| Show r a yr f 4 p r Your Chances oI of V 4 E. E d LI Bachelor l-C l Girl l f e r l t q tf t r j J 1 Wt n. n fc r e Twenty five ntY Years ears a Young Woman's Womans anon s Likelihood z e i oo or o n a g in n tn in J 1 r t V- V Matrimony Grows Less With t Each ac Succeeding I J j I i J 1 i Y Year ar According in to o a J es s Survey the s on e Marrying a Age r. r i V L w tJ 1 7 I fY r v 1 r Y R 1 k a I o ti i y r r 2 4 ii 7 r q r Jf f U Y N y r CC f i I rah h 1 h a by t r J r P. P t. t By Carol Bird SOMEWHERE around her year a a. girl passes paes the critical point at which the chances that she will win marry begin to fade If U she is 15 of a a. pessimistic temperament temperaments temperament's s 's atie she e may be be- d disposed posed to set a match to her hope chest and store up a bit of off brittle brittle brittle brit brit- tle comfort for tor her lonely declining years l in the reflections that a man might prove a nuisance around the house anyhow annoy her by his alleged superiority spill ashes on the carpet take to drink or and generally upset the tranquillity of ot tier her days While a a grim forecast of old maidenhood may begin to loom as a specter before a woman after atler the year of her life Ute a aman a aman aman man has a little more leeway For him chances of matrimony do not drop below fifty fifty-fifty until about his year After this age a man has an increasingly greater chance of remaining a bachelor These facts are brought to light by a study of ot the matrimonial chances of mena men a ad d women deduced according to age made recently by the s statisticians of ot the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company This s study reveals not only the relative opportunities for marriage at different ages of both sexes but also the fact that o women marry younger than men and that they live longer logger l ger It also yields the Information information mation that the majority of marriages occur among limong persons from 20 to 29 years of ox age HERE H ERE are some of the figures worked out by the Insurance company's sta- sta list I clans We find for a young man mui of 20 the chance that he will wUl survive for another five years and be married some some sometime time within this period is per cent someWhat somewhat some some- what hat less than one-half one or or In other words the odds are a little less than even in favor tavor of or his out this s period and getting married in that Um time The chance of his surviving ten years and getting married In that time is Is' per percent percent cent centA A A young womans woman's chances are arc a trifle better at the age of 20 1 Her chances ot of or surviving five years and getting married within this period are arc per per cent Her chances for a period of ten years are or exactly two thirds that Is is odds In her favor are two o 0 o oneAt one At the ago of 25 the odds in her favor for a period of or ten years year are only a D. little better than even At 30 the odds dds are two to one me against her living out ten years and being married within this period The Th figures cited d can nil all 11 be read from froma a graph raph which sh shows ws for every five years ears of life between 15 and 55 the probability o o- surviving and being married within a period of or from rom one to twenty years A uA study shows the curves fir tr ages 25 to 55 55 Inclusive run a somewhat similar similar sim sim- ilar liar course course oune ana anc do not intersect but the earlier curves 15 and 20 years of age for formales formales formales males 15 years years of ot agn ago for females run diagonally across So on the diagram for females the curve for tor age 15 crosses crosse that for age I 30 at a point corresponding Or three years on the horizontal scale This his means meana that a girl 15 years old and andi i young woman twice her age to 0 years old have th the same chance of marrying within three years 17 per cent or one in six The reason for this thill Is that a girl of 15 is not very likely to marry marri in so short a time tune for tor at the end of or of three years she ape would be only 18 years old Or Ot theother the theether other ether h hand a woman of 30 30 thou though h more l f S r t r. r w. w M r I ti likely to marry in inthe the next three years year than later is past the age age at which most marriages take A very similar situation situation situation sit sit- exists with regard to the male sex For the same reasons that have already been Indicated a young boy 15 y years ars of age has about the same chance of sur- sur v and marrying within six years asa as asa asa a man of 40 Comparing the diagram of females females' with that for males it will be noted that the curves for females rise somewhat more sharply at the beginning than those for formales formales males Indicating the fact that women marry 8 as a rule earlier than men that thata 3 a wife Is usually somewhat younger than her husband This feature is particularly n in the curve at age 15 s1 since boys at very young ages marry only in rare and exceptional nal instances ces whereas the marriage of Iris 16 and 17 years old are less rare Naturally the curves for the tile higher ages 50 and 55 are very flat fiat and low 1 11 the fact that at these ages chances clances of marriage within any period whatsoever are small For the benefit o those women in the Uie dangerous age groups and who stand appalled at the prospect of remaining unmarried unmarried un un- married for the remainder of their lives lives there Is a thin ray of hope It may Involve Involve in involve In- In volve the upset of the even tenor of their ways travel the Invasion of new territory terri terri- territory tory where men are more plentiful and the opportunities for marriage correspondingly better In this way some of them can escape cape the single state tate providing the prospect is distasteful to them Girls of 25 and over who live for ex example example ex- ex ample in Alabama the District of Colum Colum- bia bla Georgia Massachusetts New York North Carolina Rhode Island and South Carolina ought to start packing up at once for in these States there is a mi minority minority minority mi- mi male population In any of at the theother theother theother other States In the Union Onion they have hav a better opportunity of landing husbands They should particularly avoid Massachusetts Massachusetts and the District of Columbia where males arc are relatively ly scarce in proportion to females and look to such lands of as Arizona Montana Wyoming and North North Dakota HESE f ESE Western st States tes are particularly J. J happy hunting grounds Wyoming Is the tho best bet of alL Here there Is a 30 per cent excess of males In Arizona the ratio is males to females femal in hi Montana the trio same ratio prevails and in North Dakota Dako 1 it is men to women So go West young woman go West if you would woul hear the chime of wedding bells The wide wide- open spaces arc are arc the best stalking spots This is doubtless due to the fact face that hapless pursued males have no means ot of escape They are cau caught ht out In the th open No Woolworth Buildings to hide bide behind No like canyon-like streets of a big Ea Eastern tern city down whose friendly lengths they can flee nee No skyscraper elevator shafts in which to take ke refuge Girls who arc are not keen about ranches sombreros sombreros cowboys s 's plains and the W West generally might go to Greenland Greenland Bulgaria Bul Bul- garia garla Serbia and the Caucasus to avoid the tho m shortage man for in these countries males predominate le t r s W 1 J J b t. t 1 oA i tf f p t e 4 Y I IA A js I 1 g r sl al l Y i iY a 4 Y r 1 Jr y ay J hA L I 1 r k 0 I 1 i f fi n A i 7 jg dr k 9 E 5 t y Go o West Westfor es or Your Man an s 's AFTER A FTER 30 the odds are arC t two o to one against milady being m married during the next ten years ears 4 There is is a scarcity of marriageable able males in in Alabama District of Columbia 1 G Georgia c co o r rg i a a. a Massachusetts New York 1 North Carolina Rhode Island and South Southa a C Carolina aro I. I Ina I 7 f Go West for Jar your our best be t chances f t Wyoming is the best bet beti Other happy L I r y hunting ng grounds rounds include Arizona Montana Montana Montana Mon Mon- tana and North Dakota s You can go to Greenland Bulgaria 1 Lii II Serbia and the Caucasus if you o dont don't u find a mate in in the States Discussing the ratio of the sexes the insurance company says It is virtually a universal phenomenon that more boys than girls art a 1 born In Inthe Inthe Inthe the United States in recent years the ratio of male to female femal births has been approximately approximately This Th means that there are boys born for fo each s girls rl This figure however varies according to the age of the mother Very young mothers that Is is under the the age of 15 and there ba have ve been ben over births among mothers of this age since the Census Bureau started to coIle collect t these statistics have havea a a sex ratio of or or 16 18 per cent in in excess o o the general average of women at all aU ages Mothers who have ha a a. baby at comparatively comparatively comparatively com com- advanced age 35 to 54 years tend t to h have ve a a a. a somewhat diminished proportion pro pro- portion of boys although even then there are more boys than girls the ratio being 1055 The liThe ratio of the in the actual population may be expected to differ durer fr from m the ratio at birth This is because of the operation of two forces first the differential differential Ual in mortality of the two sexes second sec sec- ond the differential in immigration The death rate is always heavier amour amonn males and this has the effect of bringing down the Initial ex excess of males perceptibly Immigration on on the other hand brings in a considerable excess of males over females which helps to restore the initial disparity between the tho sex sexes In the United States the r. r rUo of males to females fc- fc miles males in the white population is 1040 as contrasted with 1060 at birth In MIn a stationary American population population- that is is one in which which- immigration would b bA b eliminated and in which the birth birthrate rate Irate and death rate mt were balanced the balanced the ratio of mal males to females would be 1017 In other 1 tt t lI III vi v I I. I I e J J 1 JF l' l 4 i i r r. I I t J. VV r I words the effect of the higher male mortality mortality mor mor- w would very nearly strike a b balance lance be between the two sexes It It is interesting to compare the sex ratio as observed in the white population In the United States IMO 1040 with the corresponding corresponding corresponding cor cor- responding figures for tor other coun countries countries- We quote a collection of such figures given by A A. S. S P Parkes Great Britain mal males per females cs Norway Denmark Sweden Spain Austria Germany 39 European Russia 72 Hungary France ranee ance Holland Holland Hol Hol- land Ireland Belgium Italy Polan Poland 1005 Greenland 1015 Japan 1020 India 1041 1 I Bulgaria 1045 Serbia 1080 1060 Caucasus 1110 Korea 1130 Asiatic Russia 1175 China 1250 In the European countries the sex ra ratios ratios ra- ra are almost all below a hundred which means that there r an excess of females over males These figures are largely the tle result resul of the heavy migration of males arid and the tho mortality among males In Inthe the Asiatic and in some flome of the less advanced h I countries the ratios are very heavily In favor of at males In China for example the figure Is is' is males for females It Is significant cant that in these thes countries the proportion of of surviving males male os' os ascom- ascom compared pared with females rises m materially t above per der cr cent In spile of womans woman's r naturally natu natu- tu- tu rally lly greater resistance to io ordinary life me hazards the of women 1 is less than of men Just the reverse of what we ob observe observe ob- ob serve ne in America and the advanced portions portions portions por por- of Europe Thus it can cnn be seen that Europe is an unwise choice as bagging ground of husbands hus hus- husbands hus- hus bands unless the ilie wily husband hunters seek out the few countries where men meu aren arc are arca a n n preponderance T nERE ERE Is another shred of comfort for forthe o the girls who are arc are reduced to desolation desola desola- lion tion by these figures of their matrimonial lal chances The statisticians who compiled them point out cut that the c chances of marriage mar mar- riago they set forth relate t tt a class in general not to a specific young woman They also state that It Is reasonable to suppose that If It a ri woman woman woman-be be she 25 25 30 or even on the side shady side ot of that figure figure- possesses beauty charm intellect intellects she we may land a husband regardless of ot the figures Girls who are extraordinarily well endowed with these attributes attribute need not worry so much about the encroaching years cars No need peed for these young women to Pick males hit or miss for tor fear of losing oU out entirely There is always danger however in prolonged prolonged pro pro- longed postponement of the ultimate Every cry woman at semi time in her I life e. e r reaches th crossroad in life lifa where inhere she must choose between cn matrimony y with ith j its attendant joys and responsibilities and single bliss bUss with its freedom I and loneliness choice For even th these e must remember that beauty vanishes like spirals 0 of or smoke that that- the years hold malice maUce and that younger charmers harmers far below the j fatal ages are the altar everyday every everyday day They must never for one moment forget their competitors whose competitors whose shortage of years gives them the advantage advantage if they are ever eye to fulfill the visionary dream of at themselves in br bridal veil vell and orange blossoms blossoms blos blos- clutching a the of bouquet of the of i in one hand and the arm of a a stalwart stalwart stalwart stal stal- wart male male in the other on the subject of the of men to women in inthe the United States a significant factor in the matrimonial chances for or women of this c country the 1 insurance ls rance company's statisticians state For the United States as ass a 8 whole the ratio of men living to women 15 is 4 Per per percent percent cent ent excess of males over females whereas r. r birth there Is a 6 per cent excess ss The particular value of this ratio in turn d depends depends de de- on several things first on J the e proportion pro pm- portion of females to mal males among ng children children chil Jill dren born second on the rates rats at which boys booS and girls survive c More Mor girls survive than boys because women have haV longer lonser lives than men Women in civilized boun- boun coun countries un tries stand up better physically than d do doi i I nen en They ney ha have ve su superior powers power of re re- re re- re Men are exposed to more moret risks risk t than women and generally they lead harder lives Another circumstance that affects the ratio rate of the sexes Is immigration There 9 ere re more men than women immigrants We have some ome young countries such u as as Australia which attract many men men Here males aisles predominate So it Wean itcan can be seen that r things work to disturb th the ratio andi andl throw it out of gear One Ono a abnormal normal cl working to accomplish this was ViR- the W World War with it lIe itz resultant 1 depletion European in m men in early and middle manhood All AU of this leads up to the e stat statement ment that naturally where men predominate in n numbers women have a better chance bance of ot marrying As M for for tho the m most most- st st. popular years e rs for marriage lage those from 20 to 29 are conceded to be the ones during which ra rany y marriages marriages-fn |
