The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-08-09
RIGHTS OF WIVES.

Mrs. William Todd Helmuth, former
President of Sorosis, has taken up the
cudgel in behalf of the rights OF
wives to a liberal part of their hus
bands incomes. 'The married wo
man has a right to certain proper.
tion of her husbands money" she de-
clares. when he gives IL to her he is
not granting her a privilege, but &C.
knowledging claim.
'The amount that should come to
the wife must, of course, be decided
by circumstances. Perhaps it may
seem best that the housekeeping bills
should come to him-although, as a
rule, it is wiser to make an allowance
for household expenses and let the
wife do the disbursing of the funds.
Still, she may yield that point if it
seems expedient.
'The wife may even, under some
conditions, be willing to have her ac-
counts for dress settled by her hus.
bands check, though this is seldom
eXpedient. The woman who has a
dress allowance and feels she must
keep within it is far less likely to run
who Is not entirely clear as to how
much may go for chiffons. The very
uncertainty is trying in more ways
than one.
Though the husband may pay the
butcher and grocer, the milliner and
the dressmaker, he should not run
into the blunder of fancying that his
wife has no call for any money be-
yond the occasional dime or quarter
he grants her for carfare. There Is
convincing testimony that the major
ity of women have to ask their hus-
bands for spending money or hypothe-
cate the household accounts in order
to get it:
know one ideal husband who has
never in a married life of thirty years
obliged his wife to go to him for
There is certain drawer in
her desk where he places what he can
afford to let her have every week. The
drawer Is never allowed to get empty.
he never asks her to &C.
count for a cent of it. That man
should have a halo for his daily wear.
Plenty of other husbands make a
household allowance; or even dress
allowance, to their wives. But many
more dole out what they think will
be needed and apparently imagine
that their wives can get what change
they need in some mysterious, unex-
planned fashion; without having re-
sort to the ordinary money-making
means:
If women were not long-suffering
creatures there would have been an
revolt long ago. No man
has a right to submit his wife to the
humiliation she must undergo when
she is obliged to decline to make small
in church or club be-
cause she has not the ready money.
She may have an account in half a
iozen shops: Her clothing may be the
envy Of her friends; her house may be
inely appointed, but when it comes to
! call for d chance quarter or half dol
ar she has not the cash In hand.
Let the husband, at any rate, give
he wife a chance to prove whether
or not she Is to be trusted with
money. Should she show herself un.
tilted to handle it is is time enough
'or him to withdraw her allowance
md treat her as he would child of
line or ten. But there are few wo-
nen who are unworthy of having the
charge of their own spending money.
As rule, they are quite as careful as
heir husbands in the matter of small
expenses and have a horror Of bills
hat is often unknown to the lords of
.reation.-Chicago Chronicle.