Escher looked at him coldly. "Look, Mac, let's be cynical about this. That's why it was referred to us in the first place. Of course the girls we sent aren't the most beautiful or the most glamorous. Those girls are already married and you couldn't get them to leave, no matter what you did. The girls we sent are the ones who weren't wanted here on Earth. We even killed two birds with one stone and solved the crime problem." He held up his hand when MacDonald started to object. "Don't say it, Mac. Stop and think for a moment. What danger can a shoplifter do on a colony planet? There's nothing to steal. And without large cities, most other types of crime will have equally tough sledding. Besides, we eliminated those who had natural criminal tendencies. Most of the others had drifted into it as an outlet for their sense of insecurity, the feeling of not being wanted." MacDonald looked worried. "All right, what happens when the colonists find out, Claude? What happens when they find out we shipped them the castoffs, the leftovers?" "The point is, Mac, they'll never find out. They're Second System colonists. You know how the Colonization Board works. Planet A colonizes planet B. Planet B colonizes planet C. Given a suitable number of generations, the people on planet C will never have seen people from planet A. Earth is planet A. The colony planets to which the women were sent are all planet Cs. "You see, the catch is that the colonists will have no basis on which to make comparisons. They've never seen women from Earth!" "I still don't like it. They _have_ seen women from other planets. After taking a look at the last shipload of females that left Earth, I'm still worried." Escher laughed. "That's because you _haven't_ seen some of the colony women, Mac. Tell me, what is the most cultured and socially up-to-date planet? Earth, of course. Now on what planet has husband-hunting and pleasing been developed into an all-out struggle with fine scientific techniques? Earth, again. The colonists don't have a chance. "When it comes to catching and pleasing the male, the girls from Earth have really had an education. They can take care of themselves. Don't worry about that. Who's to tell the colonists the girls aren't the cream of the crop, anyway? Not the girls themselves, certainly. And not us. I tell you they'll never find out, Mac." "You're positive that the colonists will be pleased with the women?" Escher hesitated. "Well, reasonably." He sounded a little wistful. He practiced his swing a few more times, barely missing the lamp on his desk. "I thought the advertising was rather clever, too. They'll feel a great obligation to us for sending them 'Earth's Fairest Daughters.' Be good for strengthening the ties to the mother planet." MacDonald looked somewhat happier.