AMERICAN DIVORCE STATISTICS.

Southland Times, Issue 1265, 14 June 1870, Page 4

AMERICAN DIVORCE STATISTICS.

- ■ ♦ ; The frequency of divorce — a subject which has been again raised in connection With the late miserable Eichardson affair ih New York — is a greater scandal and peril to this country than Mormonism, which is mostly a local nuisance, and practically outside of the social influences of our country! The article of President Woofcey, of Yale College, on Divorce Legislation in the United States, to whrch we some time ago referred, contains startling facts, which deserve to be repeated and urged upon the consideration of all good citizens. The article is based ona careful examination of the statistics of twenty-three States, including nearly all the older ones. The causes of divorce are given in the various reports presented'vto the Legislatures. In Vermont, out 'of 571 divorces in five years, there were for adultery, 164 ; wilful desertion, 188, desertion, 60 ■ intolerable severity, 126 ; for refusal to support, 13 ; with 20 others, in most of which more causes than one are mentioned. In Massachussetts, out of 1294 divorces granted in about five years, there were for adultery, 546, or 42.3 per cent. ; for desertion, 589 or 45.7 per cent, j for cruelty, 122, or 9.4 per -eeVit. ; 15 for intemperance, and 21 miscellaneous. Here the large ratio for adultery is startling. Can this represent the real state of the case ? In Ohio, out of 2681 cases of which the causes are par- '- ticularly assigned, there were granted for * adultery 935 ; for absence and neglect, 1030 ; for cruelty, 440; for intemperance, 196/ Of the origin of the applicants for divorce we have no items furnished to us save that, in Ohio, the counties where the Catholics form a considerable part of the population fell below their ratio, while the "Western Beserve counties have a : - much larger proportion of divorces than the rest of the State." In Vermont, the ratio of annual divorces to annual marriages foots up for seven years a total . of 730 divorces to 15,710 marriages, or a ratio of Ito 21. Li Massachussetts, for a period of four years, there was a total of 1022 divorces to 45,372 marriages, a ratio of Ito 44. In Ohio, in 1866, the divorces were 1169, marriages 30,479, or a ratio ,ofl to 26. In Connecticut, in a period of 8 years, the divorces foot up 2910, marriages, 33,227, a ratio of 1 to 11. Erom Prussia we have some materials for instituting a comparison between tbat country of loose . divorce laws and the States named above. We exclude the Catholic population, which cannot be , done with accuracy in the State, and thus the story the tables tell is unfairly in favor of the latter. Eor instance, in , Connecticut, where the whole number of marriages was 4978 in 1866, the marriages in which • both i parties were of foreign birth were 1208. Now of these it is safe to say "that two-thirds, say 800, were Catholics, who rarely petition for divorce 'in that State. Deducting them, we have th_ ratio of one divorce to less than eight and-*a-half so-called Protestant, or rather non-Catholic marriages. Prussia in 1855 : Marriages of non-Catholics, 84,914 ; divorces, 2937: ratio, 1 to 23. These • statistics go to show that bad, as the Wesl is in the facilities it affords for divorce, it has received rather more than its share of odium. There is a general looseness on this subject in the legislation of most of the States, which is discreditable to us as a civilised people, and inimical to the happiness and virtue of society. — Baltimore Stm.