Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-10
THE DIVORCE RATIO.

The United States census bureau
has issued a bulletin showing the num-
Der of divorces as compared with the
number of marriages in the ten years
between 1890 and 1900, and the fig
ures given will no doubt prove inter-
esting to girls who contemplate mar
riage. 1t is important for them to
know that during the '90's five of every
1000 men who married were divorced. |
as against four out Of every 1000
during the ten years preceding. The
census bureau apparently places all
the blame upon the men, for the fig
ures given in the bulletin refer not
once to the women in the various
cases. So, taking the cue from the
enumerators and statisticians, it isl
fitting to advise the girls not to marry
hostlers. Above all others on the per-
centage table appear the names of men
engaged in this unromantic .occupa-
ton. Between 1890 and 1900 eighteen
hostlers out of every 1000 who mar
ried were afterwards divorced. Ac-
tors come next with seventeen, agri-
cultural laborers and bar tenders with
fifteen and servants and walters draw
the unlucky thirteen. The lowest per-
centage was found among men engag-
ed in agricultural pursuits, not as lab
orers, but as employers in a
word,
The census bureau leaves the most
important question unanswered-the
reason for the fact that there are more
divorces in one class than in another.
The tabooed occupations are so widely
different that it is difficult to draw a
theory from them and it is doubtful
that anyone will ever be able to figure
out a reason for the showing that is
made. But the bureau gives the girls
some help in telling them who are the
least dangerous on the divorce propo-
sition. Of course, clergymen head the
list in this respect. but teachers, pro-
fessors in colleges, manufacturers,
public officials and textile mill workers
are all in the desirable column.
One fond theory is shattered by the
new bulletin. 1t shows that early mar
riages, in spite of all the wise men and
the fortune tellers say, are among the
least imprudent as judged by the cen
sus figure. A great number of the
divorces are men who deferred marry
frmed bachelors before they finally
took to domestic life. 1t is shown in a
long list of occupations in which there
were not more than three divorced to
1000 marriages, the tendency was to-
ward early matrimony.
In order that the young women who
are contemplating matrimony may be
forewarned. the following table, show
ing the number Of divorces for each
| / 900 marriages in the most formi-
dable group, is published. 1t may be
well to add that the Courier does not
possess the key to the puzzle and can
not agree to tell why hostlers and &C.
! tors are the most dangerous on the
divorce question, or why ten stock
raisers. photographers and paperhang-
ers out of every 1000 find married life
failure. Of course, however, it is not
on account of the girls. Here is the
table:
| Holsters ............... 10
Actors ........ ........ .......... ~
| Agricultural laborers >. -. Is
| BartenderS ........ ........ 500. 10
| Servants and walters ID
Woodchoppers .................. IL
Musicians and teachers of music. .12
Stock raisers, herders and drovers. 10
! Photographers ,............. 10
BARRIERS and hairdressers .......... 8
Lumbermen and raftsmen ........
Clock and watch makers and repair
ers y
Painters, glaciers and varnishers. :.