The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-05-06
CIVILIZATION is DOOM
OF EARLY MARRIAGES
Four Reasons Advanced By Ex-
pert Telling Why Weddings
Late In Life Are Increasing.
Marguerite Mooers Marshall, in the New
York Evening World.

Marguerite Mooers Marshall, in the New
York Evening World.
The early marriage is doomed l
gee no hope for 1t. Every force, I'M
pulse and tendency of modern civiliza-
ton Is against it. Instead of helping
young people to marry, society puts IN
their way all the obstacles 1T can de-
wise. Our whole attitude toward mar
riage n p~arenthood is antt-soclal;
anti-moral-in fact, there is no Woru
strong enough fifty to characterize 1T,
That is how DR.. Scott Nearing OF
the University Of Pennsylvania and one
of the leading authorities on social and
economic questions in the United
States replies to what is charged py
Prof. Roswell H. johnson Of the Uni
versity Of Pittsburgh, that the health
and Intellectual standing Of America
are being menaced by late marriages.
Encouraging late marriages In the
false hope Of getting more intelligent
offspring will hasten a danger toward
which this country is already drifting
ut an alarming rate" said Professor
Johnson. Then he offered up the
usual scapegoat: "The failure Of COL
lege women to marry n have children
Is killing off some Of our best racial
stock" he solemnly averred.
Doctor Nearing an Authority.
If anyone in America is competent
W dlldiyLS SHo plODlGlJ q Jul pIOS1 .
tinated marriages that person Is DR..
Nearing. Before he was 80 he had to
his credit half a dozen volumes. each
Of them a valuable contribution to the
serious social thought of the day. In
At least two. Woman and Social Prog
cess" and THE Super-Race." he gives
admirable expression to the new ideals
Of marriage and p~arenthood. When
talked with him in his home he didn't
merely denounce the steady tendency
to put off the wedding day-he ex-
planned it.
There are at least four causes for
she decrease in early marriages" he
said. First. we have the unwilling
ness of the thoughtful. educated woman
to marry unless she can find an Al
man. He is a scarce article. Then,
there Is the modern young mans re-
luctance to marry a woman who is
merely a parasite, a sponge who will
not cooperate actively with him in the
marriage relationship. Thirdly. there
ss the abominable economic situation.
IN which the ruling wage is that needed
by the single worker rather than by
The married one. And, f%ourthly, there
rs the feeling shared by no inconsid-
cradle proportion Of young men and
women that marriage is a trap, q
prison, from which, once entered. es-
after a severe struggle"
Doesn't Blanc College Girls.
Tn glad you don't put all the blame
On the college woman l remarked. ]
aad felt sure he wouldn't, for his wife
Is a graduate Of Bryn Mawr with a
masters degree from Pennsylvania
Also he has taught for several years in
d coeducational University.
He mentioned that last fact and add
ed, conclusively: TT isn't that col
lege girls don't want to marry. 1t is
that they don't want to marry unit.
they find the right man. They nave q
high standard and the number Of mer
who measure up to it Is not large. Out
of all the classes graduated from Bryr
Mawr there are only three in which
more than half the members have mar
ried.
Marriage with the college woman is
not so much a question of chance as
of choice. She isn't obliged to put VI
WITH the first sutton that comes along
and she won't do it. She makes as the
determining test: Is this the man
want for the ath of my children?
And she's quite right to set it up
IF a girl Of % can find a man of 2;
who has physical health, ability ant
compatibility, such an early marriage
is ideal. Blu she had better wait fol
this man till she is 80 or 35, she hac
better wait for him forever, rather thar
make an early marriage with a rotter
She had better drown herself han dc
that.
Meet High Standards.
TT Is most hopeful for the future OF
the race that our educated women are
setting up such standards, because i
means that men must eventually NEE
them" added Doctor Nearing. But j
is one reason for the late marriage. Oh
even for no marriage at all.
ION the other hand, the Young mar
Of today shrinks from the burden o.
the parasite wife. The wife no longel
contributes to the family income b!
creating values. With the increased
standard Of elaborate dressing, she i:
often it's chief burden.
The woman Of today is in the thirc
stage. First she was the slave, thu
beast of burden, a creature that nigh
be beaten to enforce obedience to hel
lord and master. Second came a stage
Of cooperative labor, with the cook
stove and the loom. Woman Wis ther
Of economic value. Now she is too
often an economic liability, a parasite
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