Chapter IX: Professional, Commercial, and Miscellaneous Agencies

Sources of information: Visits to agencies of all classes; answers to circulars sent to patrons of agencies; interviews with managers of agencies and registered employees; statements of models, actors, business men, and others.

There is a group of agencies, not very large, but important, which is used by another class of the unemployed. This includes teachers'. and theatrical agencies, and those for models, and for trained nurses, which may be called professional agencies.

Of this group, teachers' agencies are undoubtedly the most important. There is a difference of opinion as to whether they are really employment agencies, as that term is commonly understood, and most of them succeed in escaping license fees and regulation, upon the claim that they are not "common employment offices." This is due to their aversion to association with other agencies, rather than to any basis of fact, for they have all of the characteristics of employment agencies as to purpose, methods, and organization, as the data presented here show.

Much of the information has been gathered by sending circulars to teachers. These contained the following questions, to which numerous replies were received: How many times have you used an agency? how many times have you secured positions? how long did you wait? what was the fee required? state any controversies over your contract, and how settled; what was required by the agent besides fees? state in detail any experience with these agents, and give any facts that throw light upon their methods. In addition numerous agencies were visited, and in some instances subscription fees were paid.

Teachers' agencies have a wide scope. Many have branch offices in various cities, and while intelligence offices are often content with a neighborhood, these agencies claim nothing less than the whole United States as their territory. Their influence is really national, for they send teachers into every conceivable town and hamlet. Their work is done largely by correspondence, and applicants are not, as a rule, personally known to them. They deal with a very intelligent class of workers, many of whom are not unemployed, and they are at present a chief medium through which vacancies in schools are filled.

The location, equipment, and system of the majority of them are quite beyond criticism. They are always in office buildings, and since they are merely registry bureaus there are none of the evils of waiting-rooms and undesirable associates. They confine their work to one line, so there are not various sources of income as a temptation for graft. There are two kinds of fees, collected solely from applicants for positions. The registration fee, usually called a subscription fee, is rarely less than $2, is frequently $5, is good only for "office services," and is never refunded. It is good usually for one year, sometimes for two, and in a few instances is $5 and $10, good for a term of years. "Office services" means simply the privileges of enrolment, of visiting the office, and of speaking to the clerks, and it is in no instance considered as a payment for a position. Many thousands annually pay this fee and do not receive more than a receipt, and not always that, for some applicants only learn that the payment has been received when a request comes for renewal.

Agencies claim that this high registration fee is necessary to keep out undesirable applicants, and to cover the outlay necessary to secure positions. In reply to the first claim, the statement may well be made that the most undesirable applicants can often best afford such a fee; and as to the matter of outlay, if a registration fee must cover all expenses incident to obtaining positions, the large employment fee must be clear profit—and the question arises whether this income from the unemployed is legitimate. There is much evidence to show that this system has developed one type of teachers' agencies which lives entirely upon registration fees, and never attempts to get any positions, for from five hundred to one thousand registration fees annually, of from $2 to $5 each, yield a good income. Many teachers report: "I paid a registration fee, and never heard from it, except the request for renewal, at the end of the year, as they had 'something in view,' and our investigation extended to only a few of the many thousands of teachers. So long as high registration fees are permitted, agencies will take applications, knowing from their long waiting lists, or from the qualifications of the teachers, that they cannot fill them, and not one report shows that any agency has refunded this fee on the ground of over-registration.

This fee is required before any application will be filed, and there are other conditions. Most of the contracts read: "If a candidate secures a position in any way through us, even if it is one day after the two years expire, he must pay an additional membership fee." One agency charges $3 in the main office and then informs its candidates that it has ten branch offices, and advises them to register in each one, at $1 each, which is a reduction of $2 from the regular fee. Thus, an agency which advertises that it covers the country requires a registration fee of $13 to do it efficiently, as "each agency is independent, and the main office is not entitled to the service of any branch." In another, the charge is a $2 consultation fee for "advice only." In one case, after a teacher had paid this amount she was advised to "try some other line, as the demand for women teachers is very small this year."

In addition, whenever a position is accepted, five per cent., and in a few instances ten per cent., of the entire first year's salary is due the agency. This must be paid at once, or one half at the end of the first month, and all within two months. It is never refunded, even if the position is lost, although the "agency agrees to use its influence to find another position." This is entirely a matter of its own conscience, however, for the temptation is to favor a new applicant whose percentage fee is not yet available; and there is no power to compel a return of fees, for the applicant has already agreed to these terms in writing. Teachers must also pay a percentage on an increase of salary, within an agreed time, usually the first year, though it may occasionally be for two years. Where board is included as part of the salary it is included in the percentage estimate and is rated at from $200 to $400 per year. The following excerpt is typical, though different agencies have minor variations.

Terms:

1. Consultation fee, two dollars in advance when the application is made. This is not a registration fee, but is a fee for advice given at the time this application is made. This application will be kept on file one year.

2. A commission of five per cent. of salary for one year shall be paid this Agency by the applicant as soon as engagement is secured.

   1. Notes. (a) The commission is due upon one year's salary, regardless of the length of time the engagement continues, or at what time it is made. (b) Any applicant who secures a position to which this Agency has called his attention, or through the one called to his attention, whether within the year of registration or later, will be subject to the regular commission. (c) When the nominal salary includes board, commission upon this must be added, estimated at the rate of $200 a year. (d) When income is accepted instead of salary, an advance payment of $20 is required, the balance to be estimated and paid at the close of the first term. Ten per cent. on short engagements, of less than six months.

3. All information received with this application is regarded as strictly confidential, to be used for the sole benefit of the applicant. All information as to position received by the applicant is to be used by SELF ONLY; otherwise they will be RESPONSIBLE for the commission."

For substitute positions the charge varies from seven to ten per cent. of the wages for the entire time the position is held. Other provisions of contracts which favor the agency include the following: If an applicant has notice of a position not secured through the agency, she is required to return the agency's notice at once with the date of her prior information; otherwise it is understood that the teacher wishes the bureau's co-operation, and will pay the commission, though the agency may subsequently fill the position of which it notified her. If a teacher accepts a position from the agency, and subsequently gets a better one through other means, during the year, she pays percentage on the increase in wages.

A contract seems to give an agency a lien on a teacher for at least one year, and sometimes for longer. It requires considerable skill to find any rights or protection for the teachers in one of these contracts. Most contracts further require the teacher to give the agency any information about vacancies, and "if, by any inadvertence," one contract reads, "a fellow teacher through some other means gets a vacancy existing in the same school, through the neglect of the teacher to notify said agency, she makes herself responsible for five per cent. of the salary of that teacher." Instead of paying a commission for such services, the agency says to the teacher: For the privilege of paying us $50 or $75 for a position, you must also become an unpaid canvasser through whom we may make other fees. An agency which makes such requirements never loses sight of a teacher. It sometimes uses threats of removal to compel fulfilment of contract, and when it has secured a teacher a position, and holds her references, it is in a position to make good any such threat. "Later information," simply hinted at to a school board, can cause all kinds of trouble, when a teacher is dependent upon a salary.

Teachers have found, when they have secured positions through friends, that agencies to which they have long belonged, and from which they have never heard, suddenly develop a personal interest, and appear with a chain of events showing how they are officially responsible for the position. If a teacher does not notify them that she has a position they assume that she meant to pay them, so either way she is reasonably sure to pay something, though the agency may compromise if it has not a good case.

Aside from this matter of large fees, one-sided contracts, and clever methods to secure fees, the work of teachers' agencies is clean. References are investigated with care, few cases of collusion appear to exist between agents and school boards, teachers are rarely sent out on false promises, and there is, in general, good faith, though many teachers charge favoritism in giving positions.

From the answers to questions sent out several things appear. Teachers usually register in more than one agency, and positions are offered in about one out of three. This is an estimate based on a small number of returns and so is only approximate. Applicants wait from "one week" until "forever," and a registry fee is not unlike an investment in a lottery— so much for a chance. Others say "four or five teachers are recommended for every position, so a man pays for the privilege of competing with others who are selected as his best opponents." The agency wants one to win, it matters not who, for its fee is the same. From another point of view, this is, of course, admirable impartiality. Others testify: "Agencies advertise that they have special pulls with school boards, but results prove that this is often untrue and misleading"; "I regard some as reliable, while others are most untrustworthy"; "Certainly the better sort do much for teachers who have no wide acquaintance or have no friends to help them out"; and, "After patronizing an agency for several years, my name was kept on their list without a fee, and in at least two cases complimentary registration was given to friends of mine." One teacher suggests, "that State and municipal agencies be started by school boards and educational associations, and some reduction of fees made, and agencies which charge such exorbitant fees be discriminated against." Another "regrets that agencies show preference when an additional voluntary fee is in sight."

On the whole, the evidence of teachers is favorable to "well-managed agencies," but it clearly intimates that there are some that are not well managed. One explanation of the small number of complaints against them is, that there is no regulation, and they openly say in their contracts, "no positions guaranteed or fees refunded." There are always two sides of a story, and teachers, being of the same human kind as agents, in many instances try to "beat them out," but the latter at this stage certainly have the whip hand. From this investigation, it seems that when applicants for positions number about three to one, or it is even more disproportionate, that unlimited registration fees are an open door to fraud; and that when any agent deals with the unemployed, there should be not only fair regulations, but some one to whom they should be responsible. Fair limitation of fees, some provisions for refunding, and prevention of fraudulent advertising and false promises are not unreasonable requirements. A further investigation would undoubtedly indicate more clearly the need and nature of a law, to which both parties would agree. Certainly the demand exists for both investigation and improvement. It is becoming clear that lack of employment is more vitally related to crime, immorality, vice, dishonesty, degeneration, and conditions vitally affecting national life, than any other one condition, and this is true of professional men and women as well as of general laborers. Both need the fairest medium of exchange through which to secure the means of livelihood.

The second group of employment agencies, common in cities, seldom licensed, and so conducting business in their own way, are theatrical agencies. These are little known outside of the profession, are besieged by applicants, and wield an immense power, for unknown actors and singers are quite dependent upon them. They rarely charge managers, and fees from applicants for positions include the first week's wages, payable at once, or at the end of the first week. Fees are never refunded, except through the occasional friendliness of a manager. Instead of waiting about the agency, applicants report every two days, or are notified. They frequently have two separate departments—musical and dramatic. Some are honest, and are a great boon to the unemployed, but there are others which need careful inspection. These take fees without offering positions, or are in collusion with speculators, who they know are irresponsible. They send out applicants with companies run by these speculators, knowing they will be stranded. But the agency gets its fee, and the speculator holds back part of the wages, so every one except the applicant profits. It seems scarcely necessary to add that some are supply stations for the fashionable disreputable houses. They have many such patrons, and advertise for fresh, bright, pretty girls, and prepare the way to these houses through chorus and vaudeville life and associates. They are in some instances rendezvous where dissipated and immoral people congregate for the purpose of leading astray the women who visit them for work. Reputable theatrical agencies need to unite to suppress these concerns. Every city should know how many theatrical agencies exist, and then ask itself what it knows of the way positions are found for young women who are drawn from out of town, homes, shops, stores, and schools by promises of stage life, with its glamour of fame and money.

Only the largest cities have agencies which supply artists' models, and they are usually without a license. Models for stores are secured largely through advertising and occasionally through special agencies. The fees charged are not high. Both artist and model pay a fee varying from fifty cents upward, depending upon the probable length of the engagement. One agency makes a practice of sending models to artists without orders, hoping that they may prove attractive. They are charged a small fee when sent out, and later the artist gets a bill. If he protests, payment is not insisted upon. Sometimes they try to collect fees when one of their models is sent from one artist to another. The agencies are extremely careless in sending out models, often making no inquiry about the employer, and artists have such difficulty in securing reputable models who will remain that in New York the Art Workers' Club for Women has among its many other functions an agency which supplies models, and also furnishes lodgings for them. It also takes up cases of unpaid wages, and insists upon the keeping of engagements. In the course of our investigation we found that some disreputable places, running under the guise of studios because this gave them more license, were the best patrons of some of these agencies for models.

In all cities agencies exist for nurses. These include trained nurses, "handy women in sickness," and nurses for children. Some charge the employer no fee, and in these cases the assessment upon the nurses' wages is heavy. Some have registration fees, while others require an employment fee when a position is offered, and this is not always refunded if, for any reason, the nurse fails to secure that position. One agency in New York charges a $5 registration fee, good for one year, and ten per cent. of the wages earned. Such fees are disproportionate to the services rendered. A common complaint of employers is that they "juggle with references" and send incompetent nurses, in order to get the fees. Occasionally they furnish board and lodging. Those in New York are located chiefly in residences, and most of them are conducted as home enterprises. Much of the placing of nurses is done through other methods, and some intelligence offices place untrained and child-nurses. There are nurses' clubs which maintain free registers for trained nurses, and nurse-maids' schools, which charge employers $1 and the employee pays no fee. Other societies maintain nurses' directories where the registration fees are as high as $5, the employer's fee is $2, and membership in the society is $2 annually. There are few complaints against nurses' agencies.

A new kind of employment agency, of which a few exist, is called an Amusement Bureau. It advertises to furnish attractions for churches, clubs, and other organizations, such as lecturers, impersonators, singers, monologists, and others. Twenty per cent. commission on the amount the applicant receives is the usual charge.

General commercial agencies are much more common than teachers' agencies, and supply mainly business houses and institutions. They furnish people for executive, clerical, and technical positions, and in some instances include factory employees. Some furnish men with high-grade positions; others only women stenographers and typewriters, and others are general offices for both men and women, and are the most common. Almost without excep­tion, these are in office buildings, and have a good business system. In all of them a registration fee is charged varying from $1 to $5. When it is as high as $5 it is often called a subscription fee to a small periodical, published by the agency, but is necessary before an application will be filed. Except in Boston, these fees are never refunded, though the recent New York law limits this subscription to fifty cents. In Boston, this year, a bill was intro­duced, but failed of passage, exempting these agencies, so that they might retain the registration fee. In addition to the registration fee there is an employment fee, which is either the entire week's wages, or five per cent. of the first year's salary— whichever the agency prefers. If board is a part of the salary it is included. Employment fees are not refunded even if a position is lost, and this is a greater hardship than in teachers' agencies, for con­ tracts are not always yearly. In methods and con­ tracts these agencies most nearly resemble those for teachers. The following is an illustration of a one­ sided contract, fee for signing $5, which seems to the applicant to give him some claim when he signs it.

This agreement, made and entered into by and between the—— Employment Co. and ——, applicant, both of ——, wherein said applicant seeks information relative to a position as——or other work of a similar nature, under the following terms and conditions:

• 1st. That all fees paid to said——Employment Co. in advance are paid for the express purpose of defraying all incidental expenses in procuring information in reference to the position desired and for services to be rendered by the said —— Employment Co. in various ways.
• 2d. It is further agreed and understood that the said——Employment Co. shall have thirty days if necessary, in which to furnish the applicant employment, and that no money will be refunded and no position guaranteed.
• 3d. It is also agreed and understood that in the event of the said —— Employment Co. procuring said applicant employment, said applicant agrees to pay said —— Employment Co. ten per cent. of the amount of the first month's salary arising from such employment."

Another contract at $3, reads: "I shall in no way hold manager responsible for failure of service."

Other offices, wishing to give the appearance of honesty, charge a large registration fee, and then say they will refund one half if a position is not secured. Almost any agency could carry on business on these half-fees. Commercial agencies know the tricks of sending men to places where no work exists, and of clipping advertisements and giving them out as bona-fide orders. By their irresponsible advertisements, young men and women are drawn into the city on promises of work. In some instances where men have refused to pay registration fees, they have been insolently sent out. The rule, however, is not to place any limitation upon the number of registration fees, regardless of the waiting list or the condition of the labor market. Some agencies which supply typewriters charge thirty per cent. of the first month's wages, while others insist that the applicant rent a machine at $10 a month. An association of stenographers charges $1 registration fee, and forty per cent. of the first month's salary, and says it is able to place one third of its applicants.

In commercial agencies, where there are no limitation of the registration fee, and no conditions of refunding fees, the tricks and frauds appear to be less, for money can be secured openly as a right, and if no return is made that is a part of the risk. Because of the high-grade men and women whom such agencies supply, their work is necessarily cleaner, and fraudulent concerns are often run out by postal authorities, or through prosecutions by intelligent patrons.

Agencies which furnish women, especially stenographers and type writers, are extremely careless where they send them. They take but little trouble to ascertain if it is a reputable business house or office, or send employees to places which they know have bad reputations. In one where we were waiting, a well-dressed, good-looking, gentlemanly appearing man came in and told the agent he was in "need of a young, lovable, good-looking stenographer; one afraid of pin-pricks need not apply." He left his address, and asked that one be sent on trial. As soon as he had left, the agent came in and proclaimed to the waiting employees in a loud tone: "Young ladies, you heard the gentleman's order; is there any one wants to go?" and three volunteered, and were sent off amid the jibes of their associates. But it is the indifference and carelessness which is most appalling. No other medium of exchange insists upon knowing so much about employees and so little about employers.

These conditions in some commercial agencies have been recognized, and each city has at least one agency which endeavors to improve the situation. In Boston the business office of the Woman's Educational and Industrial Union requires no registration fee, and charges but forty per cent. of the first week's salary. It carefully investigates references, and knows the character of the employers. It also seeks to make contracts more permanent, frankly advises its applicants, has a protective committee which is interested in the collection of wages unjustly withheld, and looks up advertisements, and a befriending committee which assists unemployed women. The Christian Associations for both men and women conduct agencies in most cities, charge reasonable fees, and are careful to send employees to responsible employers. In New York City the Alliance Employment Bureau has taken the initiative. It has a personal and advisory relation to its employees, improper advertisements are guarded against, responsible boarding-house lists are kept, and it co-operates with trade schools, and domestic training classes in settlements. One of its most helpful lines of work is placing factory and store girls, in need of outdoor life, in positions in country hotels and boarding-houses. St. Bartholomew's, in New York, and other agencies of its class, have professional and mercantile departments, and have reduced the fees somewhat. In Boston there is an agency established on model lines which furnishes only factory employees.

In Philadelphia, as the result of this investigation, the Philadelphia Commercial Agency has been opened, for the clean methods and efficiency of which the Public Ledger has undertaken the responsibility. Fees have been reduced to a registration of fifty cents for both employer and employee, and ten per cent. of the first month's wages when a position is secured. This has the advantage of an advisory board consisting of leading business men; and both the character of the employers and the reliability of references are ascertained.

In Chicago the Business Woman's Exchange charges a membership fee of $1, good for six months for all positions paying under $10, and $2 for all above that, and there is no other fee. This agency has a personal interest in applicants, and refuses fees from undesirable candidates, while it advises those who are well placed to remain with present employers, instead of inducing them to leave for a new fee. It has a rest room, typewriter machines for practice, and conducts a school of stenography and typewriting.

All of these agencies are strictly business offices, but are not conducted purely for financial returns, and represent rather the reaction against the prevailing conditions.

A second class of agency is that run by typewriter companies. These are rarely licensed because they charge no fee. The only advantage to the companies is that girls learn to use their machines, for they are given this opportunity while waiting, and are often induced to purchase, for the agency is usually in the salesroom. There are a few exceptions. One firm insists that the applicants placed shall use its machines, while another says in its contract, that applicants are expected to notify it of any other vacancies, and to recommend the office for repairing machines, etc. These are run largely for advertising purposes.

In this same class fall business colleges which conduct employment departments. These are not licensed, because the placing of its graduates is not the main business. Many such colleges prevent their pupils from falling into the hands of unscrupulous agencies. But unfortunately there are some who use this promise of employment to swell their roll, with the result that many are trained for business careers when they should be in kitchens and shops. Consequently, both employer and employee suffer. Sometimes in rush seasons of big houses these colleges hurriedly train for this work large numbers of pupils whom they attract by promises of work. They are employed by these houses only for a few weeks, and after they have paid their money for tuition they often cannot get positions elsewhere. One charge business men make is, that many business colleges have no entrance requirements, but open their courses to any one who has the money. A few give the pupils experience in business houses while in training, and many business men prefer reliable colleges, as they are the responsible reference. Such methods as advertising "Special—Wanted 100 men to fill our orders with down-town business houses," and then requiring them to take at least a month's training, regardless of previous qualifications, are very near the line of false and misleading promises.

An unsuccessful attempt has recently been made in Illinois to have these licensed, and the attorney-general has given the following opinion:

"The main object of such schools is to teach their students typewriting, stenography, ordinary correspondence, etc., and not to procure employment for them. The promise made in the catalogue of such institutions was merely by way of advertisement, and I do not suppose it would be contended that such advertising would impose a contract obligation upon them to procure employment for their students, but that comes more in the way of a gratuity on the part of the school, and is not a part of the business in which the school, as such, engages."

A new departure is the high-school agency at Charlestown, Massachusetts. Its object is to secure positions for its graduates before they have to resort to a regular employment agency. It has received much recognition from business men. No fees are charged and the recommendations are by the principal. Teachers often make individual efforts for their pupils, but this is a distinct attempt to conduct a high-school agency.

Many colleges now have bureaus of self-help which are agencies for students. They usually have a manager and some are conducted on a large scale, and supply many hundreds of places. Much of the employment furnished is of a temporary nature, but these bureaus sustain so active a relation to the business community that they are in reality well-equipped and-conducted employment agencies.

There are other commercial agencies which charge no fee. These are conducted by newspapers. They are run on good business principles, and are in reality employment departments of the paper. In these, advertisements at a low rate are a requirement. One paper requires at least one advertisement inserted before an application is filed, though its charge never exceeds twenty-five cents. The advantage to the paper is the increased advertising and circulation, for the agency otherwise does not pay. Such is the North American agency in Philadelphia.

A recent movement in some of the larger cities has been made by the Masonic order, which has opened commercial agencies for its members. These are well equipped and conducted, and have a salaried manager. The agency for Brooklyn reported for last year over 2500 men placed.

There are a few so-called "reference bureaus." In addition to finding employment these make themselves responsible for references. They charge extra fees for especially investigating or furnishing references. Their work is chiefly in connection with business houses requiring responsible men. Fees are necessarily high, ranging from $5 to $20. In New York it has been necessary to prosecute some concerns masquerading under this name to the detriment of the honest ones. One, recently opened, charged the small sum of twenty-five cents for investigating references, and then sent the applicants to an office address which could not be found. The elevator boy said about fifty a day came there for a time. When the applicants returned, they were assured it was a mistake over the telephone, and they would hear to their advantage in a few days. Such cheap concerns can only creep in under lax laws. These reference agencies should not be confused with Reference and Bond Associations, which are not employment agencies.

The miscellaneous agencies which have come to our knowledge are chiefly freak concerns which seem to belong to no one class. They are of interest in showing how varied are the classes of the unemployed, and how eager they are to grasp any scheme which seems to promise work.

One of the most interesting of these is an agency with headquarters at Chicago, which has cripples for its patrons. This was investigated by the Associated Charities, and their report, kindly placed at our disposal, shows that this company advertises to furnish cripples with positions and work. Instead of bringing an employer and employee together, as the offer intimates, the cripple is offered a supply of cheap jewelry to sell on the streets, or elsewhere. The jewelry is purchased at wholesale, and sold at an immense profit. They do not manufacture these goods, but their "agency" is a small room filled with this jewelry. Some cripples interviewed admitted purchasing there; others said the prices were far beyond those of any other firm, while the manager said he was in the business only to help cripples, and had lost $10,000 in his philanthropy. The second part of the scheme is to send out a circular with two or three samples of jewelry, chiefly to small towns and rural districts, though cities are included. The circular states that this jewelry is made by cripples, who are trying to make themselves self-supporting and finally establish a hospital. If the person addressed does not wish to keep it, he can return it in the self-addressed envelope which accompanies the samples. If he retains them, he is to remit twenty-five cents for articles worth about a cent on a pushcart and two in a store. The cripples are drawn into the scheme when they apply for work, and the buyer is drawn into it from sympathetic and philanthropic motives. The risk in sending out the jewelry is small, for the method has an air of trustfulness and candor that appeals to people, and few would want to have unpaid-for collar buttons, made by cripples, on their conscience.

But the profits are evidently so enormous that any failures to return a few sets of jewelry are amply covered. Many order goods because they think the price low, and that they are helping charity. No membership fee is charged cripples—they buy their supplies outright. This agency also advertises: "To any church or organization having a debt to liquidate we will submit a proposition whereby school children may be utilized to pay the same." They also state that they will be indebted for a list of residents in a town (not merchants). Any small favors like this are, of course, acceptable to a firm which helps cripples to find employment!

Another agency finds matrimony a good method of employment. It advertises for the various kinds of office help, "with good eyes, and good health, who will remain several years." Answers to applicants come on stationery which bears as its heading: "Honorable matrimonial intentions imperative." A visit to the office reveals a dirty, dilapidated, second-rate place, and applicants are solicited for an advertisement in its marriage paper, or are induced to correspond with men who want wives. Fees are charged for the advertisement, and a high percentage when an engagement follows. The matrimonial venture is the main issue, and the ruse of employment attracts girls.