Letters: Oct. 6, 1930

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A Vinculo Matrimonii

Sirs:

Your very accurate and complete story of Nevada's divorce facilities, p. 18, TIME of Sept. 15, must have been most interesting to the thousands of readers of TIME who have been granted a ''new freedom" by Reno's "Judgie" or who contemplate seeking freedom a vinculo matrimonii.

When you said that ''Monday at Reno is known as 'graduation day' because on that day divorces are handed," some grass-widows and widowers of Gotham must have felt slighted because you failed to mention "Wednesday matinee" in New York when the "Undefended Divorce Calendar" is called in our Supreme Court. Although adultery is the sole ground of divorce in the Empire State, our Courts have held that actual coition need not be proved, but that proof of the inclination and the opportunity is sufficient. Consequently the large audience which always attends the "matinee" has its curiosity sated by a continuous reiteration of the drama "The Time the Place and the Girl."

Apparently Nevada is not the only place where a divorce may be obtained expeditiously. I have just received "An open letter to lawyers and interested persons of the U. S.," from an Attorney and Counselor at Law, of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, entitled "How to obtain a divorce fastly and at low cost." According to this "open letter," one of the grounds of divorce in the State of Campeche, Mexico, is mutual consent. "In mutual consent cases, both parties may appear before the Court by power of attorney, without coming here. ... In non consent cases, provision for service to a conciliatory hearing is provided for in the law. . . . After a decree of divorce both parties are free to contract a new marriage immediately. . . . Two trips to the Capital of Campeche are necessary, while the intervening time is spent in Merida, a modern City, completely paved and extraordinarily immaculate."

Whether a divorce procured in Campeche would be recognized in the U. S. appears to be problematical, for my learned correspondent says: "As to recognition of a local divorce in the U. S., I will say that I affirm the same has an identic statute as a divorce granted in one State of the U. S. to another State in the same country." Since no divorce has ever been "granted in one State of the U. S. to another State," there appears to be no precedent from which "identic statute" or the validity of a Campeche divorce can be determined. . . .

HARRY C. MILLER

New York City

Boy Scout's Pastime

Sirs:

I hate to see you so many years behind the times, in your knowledge of the modern methods of big game hunting (TIME, "Animals," Sept. 15).

I went fishing for lions two years ago and I learnt the art from Martin Johnson, who has used this method for a good many years.

Big game hunting on the African veldt is a pastime for boy scouts. The so-called African "Jungle" looks like Central Park, New York, and is just as dangerous. . . .

CARVETH WELLS The Explorers Club New York City.

Georgia Power Co.

Sirs: