The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-03-01

ItIss Laxary and the Poor Cant
Afford II.


The rEp8f1 o. TIE fEETstf 81. rfEf1EF1i
Of Engtaud. giving the statistics 81
bsrfh. marriages snd deaths IN ttssr
connparasise yrlst;os1s for the last q
years. is an exceedingly iEssr@stin 1
docnmens. While dealing wfth sub
lects over which st Is community A.
summed that fate rather THAI eirrsus-
stances exercise control. the exhibit
made shows tszst human destiny i
largely governed BY the most prosase
OF conditions. Take. for example, the
anestion OF marriage. It might be as
surne9 that these contracts formed
between the tso SEXES xere altogether
outside Of she ordinary calculations 81
life. that marriages we're certain 10
take place #hen those haring what Is
termed affinity encounter eaeh other,
and we're not likely 70 occur simply
because material conditions happened
to favor them. Yet these statistical
returns prove that the n0fnber OF
marriages IL Just as closely regulated
BIZ fise business conditions of the
times ~ the amount 81 champagne
consumed or the indulgence In any
other luxury.
III fs52 the average price OF wheat In
England vas Slf - per quarter and
foreign exports amounted 20 about SO
per head. In that year the marriage
rate sas III. La 1ss7 the average
prize Of Wheat was s per quarter, the
foreign exports were about So per
head and the marriage rate per faf0
living vas about is2 New, while the
<.ts ~
rage rate does not rise and fall with
every hnctuasion Ia the export trade
or che PRICE OF breadztssfs. It does, in
the main, correspond fairly well with
the line that marks the annual changes
in trade. That IN. when business IL
thriving, when wages are high, many
more marriages take place In England
than when the material conditions are
less favorable. Pat q man In posi-
ton to earn a fair income. and the
chances are large that he will find that
destiny has decided that he should
wed himself 10 a more or less attrac-
tive person OF the opposite sex. On
the ether hand, when the needed in
come II not forthcoming, destiny Is
said 10 make IL evident that the man
in question should lead single life
This cold and mafter-of-fact statistical
calculation removes a great deal OF the
sentiment that has surrounded marital
unions. but as We are living in q mate
REALISTIC age, we must expect to have
not few of our Ideal conceptions of
life subjected 10 the probing and
weighing of scientific analysis.
Another fact. that the registrar gen
erals report brings out N the ten
dency in England TO delay marriages.
The point reached during the last year
in which a full report was obtained
fss7-was little over rs years for
bachelors and a little ever % years for
spinsters. Considering that a few
years ago the average age at which
marriages took place was two or three
years less than those noted above. the
caution Of the English people OF both
sexes may be said to be visibly on the
incfease-~a conclusion confirmed by
the continual decrease in the number
OF marriages among minors. The
English people are evidently coming
To the opinion that Ii desirable that
the characters of both parties should
be fully formed before they are put TO
the tests which married life almost in
variably occasions.
LII the marriage rate shows q tend
ency to decline, the birth rate seems
20 follow the same general tendency.
In 1915 the registered birth rate was q;
per 1000 persons living: in 1857 Ii was
3i.A, the lowest percentage In 8 range
OF fifty years. But ii births decline in
England there il counterbalaneing
advantage found in the diminished
mortality OF the population. The nc
cessions may be less rapid. but 30.
also, are the losses. Ii the birth rate
were less In 1857 than at any time
since the Office of registrar general
was formed, the remark holds equally
good OF the death rate. For the ten
years from is7I-sg the average
death rate in England was a
little over twenty two per
1000 of population. During the seven
years from issi-s7 the death rate was
under twenty. while in no wear pre-.
vious 10 that period had il fallen so
low. But the death rate Of Iss-. taken
by itself, WAS only ls.s per 1000 popu-
iat.on, reduction in mortality as.
toniShiugly ereditahlr 10 the health
authorities OF the English cities and
towns; for II the rather low English
NSstth iatt rs VIC -ttUAi1 fUll@tlcf IL
iu this eountry~-ef the years bet ween
le1lsSt had been maintained In 1877
there would have been in the last
named year fully 100 900 more deaths
in England than actually occurred. III
this number OF English citizens had
lost their lives by war or pesttisnce il
would have been held that a terrible
calamity had come upon the country,
and vet this same number Of lives are
saved from slow bat sure destruction
by the application of sanitary science.
and The fact merely becomes the sub
lect for an official statistical report.
Another matter of social interest Is
that the number of marriages that re
ceiyea religious sanction show con.
slant tendency 90 decrease. In isa5
the marriages celebrated in the 'hnreh
OF England were aei out of every 1000
lss5. out OF every loo marriages onlv
1ui were Church of England marriages
OF the remainder isi took place be-,
fore civil magistrate. while In isas
only = oQt of 1000 were civil unions
an increase in iorty-t@o years in this
respect of nearly 800 per cent.