Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1897-11-18
WHERE WOMEN ARE SCARCE.
Six Men There Are To One Woman I'm
Parkway Algeria.

Il
Parkway Algeria.
Within the past so years the nations
of Europe have seized vast parts of the
earth's surface, chiefly in Africa and
Asia, but including also many islands oi
the Pacific. The total area that has thus
come under European flags is nearly
as large as North and South America
together. Some of these regions have
been found to be well adapted for white
settlement, and emigrants have been
encouraged to go to them. The Eu-
ropeans call these far-off lands their
colonies, and they are very anxious TO
make them self-supporting and develop
them into markets for home manufac-
lures.
There is a question which is attract
ing more and more attention, and that
is the scarcity of white women in these
colonies. In the French colonies, for
instance, even where the conditions are
most favorable for colonization, as in
Algeria, there are from four to six
French men for every French woman.
For the most part, there is no family
AAAOs AJdNAOu BCACla
than would be the case if there were
more homes and more of the social life
that is possible only when the sexes are
In nearly equal numbers. NJ. Challey-
Bert, who recently wrote in the Paris
Debates about the paucity of white
women in the French colonies, said that
the young men there were like the roar
/ d. ,l
whom he may devour."
1t is not easy to solve the problem in
the French colonies, for the young wom-
en- of France are not at all eager to
expatriate themselves, even to find good
husbands and comfortable homes.
There are hundreds of colonists who
would like to get married. A colonist
in Algeria has recently been telling his
experience. He says that for three
years he sought, in his own social circle
in France, for a young woman who
would share his fortunes in the colony.
AT the end of that time his perseverance
was rewarded and he is now married.
The fact is, however, that he did not
find n wife among the young women
with whom he had been accustomed to
associate. They liked the colo mist, but
the colony terrified them. His wife is
a worthy woman, the daughter of a
farm laborer, and she is making him
good helpmeet in his colonial home.
British and Dutch colonists do not
find ii so difficult to induce the fair sex
of the old homes to share their lot in
newer parts of the world, and when
they have found ii really difficult to get
wives from the mother country, many
of the Dutch in the East Indies have not
disdained TO be Joined in lawful wedlock
with the daughters of the natives.
Many white men are now living in
tropical regions, like equatorial Africa,
where they have really no right to ask
a white woman to share their dangers
and hardships. Few women from the
north temperate zones are able to sur
vive one or two child-bearing expert
ences in tropical Africa. Some white
men who live there have expressed the
opinion thatitis little short of crime to
bring white woman of their own race
to those regions. The late DR.. Wolf, the
German explorer, said that any white
man there who wanted a wife should
marry one of the natives of the country.
Some of the Europeans in Africa have
followed his advice, and among them
DIR. Grenfell, the explorer and mission
ary, who married negro girl who had
been educated at mission station on
the west coast.
Two months ago the Canadian news
papers contained an advertisement
from mining camp in British Column
bia in which il was announced that the
camp was wholly destitute of women,
that neither gambling nor the sale of
intoxicating liquors was permitted in
the settlement, that the miners were in
dustrious, had saved money, and now
they wanted wives and homes; and
young women of the Dominion were in
vited to enter into correspondence with
a committee as preliminary to possible
to the camp and marriage |
with the bachelors thereof.
Even to-day, in large parts of Canada,
Australia and Cape Colony, there are
not women enough to supply the de- |
mand for wives. But when the societies |
that promote the emigration of women !
TO the colonies send out party the last |
thing in their minds apparently is the |
better chance these women will have to |
get husbands. They simply send wom-
EN- who lack work to colonies that lack |
Their character and fitness for |
emigration must be approved, and then
they are sent out on the long journey in |
charge of matrons, who see to their !
comfort and are responsible for their |
safety until situations that will yield |
them a living are found for them. The |
United British Women's Emigrant as
sociation, the largest of all these So
cieties, would refuse to assist any wom-
an to emigrate If she should openly |
avow that she was seeking husband |
rather than opportunities for work.
\. Y. Sun.