MONTANA: Stigma Averted

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"I do not believe Montana should have the stigma of commercializing upon the unsuccessful and the unfortunate marriage and domestic troubles of her sister States."

So saying, last week cowboyish Governor Roy E. Ayers endeared himself to Montana's rural and Roman Catholic voters—but not to big-city lawyers, dude ranchers, hotelmen—by unexpectedly vetoing a 30-day-residence divorce law passed the week prior by his legislature (TIME, Feb. 27).

"There goes $23,000,000 worth of business a year down the sewer," groaned one State Representative.

In Nevada, which estimates the business brought in by its six-weeks-residence divorce law at a modest $5,000,000 per year, vigilant legislators laid away a 28-day law which they had prepared for instant passage in case Montana's legislation became law.