The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1900-06-09
CURRENT TOPICS
TAKING THE CENSUS.

The object of the federal census now
being taken are of three kinds:' To
furnish q basis for the apporton-
ment Of representatives In the lower
house Of congress; to ascertain the
growth Of the United States In num-
bers, wealth and industry, and to in
yestigate the social organizations and
Institutions which determine the
growth OF population and wealth The
first is a constitutional necessity. the
second q study Of facts. and the third
q study Of causes.
Probably no social institution In %
intimately connected with the growth
Of population as that Of marriage.
Investigating material conditions the
law requires about each person Q
statement whether he or she Is single,
married, widowed, or divorcedi IL
married, how many years the mar
rage has lasted; II 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 70
the whole population, the duration
| and fruitfulness OF marriage. So far
as the power and importance Of ma
tons are dependent upon the size Of
the population, to that extent Is the
accurate determination Of these Ques-
tons q matter Of public necessity.
In the United States there would
seem to be little danger Of q decline
in the population. But even when
we are sure that the population is
growing. It is still necessary to know
how IL is growing. The millions Of
India are increasing, but 1t is by a pro-
cess Of many births and many deaths.
In good years millions are born; In
times Of famine millions die, the pop
ulation increasing because a few more
are born than die II is growth. but
savage growth. There is a more ex-
cellent kind of progress. that resulting
from the combination OF q moderate
birth rate and q small death rata
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 ascertaining
the proportion Of people between IS
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 Massachusetts,. for in
stance, while the proportion II small
est in the West, South Dakota, Utah
and Oklahoma bringing uD 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 81
is lowest in the Southern states, Q. g..
Arkansas, Alabama and Georgia, anc |
greatest In the block Of Western |
states west Of the Mississippi In
Nevada $50 per cent of the males be- |
tween IS and "a have never been mar
ried. Idaho coming next with 324 per |
cent, Montana next with 2s.6 per cent
etc
That marriage Is still pre-eminently
the sphere Of women seems 10 be in
dicated 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 IL Il
per cent. Taking girls and boys be-
tween the ages OF Is and 20 years Of
age, 1t Is found that one out Of every
ten girls In married. while among the
boys the proportion falls to one in
two hundred. These were the pro-
portions in 1890. Whether these con-
ditions have changed since then 70 .
question that can only be answered
BY the census Of 1900.
FRANCE SENDS Us GREETINGS.
Vendome, France, unveiled q statue
of Rochambeau Monday and the peo-
pie Of that municipality, through Am
Porter, sent fraternal greet
ngs TO the American people. Lafay-
ute. Rochambeau and De Grasse are
names equally cherished BY the great
'epublic Of the new world. II was
Count de Grasses nest of twenty
light ships Of the line with 1000 In
antry on board that blockaded Corn
wallis by sea at Yorktown and thus ,
made his capture possible II In pos
ibls that Of recent years America has
'een somewhat too forgetful Of the :
reat aid France rendered It . hun
red Year, axo.