The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-03-20
MONEY RIGHTS.

The Housewives Eight to m Equal Share
ofthc Income.
A year or two bGfore | was married,
writes Zenas Dane, in Union Signal,
boarded one winter with very excel.
lent family in Western village. The
husband and father was good man, but
he had what his wife called his ''touchy
points," and, good and honest man
though he was. some Of these ''tonchy
points" were lifelong source of actual
sorrow to his wife. who was good and
faithful wife and mother, tidy. thrifty,
and ever watchful of the common inter-
ests of the family. She was economical
to the last degree. and most Industrious.
She seemed to me to be model wife.
Her husband thought SO, too, and would
have an-rily resented any imputation
TO the contrary. lie taught his children
to honor and love their mother, although
failing, as it seemed to me. in manifest
ing love and honor for her himself at all
times: but these times were only when
his TOUGHEST point" had been pressed
upon.
One day accidentally heard the wife
say to her eldest daughter: NO, dear,
can not ask your father for money for q
new hat for you. You know how very
touchy he Is on that point sometimes
lie awake half the night trying to de-
wise some method Of scrimping or saw
ing SO that l need not say the word
money to your father. Nothing hurts
him SO m,rh as to be asked for little
money. | dread 10 LulnK uf asking him
for any thing
time, and | made a solemn VOW that she
should have purse of her own. and that
it should never go empty ii had any
thing to put in it. We have now been
married six years, and have faithfully
adhered to that resolution. And there
is no fixed sum" about it. Household
expenses vary at different seasons of the
year and under various circumstances.
Ten dollars will, perhaps, cover all ex-
penses one week, and the next may be a
canning" or company" week, and
several extra dollars will be required.
In any case. | resent the idea that my
wife is mere pensioner on my bounty:
reject the imputation that she has not
common sense enough to know the value
Of money. and dare not be trusted with
it. I arr not woman's RICHTER" in the
popular sense of the term, but thank
tho Lord that am man enough to rec
oynize the fact that my wife, as my wife
and the mother Of my children, has
rights, money-spending rights. that !
have no business interfering with.
Every good wife should have this RICH,
as royal marriage prerogative. l re.
gard Mrs. Dane as an equal partner in
the contract under which we became q
firm for life. We share profits and losses
alike. There is one money drawer te
which we both have free access. ] have
not the inclination or the right to limi,
my wife in her daily expenditures sc
long as those expenditures are within
reason. Most wives and mothers hon
cst'y earn all they spend. A woman
who does her duty as wife
and mother earns more than money car
pay for. 1t must be very humiliating tt
woman to have to humblv and trem
blingly ask her husband for the money
she must have for her actual daily ex
pcnses Any sensitive, womanly woman
must feel it something of a degradation
to have to thus ask or even coax fo
money given grudgingly and complain
ingly at last.
Women are often compelled to prac
tice mean. niggardly, cruel economy II
order to make their expenses come with
in the limit fixed by memorable hus.
bands. who would furiously resent an,
interference with their own expend
itures.
believe that this simple question o
tho vines allowance has wrecked thu
happiness of many household. Mel
arc SO often blind and unfeeling and un
reasonable in this matter. The majorit,
OF women can safely be trusted. Let tn.
husbands OF wives thus worthy trus
them and this trust will not often b,
abused.
My own personal experience has beer
that money is safer with women thai
with men. Most women can beat mai
''all to pieces" making bargain. ant
the marketmen and grocers seldom &c
ahead of them, whereas most men ar
careless purchasers
THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION
The Barrier of Sex Gradually Giving Wa
/ to the Pressure of Reason and Justice.
! VIM. L. Stead, who was chiefly instru