15c Divorce

Though the State Department has not yet recognized Soviet Russia it was recently held in Manhattan by Federal Judge Goddard that "civil contracts, such as marriage, performed according to Russian law, hold good in the United States, despite the absence of diplomatic recognition."

If two citizens of the U. S. can thus be legally married in Red Russia, why should they not be divorced there? Though no U. S. couple is known to have made the experiment, it was instructively performed last week by a Chilean, Senor Cesari Alvarez de la Revera. Smitten with love for one Martha Schmidt, his wife's sister, he sought a divorce in order to remarry.

Arriving in Moscow, Divorce Pioneer de la Revera sought out the Society of Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. They placed him in contact with the proper authorities and upon simple declaration that he wished a divorce he received it within 20 minutes. The fee: 15-c-. "Now I can marry Martha!" exclaimed Senor Cesari Alvarez de la Revera, and within 24 hours he did.

As the couple left Moscow, prying Soviet correspondents queried the bridegroom as to what sort of reception he expected to get on returning to Chile. "I fear that my marriage is likely to go unrecognized there," he smiled. "But I happen to live and practice law in Peru. It makes me feel better to have my union with Martha regarded as legal by at least one Great Power."