The Cairo bulletin., 1910-12-28
DIVORCES N j. S.
MORE SEPARATIONS THAN IN
ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY
ON EARTH. -
Missouri Leads With Ratio ct One
Divorce to Eight Marriages
Kansas City Has One
to Four.

st. Louis, Dec. 27.-One divorce to
every four marriages is the yearly rec
ord in Kansas City, Mo. In the entire
state of Missouri there is each yea:
one divorce to every e:gl; marriages
The divorce problem is as serious IN
the country districts as in the cities
OF the state. Statistics bearing upon
the question Of divorce which Dc
Charles A. Ellwood, professor OF SO
GEOLOGY in the University of Missouri.
las collected are of great significance.
His comments upon the statistics are
important and striking.
sFor long time" said DR.. Ellwood
"the United Safes has fed the world
IN the number of its divorces. Already
In 1885 this country had more di-
rorces than all the res; of the Chris
tian civilized world put together.
Twenty years later the United States
had more than kept its lead over the
rest Of the world in the matter Of dis
solving family ties.
THE latest statistics show the
United States has annually $4,000 d.
yorces. while the rest of the Christian
civilized world has Tess than 10000.
Moreover, the divorce rates of the diff
ferent countries tell sthe same story.
In France there is only one divorce
to every thirty marriages, In Ger
many one to every rorty-for mar
riages, In England but one to every
400 marriages. Even in switzerland
which has the highest divorce rate of
any country in Europe-there is only
one divorce in every twenty-five mar
riages. In the United States there is
and In Missouri and Kansas one d.
and In Mieeouri and Kansas one d.
vorce to every eight marriages. Kan
sas City, Mo. has the unenviahle rec
ord of one divorce to every four mar
Tiages."
Catholic Divorces Rare.
while we have no statistics from
this country telling us exactly what
the distribution Of divorces is among
the various religious denominations,
still we know that because the Roman
Catholic church is strongly against
divorce, divorces are very rare IN
that denomination. In Switzerland,
where the number of divorces among
protestants and Catholics has been
noted, it is found that divorces are
four times as common among Protest
ants as among Catholics. Some OBJ
sewers in this country have claimed
that divorces are most common
among those of no religious profess
sion, next most common among Pro
testants, next among Jews, and least
common among Roman Catholics.
From this we might expect, as our
statistics indicate, that the divorce
'ate is much higher among the native
whites in this country than 1t is
among the foreign bora, for many OF
he foreign born are Roman Catholics
and, in any case. they come from
countries where divorce is less corr
non than in the United State.
For the last forty years, to-thirds
oi all divorces have been granted on
demand OF the wife. This may indi
cate, on the one hand, that the in
.rease of divorces Is movement con-
1ected with the emancipation of WON.
an, and on the other hand 1t may in.
dictate that 1t is the husband who
usually gives the ground for divorce
Three Centers In america.
The census statistics show three
yreat centers Of divorce in the United
States. One is the New Englanl
States, one the states of the Central
West, and one the Rocky Mountain
md Pacific Coast States. These three
ienters are also typical centers Of
american institutions and ideas. Tnel
of the New England
he Central West anc the Rocky
Mountain and Pacific Coast regions
,as always been marked in compari-
,on with some other sections Of the
country. But during tile last twenty
0ears divorce has also been increaS-
ns rapidly in the Southern states,
md we now find such states as Texas,
Arkansas and Oklahoma well up to
ward the front among the states with
, high divorce rate