The Grit-advocate., 1901-07-26
WIVES AT $50 APIECE FRESH
FROM OVER THE SEA.
The Men Ara St-on; aud ,hs Girls Arc
Plump and Ro,y- y-thaeh-h-Immigran rant
Girls Their WsIhLn: Journey
Mat trimoniat Agencies


westward to the coat region of west
ern Pennsylvania nearly all the pas
senSers are young and most OF them
are single They are the youth and
strength of the overstuckrl labor mar
kets of Austro- Hungary. Russia. Italy
and a score of minor European prin-
cipalitleS come to dig out fortunes IN
the land where the cob!cstones are gold
and folks eat meat At every meal. As
everybody in those countries we'll
knows. The men are strong and
bronzed and the girls are plump and
rosy checked II these are the OFT
scourings of Europe, as some people
say. then Europe at casual glance
should be exceedingly healthy. and her
-scourings, developed in a treer air
and under changed social conditions.
should produce astonishing results in
the competition between the old world
and the new. In every trainioad there
are few women and nearly all the
women are young. One woman to every
five men seems to be the usual proper
tioR. They sit by themselves. looking
out half frightened and wholly curious
upon the new wonders which every
turn of the railroad reveals, their Grim
son. blue and orangecolored hoods
the only bright spot in the dingy i'm
migrant car; and each rosy-cheeked
strong-waisted girl is the heroine OF Il
little romance OF her own. for she is on
her wedding journey to meet bride
groom whom she has never seen. but
who. she has been assured is rich
strong and handsome. ardent and kind
and. best Of all able to provide for her
as only the richest girls in the village
she left behind gould expect there. and
willing perhaps in the distant future %
take her back home rich to queen it
over the more timorous and less for
tunate friends she has left behind. In
the coal region there fourishes mar
risge bureau and these girls are the
merchandise it deals in 1t is money
making business and some OF its agents
are making thousands OF dollars
year; yet nobody finds the least fault
with it. least OF all the men who
Though its agency purchase wives and
with them found above the coal mines
hcmcs in which are brought into the
world children who will become Amer
i:an citizens of The next generation.
In turn these children will send their
children to American schools and this
second geLsration grow up with only
a trace OF sympathy with the Russia
or Hungary their srandmothers are
leaving behind as tifty-dollar brides
now. Fifty dollars is the usual price
FOR wife. Times have been good in
the last few years i'll the soft coal re
siun in western Pennsylvania There
are oOOOO foreigners there, most OF
Them single. and now brides are going
out there by the dozen every week
Prosperity is too good for the unmar-
ried Immigrant to enjoy himself and
the first thing he thinks of is a wife.
This matrimonial agent encourages him.
He is a keen business man. this agent.
He knows every Hun and Polak and
Si.v in the mining regions for miles
around the place he has settled in
knows the size of his sayinss bank ac-
count and his weekly wages: knows
whether he is married, In love or fancy
sree, thinking of a girl in the old couu
try or of bringing over other members
OF his family. Usually the agent is
banker. steamship agent railroad agent
and matrimonial agent as We'll and the
business of all these agencies goes
hand in hand. As soon As the agent
knows that an unmarried miner has
hundred or two hundred dollars
.orad 10 hnpinS u tnlL lti.ln Ia