Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1900-05-31
The Que@stiOnef the Census Questions.


ghe objectg Of the federal census
are Of three kinds: To furnish basis
for the apportionment Of the Repre-
sentatives in the lower house of Con-
gress; TO ascertain the growth Of the
United States in numb ers, wealth and
industry: and 10 investigate the So
cial Organizations and institutions
which determine the growth Of pop
ulation 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 80
intimately connected With the growth
81 population Is thar If marriage
In Investigating marital conditions
the law requires about each person
statement whether III III she IS single,
married, widowed ar divorced; if mar
ried. how many wears the marriage
has lasted; il mother how many
children she has had and how many
81 these children are now living.
From the answers to the questions
it Is possible 10 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 n2-
tions are dependent upon the size OF
the population. to that extent is the
accurate determination OF these ques-
lions matter OF public necessity.
In the United States there would
seem to be little danger Of q decline
iii the population. But even when
we are sure that the population is
growing. it is still necessary to know
how ii is growing The millions Of
process Of many 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 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 way by ascertaining
the proportion OF people between 30
and Ga years of age who have never
been married Census statistics show
/ that the proportion Of unmarried fe-
males between these ages is greatest
in the East. in North Carolina, Rhode
/ Island and sachuSetts, for instance,
while the 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
80 and 81 is lowest in the Southern
States, e. g. Arkansas, Alabama, and
Georgia, and greatest in the block OF
Western States west of the MISSISSIPPI
pi In Nevada IS. per cent of the
males between 50 and Ga have never
been married. Idaho coming next with
32.4 per cent. Montana next with 80 )
per cent. etc.
That marriage is still prominently
Inc DIICl VI w OillCIl cCCAIo ~ NC anu
Gated by the fact that more women
marry than men. and they marry at
earlier ages. Thus. only 81 per cent
of females ID years Of age and oven
are unmarried. while among males OF
the same ages the proportion is pei
cent. Taking girls and boys between
- and 20 years Of age, it is found
that one out of every ten girls is mar
ried while among the boys the pro-
portion falls to one in two hundred
These were the proportions in 1890.
Whether these conditions have chang
ed since then is a question that can
can only be answered by the census
of 1900
Republican County Central and Assem-
n;~+r;c+