[Indexed as: “Again The Alimony Racket,” syndicated (The Chicago Tribune), The Dothan Eagle (Al.), Apr. 25, 1932]

“I leave this world because of laws that make the racket of alimony possible. I have paid $2,500 a year for thirteen years to a woman who tricked me into marriage. I had the grief, she had the gravy.” Final remarks of a suicide.

Former Chief Justice Olson, while disapproving the way out chosen by this victim of the alimony racket, says: “Concerning this whole alimony matter, there is no a nest ion that the courts are overdoing: the throwing of men in jail because they don’t keep up their payments. It is true some men evade payment (willfully), but there are many others who are unable to pay, yet some of them are put in jail anyhow.”

Primarily these wrongs are the responsibility of judges. Judge Olson says: “A lot of women are making alimony nothing but a racket, and I’ll venture that for every man putting it over on the court in using the depression for not making payment there is a woman who is getting alimony by fraud. These are hard times and judges should be extra painstaking about committing men to jail because they can’t pay alimony. In some cases it is easier for a woman to get a job now that a man.”

Since some judges are susceptible and lacking in discrimination, the question of more strictly defining and limiting their procedure is worthy of consideration. The evil described by Judge Olson has grown into a racket for unscrupulous women and lawyers which is especially oppressive at this time and the result is not only injustice to its victims but to legitimate claimants of support. The scope of the alimony must be reduced by law if the discretion of judges is as faulty as it appears to be. In too many cases alimony is merely a means of escaping martial responsibilities and gaining support for which there is no longer an excuse.