Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-04-27

L>LiMITI.D CREDIT. BLI LiT1Ii
CASH.

hlen certainly have occasional
sparks Of generosity. and in the
praise which i; lavished on American
women they have kindly if not ig
nOrantly forgotten to mention the
exceptionally good conditions under
which American women exist 1t Is
not i'll the astonishing liberty which
they enjoy. for paradoXical a. ii may
seem French women that is. French
married women have all equality i'll
society and in the law which j. be-
yond that allowed their American
sisters. but in the nice adjustment Of
their privileges Miss Kate Field,
Miss Emily Faithful, and innumDr-
able others have testified that the
wife of the American laborer is Il bet
ter housewife than the wife of any
workingman; that she is better
! tinancicr than other women of her
class elsewhere. To lay aside the
sentimental aspect of the question,
the atmosphere of respect and appre
citation III which an American woman
lives. and to take the most practical.
If not sor,li,i view Of it. the spending
of money. it will be- seen that Amer
lean women knew how to spend
money more ;udiciously than any
other women. She IL intrusted with
Il much greater proportion of her
husbands's income. and consequently
she is not a child i'll the use of
money. In France. i'll the bourgeois,
CLASSES, the wife has an absolute
equality with the husband, and i'll
deed a greater domestic influence. aS
| the French woman's business instinct
Is. as Il rule, superior to the French
mans. The statistics of business
failures i'll Paris show a much larger
percentage of men. allowing fully for
the greater number of shops kept hy
men. Women are conceded to be
more prudent than men when they
are prudent at1all In France. even
when the proprietor of shop is &C
counted wealthy, madame sits at the
bookkcepers desk. in a.fauitlees toilet,
anl Is generally the most etlicicn.
member Of the firm. Shc keeps a
sharp lookout on monsieur as regards
cigars and theatcr tickets. and takes
principally upon herself the task Of
providing Thcrrsc and Marie with
dots. and Jean and Adolphe a nest
egg for d business venture. In the
upper classes sTngularity is OBJ
served that is cO;.lmon'also with Eng
lish women of rank. French women
of the better class have unlimited
credit, but little cash. Money is
power. and the French and English
husbands appear to realize it and to
keep their wives hands off of it very
successfully. The privilege of buy
ing 500 frame costume is nothing
to the actual possession of 500 francs.
Then comes in the servitude of the
relationships the considering the
opinions of the uncles and aunts.
and cousins on both sides n tyranny
to which, no American man ~ woman
of seflse would submit for day. 4
close Investigation of French society
shows that the liberty Of
French married woman is more ap-
parent than real In the higher
classes it is the liberty of a child to
buy toys, and in the lower classes
the liberty of doing the best part of
the work. In England something of
the same nature is seen. An English
woman little removed from the
class where wife beating DIS con
sidered ii trivial affair is an upper
servant Still higher up she is. held
in bondage to her maid and house
keeper and" her establishment; and
here comes in the wonderful help
lessness of English woinen-in regard
to their children. They have no
Vol 20 in the education: Of their sons
or daughters any more than they
have. in regard to the number of
servants they shall keep, An Ameri-
can mother; wishing to- give "a son Of
daughter some extra advantages.
quietly arranges it. and announces
that She will keep one servant less.
or practice some other form of econ
omy which is acquiesced in as a
matter of course But. LETT an Eng
lish woman suggest such a thing!
She will.fmttit is master, not mistress
that settles the economies Of the es-
tablishment. The bill system exists
in all its pristine beauty among Eng
lish women of.rank. When English
women are extravagant they are the
most violently extravagaIt women in
the world. The average share of an
English woman ont of her husbands
income would appear ..iidiculously
small to an American woman, and
occasionally resenting the amount
spent on keeping up family places,
on hobbies of various. kinds, on
yachts and grouse moors, ON armor
and brio a-brac, they launch out and
contract even more debts. The
tradesmen. especially in London,
understand tins credit system per
fectly. The courts have decided.
owing to the frequency OF such cases,
exactly how much and how far a
husband is liable for his wife's debts,
and the tradesman takes'h his own risks
and makes his own profit In Ger
many. woman's lot is slavery to
thalers and pfennigs The stingi-
hess of German husbands is rrovcr-
bial. \ German woman scarcely buys
her own hair-pins, so rigidly is she
held in the matter of money Nat
urally, when she has money She fools
it away--and thus furnishes
specious argument against her hay.
ing any more. In Italy something
like the condition of things in France
prevails with this addition, that in
Continental Europe wife beating is
common in all ciasses-and. as an
instance. Nine Adelina Patti was
thought to be hypercritical in object
ing to little coniugal correction
from the Marquis de Canx.
If American women realized the