Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1900-06-01
TO.DAY's WORK.
The Question Of the Census Cues
lions.

OF Congress; to ascertain the growth
of the United States ia numbers,
wealth, and industry; and to inves-
tigate the social organizations and
institutions which determine the
growth of population and wealth.
The first is constitutional ne
cessity, the second a study of facts,
and the third study of causes.
Probably no social institution is
so Intimately connected with the
growth of population as that Of
marriage. In Investigating marital
conditions the law requires about
each person a statement whether
he or she is single, married,
widowed or divorced; if married,
how many years the marriage has
lasted; if mother. how many
children she has had, and how
many of these children are now liv-
ing
From the answers to the ques-
tons 1t is possible to determine the
birth rate, the prevalence of mar
riage, the proportion of women and
children to the whole population,
the duration and fruitfulness Of
marriage. So far as the power
and Importance of nations are de-
pendent upon the size of the popu-
lation, to that extent is the accurate
determination of these questions
matter of public necessity.
In the United States there would
seem to be little danger of de-
cline in the population. But even
when we are sure that the popu-
lation is growing, it is still neces-
sary to know how it is growing
The millions of India are increas.
ing, but it is by a process of many
births and many deaths, In good
years millions are born; in times of
famine millions die, the population
increasing because few more are
born than die. 1t is growth, but
savage growth. There is a more
excellent kind of progress, that re-
sulting from the combination of a
moderate birth rate and small
death rate.
The marital statistics collected
by the census are in many respects
very interesting, Thus, the extent
and power of the anti-marital forces
can be estimated in a way by ascer-
tanning the proportion of people be-
tween IS and o. years of age who
have never been married. Census
statistics show that the proportion
of UNMARRIED females between these
ages is greatest in the East, in
North Carolina, Rhode Island, and
Massachusetts,, for instance, while
the proportion is smallest in the
West, South Dakota, Utah, and Ok
lahoma bringing up the rear in
the order named Men, on the CON
trary, are far more likely to remain
single in the West than in the East.
The proportion of unmarried men
between SIS and o. is lowest in the
States, e. g., Arkansas,
Alabama, and Georgia, and great
est in the block of Western States
west of the Mississippi. In Nevada
1872 per cent, of the males between
SIS and O. have never been married,
Idaho corning next with 32.4 per
cent, Montana next with 29.O per
cent, etc,
That marriage is still prominent
y the sphere of women seems to be
indicated by the fact that more wo-
men marry than men, and they
marry at earlier ages. Thus, only
81 per cent. of females IS years of
age and over are unmarried, while
among males of the same ages the
is Al per cent. Taking
girls and boys between Is and 20
years Of age, it is found that one
'ut of every ten girls is married,
while among the boys the proper
ion falls to one in two hundred.
These were the proportions in 1890.
Whether these conditions have
hanged since then is a question
hat can only be answered by the