The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1878-03-02
SELECTED MATTER.
WOMEN AND MONEY.

An lnCeSSant taunt OF men IS that WO-
men dom know, and never can be taught,
any thing about money. The former
part of the statement may be fact as
respects many women but the latter
part, men have no authority for making,
because they scarcely ever attempt to be
teachers. The dense and irremediable
financial ignorance of women is usually
a foregone conclusion it is so univer-
sally taken for granted that hardly any
body thinks of questioning it. Men
mention it as a self evident truth, be-
cause they have always heard it SO men,
toned, and will continue to affirm it,
for generations yet to come, for no bet
ter reason. If women have no clear
ideas of money, it is simply because
every effort is made to preclude them
from any and all intelligent acquaintance
with the subject. Theyunderstand that
money has power of purchase ; they are
aware, most of them by severe expert
ence, that it is very hard to get o.. e.,I
IncrG JIIcII IIIIUIufdIIUn CIIuS. hey
would like to increase their small stock
of knowledge, and they often try to.
But they can't. To all questions the
masculine reply is, "Oh you can't COM
prehend it," and SO the matter is dis
missed.
Men seem to hold that financial knowl-
edge of every sort must be intuitive, if
it exist at all in the feminine mind, since
it never can be put there by any exter-
nal means. They have to learn what
ever they acquire for themselves they
are generally as ignorant of money be-
fore beginning practical life as any wo-
man can be but they never suspect that
instruction of experience would do her
any good. If they should fully explain
to her the mystery of dollars and cents,
she would be as wise as they; but they
would be obliged to forego their beloved
generalization. They appear to believe
that any degree of monetary understand
ing would unsex her, and they are per-
petually Jealous to prevent her from
gaining it.
Nevertheless, they like to complain of
her extravaganza, or at least to laugh at
her incapaCity to estimate values, Won
dering that she should be SO oignorant of
what they have taken the greatest pains
to withhold from her. They are con-
stantly wishing that she knew how to use
money, though they are resolved that
she shall never have any enlightenment
from them. They are like the overcau-
tious parents who want their boys to
swim, but won't allow them to 60 near
the water.
1t is the duty of every man, especial
ly if he be of moderate means, to tell
his wife or daughters about his pecuni-
ary affairs--what he has, the amount of
his income, and his capacity for earning.
They have a right to his business conf
dence, and if they should get it, there
would be far less room for domestic mis-
understanding and discord. He has no
ground for considering them imprudent
or reckless ofexpenditure when he keeps
them in entire financial darkness. They
have no means of Judging whether they
can spend with prudence one dollar or
a hundred for dollars are distractions,
have no definite meaning. Their no
tions are those ofchildren they marval
why banks should issue s. notes when
they can issue S5o's, as they suppose,
with no more responsibility. They are
perplexed to comprehend why their hus-
bands or fathers should give them ten
dollars when they ask for forty. 1t is
either caprice or downright meanneSS,
they are led to conclude, and they are
permitted to remain in the delusion.
If they inquire why they can't have
this or that, they are told again that they
can not, and then are treated toa num-
Der of cabalistic phrases touching notes
to meet in bank, decline in breadstuffs,
depreciation of stock, or panic in Wall
street, which would be quite as intelligi-
BILE were they uttered in Chaldaic.-
Should theyrequest an explanation of the
phrases, they are snubbed with the re-
mark, "Women never can understand
business" and left with the impression
that what they have heard day after day
for years must contain some truth.
Generally money is eitherdoled out to
women, or given to them in careless
lavish way, as if no account were made
of it-this is very rare, however--so that
they have no sense ofresponsibility from
its possession. Men do not, as a rule,
let their wives and daughters have mon
ey in manner that will produce its in