As the husbands are older than the wives, the expectation of life for the husband is, of course, less than for the wives, and the number of widows at any age is far in excess of the number of widowers, on this account alone. Industrial accidents, war, etc., also tend to make a high death rate among the men and cause more widows than widowers. In Fig. 145 the curve for men has been labeled "widowed" to follow the Census Office practice in Fig. 144.

With Fig. 144 some of the age classes are for an interval of only five years while other age classes have an interval of ten years, yet the different lengths of interval are shown by the same distance on the scale. For Fig. 145 the horizontal scale has purposely been made such that the ten-year age intervals are set off by twice the distance used for the five-year intervals. As there are very few marriages under fifteen, the space for "under fifteen" has been made three times the space for the five-year interval. Taking the standard life as four-score j^ears, the space for "over sixty -five" has been made three times the distance used for the five-year intervals. This selection of horizontal distances makes the curves into much more nearly their correct shape than is possible on the Census Office chart, where five-year and ten-year class intervals are shown by equal scale distances.

Perhaps the greatest gain made in clearness in Fig. 145 is due to the placing of the curves for male and female on the same ruled field, so that they can be compared instantly and correctly without need for any right-hand and left-hand measurements such as were necessary in Fig. 144. No claim is made that Fig. 145 is suitable for untrained readers.