New Britain herald., 1925-03-13
CHILD MARRIAGE
 REASONS GIVEN
Russell Sage Foundation Dis
 CuSSeS This Problem

New York, March is,-,After in- vostigatins the problem of child marriages, the Russell Sage feunda-
 ton in q report made publicftaday says its study dispels the romantic idea that there Is something idyllic about rRich youthful unions. N-t
 The investigators conclusions are oppcaed ta marriage at too young an age, because ef the physical and mental immatuFity of the contract ing chldren, or because, in the case of girl-ohild married to an older man, neither mny eyer know the meaning Of genuine cemradeship in the marriage relntion,"
 The Foundation recently declared that there are 700,0N0 persons in tho United states who were married m. der l6. The percentage of marriages of girls l5 to 1a years old is lowest in New York city and in New Eng land. On the Pacific coast and in mountainous states it Is twice the New England percentage, and in the central southern states. three times as high, ths report revealed,
 More in Rural Area
 In explanation 1t was said that youthful marriages are most pFeya- lent in remote rural regions whero there are few means of eemmunica- ton and inadequate reePeational and educational facilities. As railroads. automobiles, telephones, the tels, graph and newspapers come to these lonely sections the investigators be- lieve it probable that child mar riaEes will decrease. ..
 if was faurd according ta the re- port that in certain isolated eena- mqnitiss there were not only very eaFly marriages, but SO many inter marriages among the cousins of ens family strain that sene tiHes three fourths of the inhabitants of 2 vil- lase have ths ssms surname,
 Environment Cause
 "0ur studies seen, te reveal" the report continued, that the new sHr virenment of America has had a marked influence upon the ages at which immigrants and their ehil- dren marry, The foreign habit of early marriage does net persist after the first generation, 0nly s.s per cent of the foreign girls of the see- ond Esnsratien were married. ss compared with i4s per cent of the foreign-b born girls. In fact, the fer eign girls of the second generation are actually marrying at g. later age than native girls. The difference is stpiking-1s,s per gent of. native American girls are married between IS and 90. but only ss per cent Of the foreign girls of the second gen eratien are married between thess ages The eenWast cannot be eE- painsd by the fact that native girls live mefs geneFally.in rural districts where youthful marriages are eona- men, fey 3, similar contrast was found in ss of the largest cities of the country"
 Marriage of girls In their early and middle teens psrpetuates the undsmocratic relation of the sexes. the report says. Tn such 8 unien, with the husband usually elder. The becomes the guardian and meater of his wife. The transfer of an i'm mature girl from guardianship in the home of her birth to continued guardianship in the home where had she entered It later-she might i have been one of two equal partners. inevitably eripples her personality | and that of her mate as we'll"
 The investigators studied child ! Tn 90 cities and towns and snslvzed the specific eases of 40 such marriages, They commented in the report that although they had expected more unhappy than happy endings. thsy were, nevertheless, "not prepared fer the very temper ary character of this group of may No figures of diveEcez or following these mar riages, were sivsn, but 1t was stated that more than half the licenses were issued illegally. 1
 Among the motives that seem to cause child marriages the investiga- tors found: The desire to escape from unhappiness in the home: to evads requirements of the cempul" sorry education law! to avoid pun tshment for infractions of other