MARRIAGE MARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 77, 31 March 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

MARRIAGE MARKET.

MATRIMONIAL agencies. SOME AMERICAN FACTS, thousands of applicants. (By C.L.)

New Zealandera have not yet become accustomed to patronise matrimonial agencies, but in other countries, and especially in the United States, marriage bureaux have been resorted to for many years, and tho custom of applying to a n agent to lind one a "soul mate" is growing by leaps and bounds, judging by statistics recently published. From investigations recently made in that country, it disclosed that from 8000 to 15,000 men and women of all ages, creeds and nationalities have their applications on file with matrimonial agencies. The applicants represent every occupation and social status in existence, a large proportion of those in advanced years 'being widows and widowers. The fact that men and women, particularly widowed people, have apparently had to pursue such a course when they became 30 or 35 years old, or remain unmarried, indicates surely a lack in the social structure in the country districts as well as in the city to provide social centres where human association may proceed normally for those who are matrimonially inclined.

Respectable Institutions. Matrimonial agencies have long been respectable institutions in European countries, and have been patronised even by the nobility. It is a fact that recently an American, Mr. William H. Meyers, of Melbourne, Florida, after a "courtship by mail," married Mary Louise, Duchess of Wittelsbach, a niece of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. In ancient Rome there were expert matchmakers who were recognised and respected, and whose fees were regulated by law. The professional matchmaker has held a recognised place in society in several countries. We have it on excellent authority that in Rome during tho Imperial period "often girls were betrothed in their childhood, the arrangements being made in a businesslike way by professional intermediaries or marriage brokers" and that "children of high rank were sometimes betrothed by their relatives before they had left the cradle." Occasionally go-betweens were employed by noble Italian families to inform the relatives of a girl child of the most eligible young men in the marriage market to "negotiate the betrothal."

Berlin has a "matrimonial eugenic bureau," which has been a decided success. During the past year 800 men and women applied for examination to determine their fitness to marry. The examinations are free, and other bureaux are being opened. A clever business man in Berlin not long ago, in starting a commercial marriage bureau, established it in the shopping centre, where he displayed portraits and pedigrees of eligible women offered for wedlock, on a commission basis. In Paris matrimonial agencies have mounted higher in the social scale since the Great War. The shortage of French men had made the women more anxious to secure one, and incidentally 'lias made the men more exacting ip their selection. The most ambijJou* of the numerous Parisian marriage brokers hare connections with socially prominent clients, and arrange the introductions at a tea or reception under the most natural circumstances. |

By no means all "sign unseen" marriages prove unhappy. Mr. John G. Niehardt, the poet of Nebraska, and his wife, who have been happily married for 18 years, had never seen each other until their wedding day. Mrs. Niehardt, before her marriage, was Miss Mona Martinsen, the daughter of Mr. Rudolph Vincent Martinsen, president of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad and a child of wealth. Upon returning from Paris, where she studied sculpture under Rodin, she chanced to pick up a volumn of poems called "A Bundle of Myrrh." Some of the poems so pleased her that she wrote a congratulatory note to the author. Within Bix months she left all the advantages that wealth could offer and went out to Nebraska to marry her poet.

"Trade Journals." There are 220 matrimonial agencies in the United States and the number is increasing yearly. All except a dozen started business within the last 25 years. One-third of them issue publications, matrimonial publications that advertise their "stock of goods." Many of these issue a paper every month. Those not publishing papers claim to preserve incognito their clients' intentions —"we do not publish a cheap, so-called matrimonial paper and scatter your name, address and photo' throughout the country in a sensational public manner." And there is something in that! A score or more of these agencies attempt to erect bars regarding age and religion, while girls under 18 are not accepted by some, and men under 21 are not eligible in some cases. Some state that applicants must be unmarried!

Motives for Joining a marriage agency vary considerably, according to a queßtionnaire recently sent out to a large humber of members. The vast majority "mean business" —they want to get married in the worst way—the quickest way, any way in order to get the translation performed. For a three to twelve-dollar consideration a wife hunt-ing-man is formally introduced, as business goes, to a husband-seeking woman, in another State usually, < who meets the specifications and qualifications he desires. Several months' correspondence often ensues, an exchange of photos, a visit, or possibly two, and they live happily ever afterwards —sometimes! The widows are not all looking for supporting husbands. In fact, some are looking for a husband to adopt—a man to help her take care of the property and insurance money left her by her former husband or husbands. Some widows are looking for a companion to fill the place vacated by sons and daughters upon their marriage, while others are looking for fathers for their semiorphaned children. Of course, many have still other motives for marrying again, but utilitarian purposes to some extent underlie the desires of the majority. Of those 35 years of age and older, over two-thirds are widows. It is not a wave of emotional love alone that sweeps these tried and tested matehnnters to new pastures. Nor are the] men looking for something to 'hold in their arms. Housekeepers, nurses servants is what they want. Two-fifths of the men over 35, according to the printed descriptions in the matrimonial papers, which tne writer recently ibad mi ikoui U.S.A., are widower».