If the state does take such initiative and for all alike, no matter
what their social standing or reputation may be, then there is no
stigma for any individual and no suspicion aroused to injure any class
of persons. There seems as good reason why a compulsory physical and
mental examination, together with an inquiry into the main facts of a
person's life in order to prevent fraud and exploitation, should
always precede the giving of a marriage license as for the required
physical and mental examination of children when they enter the
tax-supported public school. It is, in both cases, a way by which
society secures itself, in the interest of the family and of social
life, against the fostering or continuance of evils that may be
prevented from poisoning the sources of moral and intellectual growth.
The fiat has gone forth in the Western world that no one shall be
compelled to marry against his or her will. The first revolt from
family control of marriage, that which made so many persons believe
that any one should be allowed to marry any one whom he or she might
choose, is now, however, waning. Elements of social control are
superseding the "marriage broker" and the parental office in deciding
what unions shall be allowed.
=The Young Should be Helped to Make Wise Choices.=--Wisdom and
consistency are not yet developed in this new way of helping the
young, even against their will, to avoid mistakes of ignorance and
folly, but they are developing. Meanwhile, many children still revere
their parents' wishes and ideals, even if the wild few do as they
please without regard to their elders. Most marriages in our country
are not only safely entered upon but happy in results because of
tendencies and tastes engendered in homes of love, truth, and
goodness. The increase of social control in the direction of knowledge
and caution even among the best people, and the safeguarding of the
less advantaged in family training, must go on until all the good
things parental choice gave to marriage arrangements are retained more
perfectly and all the bad things outgrown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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