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Annual variations are often more brutal for nuptiality than they are for other demographic phenomena. Short-term economic movements, in particular, seem to have a more direct impact. In the long run, however, nuptiality is generally considered as a much more stable factor than, say, fertility which has undergone profound changes in all industrialized countries over the past hundred years. In this article the social scientists will attempt to study these recent trends in the light of longer-term ones, by comparing nuptiality movements in four countries: Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In this paper, they study the nuptiality of birth cohorts by calculating the proportion ever-married at age 50, and mean age at first marriage. Data are not always strictly comparable between one census and another, especially in Canada and the United States where geographical coverage has varied through time. However, the numbers involved were small. Moreover, the definition of marital status has not been changed, at least not the basic distinction between single and ever-married. Through a study of nuptiality trends for the single for about a hundred different birth cohorts, they will attempt to determine whether attitudes towards marriage have changed. But first, they must eliminate the structural effects which affect the phenomenon studied. For instance, marriage becomes more difficult for women and female nuptiality decreases when there is a scarcity of potential male partners.

The article presents a collation of data about religion in Australia. There is an interesting difference between the denominational composition of Australia and New Zealand on one hand and the U.S. on the other. In all these countries the original migration patterns are still reflected in the numerical strength of denominations: the number of Catholics or Eastern Orthodox is an indication of the original immigration of the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, the Russians, the Greeks and others to these new countries. In the U.S. the original Protestant picture has become effectively blurred through internal factors: migration or differentially fertility can hardly account for the fact that there are 4½ times as many Baptists and Methodists than there are Presbyterians and Anglicans. Catholics in Australia also have a higher fertility rate than Anglicans: the average issue of Catholics according to the 1961 Census is 2.65, of Anglicans 2.33. Fertility of interfaith marriage is consistently lower for all residential areas as compared with marriages in which both partners were either Catholic or Anglican. The frequency of intermarriage of the Australian religious denominations has also been tabulated by the Bureau of Census and Statistics in Australia. They seem to show for instance that Catholic men succeeded slightly more in marrying within the faith than the women: 80.22 percent of Roman Catholic men and 77.41 percent of Roman Catholic women were married to partners of the same faith.

IT WOULD SEEM then that the achievements of countries like Australia and New Zealand are worthy of emulation. Much constructive work, of course, is being done in the United States. For instance, the College of Agriculture at the University of Wyoming has succeeded in adding 3 pounds to the weight of the fleece during the past five to ten years by instructing Wyoming sheepmen how to breed large, sturdy sheep that bear low-shrinkage, high-quality wool. The government also is expanding its research in breeding and marketing practices; but unfortunately, the government seems to have the unhappy faculty of nullifying its constructive efforts by destructive activities. For example, long and short hedging in wool and wool top futures against price uncertainties is a legitimate instrument that wool growers, wool dealers and manufacturers can use to protect themselves from financial loss, but this was made more or less difficult in 1946 by the ceiling prices and the actions of the CCC. But if wool growing is to survive in this country, it must retain its traditional characteristic of freedom, for from the very beginning of time, the pastoral life has always been the freest element in any country's economy. Thus the sheep farmers must be taught to help themselves, as they must learn more about their business and give the market what it wants. But they cannot gain this knowledge by crouching behind trade barriers and leaning on subsidies, for in the last analysis, competition is the only real educator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]