STATISTICS. Divorce, in its broader social aspects. can best be introduced by a summary of statistics drawn from various official sou Fee, The report of the lion. Carroll D. Wright, LL.D., Conunissioner of Labor at Washington. is the best single authority. It was made in 1889, and covers the statutory laws and statistics on these subjects for the United States and most European countries for the twenty years 1867-86. The annual reports of eight or nine States only. and of various European countries, give figures for later years. It is expected that Congress will soon make provision for a supplementary investi gation.
In the twenty years 1867-56, there were found to have been 328,716 divorces in the United States whose libels or records were discovered. There were 9937 in 1867 and 25,535 in 1886. an increase of 157 per cent. Meanwhile, population probably increased little more than 60 per cent. The figures of a few typical States are cited: Connecticut granted 500 in 1867 and 452 in 1900, being one of the two or three States where the movement seems to be checked. The ratio of di vorces to marriages celebrated in 1900 Nva. 1 to 15.4. having been as high as 1 to 8.5. New Hampshire granted 136 in 1867 and 435 in 1809. Rhode Island granted 195 in 1367 and 400 in 1898• or 1 to 8.2 in the latter-named year. Ohio granted 901 in 1867 and 3217 in 1900, or one divorce to 10.9 marriages. Indiana had 1096 in 1867, the largest number for that year in any State, and 1655 in 1SS6. But in 1900 there were 4699, or one to every 5.7 marriages of the year. Pennsylvania granted 575 hi 1867, and 1889 in 1356. Illinois granted 1071 in 1867, and 2606 in 1586. Michigan divorces increased from 419 in 1867 to 1339 in 1386 and 2418 in 1900. The ratio now is probably I to 11. Vermont had 157 in 1567, and, with a slight increase of population. had 233 divorces in 1S97. All these States have several statutory grounds of divorce. Changes in the statutes and in the administration of the various county courts in part account for condi tions in Vermont and Conneetint, and perhaps One or two other of these States.
New York, which grants divorce for adultery only, and New Jersey, which adds desertion (the most easily abused of all causes, unless it be the former 'omnibus Clause' of Connecticut and a few other States), are instructive examples of an other kind. New York granted 771 in 1567, and 1006 in 1886, an increase of less than half the increase of population. New .Jersey, with its additional and easily misused cause of desertion, granted 60 in 1567. and 256 in 15813• and 202 in 1503. New York, cause, and that one difficult of proof, grants 40 per cent. more di vor•es in proportion to population or to mar riages than New Jersey, though the hitter adils desertion. The explanation is chiefly in the dif
ference of administrati011. in New York divorces are granted in each enmity and city, while in New Jersey divorce cases go to one court—the highest in the State—whose chancellors require written testimony and sift it with great care.
In the \\ tst high diNoree rates prevail. but are no t tan 7.1 HIV already gken. The incr,a-o t f poi•tilation there is so great that figures are un14 -- compared with population. A f4 w instances in the South may lie cited: From 1,1;7 1....1; the was as follows: Ala 4ania. friar 78 to 11(12; Arkansas, 121 to 646; 1\entucky. •02 to 7:i7; 40 to 504; rth Carolina. 21 to 163; Tennessee. 287 to 801; Texas. 91 to 1326; Virginia. 90 to 23S. 'south Carolina grants no divorce. In the South as a 'whole the mm49114111 was slow in the first part of the period, lint Was greatly accelerated later. Unfortunately. no data exist regarding the influence of race and religion up4m divorce in this country. Technically 20 per vent. of all tile divorces in the United States were granted for adultery; 38 per cent. for desertion; 16 per cent. for cruelly: 4 per cent. for drunk enness: and so On. the-e figures a re little value as indications of the real causes. Better, in reference to intemperance. is the result cf a examiitat ion of 29.6(15 divorces in 45 representative counties. This discovered in temperance as a direct or indirect cause of 20.1 per cent. of the whole number. The length of married life before divorce averaged 9.17 years a little shorter than the period of S01110 European countries. The wife is the applicant in about two-thirds of the eases-often, it s1101114.1 lie noted, as a personal convenience to the parties. From two-thirds to 141nr-fiftlis of the applications ap pear to lie granted. (bit of 289.5411 divorces velure 11Inees of marriage were known, 80.1 per were granted in the State where the parties had been married, notwithstanding the fact that on the average over nine years had elapsed be tween marriage and 411VOree, and that somewhat less than that per cent. of the population were living in the State of their birth. 'rids shows that migratory divorces, though ninny in number, are a very small part 14 the entire number granted in the country. Th, nbil.e of our eon flieting laws and tile uncertainty to which they expose 0111' people are Very serious. 1:11t the real gravity of the situation is in the almost uni versal prevalence 44 divorce in all parts of the country, hoth in city and rural communities, though generally somewhat less in the latter than in the former.