The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-03-17
DIVORCE STATUTE
PROVES EFFECTIVE
DURING FIRST YEAR
Decreases Number of Actions
Purity Laws Have Also
Lessened Crime.

report of the state registrar on vita
statistics for the calendar year 1909 1.
now ready for the printer and reveals
a good deal Of interesting matter
There were 12,409 children BORN dur.
ing the year.
Tie most instructive figures relating
to births pertain to illegitimacy. A
fair state OF morals is shown, and q
growing improvement in this regard
from former years. There were IA lille
gitimate children porn. Of which SO
were males and Al females. This quite
reverses the sex figures of previous
years and generally 1t mas been con-
sidered a significant fac that there is
a large preponderance of illegitimate
males. In one-half of the cases are the
names and ages of fathers Of these un-
fortunate children reported, but those
reported average younger this year
than formerly. The average age of the
fathers reported is 20 years, and they
range from Is to SO. the largest num-
Der reported being FL years Of age. The
age of all but three mothers are re-
ported and they average 20 years, the
range being from 10 to 81, but Of the
II reported A were under 20 years Of
age.
Danger Age for Girls.
In 1907 the law was passed raising
the age of consent from 16 to IS years
and it's good effect is already seen in
the statistics Of illegitimacy. but the
same argument which justified raising
the g of Is applies with greater force
In favor OF advancing it to 20, with
reasonable exception in case OF mar
riage. All statistics indicate that the
period from Is to 20 is the danger point
In the lives of girls. At that time they
are out from under parental restraint
to a greater extent than when young
er, their passions are more developed
n If at any time they require the
protection OF the law it Is at this time.
There were 4,511 deaths, showing
that more than 80 per cent of the
deaths as indicated by the last census
are being reported; 295 OF which oc-
cured from t%ubercular affections, 27S
OF which were pulmonary. Only II
more tuberculous deaths are reported
this year than last, indicating that the
white plague is not much increasing in
Its ravages here.
Prevalent Diseases.
BY far the most fatal ailment here
Is pneumonia, which claimed $50 VIC,
Tins, or more h 10 per cent of all
the deaths. II begins Its ravages with
early winter. increasing with each
months returns. till 1t reaches its
maximum in March, when 1t begins to
taper off, and h midsummer months
are quite free from 1t. The four and
a half years Of registration has shown
the same condition in each year. En-
terftis comes next in fatality and nat
urally 1t completely reverses the
monthly record Of pneumonia, being
scarcely present in the winter and
reaching its greatest fatality in the late
summer.
Forty-six suicides were reported, poi
son being the favorite method of the
taking off. Eleven murders are listed.
The total number of deaths for the year
are 166 greater than for the previous
year. These figures do not include the
Indian population, which is reported
separately.
There were 4,917 marriages in 1909
against 4,413 in 1903. The reports of
marriages. divorces n naturalizations
are absolute, being Transcribed d.
rectly from the clerks of courts rec
ords.
Nineteen hundred and nine was the
first year under the new divorce law,
intended to destroy the immigrant di-
vorce business, and it appears to have
been in a degree effective. There were
496 divorces granted against 665 in
1908; in 1909 POI defendants lived in
other states; in 1908 426 were residents
of other regions. A goodly number of
the DEGREES granted the past year were
in cases begun under the old law.