BUSY YEAR FOR THE
CHARMING WIDOWS.
THEY MADE A GOOD RECORD IN
THE MARRIAGE MART.
From the Number Assuming the
Yoke, It Would Appear That the
Future Is Big With Prom-
ise of Prosperity.
In nearly one-tenth of the cases in which marriage licenses were issued at the Kansas City court house in 1908, the brides were women wearing the prefix of Mrs. Apparently they were well aware of the fact that this is leap year and that there will not be another year of privilege for women until 1912.
Another notable fact is that the last two months have been especially busy for the women who have been married before. During the twelve months 280 women have remarried, nearly a fourth of that number since November 1.
An abstract of the records of marriage license office in Kansas City, not counting Independence, where a separate office is maintained, shows the number of licenses granted during the year to be 2,930 for Jackson county. The latter portion of the year has shown a heavier marriage rate than the earlier part.
THE OUTLOOK IS GOOD.
This may be due to a variety of causes. No doubt the main influence was the coming of better times after the depression of last winter, when there were comparatively few marriages. Nothing, according to statisticians, has so speedy and marked an effect on the marriage rate as industrial depression.
An estimate of the divorces granted during the year shows the number to approximate 100, not counting Independence. Of course all people who were married here do not live here. But in order to bring an action for divorce it is necessary for the plaintiff to be a resident of Missouri. Therefore all the plaintiffs, at least for a time, lived in the state.
THOSE DANGEROUS WIDOWS.
The record of the married women would go to prove, however, as the old saying is, that a widow is dangerous. Including divorced women in the list of widows would make it seem that such applicants for second matrimony are more adept at making matches than novices.
Ever since Francis D. Ross became recorder of Jackson county two years ago, it has been the custom to state on the applications for marriage licenses whether the bride has been married before. There is more than a possibility, however, that a number of them believed the question impertinent, and stood on their constitutional rights, refusing to answer. Clerks in the recorder's office here say that a total of 280 cases of women who have remarried does not fully state the case, but that the number, had each told the truth, would have been considerably larger.
Even at the figure given the year has been a busy one for those seeking a second, third or fourth soulmate.
