Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/507

Rh. It must, however, be mentioned in this connection that in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, where social intercourse between Jews and christians is more common, and the Jews are on a higher economic and intellectual plane than their coreligionists in the province, the rate of intermarriage is nearly double, reaching 17 per cent, in 1904, although it is only ten years since they have been legally permitted to marry with christians. In Germany similar conditions prevail. Of a total number of 468,329 marriages contracted during 1901, only 41,014 were between persons of different faith, i. e., only 9.59 mixed marriages to 100 pure marriages. Among the Jews in that country there were during that year contracted 3,878 pure and 658 mixed marriages, or 16.97 per cent., which shows a larger tendency to intermarry among the Jews than among the general population. Taking the three chief religions in Germany, we find the following proportions of mixed marriages:

It is noteworthy that in Germany catholics are more given to intermarry than the protestants, which is exactly the reverse of conditions in Hungary. To 100 pure catholic marriages, during 1901, there were 26.95 catholics who married protestants, while only 14.1 per cent, of protestants were married to catholics, which is even less than the rate of Jewish mixed marriages in that country, 16.97 per cent. In Prussia also the catholics intermarried more than the protestants and Jews, the proportions being, catholics, 27.07 per cent.; protestants, 13.78 per cent., and Jews, 17.71 per cent. In Bavaria, on the other hand, the reverse is true. There the protestants intermarry to a much larger extent than the catholics. The latter had 37.03 per cent, of mixed marriages, as against only 14.45 per cent, among the former, and 9.4 per cent, among the Jews. It appears from these figures that adherents of the religion of the majority of the inhabitants are less likely to marry outside of their faith than persons following the creeds which are in the minority. Thus in Germany where 62.51 per cent, of the population is protestant, and only 36.06 per cent, catholic, the latter