The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1893-12-13
A r
eueer mixture of Dowry. NTatri-

mony aad Hebrew PaiIanthropy.
"lIichael Harris and Nancy. Jacobs
having PEELED The highest number Of
votes were duly elected 10 receive a
doUry Of e25 and marriage fees, ard a
vacancy sagaindeclsrcd for a couple"
So ran a paragraph in a Jewish paper
recently, and a reporter was fred with
an ambition to learn more about these
folks who give couples dowries. and
more about the conditions under which
fuch dowries are won. The benevolence,
1t appeared. emana'ed from the Society
for Allowing Marriage Fees and a Por-
tion to Young Men and Virtuous Girls
of the Jewish Faith. The president of
this society II would imagine would
be a patriarchal sage with grandchil-!
dren IN scores about his knees. But Mr..
A. Swaab, who is the head of the So
ciety, is a young man with II slight black
mustache, a clean shaven chin and GER
tainly no grandchildren. When not
~hymeneally occupiedhe is engaged in his
business as a diamond merchant in Hat
ton Garden.
"The society" he said, in reply to the
interviewer, ''has been in existence near
ly so years, and has done no small
amount of good. 1t was started among
u few friends in quite a small way, and a
dowry of e10 only was all that could be
afforded at first. But e10, if not exactly
a drop in the ocean, was not quite suffi-
cient to answer the purpose in view, and
as the fund grew the dowry wasincreased
to eos"
Are the operations of the society con
fined to London?"
The funds are recruited by subscriptions
of all amounts, from a penny a week up
ward, and by donations"
ut gives them a prior claim on the
dowry perhaps?"
mo, it doesn't. ] will make that clear
In a moment. We assist about a dozen
couples every year, the dowries and mar
ject in giving the dowry is to enable the
young couples to start n little business
together. Before becoming candidates
for the dowry-toward which they need
not have subscribed o farthing-they
have to be possessed Of all home neces-
saries and furniture, and the man has to
prove to the satisfaction of the commit
tee that he is in n position to maintain
his wife,"
''Only virtuous girls are to be befriend-
ed by the society, | gather from it's title.
Does it not become rather IA delicate mat
ter to adjudicate upon the qualifications
of young lady applicants
Every case is investigated by two
members of the committee. appointed
annually for that purpose. They make
their inquiries with proper tact and dis
erection, and they also investigate the
character of the man. Let us go through
the entire procedure. Say a vacancy has
been declared, which means that we have
sufficient in hand to put another dowry
up for competition. We send out notices
to that effect and supply forms of appli-
cation. We get four, five, six, perhaps
a dozen couples contesting for the prize.
They all come before the committee in
couples. and are asked questions con-
corning the money they have saved, the
nature of the mans work, and SO on.
Once, I suppose, l must have been press
ing the prospective bridegroom pretty
hard, for the young lady spoke up sor-
rowfully, Well, sir, you got married
once, and we want to too!'"
well, as o as they have been ad-
mitted as candidates, what follows?"
1--WE give them q book of members,
and tell them to go and canvass for votes,
the members possessing votes in proper
ton to the amount of their subscrip-
tions."
"Have you yourself many votes?"
eyes, l hold something like so votes"
"Then you are the target Of plenty of
b%eseeching brown eyes and persuasive
glancesy"
mo, nothing out of the way, because
as president / take no part in choosing
the recipients Of the DOVER"
"Can you give me o specific instance
of the good the society has doneg"
II can, and a striking one, l think.
There are three members Of the commit
tee of the society, now men of position
and well to do, who were embarked up