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MARRIAGE LAWS OP VARIOUS COUNTRIES 257
hundreds of women and girls have gone out
hy various boats. What their fate is likely
to he in Utah we cannot, of course, exactly
say. The Mormons do not tell them when
they are taking
them abroad that in the
United States polygamy is illegal, and no
one in Utah now can, without breaking the
laws of the land, have two wives. But that
a good many of them do have two " wives " -
or three or four or twenty goes without
saying. It is entirely a mistake to suppose
that these marriages are legal ; and this is a
fact of which girls and women are quite
ignorant. We know this, because two separate
girls in different places have told us that in
Utah the Government allows the men to have
treat them well
two wives each, so long as they
and provide for them both and keep them
in separate houses ! We could not help being
amusea at this defence of the Mormon habits ;
but tried to explain that the unfortunate
Government, which is responsible for a good
many evils in the United States, is not to be
saddled with the burden of authorising polygamy.
In these Bureaux, which might very
well be established, the parents of girls who
are courted by foreigners could get information
of an authentic and confidential kind the
position and status of the lover from abroad
could be ascertained.
As a few instances of the difficulties which
beset people of different nations when they
desire to marry, it may be interesting to know
that in Austria a marriage between a Catholic
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