Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-03-17
ONE DIVORCE COMES
IN nine Marriages
Government Statistics Show That
Divorces Increase More RAPID.
II Than Marriages
.DEsERTIoN BIG CAUSE

About one marriage In every nine
lis terminated by divorce. The number
81 marriages Id proportion 70 the pop
tnlation has increased since 1890. but
the divorce rate has Increased much
more rapidly The returns for 1915
show l.o5O marriages and IL divorces
per 100000 population These are
some Of the more striking features Of
report on marriage and divorce. coy-
lering the calendar year 1916, which n
soon ID Be issued by Director SAM Il.
] Rogers Of the bureau of the Census.
Department of Commerce. This re-
port was complied under the super
vision of Mr.. William G. Hunt, Chief
lstatiatician for Population,
According to the returns, which coY-
cred 1855 counties out of Il total Of
I2.9so. no data being available for the
l95 missing counties The number or d.
yorces granted In 1916 was 1i2OS6, or
liz per 100000 Of population, az
against 81 IN 1906, 73 In 1900 and IS
lin 1890.
Excluding South Carolina, In which
State all laws permitting divorce were
repealed In 1878, the lowest three di-
voree rates iii 1915 are shown for the
4 District of Columbia, North Carolina.
land New York i3. 81. and 81 per 1907
900 population. respectively while the
highest three rates are those for Ne-
yada. Montana and Oregon 6O7, 323
#and 255. respectively The divorce
rates were higher ii 1915 than In 1905
for all the states except eight Maine.
West Virginia, South Carolina (in
which there were no divorces In eith-
Ter year,. Alabama, Mississippi, North
] Dakota. South Dakota, and Colorado
land the District of Columbia. In 3l.l
/ per cent or the cares the divorce WAS
Il granted to the husband and In $50
per cent To the wife. The latter per-
centage compares with 67.6 for 1905
land 66.4 for 1895.
Causes OF Divorce.
Tie principal causes for divorce and
1.-THE percentages contributed by them
10 the total were: Desertlpn. 38.8 per
3cent; cruelty, 2S.3 per cent inildelity,
Ills per cent; neglect to provide. Ain
per cent; drunkenness, s.4 per cent
combinations Of preceding causes, S.e
Iper cent all other causes, Ga per
cent. Desertion was reported az the
cause Of SO per cent of the divorces
granted TO the husband and S0.s per
cent OF those granted to the wife.
Children.
IN only s77 per cent of the divorce
cases were children reported IN b2.l
per cent no children were reported;
and in lO.2 per cent the records con-
4 tained no data as TO children. Chill
dren wre reported ID 278 per cent OF
1.-THE cases In which divorces were
Il granted To husbands, no children In
587 per cent of the cases and in the
remaining 1875 per cent the records
contained no data AZ 70 chliaren. The
corresponding percentagestbased upon
4 divorces granted to wives were 42.2
4 per cent, 49.2 per cent and sc per
cent, respectively
Marriages.
rho report shows, for 1874 out ot
1880 counties no information being
available in the case OF the IO6 missing
counties l.O40.77S marriages IS hay-
ling been solemnized during the year
1916. This number represents rate
of los per 10000 population. compared
with 102 FOR 1905, sS for 1900. and III
for 1890 The marriage rate, there-
fore. Is Increasing, although not 50
rapidIy as the divorce rate.
The marriage rate I05 per 10000
population, or 1850 per 100,000-was
"a little more than times aa great as
the divorce rate. lie per 100000: and
tit may be said, therefore, that II the
1916 rate we're to continue unchanged
about marriage iii 3 would be terni-
mated by divorce.
The marriage rates for the various
states show considerable differences,
ranging from SIS per 10000 In Oregon
Ito I7g in MontaAa. The highest three
rates I76, $50 and I'D appear for
Montana. Maryland and Florida. re-
spectiveIy: and the lowest TIRES Al,
Sc and IT, are those Tor Oregon.
North Dakota and Wisconsin, FesDec-
Itivsly.
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