Beaver County Democrat. (Beaver, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 18, 1909 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
• r * • -v- .
• -
• *. J** ' i
-\\7 v" -*
•.. '• • w' • ' - - '-.T.
i *"
V
>
V
r
THE STORY THE
DIVORCE COURT
RECORDS TELL
Facts That Indicate Why It Is That
Americans Are Earning Distinction
for Being the Greatest Nation o
Home-Breakers and Home-Makers
in the World.
■■■B^HATIVIR elee
| 4 1 America mey be do-
I \ A W I log, It la not dying.
I 1A/ | Whmrir the ten-
I w w I dency toward mar-
n rlage almoat glvee
promlae of robbing
tha cradle to fill the
cradle, there doea
vitally abound. Nor
aaa red eorpaaelce be aald to be .lack-
ing In the blood of tboee who after
to rid themeelvea of
that they aaaumed at
list to Kanaaa, the fifteenth Inline,
i pfeople
. are tha condltlona that the
i bureau, after a four yeara' in-
reatlgatton, haa found la America.
Daly Hungary Icada the United Statee
In the percentage of marrlagea to
marriageable population. But. on the
other hand, no country even approach-
es .America In lta tendency to buret
Into tha divorce court and amaah the
damaatic relation over the Judge's
teach. Japan waa outdoing us In
ISM, when tha laet Japan aaa ceneua
waa taken, but eince then the mikado,
the elder atateemen. and a few others
have promulgated aome new divorce
lawa that hare aomewhat strangled
the Japan aaa dealre to emulate the
hoaaahold manners of their big nelgh-
bora aaroaa tha Pacific.
Yet the Japanese at their woret
probably never approached Americans
in their tendency toward the divorce
enarta. Before a Japaneae became In
a mood whsre he could, do much
fighting he out the domeatlc ribbons
nnd eat hlmaelf free—for divorce in
hie ooontry waa aaay. But in this
loountry, where, relatively, a divorce
la dlfilcult to obtain, tha report of the
jooaaua bureau not only ahows an
isnarmoaa amount of cruelty and a
great Increaae of cruelty, but It ehows
\ are lncreaalng In cruelty
before h« gets to a state, the _
of which exhibit what might be called
normal matrimonial proclivitlea. Kan-
sas, with a ratio of 858, Is one above
the average for the country.
Turning to what might be called
subnormal communities, the people of
Connecticut, with a ratio of 232, are
really at the bottom of the list. Cali-
fornia Is In laat place In the atatlstics,
but Callfornlane are actually not as
frigid aa they are tabulated. The fire
that followed the great California
earthquake deetroyed ao many rec-
ords that nobody knows exactly what
Is going on In the marriage and di-
vorce circles of the Golden state. But
Connecticut Is preceded. In the order
named, by Delaware, Montana, Masaa-
chusetts, Wyoming, Rhode Island and
Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, though
It contains the "City of Homes," has
a ratio of only 255, while New York
stands only 269. In other words, a
resident of Indian Territory is almost
twice as likely to marry, provided he
has not already done so. as If he lived
la New York.
In South Central 8tatss.
Not only that, the tendency to
marry seems to flourish in certain
groupe of atatee and to wane In cer-
tain other groups. The south central
states lead the llat with a ratio of
436; the aouth Atlantic with 350 come
next, while the north central, the
western, and the north Atlantic
groups follow In the order named.
From all of which It appeare that
while one may go weat for wealth, he
should go south If he Is having diO*
culty In finding a matrimonial mate
where he Is.
Yet, exceeding, aa we do, the mar-
riage ratios of all the world except
Hungary, we are barely holding Our
there was a decline In tha rata, though
an Increase In the number. Doubtless
there was also a decline In 1901,
though the figures have not been com-
piled. The reason for believing there
was a decline last year Is that there
waa a panic In 1907. Pan ice Invari-
ably check the tendency toward in-
creased divorce. When times are
herd people forget their domestic
troubles for a time and occupy their
minds with the problem of bow to get
a living. As soon as times improve
the rate usually bounds upward with
a rapidity that Indicatea that nothing
has been forgotten or forgiven—or
nothing learned. Accumulated griev-
ance! are worked off In the divorce
court, aud the tide sweeps on more
rapidly than before.
Where In the United States would
one naturally expect to find the great-
est tendency toward divorce? In what
state? Not one person In a hundred
could guess right if be were given a
dosen chances.
Waahlngton is the state. Far from
the stress of modern industrial life;
away across the country where the
people, for the most pert, are engaged
In agricultural pursuits—there IIS
couples are annually divorced to every
100,000 of married population. The
rate for the whole country la 200.
New York's Lew Record.
New York's divorce rate, as might
naturally be expected. Is low. New
York stands forty-seventh In the list
of 50 states and terrltorlee. with a
ratio of 60. New Jersey's ratio la tha
In the case of women cruelty beads
tha list with an Increase In 40 years
of 1.609.8 per cent. In the esse of men
cruelty shows nn incresse of 969.1 per
cent. Cruelty, In fsct, holds first place
among Increased causes In both aexea
with a climb of 1.035.3 per cent. But
on the whole, neglect to provide takes
first place as an increased csuse with
s Jump of 1.331.4 per cent, which,
barring the Utah gentlemen, goea an*
tirely to women.
Drunkenness comes second aa an in*
creased cause, with a general Increase
of 6S5J per cent. The drunkenneaa
of husbanda Increased 699.9 per cent.:
the drunkenness of wives 554J per
cent
Desertion ranks third aa an In-
created cause, with an increase of
569.8 per cent, while infidelity haa In-
creased the least of all—only 170.1
per cent.
Here, again, the census figures play
tricks. Infidelity among women la
represented to be Increasing more
rapidly than infidelity among men.
For women an Increase Is shown of
299.8 per cent.; for men 137.1 per
cent
Figures sa to Suicide Sate,
Americans, it would seem, take di-
vorce more eaaily than do some oth-
ers. Over In Europe the fact has been
ascertained that the suicide rata la
abnormally high among thoae who
have been separated from their mataa
by due procesa of law, rather thaa by
death. It la not so* In this country.
■ z*
VV/tmp
\
•k 4
1
?
Average Annual Number of Divorces Per tOOjObO Married Population for
Statee and Tarrltorlaa 1900.
man vapidly than man. Indeed. It la
an aatoundlng fact that the cruelty
of woaaea toward their huabanda
abowed n grantor Increaae during the
99-year period ended In 190S than any
other annaa for dlvoroe, tha gain be-
ing U* par aent
Marriage and Divorce.
the atvangaat feature of
la tha fact that It ahows
. marriage ratio elds-
by ride with an unparalleled divorce
ratio. Out la Indian Territory the
praaaharu must almoat have to fight
thaa eC—the would-be wedded—or go
short of sleep, la matrimony Indian
Territory teada tha world. Bven
Hungary, with lta ratio of 451 mar
rlagaa every year to each 10,000 of
marriageable populatloa. la, made to
look lllto quite a cold and clammy
eossmunlty. Indian Territory's ratio
la MS. Tha ratio of the United Stotea
to only SM.
If Arkansas had held another coun-
ty Cato la 1906 probably It would have
beam Indian Territory nt that Ar-
kanaaa, wtth a ratio of SC4, came just
ana And of tying tha leader.
Tesaa, Florida, Oklahoma, Missis-
sippi, Utah tad Georgia fol-
low M tha order named, and the ratio
af OeorgU la 4SS. Even la Nevada
tha lull—r toward marriage la
greater thaa the average tendency of
tha United Stotea. Nevada'a ratio la
MS. la test aaa haa to go down tha
/WVSV'***'
OMUW1
•nnevova
jrcrjx*•***+
Golden Seal, tha root of tha above
plant, Is a very useful medicine. Many
people gather It In our rleh woodlands
during the summer. Few people know
how valuable It Is In dyspepsia, catarrh,
and as a general tonic.
Many thousand pounds of this root are
used each year la the famona catarrh
remedy, Peruna. This faot explalnawhy
everybody usee Parana for catarrh.
own. Our ratio for the ten-year period
ending in 1905 was 3&7. Our ratio for
the ten-year period ending In 1895
was 356.
But If the tendency toward mar-
riage shows signs of having reached
its maximum, no such indication is
spparent with regard to divorce. In
that field we are bounding along, not
only at prodigious speed, but at a ter-
rifically lncreaalng pace. The man-
ner In which our population increases
is the wonder of the world, but It io
dwarfed by the increase of our ten-
dency to break the homes we have
made. In 1867, there were granted in
this country 9,937 divorces; In 1106.
71,061. Population increased sbout
110 per cent.; divorce Increased more
thaa 700 per cent. Furthermore, the
Increase between 1890 and 1900 waa
greater than that of any other decade
sines 1870. The Increase of divorce
exceeded the Increase of population
more than 300 per cent
Putting It in still another way, In
1870 28 divorces were granted to
every 100,000 of population; In 1900,'
73 divorcee were granted to every
100,000 of population. *
Figures for Divorcee. .
Only once during the Isst 40 ysars
haa the number of divorcee actually
shown a decrease. Thst was in 1884,
when there was s decline of S04 over
the number granted during the pre-
ceding year. In 1S70, 1894 and 190S
same. Connecticut le thirty-ninth,
with a ratio of 130, while la Pennsyl-
vania 100,000 married couples are re-
quired to produce 94 divorcee In a
year- n-,.
Coming down to cauaes, we find
that most men who obtain divorces
assign , as their grlevancs the deser-
tion of their wives, and that moat
women give the. same reason, it Also
appears that women are more likely
to desert than men. Of the divorces
grsnted to men 49.4 per cent were foy
desertion. The divorces granted to
women because of the desertion of
their husbands amounted to 19.f per
cent of the whole number of divorces
that were granted to women.
Cruelty comes second as a cause
and, aa In the preceding cauee, tt ap-
pliea heavily both to men and women.
Of the divorcee granted to men 10.5
per cent, were for the cruelty of their
wlvea. Of the divorcee granted to
women 27.5 per cent were for the
cruelty of their husbanda.
In the case of both men and women
infidelity Is the third cause In relstlve
importance. On the bar* face of. the
census figures It would appear that
women are more likely .to bo untrue
to their husbands than mpn are to be
.untrue .to their wives, since only ten
per cent. oT the divorces granted to
women were for the Infidelity of their
husbands, while 28.7 Pj£ cant of the
divorcee granted to men were for the
infidelity of their Wives.. Bat, of
courae, It-la not true that woman sin
more than- mep .In this respect What
Is true is that women who thus err
are more frequently found out nnd
lees frequently forgiven. And a poor
old census bureau ia not, of course,
expected to tabulate such a fact as
this, because the figures to sustain the
fact cannot be obtained.
Laid to Drunkenness.
Drunkenness comes forward aa the
fourth cause, but It comes forwsrd
shaky in its legs and emaciated in
form. Only 3.6 per cent of all the di-
vorces are granted because of habits
formed around hot stovea in the bar-
room, and as between the sexes most
of the blame, of course, goea to tha
men. Only 1.1 per cent of t£e di-
vorcee granted to men were for the
drunkenness of their wives, while S.S
per cent of the divorces granted to
women were tor tha drunkenneaa of
their husbands.
In rnlativs Importance, neglect to
provide Is the fifth csuse, this reason
having'been assigned In 1.7 per cant
of the divorces grsnted. In alleging
this grievance women would have
had a monopoly had It not been for
six gentlemen In Utah who were
actually granted divorces becauae
their wives did not provide them with
the necessary clothing, shelter end
nourishment
Combinstlons of the fivs preceding
causes were responsible tor t.4 per
cent, of tRe divorces, snd other grlev-
antes, not here enumerated, caused
the other 6.1 per cent.
Some interesting facte were also
dlacovered with regard to the relative
speeds at which the varloua causes
for divorcs are increasing.
tooooo /wu£arro*c
mrue
c+ottrtrmtm*
On tha faoo of the raturna ene la like-
ly to have lived longer if he has been
divorced than he is if the death of the
one to whom he waa married haa left
him alone. The suicide rata for ths
widowed is 11 to each 106,000 of popu-
lation; of the divorced, 39.
Tha director of the census Bays that
even thoae figures probably give only
an Important >14* o« tha, festive
longevity of thoae who have volun-
tarily sundered the matrimonial tie,
since it le reasonable to believe, eq he
declares, thst the real suicide ratio
of divorced peraoaa la leas than 10.
But what's the difference? Anyone
who is determined to commit suicide
will probably do. so, anyway,
hs might bs reconciled to life by yield-
ing up the price of a decree.
An aching back ia instantly
relieved by an application of
Sloan's Liniment
Thia liniment takes the place
of massage and is bettor thaa
atickv plasters. It penetrates
—without rubbing—through
tha akin qnd muscular^tissaa
right to the bone, quickens tha
blood, relieves congestion, gad *
givea permanent as wall aa
temporary relief.
Here's the Proof.
sttfSs&ssp
Sloan's
In the United Statee 73 .divorces are
annually granted to every 100.000 of
population. To the same number of
persons Ireland annually grants less
than one, England two, Italy three,
Auatria ona, Scotland four,Germany 16,
France 23, Bwitserland 32 and Japan
215. As a matter of fact, the dlvoroe
ratio In Japan Is probably not now as
high as our own. The ratio of 215
was revealed by the Japaneae cenaue
of 1898. since which the divorce lawa
of -the country have been made more
atrlngept. Bwitserland, with a ratio
of 31, oomes next to us. In the long
gap between SWitssrland'a 32 and our
73ty9reis.no competitor.
uThe. .question ;iuow'ariaea. If the
United 8tales doea not Wto high a
divorce rate Wh4t la It going to do
about ltt
There waa-a tim* whJh It was be-
lieved that If we had uniform di-
vorce laws the question would be net-
tled. it was the opinion of those who-
favored this method that a' large
number of persons took up temporary
realdencea In lax divorce law states
for the purpose of obtaining decrese
that they could hot get at home.
But the present Investigation die-
proves this theory by showing thst
the proportion of divorces grsnted to
non-residents in any state Is Insir
nificsnt Comment Is general when
some Hch person goes to Nevada
throws up a couple of hoards as a
home, planto a geranium in frontpi
them and settles down to attdl a
legal'residence with which to obtain
a divorce. But such a person oounts
only one in the statistics—and thers
are not many aucb persons.
South Csrollns prohibits divorce—
will not grant one for any causa But
there are many dessrtions in South
Carolina—and does anyone believe
there Is more domeatlc happiness In
South Carolina than anywhere else?_
Women seem to be getting their
courage back. Their increased cruelty
beada the list of increased causes,
and their ability to bid the home an
unceremonioua and final farewell ex-
ceeds anything that men are doing In
the aame direction.
Again the question srlses, What Is
to be dons?
Ask somebody who knows.
Sloan's Liniment
has no equal af a
remedy lor Rheu-
matism, Neuralgia
or any pain or
stiffness in tha
muscles or Joints.
PrlcM.25eJ0a.arf ti M
i*a h*«k e«
SKI"
Dr. Eul S. Sfeiii
Boston, Mm., U.1A.
< ■
SICK HEADACHE
trans from Dyspapata,!*
dictation andToe BeartV
Uttai. A pcrfMi nm
•djr tor ZMaslaesa, Mam
•m, Drowsiness, Bad
T*aM In tha Month, Om*
•d Tongas, Pels In IM
, torpid una
Xka? legaUte Um Bownln. Pnmljr VsgXaMa
SHALL PILL. SMALL DOSE. SMALL FWCt
•- — —
'
Genuine Must Bear
Fao-amllt Signature
ISFUSE SUBSTITUTES.
ft
i
DEFIANCE ST4RCI—"
^S£iSSSX-'°ti ViZR
Save the Baby—U e
, CURE „
xu «n *u*m w*
Should be gtvee et oooe whaa the
little one eoughe. It beela the dal-
ioate throat aad proteote the lufis
Iron ioieotkw—feeraateed cafe end
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Beaver County Democrat. (Beaver, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 18, 1909, newspaper, November 18, 1909; Beaver, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metapth349332/m1/3/?rotate=90: accessed April 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.