A Social Study of the Russian German 75 
ously shown, many of the immigrants were either young, single 
men who came alone or families containing such youth as would 
soon be eligible to army service. The excessive number of males 
of marriageable age in proportion to the Russian German popula- 
tion must result either in mixed alliances or, for the more con- 
servative, in deferring marriage. Meanwhile the immigrants 
were becoming established in industry and prosperous enough to 
set up homes of their own. When, therefore, in 1891 and 1892 
a large immigration resulted from the famine in Russia, the mar- 
riages reached an average of 22 per annum during the years 
of 1892, 1893, and 1894. At a liberal estimate of 500 for the 
Russian German population of the city it would mean an annual 
rate during these “hard times,” of 44 marriages or 88 per 1,000 
population.® Again, the year 1907 was one of financial depres- 
sion but it followed the heavy immigration of 1906-1907 and 
registered the largest number (67) of Russian German weddings 
ever recorded in the county in one calendar year. 
The Russian German in Lincoln is less susceptible to the influ- 
ence of prosperity upon the marriage rate than is the American, 
because what are considered poor times in America would be 
good times in Russia. The principle operates most truly when 
the standard of living is high or when the line between affluence 
and poverty is so slight that the loss of a crop or two reduces 
many families from comparative comfort to absolute privation. 
This latter is what occurs in the German colonies in Russia, where 
the marriage rate is so keenly sensitive to harvest conditions that 
newspaper correspondents invariably remark upon the connection 
between the two facts.*t The dearth of marriages is also more 
noticeable there because the period when weddings occur is 
limited to one season of the year, and greater social prominence is 
laid upon them. Moreover, there is so little diversification of 
industry that a poor harvest settles the matter finally for every 
one. Among the Russian Germans in America, on the other 
hand, the prospect of a “job” in some of the unskilled avenues 
60 This reminds one of the shipment of maidens to the Virginia colony in 
the first days of its history. 
61 Dakota Freie Presse, February 24, 1914. 
201 
