Just as they did a little over 100 years ago, our fellow countrymen still dream of a better life and well-paying jobs. So, labor emigration did indeed take place in the Sloboda Ukraine region in the early 20th century.
I discovered a very interesting document on this topic in the collections of the Kharkiv Regional State Archives. The story behind it is quite intriguing.
In early January 1911, the chief of the Kharkiv Provincial Gendarmerie Administration reported to the governor that since November 1910, the town of Bohodukhiv had been receiving notices via post offices addressed to the rural village heads of the district from the Austrian shipping agency B. Weinfeld, urging people to go to work in the United States, Canada, Argentina, and other countries.
The leaflets sent to the Kharkiv Governorate by an agency headquartered in the town of Skala-nad-Zbruchem (now part of Ukraine, in the town of Skala-Podolska, Ternopil Oblast) looked like this:
Anyone interested in going to Argentina to work could send a deposit of 10 rubles to the office address. The remaining 55 rubles were to be paid upon arrival in Skala-nad-Zbruchem.
The following recommendation was generously offered:
A FRIENDLY TIP!
For those planning to go abroad to work!
If you’ve decided to go work abroad but don’t have enough money to go to North America or Canada, head to South America (as far as Argentina), where the fare has gotten cheaper, and the trip from Skala N/3 costs only 65 rubles.Note:
I am sending, in a separate package, the leaflets detailing the terms and fares for travel to various destinations. In addition to everything stated in the leaflets, I would like to inform you that at present, it is best and most profitable for peasants, artisans, and unskilled laborers is best and most profitable to go to South America (as far as Argentina) to find work. The “Employment Agency” in Argentina provides every new arrival seeking work with a well-paying job or suitable occupation, and until a position is secured, it provides each person with free lodging and meals, and transportation to the workplace from to Buenos Aires at no cost whatsoever. For the most part, well-paying jobs in Argentina are available in factories, plants, on construction sites, all kinds of workshops, on railroads, and on farms, and wages average between 2 and 4, up to 5 rubles a day, or between 60 and 100 rubles a month. In addition, the harvest begins in Argentina in the winter, and during this time anyone can easily earn up to 5 rubles a day. On average, it costs about 50 kopecks a day to live and feed oneself in Argentina.In Argentina, you can also engage in farming, because there is a great deal of unclaimed land there, and those who wish to do so are granted land on favorable terms; so, after working in Argentina for some time and earning enough money, anyone is free to buy as much land as they want very cheaply and on favorable terms, bring their family over, and settle in Argentina as a farming settler. The climate in Argentina is warm, mild, and very healthy, and there are almost no winters. Grain grows very well in Argentina, and all kinds of fruits—including grapes, lemons, oranges, tea, tobacco, all kinds of garden crops, vegetables, etc., and various domestic livestock are also successfully raised.
Those arriving in North America or Canada are required, upon disembarkation, to prove they have 50 rubles in cash and provide a detailed and accurate address of friends or relatives permanently residing in the United States or Canada; however, those disembarking on the Argentine coast are not required to prove they have cash on hand, nor are they required to provide an address.
If you want to work abroad, your best bet is to go to South America (as far as Argentina). Contact us however you can, and you’ll receive a reply right away.
With the utmost respect.
Some very important information was also sent out to the village heads. To put it in modern terms, the resourceful company offered them a “kickback”—in other words, a bribe—for their recruitment efforts and hard work.
VERY IMPORTANT.
For the village elders!I am enclosing herewith brochures and advertisements from my agency detailing the terms and fares for travel to various destinations in the United States, Canada, and Argentina; upon receiving them, I ask that you announce and read them to the farmers at their meeting.
I hope that you will handle this matter conscientiously and diligently and will soon send me the exact addresses of those wishing to travel overseas for work.
If anyone from your village who wishes to go to work in the United States, Canada, or Argentina travels through my agency, you will receive a generous gift as a reward for your efforts.
Although many people receive gifts from me for referring those wishing to travel to my agency, passengers are no longer charged extra, and they pay only the standard fee for the shipping ticket.
After the farmers in your village have read my agency’s announcements, please pass them on to other villages for the same purpose.
I look forward to your prompt reply. Sincerely,
THE AGENCY MANAGEMENT.
The issue of purchasing ship tickets at “unbeatable, lowest prices!” through the aforementioned agency was also resolved. The flyers stated that “those who purchase
a ship ticket from us enjoy many benefits and privileges that are not available to passengers traveling without our ship ticket.”
The authorities’ response was immediate. It turns out that as early as February 1910, through the mediation of the aforementioned shipping agency, a secret operation was organized in the Starobelsk District to smuggle criminals accused of robbery and murder out of the country.
At that time, thanks to the help of Matvey Semyonov Yatsky, a Cossack from the village of Naito-Povich in the Lyshchitsky Volost of the Starodubsky Uyezd in the Chernigov Governorate, more than 80 lawbreakers fled to America. Moreover, Yatsky, acting as a representative of the steamship agency, charged 250 rubles per person for his services. Consequently, the governor of Kharkiv ordered the removal from post offices in the Bogodukhovsky Uyezd of advertisements by the B. Weinfeld Steamship Agency, which facilitated the emigration of criminals abroad.
The governor also wrote about the need to provide guidance to officials in the volost and village administrations.
Of course, measures were taken. By the way, is it just me, or has nothing really changed over the past 100 years, aside from the “window dressing”?
