The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-04-30

| The final lecture in the course on
Household Economics" under the aus
| pices of the Rhode Island Association of
| Collegiate Alumnae was given before a
| cultivated audience i'm the lecture room
terday afternoon.
The speaker was Mrs. Mary Roberts
Smith associate professor of sociology
and sanitation in the Leland Stanford
university of California, and her subject,
Household Financiering.
Mrs. Smith proved herself charming
speaker and the lecture was intensely
appreciated by those present. many of
whom were heard 10 say at its close
What an excellent thing II would have
been If all the homekeepers of this city
could have heard her"
Broadly speaking there are two great
divisions of economic activity. viz, ::
Production and consumption.
Production was necessarily the first
phase of economic activity in human So
ciety and resulted in increase of skill,
invention and the means of exchange and
distribution.
Production is more obvious than con-
sumption and consequently IS more easily
classified.
"In militant society men are of more
Importance than women and their ac-
tivites are chiefly studied With the
change TO modern industrialism the status
OF women has improved and her activities
have been more carefully observed.
THE PRIMITIVE WOMAN.
Among primitive people. perhaps, men
and women were almost equally pro-
ducers the men producing or bringing in
! the raw materials the women becoming
J the manufacturers of these raw materials
| into the necessities OF living. But with
| the development of civilization manu-
| facture Is taken out OF the house into
/ the factory and although some women
| follow II there In these times, yet pro-
| duction I'm its larger aspects has been
| relegated 10 men and consumption has
become the economic sphere OF woman.
''In the wake OF more varied and com
! pIex production the function OF consump-
! ton has become relatively complex and
/ requires more skill.
| Economists have been more concerned
| with the processes by which money is
| made than with what shall be done with
| H. The criterion Of expenditure has
been the degree of pleasure obtanable.
| but even the wealthy and the cultivated
! do not always know how TO get the
| NOSE pleasure from their resources.
prosperity may be increased In a va
! riety OF ways. First by choosing more
wisely, what shall be produced.
| second prosperity is increased by pro-
duclng more efficiently, either more arti-
cies at the same cost OF labor or a better
/ quality OF articles.
Third prosperity can be increases
| by using that which Is produced more
wisely and this share in the economic
betterment OF the household is almost
| wholly given over 20 women.
cor the money earned by the wage earn
ing members Of the family part goes
in the satisfaction of individual wants
but a larger par goes into the equipmert
and maintainanco of the home.
"The function of the housewife Is not
merely TO buy as much and as judiciously
as she can out OF the fund available but
10 make better combina ton OF those
articles out OF which a home Is made
The principles OF consumption involve the
development of higher taste and its ap'
plcation 20 the household
STILL a PRODUCER.
"The woman is still a producer wher
she cooks an egg. mcnds garment oi
arranges a room tastefully, but her more
important duty Is to determine what am
I now mhtn Tor the ntutHA ol Aht ldiliil
can be had out OF the family income.
"The rich American women who trave
abroad spending lavishly and dressing
extravagantly. whose household expendi'
lures are apparently matter OF no con-
sequence 10 them, are a source OF great
| astonishment to continental peoples. In
Europe far more attention is given thar
I'm the United states to the economical
| expenditures OF the family resources.
There can be no doubt that the pros
perity OF the family depends quite as
! much on the wise use Of income. az upon
the size OF that income. The first essen
tial OF good household management II that
the housewife should know definitely how
much there " Co spepd. Nothing is more
productive Of mental discomfort than the
habit which some husbands have Of dealine
out mouey to the wife at irregular times
and in indefinite amounts. IL destroys the
wife's self respect. IL places her I'm the
position Of an untrusted person before
her children, and it removes all incentive
10 thrift
| MOTIVE FOR DECEIT