The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-12-05

ban population and rural az regards
school attendance for children Of this
age, but of those from Is to 20 years,
1874 per cent in rural communities, as
against 80. 4 in urban. were reported as
attending school.
ILLITERACY.
The Census bureau Classics as litter
ate as any person 10 years of age or
over who is unable to write, regardless
of ability to read.
There are 24,5 54 illiterates in the
State, representing Al per cent of the
total population 10 years of age and
over, as compared with 81 per cent in
1900. The percentage of illiteracy is Is.
among foreign whites, 2 among native
whites, and among negroes.
For the foreign-born whites the per-
centage of illiteracy is somewhat higher
in urban communities than in rural, but
for each of the other elements the per-
centage of illiteracy is higher in rural
communities than in urban.
For persons from 10 to 20 years of age,
inclusive whose literacy depends largely
upon present school facilities and school
attendance, the percentage of illiteracy
(0.2) is comparatively low.
MAMMAL SONO11lVNs
In the population Is years of age and
over "a. 6 per cent of the males are single
and 274 per cent of the females. The
percentage married is 57.8 for males and
59.2 for females, and the percentage
widowed ga and 1873 respectively. The
percentage of those reported as divorced,
and 0.9, respectively, are believed to
be too small, because of the probability
that many divorced persons class them
selves as single or widowed.
That the percentage single is smaller
for women than for men is due largely
to the fact that women marry younger.
Thus 9.5 percent of the females Is to 10
years of age are married as compared
with IL per cent of the males, and 46. Z
per cent of the females from 20 to "a
years are married, as compared with %
per cent of the males. In the next age
group, Is to "a years, the difference is
not so great, the percentages being 1873
for females and 62.4 for males, while in
the age group IS to A the difference
practically disappears. That there. is a
larger proportion of widows than of
widowers may indicate that men more
often remarry than women, but since
husbands are generally older than their
wives, the marriage relationship is more
often broken by death of the husband
than by death of the wife.
For the main elements of the popula-
ton the percentages of married persons
among those Is years of age and over
are as follows: Foreign-born whites, 81
for males and 666 for females; native
whites of native parentage, 1914 and
1913; native whites of foreign or mixed
parentage, 1879 and 4s.9; negroes, 44,9
and 1873.
These percentages by no means indi-
cate the relative tendency of the several
classes as regards marriage. To deter
mine that, the comparison should be
made by age periods, since the proper
ton married in any class is determined
largely by the proportion who have
reached the marrying age. Similarly,
the proportion widowed depends largely
on the proportion past middle life. The
percentage married for females is slight
ly higher in rural than in urban commun-
tiles.
DWELLINGS AND FAMILIES.
The total number of dwellings in Maine
is 159, 437, and the total number of fam
lilies 1T, $3.50, there being 111.6 families
to each 100 dwellings. The average num-
Der of persons per dwelling is AT, and
the average number per family, AZ.