The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1900-06-01
The Question of the Census Questions

The objects of the federal census are
of the three kinds: To furnish a basis
for the apportionment of Representa-
tives in the lower house of Congress;
to ascertain the growth of the United
States in numbers, wealth, and indus
try; and to investigate the social or
CARNATIONS and institutions which de-
termine the growth of population and
wealth. The first is a constitutional
necessity, the second 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 a mother, how many
children she has had, and how many
of these children are now living.
From the answers to the questions
it is possible to determine the birth
rate, the prevalence of marriage, the
proportion of women and children to
the whole population, the duration
and fruitfulness of marriage. So far
as the power and Importance of ma
tions are dependent upon the size of
the population, to that extent is the
accurate determination of these ques-
tions a matter of public necessity.
In the United States there would
seem to be little danger of a decline in
the population. But even when we
are sure that the population is grow
ing, it is still necessary to know how
1t is growing. The millions Of India
are increasing, but it is by process of
many births and many deaths. In good
years millions are born; in times of
famine millions die, the population in
creasing because few more are born
than die. 1t is growth, but savage
growth. There is a more excellent
kind of progress, that resulting from
the combination of moderate birth
rate and a 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 way by ascertaining the
proportion of people between SO and
81 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 Oklahoma
bringing up the rear in the order
named. Men, on the contrary, are far
more likely to remain single in the
West than in the East. The proper
ton of unmarried men between 55 and
"a is lowest in the Southern States, e.
e., Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia,
and greatest in the block of Western
States west of the Mississippi. In Ne
vada 1872 percent of the males between
So and 64 have never been married,
Idaho coming next with 32.4 per cent,
Montana next with 29.5 per cent, etc
That marriage is still preeminently
the sphere of women seems to be indi-
Gated by the fact that more women
marry than men, and they marry at
earlier ages. Thus, only 81 per cent of
females 15 years of age and over are
unmarried, while among males of the
same ages the proportion is Al per
cent. Taking girls and boys between
Is and 20 years of age, it is found that
one out of every ten girls is married,
while among the boys the proportion
falls to one in two hundred These
were the proportions in 1890 Whether
these conditions have changed since
then is question that can only be
answered by the census of 1900.