Missouri Housekeepers' Conference Association. 449 



When we examine the classes in our society, among whom 

 divorce especially prevails, the causes for the widespread insta- 

 bility of American family life begin to appear. We notice, first of 

 all, that divorce is four times as common among childless couples 

 as among those that have children. The child in all ages has been 

 the center of gravitation in the family life, and the chief bond be- 

 tween the parents. A childless home is abortive, incomplete and 

 necessarily unstable. About 20 per cent, of American marriages 

 now result in no children and these childless couples are especially 

 apt to become divorced. Again, divorce is from one and one-half 

 to two times more prevalent in the cities than in their surround- 

 ing country districts. This is due, without doubt, to the "home- 

 lessness" of city populations, the mass of the people often living 

 in boarding houses, apartment houses and tenements. The Ameri- 

 can home has always flourished best in the country, but in the 

 United States, at present, the cities are growing in population 

 about three times as fast as the country districts. Again, divorce 

 is not an evil which the foreign-bom and the negro have brought 

 to us, for it especially characterizes the native white — that is, the 

 pre-eminently American element in the population. It is about 

 twice as high among the native whites as among the foreign-born. 

 This leads one to suspect that divorce has something to do with 

 the individualism of the American people, the tendency among us 

 for each one to do as he pleases, to be a law unto himself. This 

 is borne out by the fact that in those sections of the country in 

 which individualism is most highly developed, the divorce rate is 

 highest, namely, in the New England states and the Western states. 

 It is also borne out by the fact that divorce is more than four times 

 as common among Protestants as among Catholics. The Protest- 

 ant element in the population is the element in which individualism 

 is more highly developed ; besides, the Roman Catholic church re- 

 fuses to sanction absolute divorce upon any ground. Finally, two- 

 thirds of all divorces are granted upon demand of the wife. This 

 suggests that the standards of morality of the male element of the 

 population are not what they should be, and that husbands too 

 often give ground for divorce by immoral conduct. Higher stand- 

 ards of morality are necessary as civilization advances, and con- 

 duct which the wife overlooked in the husband a half century ago, 

 or bore in silence, now becomes a ground for divorce. This last 

 statement suggests another cause for increasing divorce in this 

 country, and that is the emancipation of woman. Woman has now 



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