Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1908-12-03
ARIZONA DIVORCES
SHOW AN INCREASE
Census Report Gives Figures
Covering Long Periods In
the Territory,

/ iOn 1901 10 ioo0 luefe were 20
divorces granted in the courts of Arl
zona, and between 1887 and 1906 tnt
total number of divorces was 1880. In
1880 the divorce rate per 100000
population was AZ, and IN 1900 1t had
I Increased to 100.
These figures are announced by the
bureau of census in the department
! of commerce and labor at Washing
! ton, d. c., as the result of an exhaus-
/ tive Investigation made Of tae mar
rage and divorce records Of every
state and territory a few months asv.
For several weeks one of the agerts
of the department was IN Arizona,
spending several days in Pnoenix, dur
ing which he searched through the
records in the district court rere and
gathered the data. He visited also ia
Prescott, Tucson, Globe and Tomb
stone, when, with Phoenix. make the
seats of the five court districts in
Arizona.
Compared with New Mexico, ART
iona has the divorce habit in a much
greater degree. From 1867 to 1886
New Mexico mad 255 divorces and
from 1887 to 1906 it had 2,t37. In
1880 the divorce rate per 100000 pop
ulation was IL and 1900 1t increased
to 49,
The total number OF marriages re-
corded in the United States dcring
the twenty years. from 1887 to 1906,
inclusive. was 12,s32.0i4. The mum
Der annually reported Increased from
$4,000 in the year 1887 to S53.29G in
the year 1906.
The total number of divorces re-
orted for the twenty years, 1887 IL
1906, inclusive, was 945,625. For the
earlier investigation, covering the
twenty years, 1867 TO 1885, inclusive,
the number reported was S2S ,716, CT
hardly NOR e than one third of The
number recorded in the second twenty
wears.
Two-thirds of the total number of
divorces granted in the period cover
ed by this investigation were granted
to the wife.
The most common single ground
for divorce is dssertion. This &C,
counts for 3S.9 per cent of all d.
yorces Cperiod 1887 to 1900 49.4 per
cent, or almost one-half of those grant
ed to the husband. and 3S.5 per cent,
ore one-third Of those granted to the
wife
Only Is per cent of the divorces
were returned as contested, and prob
ably in many OF these cases the con.
testing was hardly more than a for
mality. OF course those divorces
in which notice upon the defendant
was served personally 20 per cent
were contested, while in those cases
in which notice was served by publ
cation in newspapers only per cent
were contested. a....
The average duration of marriages
terminated by divorce is about ten
! years. Sixty per cent, or three
| fifths, last less than ten years and
40 per cent last longer.
Children were reported in 39.S per
cent of the total number of divorced
| cases. The proportion is much larger
for divorces granted to the wife
than for divorces granted to the hu5.
band; children being present in 46.S
| per cent of the former class of d.
vorces and &c per cent of the latter.
A reason suggested for this is tnaS
the children are usually assigned by
! the court to the mother, and to her,
| therefore, divorce does not imply SEP
aration from her children, while to
the husband it involves a severance
of the psrental as well as the mari
tai relation.