The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-09-28
SURPLUS WOMEN.

the Excess Of Female Population Il Gro
ated In Various Parts Of the Union-An
industrious Glass.
Goethe says that in order to cause q
thing to be believed, it is only necessary
to keep saying it over and over until
the public ear gets thoroughly used to
it. 1t is only in this way that one can
explain the curious manner in which
certain prepOsterous exaggeratiOns
come to be accepted, and with constant
enlargement. The excess Of women in
our older States, for instance, keeps
growing larger and larger in the news
papers. This il not SO strange. but
when we find an educated Boston physi-
clan, in what purports to be serious
work-vouched for, moreover, by q
New York physician and a Boston cler-
gyman-putting the excess Of women in
Massachusetts at 12O, 900, it shakes ones
confidence in the common-sense Of the
community. As a matter Of fact, the
actual excess of women in Massachu-
sets, by the census of 1880, was not
much more than half this number, be-
ing sc, 2O5. The total number Of the
male population of that State, as then
recorded, was 858, 440, and of the female
population 924,64a Compendium Of
Census, p. 81
It has been shown by the returns Of
the Massachusetts census that this ex-
cess of women does not largely consist,
as was once supposed, Of the unmar-
ried, nor yet Of the unmarried or the
divorced. but that it consists almost
wholly of widows. By the State census
Of 1876, when the excess Of women was
6S,146. it appears that the excess Of
widows over vidowers in Massachusetts
was 81, 9O3. thus accounting for nearly
the whole excess of women over men.
Compendium of Massachusetts Gen.
sus, p. 39.) This large number of
widows is explained in manufacturing
towns by the fact that they seek sup
port for themselves and their children
in the mills; in seaport towns, by the
large mortality among sailors and fish
ermen, SO that single gale on the Banks
may leave fifty widows; and in the State
as a whole by the fact that it is one Of
the older States from which many
young men have gone westward. and
that in the event Of their death
their widows and children are very apt
to return to the old nest To this may
be added the influence Of the schools
and colleges of Massachusetts, which
bring many women there to educate
their children. In street with which
the writer is familiar, in that State,
there are seventeen houses, of which
eight are occupied by widows; and four
of these ladies have come into Massa-
chusetts within few years. either for
the education of their children or to as
sist in the education of the children of
other people. II this is the case in one
short street Of a suburban city, it will
not take long to make up such instances
to many thousands. Under these cir
cumstances some Of the surplus women
of State must certainly be counted to
its credit; they create the presumption
that it Is community which attracts
those who have families of children to
be educated on moderate means.
In general the presence Of many sur
plus women shows a State to possess
manufacturing industries. OF the 9TH
or Now England States, Connecticut
has II ,131 surplus women. Rhode Is
land 0.471. New Hampshire $3.50. All
these are manufacturing States; but in
Maine, where there are fewer manufac-
lures, the sexes are almost equally bal
anced. there being but $40 more On the
female side of the account; while In
Vermont, which II essentially an agri-
cultural State, there are 1,488 more
men than women. In New York State
the excess Of women Is greater than in
Massachusetts,, and amounts to 1921;
while in New Jersey It is 10. 272. and in
Pennsylvania but 1851. There is also
an excess Of female population in Mary
land, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia.
Alabama, Tennessee, and the District Of
Columbia; but not in any of the North
western or Pacific States, or in the Ter
ritories. As the local census Of these
States have rarely been taken 80
thoroughly as in Massachusetts, 1t is
difficult to tell whether the same pro-
portion holds as to widows and single
women. But probably the same facts
to employment would prevail through
the various States; and when We see q
large excess Of women in any commun-
ity we can be pretty sure that most Of
them have gravitated thither in search
of employment, or for the opportunity
of education, or because Of the ase0cia-
tons Of their early home.
And this preponderance Of widows
refutes the impression commonly held
and expressly suggested by the med
ical writer above quoted this sur
plus consists largely Of those ''whO are
in the industrial ranks because no man
hath married them" In the case of
the widows, at least, they are in the in
dustrial ranks because some man hath
married them, but has not had the
strength or the continued life to support
them. Nay, farther, they are there be-
cause the fact of matrimony has encum-
bered them with others to Unsupported.
i every woman could 60 through life