Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-05-26
The Three Principal Objects for
Which This Decennial Count
Is Made.
STATISTICS OF MARRIAGE
They Will Prove Very Interesting and In
structive People Away From
Home Should Arrange to Be
Counted.

investigate the social organizations ana
institutions which determine the
growth of population and wealth. The
first is a constitutional necessity, the
second a study of facts, and the third a
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 state
ment whether he or she is single, a
ried, widowed or divorced; If married.
how many years the marriage has last
ed: if a mother, how many children she
has had, and how many of these chill
dren are now living.
From the answers to the questions 1t
is possible to determine the birth rate,
the prevalence of marriage, the proper
ton of women and children to the
whole population, the duration and
f%ruitfulness of marriage. So far as the
power and Importance of nations are
dependent upon the size Of the popula-
llD1l, 10 lldl chltllt ID IL Y
termination of these questions a mat
ter 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 growing, it is
| still necessary to know how it is grow
ing. The millions of India are increas-
ing, but it is by a process of nan
births and many deaths. In good years
millions are born; in times of famine
millions die, the population increasing
because a 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
a moderate birth rate and a small death
rate.
The marital statistics collected by the
census are in many respects very in
teresting. Thus, the extent and power
of the anti-marital forces can be esti-
mated in a way by ascertaining the
proportion of people between b5 and "a
years of age who have never been mar
| ried. Census statistics show that the
proportion of unmarried females be-
| tween 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 proportion
of unmarried men between IS and "a is
! lowest in the southern states-Arkan-
! sas, 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 IS and GA
have never been married, Idaho coming
next with 32.4 per cent, Montana next
with 29.5 per cent, etc.
That marriage is still p~re-eminently
| 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 Is 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 n 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 con-
ditions have changed since then Is a
question that can only be answered by
the census Of 1900.
The people are to be counted at their
places of residence, but as many per-
sons and families will be away from
their homes during Tune there Is some
danger that such persons will rot be
counted. If they are not counted, the
locality in which they live will be mis-
represented to that extent, and in some
cases this Misrepresentation may be
enough to affect the representation in
congress of the state from which they
therefore, should influence all such alb
sentees to take reasonable precautions
against being omitted from enuinera-
ton in their places of residence. Such
omissions are most likely to occur in
the large cities where families close
their homes and go elsewhere for the
summer. The occurrence of the Paris
exposition this year is likely to increase
the number absent from the country.
In all cases Of contemplated absence
the head of the family is requested by
the census office to communicate with
the supervisor of the district in which
he lives. He is also requested to leave
information regarding his answers to
the questions which are to be asked
with some responsible neighbor, who
will agree to see that it reaches the
enumeration on his rounds. Such infor-
nation might better be left as a men,
is less likely to be overlooked. The
questions to which answer are desired
apply primarily to the population, but
also to all farms and manufacturing es-
adjustments. They are being publish
ed from time to time in the press of the
country.
BY taking this trouble the absent cit
izen will do justice to his locality and
his state, and materially aid the census
office in the performance of its duties.
N'KINLEY COUNTY.
n---.I--A. q. H--s-- Al. n---A-