The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-01-02
In WOMAN'S BEHALF.
WOMEN AS FINANCIERS.
Their Peculiar and Excellent Qualifica
tions for This Particular Work.


will be an inestimable advantage to
women when they come to take that
place in the larger affairs Of the world.
to which they shall be ultimately called.
They have been accustomed, with few
exceptions, to earn small wages, and to
live on small salaries-those who sup
port themselves.
1t requires immense patience and in
genuity, and success here is as much a
triumph as when genius discovers some
new application of force destined to nit
igate the drudgery of daily toll The
woman clerk receiving 80 week lives
decently and even comfortably, and, in
the end. probably gets more solid and
permanent good out of life than her
masculine co-laborer who earns twice as
much. 1t is an advantage, to begin
with, that she has no fancy for expen-
sive indulgence, like smoking and
drinking and card-playing, and if she is
forced to do her own mending and wash
ing, after business hours. her independ-
ence, integrity and her moral cleanli-
ness are a source of consolation and self
ing, (prepare her own meals, and though
the expenditure be trifiing, yet her daily
food is appetizing and dainty beyond
any thing possible TO the habitue Of the
restaurant or the second-rate boarding
house.
She has cultivated, with this knowledge
of living, faculty for keeping herself
1oI he
by the exercise of taste in selection and
the ability to perceive and avail herself
of what she knows is "a bargain"
Then she knows how to keep what she
gets in good order by little deftrepair-
ing and making over, which a man can
never do, however skillful he may be
When the mechanics coat begins to
fray out along the edges and the lining
drops into holes he is helpless victim
to wear and tear. He sees himself grow
ing shabbier day by day, and knows of
no remedy. But the clever little stenog-
rapher or milliner whips out her needle
and thimble, and in half an hour makes
the old gown just as presentable as ever.
The penny thus earned is dropped into
lHc UdHh, W
sum accumulated by similar means
Many women-elder sisters or widows
with children, have educated families,
bought and paid for homes, and have
provided competence for old age by
just such means. Women who have
married men with small incomes have
proved themselves equal to even greater
l.. 4
that all they have and all that they are
they owe to the careful, provident,
economizing wife, who enables him to
have comforts unknown to his bachelor
hood, and who. at the same time, sees
that there is a balance at the bank, and
that the payments on the home are reg
ularly met until the last dollar Is paid.
This genius for economy, which Is econ
omy allied to comfort and responsibility,
is the peculiar gift of women. Men do
not possess it. They must have an i'm
mense amount of material with which to
carry out their plans and leave margin
for waste and experiment
1t is this faculty which the woman
citizen will apply to those departments
of the government which, in time will be
wholly turned over to her.
In that day superfuous employees will
not be appointed to places they are in
capable of filling for political ends
There will be general wedding out OF
the incompetent and unnecessary. In
that millennium, which will dawn in the
next quarter Of a century, we will have
clean streets, proper drainage, penal
and benevolent institutions taken out
of politics, the cost of maintaing them
cut down one-third, and the work done,
and properly done, for which public en-
ployes are paid. All this will result be-
cause, taking their training into con-
sideration, women can manage in no
other way. This is not mere assertion.
There are thousands of illustrations to
be had everywhere to-day. 1t is only
necessary to look at the institutions
over which women have unhampered
control. There are never any official
investigation with sustained charges of
corruption and incompetency.
The money women raise and expend
annually in church work and club work
affords another illustration. 1t will ag-
gregate millions of dollars all accumu-
lated by the needle, by cooking, by dec
grafton work, and other small means, so
Improbable. considered in the abstract,
that men would regard them wholly I'M
practicable. Yet the funds so slowly
and perseveringly increased grow amaz-
inglY and are expended in a manner cor
respondingly careful and thoroughly
we'll considered. And here particularly
is where women have had tho training
that has given them comprehension of
the real value Of money and it is here
that they have cultivated their wisdom
and forethought in the graver matter of
xpenditure.-ChicaSo Inter Ocean.