The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-31
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKN, Director.
Washington, d. Q.
THE CITY or SINGIE WOMEN.

proportion of unmarried women IN
the District of Columbia than in any
of the states, and much larger pro-
portion than in most of the states.
More than half of the females in
/ the District of Columbia over IS years
| of age-6S- per cent to be exact-are
unmarried. TIE state of Massachu-
| sets comes next in percentage OF fe-
male single blessedness with ass per
cent. The percentage of married wo-
men rises as you go west, until in
| Wyoming 70.5 per cent of all the wo-
men who have passed Is have nus
| bands.
There has been great deal writ
ten of late years about the tendency
| of women not to marry. Some con-
| tend that they don't marry because
they can't, and others assert that. they
! don't marry because they prefer to
! stay single. Well, here is a chance
for some social investigator to study
| the single women in her favorite
American haunt incidentally, the
| women here come from all parts of
the United States, and are of all
| classes, types. and ages. 1t would be
(; a most interesting enterprise to study
! them. Before outlining its possibili-
ties, let us see what the statistics show
about marriage in general
It shows that the proportion of mar
ried people in the total population has
/ increased slightly but steadily since
1880. This, according to the bureau
itself, is more an illustration of the
unreliab iIity of statistics than of any
thing else. They say this apparent
gain is due to the fact that the pro-
portion of people over / 5 and under
% years of age in the total population
has decreased about per cent. Leave
it to the S.afisticianS what this has to
do with the matter. The implication
is that the proportion of people who
marry remains about the same. The
! proportion of those who have been
divorced and have not remarked
shows a small but steady gain. In the
agricultural West, the proportion of
married people is generally larger than
in the industrial East. The larger
proportion of married women in some
of the western states is due to the fact
that there are more men out there in
proportion to the women, but in some
of the eastern states there is a smaller
proportion of married men as well as
of married women. In a word, it
\ seems true that in industrial centers
where jobs are to be had, people are
less likely to marry than in agricul-
tural regions. In this connection it
should be remembered that in the East
are great numbers of immigrants who
arrive married, some bringing wives
and some leaving them behind. A
study of the native stock alone would
in all proba bility show a larger per-
centage of unmarried persons in the
industrial regions as compared with
the agricultural.
Why They Refrain.
What is the reason for this falling
off of marriage in the industrial CEN
ters? Doubtless one reason is found
in the circumstances of the man 1t
is far easier to support a. wife on a
farm than in a city. A farmer liter
ally must have a wife, and she is often
one of the Understanding and most
useful domestics animals on the place:
The city man can get along a good
deal better without a wife. He can
get his meals at cafes, he can find peo-
pie to darn his socks and do his laun-
dry work and clean up his room. Also
he can find feminine companionship
outside of marriage a. good deal more
easily in a large city than in a rural
community. Hence the city man tends
to pass up 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 literal
~ no occupation open to her except
marriage. The city woman can get a
job. The question is whether she real
ly, in any considerable number of
cases, takes the job from choice, or
does she generally do SO from neces-
sity.
There is evidently small but gen
uine revolt against matrimony in the
larger cities Of the country. The ac-
tual proportion of married persons has
declined little if any so far, but this,
as pointed out above, is partly due to
the alWays-married immigrants pour
ing into those cities where the refusal
of marriage is most common, and so
off-setting it as far as figures show.
Then, too, divorce is on the increase.
In a word, more people stay out of
marriage and more people get out
than formerly. The interesting ques-
ton is whether this revolt is chiefly
feminine or chiefly masculine. Is it
due chiefly to an increase of women
who prefer to be free or to an in
crease of men who 20 not care to sup
port a wife?
The Washington Spinster.
The case. of Washington. the city
of single women, would seem to be
an argument for the view that the
women. are in revolt against marriage.
1t is certain that women come to
Washington from all parts of the
country for the purpose of getting
jobs. 1t is also certain that Wash
ington is known to women in all parts
of the country as a place where hus-
handwriting is exceedingly pour. This
is due in part to the large relative
proportion of women in the popula-
ton, and also in part to the fact that
the types of men who make good hus-
bands are not found here. The ideal
husband is the prosperous business
man. There is very little business in
Washington. The Iiace is populated
by government clerks, politicians and
newspa permen, who are three of the
most impecunious types on earth. In
fact, person2ble men are so Few in
Washington that any man with a clean
face and q dress suit can get into So
ciety as far as he is willing to go
There is a whole tribe here known as
cake-eaters who subsist largely by go
ing out to tea. lunch and dinner. These
young gentlemen have established the
curious but useful custom of letting
the ladies pay the checks at cafes ana
other such places where, a tariff is
charged for the entertainment
The point is that women certainly
do not come here for the purpose of
finding husbands Most of them know
in advance that game of that kind is
exceedingly scarce and wary and
rather lean when caught, and. those
who do not knnw it in advance find