The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-05-07
THE RISING TIDE OF DIVORCE.

that 1891 divorces had been granted
in the United States between 1867
and 1885, and that divorces were IN
creasing two and one-half times as
fast as population. The recent census
for 1S87-1906 brings to light 945,625
divorces, and demonstrates that the
movement constantly gains in We
locity. At present probably one mar
riage In ten Is broken and in some
states the proportion may be as high
4 as one in four. Forty years ago the
broad contrast was between north and
south; but the divorce rates of north
and south have been converging
whereas those of east and west have
diverged. The, central states have
two and one>half times the rate of the
Atlantic states, while for the western
states the proportion is three and one
nalf Although the tide of divorce is
rising the world over, nowhere Is IL
so high, nowhere is 1t rising so fast
as in the United States. Our rate is
twice that of Switzerland, thrice that
OF France. and five times that of Ger
many.
Professor Edward Alsworth Ross.
who has made careful study Of the
census figures, finds that they dis.
sipate many false impressions. 1t is
often assumed that many couples
separate precipitately before they
have given marriage fair trial: but
the average interval before separation
exceeds six and one-half years, and is
not diminishing. Since more than
haf the couples lived together above
four years, while In the majority OF
cases the duration OF marriage ex-
ceeded seven years, Professor Ross
argues that it would be rash to snr.
mise that people are forming risky
and unstable unions in full view of
their easy dissolution. Nor is divorce
usually sought in order to remarry.
In Connecticut, during a period of
years, the number Of divorced per-
sons married was about forty per. cent
OF the number divorced in the same
tme. In Rhode Island, from 1889 to
1895, the proportion was only twenty
eight per cent. Remarriage is one of
those cases in which, as Doctor John
son put 1t, hope triumphs over ex-
perience," and it is not at all certain
that the rate for divorced persons
much exceeds that for widows and
widowers Of the same age. Professor
Ross concludes that the restrictions
that many states are imposing on re-
marriage do not seem to affect appre-
ciably the divorce rate.
The same authority holds that it is
7~roneous to suppose that the explain
IN and cure of the drift toward
aIyorce is to be found in legislation.
Twenty years ago Professor Wilcox,
on the basis of the most rigid investi.
cations, declared: 1.-THE immediate
direct and measurable influence Of leg
islation is subsidiary, unimportant
almost imperceptfble." DR.. Dixie, the
secretary of the National League for
the Protection of the Family, said
THE direct influence OF lax laws in
producing the great increase of di
vorce in the last forty years Is rela
lively small" Moreover, the tend
ency OF legislation for the last twenty
years has been decidedly in the direc
ton of greater stringency. Professor
Ross goes on to say in thoughtful
article on 1.-THE Significance of In
creasing Divorce" in the Century Mag
azine for May:
THE failing grip Of the legal insii
tuition need not entail correspond
i ing abandonment of the hallowed idea
of marriage as lifelong union. If tn,
iron clamp be loosed, 1t does not fol
low that the silken cord is weaker
! Although in thirty-eight years tn
resort to divorce has become tire
times as frequent, there is Iii
tie to show that couples are takin
the vows of wedlock with any othe
desire or expectation than union til
death. Nor can we conclude tina
wronged spouses are less faithful tina
formerly to this ideal. The loveles
couples of the good old times appea
to have been held together by publ
opinion, religious ordinance, ignoranc
of remedy, the expense of divorc
or the wife's economic helplessnes.
rather than by a heroic fidelity to a
ideal.
"In nineteen cases out of twenty tn
marriage purports to be shattered
some fragrant wrong, such as adulter.
cruelty, drunkenness, desertion, in
prisonment for crime or neglect t
provide. Nevertheless, the growth {
, divorce cannot be taken as a SUI
sign of increasing depravity on tn
part of husbands or wives. Often tn
cause that figures in the record is
screen for some deep-seated irritan
Physicians declare that many mariti
troubles have their roots in the pat
ology of sex, and do not argue NOR;
: fault on the part of either spouse
; necessarily the factory plans
e away the economic basis Of the fat
lily. In the time of our grandmother
the home was the seat of a score I
productive processes, and the ide
wife was the tvirtuous woman eel
: brated by Solomon. She might not
l. 'soulmate' to her husband. but 81
Y was prop to the prosperity of II
s household. Now that the machil
v has captured most of the domest
processes and the middle-class hon
, is sustained by the earnings of Il
II husband the wife. from a helpmat