Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-15
Little Talks by
Bedtr rice FdUfdT

y Bulletin of the Federal Census
Department reveals the fact that
more than 10 per cent of the marri-
ages in this country end in divorce.
And that the number and proportion
OF divorces have been steadily in
creasing for the past 80 years.
Since 1906 the number of divorces
has increased in every state of the
Union except Colorado, Maine, South
Dakota and West Virginia. These
states are sufficiently far apart, geo
graphically speaking to eliminate the
question of climate, food and laws as
actors in the conservation of family
life.
The only conclusion one might
draw from these four banner states,
domestically speaking. is that each
has a large agricultural population,
and that people who live on farms are
toe busy to squabble. But as the ar
gument fails in regard to other states
with equally large farming commun-
| tiles, we are driven to believe that
these four happy valleys are entirely
a matter of chance.
Divorces pegan to increase in the
United States rapidly after the Civil
War. From the year 1867 to 1876
they climbed to 1922 per year; in
1916 the official figure showed 112,026
DEGREES. In the ten years preceding
the last Federal Census the popula-
tion of the country increased 20.7 per
i cent and the divorces increased 6S.4
| per cent.
| The detailed statistics of 10S,7O2
| DEGREES granted in 1916 indicate
that 31.1 per cent were granted to
| the husband and 74.S per cent to the
wife. Desertion and non-support
which fha If
| breaking the marriage tie. leads the
department officials to suggest that
1t is due to this fact that the hus-
bands appear as the chief sinners.
The question of infidelity and the
| divorces granted for this cause af-
ford food for thought. More men
We're granted divorces for unfaith-
fulness on the part of their wives
than vice versa. OF the 12,436 de-
crees granted for this cause, 6,S59
were for infidelity on the part OF
the wife and 1886 on the part OF
| the husband.
| One may be pardoned for specu-
lating on prevailing fashions and
| the part their provocative audacity
may have played in the securing OF
these $3.50 DEGREES.
| Impropriety in dressing, on the
part of the women, reached its
! zenith during the Napoleonic wars
and present day styles are not far
| be ehind--may the League of Nations
| grant our eyes a longed-for respite
from the eternal feminine" chroni.
callyl on view.
| Desertion is the most fruitful
source of divorce in the United
| States. being the cause u about
| opethird of all are decreeE This
| charge may mean incompatibilit.t q
shiftlessness. non-support and a
| whole category of human failings
The irresponsible partner has a way
of side-stepping his matrimonial
| blunder. He prefers to fade away
rother than to stand and face the
music; this CRADLES the survivor to
sue on a charge of desertion.
i Many people are under the i'm
preston that alimony is peculiarly
/ a perquisite of the wife-a glance
at the State of Wisconsin disproves
this fallacy. In 1916, 25.1 per cent
OF the Wisconsin DEGREES gave the
husband a preferred position as to
alimony.
! The significant fact is that divorce
! is on the increase in the United
! States. One marriage out of every