Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-27

tory cause Of divorce in 5 per cent Of the
divorces granted to the husband and in IS
per cent Of the divorces granted to the
wife, and appeared as a direct or indirect
cause in 1875 per cent OF all divorces. and
263 per cent OF those granted to wives and
81 per cent OF those granted TO husbands.
Few Divorce Gases Contested.
Only Is per cent OF the divorces were re-
turned as contested. and probably in many
Of these cases the contesting was hardly
more than a formality. OF those divorces
in which notice upon the defendant was
served personally 20 per cent we're con-
tested. while In those cases in which notice
was served by publication In newspapers
only Q per cent were contested. The latter
form OF notice is commonly employed where
the residence Of the defendants Is outside
the state in which the suit Is brought. OF
Is unknown. In about one divorce case out
OF three the residence Of the defendant IL
either outside the state or is unknown,
the percentage residing outside the state
being 2.6 per cent, and the percentage for
which the residence is unknown being 1875
per cent.
One wife I'm Eight Gets AIimony.
Alimony was demanded in IS per cent of
the divorces granted to the wife. and was
granted in 1871 per cent. In other words.
three wives out OF sixteen asked for ALI
mony, and two out OF sixteen, or / out OF
eight. obtained II. The proportion Of hus-
bands who asked for alimony was Is per
cent. and the proportion obtaining 1t was 2
per cent.
Duratio of Divorced Marriages.
The average duration of marriages ter
minated by divorce is about ten years.
Sixty per cent, or three-fifths. last less
than ten years and 40 per cent last longer.
The number OF divorces occurring In the
first year Of married life during the entire
period. 1887 to 1906, was 1886; the humber
increases to N,764 in the second year OF
married life, and reaches its maximum in
the fifth year, when It becomes 6s,T7O.
From that point on the number diminishes
year by year, but does not fall below the
number granted in the first year Of mar
ried life until the eighteenth year is
reached.
The rapidity with which matters come
to a crisis in the married careers of di.
vorced couples is more clearly indicated
by the number OF years which elapse be-
tween marriage and separation. Usually
separation precedes divorce by a consid'
cradle length of time; and a certain period
must necessarily elapse before a divorce
can be obtained after the occasion for 4
arises. The number of years from mar
riage to separation was ascertained ir
case of 77o.s2s divorced couples. OF these
$3.50, or 1873 per cent, separated in tn,
first year of married life, and 109, 1859, OF
1A.2 per cent, in the second year; in The
third year the number falls off to 1910
at the end of the fifth one-half of thu
- . - Aa.ra 49,
place. But It is a somewhat SURPRISING
fact that 2A143 married couples, or 81 pc
cent Of the total number, separated anC
became divorced after the completion o
twenty-five years OF married life.
, Place Of Marriage.
In this report divorces have been classi
) fled with respect to the state or country II
which the parties were married. In l0'
per cent OF the total number of cases thi'
} information was not obtained; 6S.1 per cen
were reported as married In the same stat,
in which the divorce was granted; 1877 pei
) cent married in some other state, and q
; per cent married in fareign countries. Thu
last percentage can, by no means, be &C
cepted as representing the proportion o.
; divorces granted to foreigners. since mani
migrants were married after coming t.
1850 1850 .No SaNA AA1A OAS Ao
~dtstinguishable from those of natives
OF the divorced couples known to havt
} been married In the United States SIS pei
cent were married in the same state II
which they were divorced, and I.5 pei
; cent in other states. OF the divorced
couples known TO rave been married il
foreign countries S6.s per cent were mar
3 ried in Canada; 1877 per cent in England
l6.1 per cent in Germany, and 1.e per cen.
in Ireland. The percentage for Ireland Il
3 notably small, as compared with the popu
lation OF Irish birth, which, in fact, con
stitute 1916 per cent of the total foreign
9 born population In the year 1900. 1t Is fur
9 Their noteworthy that the divorced marriages
/ contracted in Germany are any more thai
3 eight times as many as contracted Ii
z Ireland. although the German born popu
/ liation is only s. per cent larger than tn,
Irish.
9 Children were reported in S9.s per cen
OF the total number of divorced cases
3 The proportion is much larger for divorces
granted to the wife than for divorces
\ granted to the husband; children bein,
present in 1873 per cent of the former elias,
Y OF divorces and 26 per cent OF the latter
: A reason suggested for this is that tn,
children are usually assigned by the cour
3 to the mother, and to her, therefore
divorce does not imply separation from he
children, while to the husband it involve
= a severance fothe parental as we'll as tn,
: marital relation.
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