esented its report. It recognized the fact that severe
restrictions were in force, and a majority of the commission regarding
marriage as a legal rather than a sacramental bond, favored easier
divorce and a single standard of morality for both sexes. It was
proposed that the grounds for legal divorce should be adultery,
desertion extending over three years, cruelty, incurable insanity
after confinement for five years, habitual drunkenness found incurable
after three years, or imprisonment carrying with it a sentence of
death. A minority of the committee still regarding marriage as a
sacrament, favored no relaxation of the law as it stood.

82. =Proposed Remedies.=--Various remedies have been proposed to stem
the tide of excessive divorce. There are many who see in divorce
nothing more than a healthy symptom of individual independence, a
revolt against conditions of the home that are sometimes almost
intolerable. Many others are alarmed at the rapid increase of divorce,
especially in the United States, and believe that checks are necessary
for the continued existence of the family and the well-being of
society. The first reform proposed as a means of prevention of divorce
is the revision of the marriage laws on a higher model. The second is
a stricter divorce law, made as uniform as possible. The third is the
adoption of measures of reconciliation which will remove the causes
that provoke divorce.

The proposed laws include such provisions as the prohibition of
marriage for those who are criminal, degenerate, or unfitted to
perform the sex function; the requirement of six months' publication
of matrimonial banns and a physical certificate before marriage; a
strictly provisional decree of divorce; the establishment of a court
of domestic relations, and a prohibition of remarriage of the
defendant during the life of the plaintiff. These are reasonable
restrictions and seem likely to be adopted gradually, as practicable
improvements over the existing laws. It is also proposed that the
merits of every case shall be more carefully considered, and the
judicial procedure improved by the appointment of a divorce proctor in
connection with every court trying divorce cases, whose business it
shall be to make investigations and to assist in trying or settling
specific cases. Experiment has proved the value of such an officer.

83. =Court of Domestic Relations.=--One of the most significant
improvements that has taken place is th