The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-09-01
BY SEDUCTION d i n {: COOLEY < j 7

Z - s.h-
It may seem 4 tar cry from :Dun's |
and a8radstreet's to the marriage H.
cense bureau, but nevertheless, the |
tic is there. The volume Of business |
reported from both will invariably be |
found to rise and fall together. When
the commercial agencies announce an
unexampled volume Of business, the
bureau gives out record number of
marriage licenses. Il
The Chicago license bureau in June,
1915, issued. 1859 marriage licenses,
then the largest number in the history
of the city; in June, 1916, the number
rose to 4,497. It was during this Pc
riod that the volume of business in
the United. States attained to such
| stupendous proportions. In May our
| exports of merchandise rose to $274,-
21s,172, the largest amount OF goods
! ever exported by any country in a
single month. The June exports were
only $1o,oo0,0o0 less than those of
May, and the total for the year ex-
ceeds $4,000, 100000. which was al
most double our imports.
While such trade is not altogether
sound. and may suffer a slump when
the war ceases, it has its effect upon
the wage market, and, taken with the
falling off in immigration on account
Of the war, it has tended to steadier
employment at better wages. The
connection between this enormous
| volume of business and the number
Of marriages is unmistakable.
Need Employment.
Men cannot marry without employ
ment. They hesitate to marry when
jobs are uncertain and wages are low.
Yet the home instinct is natural, and
all normally developed men and
women wish to marry and rear chill
dren; hence all but few would have
homes and families if there were
ample means at hand to defray ex-
penses and provide something for the
rainy day and old age. Such were
the conditions in the early history of
the country, when practically all
married and had children.
Those who deprecate late mar
riages and, what is worse, no mar
riage at all, who deplore the increase
in bachelors and bachelor maids, will
do we'll to consider the economic
problem. For it is quite apparent to
anyone who will look into the matter
that wages today do not command the
same social standing in the commun-
ity that days labor commanded so
or 100 years ago. Nor will it give
the same sense of security, or the
same degree Of independence.
Different Mode of Living. .,
1t is idle to argue that young men
| and young women could If they would
! dispense with frills and fads and so
| fare as we'll as did their ancestors.
! These things cannot be dispensed
| with; they represent a different mode
! Of living and have become a. part Of
life. People living in the narrow
quarters Of city flats and apartments
can no more return to the earlier
modes Of life than the chick can re-
enter the egg. The hand loom is
gone; even the making of clothing has
passed into factories. The city wife
could profit nothing by attempting to
do the things done by the housewife
of 100 years ago. If She would spin
and weave and make up garments
she must enter the factory or the
shop.
Hence it is that when the young
| man of today reaches the age at
which his grandfather married he is
! merely entering upon his wage-earn-
| ing career. and is barely able to keep
| himself. It is only in exceptional in
stances. that he is warranted in as
Stunning the responsibilities of hus-