Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-01-31

! and interesting distinction has beef
conferred upon the Capital of the
United Stat IS by the last census. IL
| has been found that there is a larger
| proportion Of unmarried women In
the District Of Columbia than In anV
of lie states and d much larger pro-
| portion than in most of the states.
More than half of the females In
the District of Columbia over ID
years of ag,-53 per cent to be exact
are unmarried. The state of Mas
sachusett d, cones itext in percentage
of femal single blessedness with
46.S per cent. The percentage OIL
married women rises as you go west.
| until in Wyoming 70.5 per cent of
| all the women wnc nave passed 10
years have husbands.
There has been a great deal writ
ten of late years about the tendency
of women not to marry. Some con-
tend hat they den t marry ecaus
they CAM and others assert that
| they don't marry because they prefer
to stay singie Wel.-here is a chance
for son1S social investigator to study
| the single woman in her favorite
| Am srican haunt. Incidentally. the
women here come from all parts OF
the United States. and are or an
| classes, types, and ages 1t would pc
a most interesting enterprise to stuay
| them. Before outlining its POSSIBLE
| tiles, let Us see WHAT the STATISTICS
| show about marriage in general.
1t shows that the proportion or
| married people in the total popula-
ton has inci easel slightly but stead
| ily since 1890. This. according 10
the bureau itself, is more an illustra-
ton of tn unreliab.!ity OF STATISTICS
than of anything else They say this
apparent gain is due to the fact thai
the proportion of people over 10 ana
under 25 years of g in the total
population has decreased ABOUT b per
cent. Leave 1t to the statfstlcians
what this has to do with the mat
ter. The imr licatlon is that the pro-
portion of people who marry remaihs
about the same. The proportion OF
those VIII, have beer divorced and
have not remarked shows a small
but stead, gain. In the agricultur-
al West, the proportion of married
people is generally larger than IN
the :ndustrial East. The larger pro-
portion OF married women in some
OF the western states Is due to the
fact flat there arc more men out
there IN proportion 70 the women
but in some of the eastern states
there is a smaller proportion OF
married men as we'll as of married
women. ] a word 1t seems true tnat
in INDUSTRIAL centers where JOBS are
to be had. people are less likely 10
marry than in agricultural regions.
In this connection il should be re-
membered that / I the East are great
numbers of Immigrants who arrive
married. some bringing their wives
and some leaving them behind.
study of ths native stock alone would
in al, probability show a larger per-
centage of. unmarried persons In n
| Industrial regions as compared Win
the agricultural.
Why They Refrain
What is the reason for this falling
off cf marriage in the industrial CEN
ters? DOUBTLESS one reason is found
in the circumstances of the man.
II il far easier to support a wire on
a farm than in a city. A farmer ut
orally muse have d wife, and she IS
often one % the Understanding
and most usefu domestic animals
on the place.N Thu city man can get
along a geo deal better without a
wife. He can get his meals at cafes,
he IAN find people 10 darn his SOCKS
and do hi laundry work and clean
mn his rooY.. Also he can find fe-
minnie con.panionship outside OF
marriage d coed deal more easily In
a large city than i'll n rural com
munity. Ecnce thereby man tends
to pass IN marriage more often than
the country dweller. -
But the refusal is not all on the
mans side. If the country man
needs a wife the country woman has
literally no occupation open to lher
except marriage. The city woman
can get a job. The question is wheth-
err she really, in any considerable
number Of rases. takes the job from
choice, or noes she generally do SO
| from necessity.
Tnere is evidently a small bu
, genuine revolt against matrimony
in The large cities of the country,
The actual proportion of married
persons M declined little if any sc
, far, but this as pointed out above,
1 is partly due TO the always-married
immigrants pouring into those cities
where the refussi of marriage is
: moss common, an6'so off-setting it as
far as figures show. Then. too, di.
voree Is on che increase. In a word,
more re5pio stay cut of marriage