REFUSING A MARRIAGE LICENSE.

THE LAW REQUIRING the County Auditor to issue a marriage license is more or less mandatory, but at the same time that official is supposed to exercise a certain amount of discretion. He is certainly within his rights when he refuses to issue a license to a drunken man or drunken woman, and he also has the right to doubt the sworn statements made as to the age or marital fitness of these parties applying for the necessary legal letter of introduction to the minister.

As a matter of principle, we are glad to hear that Mr. Gage, the clerk in charge of the marriage license window in the office of the Auditor of this county, has had the courage to refuse two applications for license upon the part of Japanese who intended to marry white women.

We do not believe in such marriages. They lead to unhappiness upon the part of both man and wife and usually result in bringing into this world of children who can claim neither the White nor the Yellow race as their own and who can associate with neither the friends of their father or of their mother.

As a matter of fact, the County Auditor has no right to refuse a license to anyone who fulfills the technical requirements of the law, but we believe that public sentiment is behind the refusal which it is said Mr. Gage made in these cases, and that public sentiment will continue to be behind him so long as he continues to refuse such requests.