MARRIAGES IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19215, 2 January 1926, Page 9

MARRIAGES IN AMERICA.

LAST YEAR SHOWS DECREASE. EFFECT OF COAL STRIKE. Audtra ian aid N.Z. Cable Association.. (R<*cd. 5 5 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 31. FiguriUi regarding marriages that have been gafclieied in 20 of the leading cities of the Un.it/3d States indicate that the institution of matrimony is being hard pressed to maintain its popularity. The statistics show that the number of marriages it, the cities in question in 1925, decreased by 2433 from the 1924 total of 250,739. The representative cities selected included i Sew York, where there was a slight in r.rease. Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New Orleans reported increases, while Seattle had a heavy increase. Philadelphia shows a decrease fcom 16,514 marriages in 1924 to 14,153 in 1925. This was the heaviest proportii lute decrease in the country and it equall ?i' the nation's total loss. This decrease h attributed to the coal strike, lack of (iv ployment preventing tho contraction :i.f marriages, which in times of prosperity brought couples into the city for the iv.mage ceremony. The reg Vter at Buffalo, in the State of New York, where many couples arc married befoi i proceeding on their honeymoons to V.i 10 Niagara Falls, shows a total of 5246 iTi irriages in 1925 as compared with 5004 in .1924.