and providing for the correction of imperfect or erroneous data as originally registered. The organized assistance of these two bodies will furthermore be of the greatest practical value because of the fact that representatives of the legal profession usually compose a large part, and perhaps the most influential part, of the membership of state legislatures. The interest and service of the legal members of the legislature in this movement, which would be secured by the indorsement of the Bar Association, would be invaluable in securing prompt results. 3. Objections to the Movement.-There are no real objections, but merely some questions of expediency arising usually from considerations of possible cost. Theoretically every state board of health in the United States is in favor of the adoption of an effective registration law. Practically, when it comes to the actual adoption of legislation, they are not usually sufficiently well equipped to administer such a law properly. In many cases a fixed appropriation is given to the state board of health, which must be used for all purposes, the enforcement of sanitary laws, the expenses of board meetings, the purchase of books for libraries, bacteriological work, etc., and legislatures are jealous about increasing the general appropriations of state boards of health. It would, therefore, be very much better if the matter were put on an entirely different basis, namely, the necessity of adequate legal records, and provision were made for a state registrar of vital statistics, who might be under the direction or form a bureau of the state board of health, but whose support should not be drawn from the generally inadequate resources of that board. However, even with this the case, the cost of handling registration returns in a central office, including the provision of blanks for the entire state, is a comparatively trifling matter. The greatest cost is that of the payment of the local registrar, which is an essential feature of the law. For each birth and death filed with him the amount of such payment is usually twenty-five cents, and it should come from the county treasury on warrant from the state registrar certifying that the records were properly made and promptly returned. Practice differs in regard to compensation for filing births. In Pennsylvania and Michigan no provision was made for the payment of physicians for filing certificates of births, according to the laws of 1905. An amendment has been made in Michigan during the present year, giving physicians and midwives fifty cents, which is an unusually large amount. No compensation is given physicians for making out the certificate of cause of death, and there should be no fee connected with this service or with any part of the work of registration, except the payment of the local registrar by the county. It can hardly be seriously objected that such a law meddles too intimately with personal affairs. The practical necessity of personal records usually appeals to the average member of a legislature, so that I do not think, in fact, that there is any objection likely to be encountered by such legislation except the usual one of ways and means, and sometimes the administrative difficulty of finding suitable local registrars. CRESSY L. WILBUR, Chief Statistician. Population, registration states, 1900... Per cent of total population.. Population, registration cities in states added, 1906. Per cent of total population. Population of registration cities in non registration states. Per cent of total population... Population in registration area, 1900.. Per cent of total population.. Net population added to registration area in 1906. Per cent of total population..... Population in registration area in 1906. Per cent of total population..... 26.3 3,835,119 5.0 6.969 757 9.2 30,765,618 40.5 6,081.363 8.0 33,846.981 48.5 9.916,482 Total.. 46,117.351 19,960,742 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. To the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws: The Committee on Marriage and Divorce respectfully reports: As is well known to the Conference, a National Congress on Uniform Divorce Laws was held in the City of Washington on February 19-22, 1906, and subsequently by adjournment in Philadelphia, November 13 and 14, 1906. By a resolution of this Conference adopted at its Fifteenth Meeting, held at Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, August 18-22, 1905 (see Proceedings, p. 55; A. B. A. Reports, Vol. XXVIII, p. 763), recognition of this Congress was given; and the Conference expressed its satisfaction at the prospect of receiving "any assistance in solving the many and difficult problems relating to the divorce laws of the several states and territories," and promised "to aid the proposed Congress in any way within its power." The outcome of the Divorce Congress was the recommendation of a proposed uniform law "Regulating Annulment of Marriage and Divorce." It is the opinion of your committee that this uniform law embodies the principles heretofore approved by this Conference, and if adopted by the various jurisdictions of the United States would go far to abate the recognized inconsistencies and fraudulent practices in divorce litigation. Your committee therefore reports the uniform law "Regulating Annulment of Marriage and Divorce" approved by the Divorce Congress, and recommends that this Conference, after due consideration of the various provisions of the proposed law, recommend it for adoption to the various states and territories and the District of Columbia. The Divorce Congress in addition to formulating the draft of a uniform law Regulating the Annulment of Marriage and Di vorce recommended two acts" Providing for the Return of Statistics relating to Divorce Proceedings" and "Providing for the return of Marriage Statistics" respectively. These acts are also recommended for the approval of this Conference. The Divorce Congress also considered the following resolutions: "Resolved, That the President of this Congress appoint a committee of five members of this Congress to consider the propriety of adopting a uniform Marriage License Law with power to report such a uniform Marriage License Law to be recommended for adoption." This committee was duly appointed and reported as follows: "WHEREAS, The marriage contract considered solely in its legal aspects is a purely civil contract, affecting the contracting parties alone, yet, in a wider sense, by reason of its vital importance to posterity, to the state and to society in general, is something more than a purely civil contract; "THEREFORE, It is the sense of this Congress that such suitable restrictions and requirements should be provided by law for the issuance of licenses and the solemnization of marriages as will impress upon candidates for matrimony the sacredness of the vows and the permanency of the marriage relation. 66 Among the fundamental principles to be embodied in such laws, this Congress recommends the following: "a. An application for a marriage license should be made to the proper official a sufficient time in advance of the issuance thereof, to give at least two weeks' notice of the application. "b. Such application should state the full names of the parties, and their respective places of residence. 66 "c. That the official to whom the application is made shall cause to be given notice, by publication in some newspaper of general circulation published in the county, if any, by at least one insertion two weeks prior to the issuance of the license, which notice shall state the full names of the parties and their respective places of residence. "d. No license shall issue in any county other than the domicile of one of the applicants. or "e. No license shall issue where either applicant is a minor, without the written consent duly attested of parents guardians. |