Evening star., 1933-01-16
Keeps Tab ON Cupid

- TX DAYS a week Miss Alice v
Hagan sits at q desk in the Cen.
sus Bureau and keeps track ol
~ marriages and divorces. She has
been doing this seven years, and
probably knows more about the tricks
In the game called love than any other
person In the country.
| Her correspondents are court clerks
and. each divorce card filed with her
| by them is identified only by a num-
Der. At the bottom of the card is one
line reserved for the clerk to state the
| real reason for the divorce granted, and
from this line Miss Hagan gets the
low down"
"She left him to become a movie
queen" was one notation received yes
terday. He threw a mirror at her.
was another. TOO much mother-in-
law" is said to be common complaint.
as well as hitting the bottle" and
running around"
But. Miss Hsgan's chief duties are to
watch the trend of marriages and di-
vorces. When the number of marriages
increase in certain county, she
writes to the court clerk for the rea-
son. Mainly the cause is attributed
to squirt of prosperity in the locality.
Cupid in Oil Field.
When a new oil field Is opened in
Oklahoma, Miss HsEan said, marriage
records increase overnight. A year
riages. Cupid, she said, also follows
the railroad gangs, the telegraph
crews, the bridge workers and the small
army of men who migrate to dam
projects and wheat fields.
The marriage record of a certain
Texas county recently showed a fair
increase Miss Hagan said she sent q
QUESTIONABLE to the county court clerk
as to the cause. He replied
Marriage increases due to fellow
on radio singing Potatoes Are Cheaper.
Now's the Time to Fall in Love-"
She said she was watching the d.
vorce trend in this particular county
with interest.
During the days when divorce cases
in the District were tried before only
one Supreme Court jurist, there was
a 100 per cent reduction in divorces
granted. Miss Hagan made an inquiry
and ascertained that for of the 12-
mouth period a patent suit trial had
completely blocked divorce proceedings
Since the appointment of additional
jurists, divorce records In the District
Supreme Court have increased.
From close study of the records, which
date back to 1887, Miss Hagan says
the Nationwide marriage rate responds
quickly to changes In economic con-
ditions, increasing in periods of pros
perity and decreasing during hard
times" She added:
"The slight drop in the marriage rate
in 1898 and the striking decline in 1894
undoubtedly reflect the influence of the
financial panic of 1898; the reduced
rate in 1904 probably reflects the re-
currence of financial depression dur
ing the first part of that year. and the
sharp decline IN the rate in 1908 doubt
less reflects the influence of the then
prevailing depression.
In Other Depressions.
Likewise, the decline in the marriage
rate IN 1921 and 1922 may be attrib-
uted in part to the commercial depres-
sion of 1921, and the decline since 1924
in part to the depression existing in
certain industries during the period
covered by the reports.
ITO some extent, however, the de-
clines in the marriage rate In recent
years have been but the natural re-
greSsion from the abnormal conditions
growing out of the World War, and
have been tempered somewhat by the
change in the economical status Of
women"
In 1881 the laws of 10 States pro-