In all rural communities of modern Europe much of women’s work is of considerable importance from an economic point of view, and there is little incentive for a man to remain single from economic prudence. Instead of an economic burden the wife is more often a helpmeet who even offers her services for pay outside the home. She works in the fields like a man and is an important factor when estimating the value of labor on the farm.
Letourneau says, “At Paris, where the struggle for existence is more severe, and where the care for money is more predominant, late marriages abound, and it is only above the age of forty for men and thirty-five for women that the marriage rate equals and even exceeds, that of the whole of France.”[79]
The constant drifting of country population into large cities where employment can be found is affecting markedly the life of the rural community, and tending to postpone the formation of family ties until an economic foothold is secured.[80]
There has been a slight diminution of the marriage rate since the middle of the nineteenth century, but so many forces have come into play that one is hardly justified in the conclusion that this decrease is due entirely to economic causes.
Number of Marriages Per 1000 Population.[81]
| 1876-80. | 1881-85. | 1886-90. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hungary | 9.6 | 10.3 | 8.9 |
| Prussia | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.1 |
| Germany | 7.8 | 7.7 | 7.9 |
| Austria | 7.8 | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| Italy | 7.5 | 8.0 | 7.8 |
| France | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.2 |
| Belgium | 6.9 | 6.8 | 7.1 |
| Great Britain | 7.1 | 7.1 | 6.9 |
| Switzerland | 7.4 | 6.8 | 7.0 |
| Denmark | 7.8 | 7.7 | 7.0 |
| Norway | 7.2 | 6.6 | 6.3 |
| Sweden | 6.6 | 6.5 | 6.1 |
Some statisticians see co-relation between the price of food and the marriage rate.[82]
Food, clothing, and shelter are the essential needs of man. When the price of food, shelter, and clothing increases and wages remain the same, the money income of the family is relatively less. If the price of food remains the same and wages are lowered because of an oversupply of labor to meet the demand, or for other causes, the effect is practically the same. When marriage means an increase of the financial burden, and foresight comes into play there will naturally follow a postponement of marriage. Letourneau says, the “principal causes which influence matrimony are the greater or less existence, and the extreme importance attached to money. As a general rule, life and death tend to balance each other, and the populations whose mortality is great have, as compensation, a rich birth-rate. We invariably see the number of marriages and births increasing after a series of prosperous years, and vice versa. General causes have naturally a greater influence on the population living from hand to mouth. The well-to-do classes escape this, and we find that the chances of marriage for the rich increase during years of high prices.”[83]
Economic conditions will not prevent people from marrying when it is understood the wife will continue her work in the factory as is true in many manufacturing towns, especially in Europe. Under such conditions marriage does not signify an immediate increase of the financial burden of the husband. In fact, if marriage meant that the entire burden of support was to fall upon the man alone, it would be a serious matter when under the existing conditions husband and wife together can scarcely make a living.[84]
European countries are cited as admirable examples of advanced legislation for the protection of the home. Farsightedness and a love of domesticity are not so much responsible for the protection of women in industry as the fact that they have become a well established factor in industrial life, such as they have not yet reached in the United States.