand. It is as if something had thrust up from beneath the sur face of affairs, made a gigantic effort and spent Itself." He gives, with rare vision, the cause of this failure,, not the excel lence of the new ideas, but the fact that "men were unprepared for the creative opportunities this clearance gave them." In other words, to refor.ni mankind bow the bride of Lord Ribblesdale. .who received "10,000,000 from Colonel Aator wheB the divorce settlement was I to his wire at their separation, Duti you must not .only give them a new idea, but must prepare their minds to receive it. . , He accurately diagnoses our pres ent industrial ferment. For . the French revolution was at the bottom an attack on privileges and property, "but," he adds, "even now .this crit icism of property Is still a vast and passionate ferment rather than a science." "And now," he says of Napoleon, "we come to one of the most illumin ating figures of history, an adventur er and a wrecker. Against the back ground of confusion and . stress and hope, this strained and , heaving France and Europe, this stormy and tremendous daw.n, . appears. , a dark little. archaiQ. personage, hard, com - 1 . made. since then alimoners have set a new pace, ana witn recent rortunes given pact, capable, unscrupulous, imitative j and neatly vulgar." Of how France welcomed him he says: The public was in that state of moral fatigue -when a strong and honest man is called for, a wonderful, impossible healing man who will do everything for everybody." : Napoleon, however, . had '"Julius Caesar rather, than Washington in the back of his mind.'.' The Corslcan had a rare opening of destiny. "Now surely here was op portunity such as never came to man before. .Here was a position in which a . man might well bow himself and serve 5od and man to the utmost." Napoleon was capable of no such high, emprise. Instead of measuring up to his fate he "could do no more than strut upon the crest of this great mountain of opportunity like a cockerel upon a dunghill." A Here follows one of the most vivid and piercing descriptions of all litera ture. "The figure he makes ' in his tory is one of almost Incredible self conceit, of vanity, greed and cunning, of callous contempt and disregard of all., who trusted him, and of a gran diose'ap'ins of 'Caesar, Alexander and to ex-wives, Howard Gould's allow ance, by comparison, is quite email. Mrs. W. Gould Brokaw's divorce created quite a stir In New York society a few years ago, when it was learned that a $30,000-a-year allow ance went with it, but. society does not gasp any longer over such com parative trifles. Divorce Among the Ancients. Sharing the profits of, a long mar ried life, was no doubt what William Ellis Corey believed to be the right thing, when he gave his wife $1,000, 000 and then shortly after married Mabelle Gilman, the one-time chorus girl. Mr. Corey, who rose from a laborer to the presidency of the United States Steel corporation, no doubt recognized the faithful service and loyalty of his helpmeet In mak ing his great stride In the industrial world, and amassing thereby a con siderable fortune. But according to the Rev. Samuel A. P. Mercer of Chicago, divorces are as old as the human race, for In making Investigations and trans itions from Babylonian cuneiform Inscriptions, he says he learned from these, that divorce was a common occurrence during the reign of Mam murabl about 2230 B. C. "Having been granted a divorce," he says, "a man would pay lHJeral alimony to his wife and publish the information that should anyone marry the di vorcee he would not object." Charlemagne, which would be purely comic if it were not caked over with human blood. UntiLas Victor Hugo said ,ln his tremendous way, "God was bored by him, and he was kicked aside Irko a corner to end his days, explaining how very clever his worst blunders had been, prowling about his dismal hot island shooting birds and squabbling meanly with an underbred jailor who failed to show him 'proper respect.' " Perhaps the best thing in Mr. Wells' picture of Napoleon is his explanation of the Napoleon cult. "Since his time his name has been one of the utmost reassurance of doubting men, to the business man hesitating over a more than shady transaction, to the clerk fingering a check that can be easily altered, to the trustee in want of ready money, to the manufacturer meditating the pros and cons -f adul teration, to thousands of such people the word 'Napoleon-lc' has come with an effect ot decisive relief. We live in a World - of would-be Napoleons. Half the cells of our jails and many In our madhouses are St. Helenas. He was the very embodiment of that saint clear, self -centered common sense without sentiment or scruples, that struggles with our feebler better nature, that. .may ultimately destroy mankind." '
