Why Young Men Do Not Wed

New York, 1903

Due to Their Own Extravagance and Young Women's Love of Luxury

Dr. Louis Albert Banks spoke by way of prelude before his sermon in Grace Methodist Episcopal church, West One Hundred and Fourth street, on "Some Reasons Why Young Men Dodge Matrimony." He said in part, according to the New York World:

"My observation as a minister in large cities for many years convinces me that there are two reasons more powerful than others which lead young men to shun marriage. The first is extravagant habits of living on the part of young men. They live up to their income, whether it be small or great. The majority of young men with whom I have been acquainted in the last 20 years were living so extravagantly that they dared not contemplate marriage.

"A second reason is that the young women of today in towns and cities, many of them, fail to fit themselves to be fit cooks and dainty housekeepers. Furthermore, if they marry, they are anxious to marry so that they may have hired help and begin about where their parents have reached after a generation of economy and hard work.

"A young woman would rather go into a store from a good home and earn money enough to secure the luxuries in dress she desires than to marry and have the burden of home life upon her shoulders."