Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-12-30
WE HOLD DIVORCE RECORD.
One Marriage In Every Dozen Ends
In ScparatiOn--DcScrti is Cause.
A WASHING gtOn djSnotcb On,

A Washington dispatch says: ..
Inc divorce rate appear, to be
much higher in the United States
than in any Of the foreign countries
for which statistics relating to the
subject have been obtained, not less
than one marriage in twelve in this
country ultimately terminating in
divorce. This fact has been ascer-
tanned by the census, which has Just
completed compilation OF statistics
OF marriage and divorce covering the
twenty years from 1887 to 1906, in
elusive. Similar statistics for the
previous twenty years were gathered
some years ago.
The figures show that at the end
Of the forty-year period divorces
were increasing about three times as
fast as the population. The divorce
rate increased per 100000 Of popu-
lation from 20 in 1870 to 50 in 1905,
there being one divorce for every
3,44f persons in the former year.
while in the latter there was one for
every 1,21S persons.
During the twenty years from 1887
to 1906 the total number Of record
ed marriages was 12,S32, ,044, while
the number % divorces granted dur
ing this period was 1925. For the
previous twenty years the number Of
divorces was 32S,716. At the begin
ming Of the forty-year period divorces
occurred at the rate Of 10000 a
year. while at the end Of the period
the annual number was about Co.
900.
a more significant divorce rate is
that which is based, not on total pop
ulation, but on the total married pop
ulation, since 1t is only married peo-
pie who can become divorced. These
statistics show that in 1870 the di-
vorce rate per 100000 married pop
ulation was 81. while in 1900 it was
200. This shows that divorce is at
present two and a half times as COM
mon, compared with the married pop
ulation, as it was forty years ago.
Only two States in the Union, ac-
cording to the statistics, show de-
crease in the divorce rate between the
years 1880 and 1900. These are
Utah and Connecticut. In the for
mer the rate dropped per 100000 OF
population from ia in 1880 to 90
per 100000 population in 1906,
while in the first decade of the pc
riod they increased only about two
and two-thirds as fast. In the six
years from 1900 to 1906, population
increased 10 per cent and divorces
29.3 per cent. Divorce rate in Con-
nccticut dropped in 1900 from CT to
30 per cent.
Six cases were discovered in Utah
in which the husband obtained a di-
vorce from his wife on the ground
of neglect to providc.'
Two-thirds of the total number of
divorces granted in the twenty years
covered by the investigation were
granted to the Wife Descrtion is
shown to be the most common cause
or divorce, 3S.9 per cent of the total
being for this cause, almost half Of
the cases in which the divorce was
granted TO the husband being for this
cause, while about one-third of these
granted to the wife for the same
cause
OF divorces granted to husbands
2S.S per cent were for adultery,
while only 10 per cent of those grant
cd to wives were for this cause.
More than one-fourth Of the divorces
to wives were for cruelty, and about
10 per cent Of those to husbands.
Drunkenness was the grOnud for
divorce in about five per cent OF the
cases in which the wife brought suit,
and in about one per cent OF those
IL which the husband brought slit
Only fifteen per cent of the divorces
were returned as contested. A!imony
was demanded in IS per cent OF the
divorces granted to the wt'h and
granted 90 32.7 per cent. Ire pro-
portion Of husbands who asked iC.r
alimOny was 2.S per cent and 2 per
cent obtained it.
The average duration Of marriages
terminated by divorce is about ten
years, 60 per cent of them being less
than ten years. The number of
years from marriage to separation
was ascertained in the cases Of T.
770,929 divorced couples. OF these
9S,46O, or 1878 per cent, separated
in the first year Of married life, and
4.2 per cent in the second year. The
surprising fact was revealed that 8.
per cent Of the total number sepa-
rated and became divorced after
more than twenty-five years Of mar
ried life.