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Marriage among common classes

The fact that divorce is unknown by virtue of the prevailing religious belief prevents any very available knowledge being secured as to whether marriage is a failure or not under this lottery system of getting partners for life. The marriage announcements usually state that the [[strikethrough]] bridl [[/strikethrough]] bride is "sympatico"

In the state of Colima I was credibly informed that over half the common people were living together in an unmarried state owing to the priesthood charging about $16- for the marriage ceremony - an almost impossible sum to most of them - & at the same time preaching that it was better to live together without marriage than to be married only by the civil service provided by law at  [[stikethrough]] a nominal [[/stikethrough]] no expense.

As a consequence the poor class is all paired at an early age without the formality of a service. These unions are usually permanent (when there are children especially) but as a natural consequence of such a state of affairs a considerable amount of exchanging partners is going on.

This condition of affairs goes on in Jalisco as well. The civil marriage is performed free of charge at the office of the judges.