You live in Vermont. Very well. Between the ages of twenty-five and thirty in Vermont, there will be 279 out of every 1,000 of you who will still be single.
But you live in the state of New York. Very well. Between the ages of twenty-five and thirty there will be 430 of you out of every thousand who will still be single.
In Vermont, 279. In New York, 430. A difference of 151 in every 1,000.
For those 151 persons, is it human volition? Is it a perverse aversion to the other sex?
Even at that, on the face of it, those who try to argue New Yorkers into marrying young are clearly taking the difficult route to their purpose. It would be more adroit simply to urge them to live in Vermont.
But isn't the real reason this—that New York, with its large cities, is farther removed than Vermont, with no large cities, from the primitive industrial conditions of colonial times?
The North Atlantic states, as a whole, are industrially more advanced than the South Central states. Compare them in this marriage matter:
Among all the wives in the South Central states, there are 543 out of every 1,000 who are under thirty-five years of age.
Among all the wives in the North Atlantic states those who are under thirty-five years of age are, in each thousand, only 428.
In the South Central states, 543. In the North Atlantic states, 428. A difference of 115!