Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1901 — Where Marriage Is Epidemic. [ARTICLE]

Where Marriage Is Epidemic.

Servia is in trouble now with an epidemic of marriages. The cause is the system of marriage banks founded as an encouragement to thrift, but which have proved to have quite an opposite effect. The young men and maidens of Servia begin paying into these institutions at an early age on the promise of a premium on marriage. Immediately a small sum has been accumulated the desire for marriage grows overwhelming, with the result that the first offer is snapped up. In consequence prematurely early and unhappy marriages are general. The matter has now reached the government, and the advisability of abolishing these banks, which are held to be the root of the evil. Is being debated.