The San Francisco call., 1904-02-18
Making Ends Meet.
BY CHARLES FREDERIC Goss. D. ]

A1oRAEfENts 4tN1 Dl JuStRn d 1oGNitS-f
I should say (off hand) that one-half
Of all the troubles OF matrimony are
matters Of money. The problem of
making ends meet gets onto human
nerves" It's solution is a stern and
imperiOus necessity that haunts us day
and night. 1t can never be disposed OF
for good and all, but recurs to-day with
the same horrible complexities as yes
terday and will come back to us to-
morrow lust as grimly.
! have heard OF a lunatic in an in
sane asylum who wanders around the
grounds trying to bring the two ends
of a rubber band together around the
trunks Of the trees. The poor fellow
had gone crazy trying to make ends
meet" And wasn't it quite enough TO
drive him wild? Think of the genius
and the agony that you yourself have
put into the effort and then multiply
this by the numbers OF individuals in
your community. and you will form
some conception of the strain that is
bearing on the nerves of the human
race.
There are four or five combinations
which affect the success or failure OF
people to make ends meet.
A woman is extravagant. when a
man is economical. (The agent of the
mortgage company says that this is not
the case in most Of the homes of the
poor and 10 this the superintendent OF
a great insurance company agreed. II
the men would give their wages to theiy
wives affairs would be greatly inn
proved they think. Probably in the
better -to-do classes, where women are
treated as darlings rather than help
meets it is differently
A man is extravagant when the wo-
man is economical.
Both are thrifty-and they become
misers.
Both are spendthrifts-and they go to
ruin.
Now, measure, if you can, the irrita-
tions Of such possible relationships, A
man tolls and moils" and sees his
hard-earned money scattered like chaff
before the wind. BY and by he gets
( sensitive. and then-morose. What do
they care for me2 All they value me
for is to earn money for them to spend
I may wear myself out and drop in my
harness-and their only feeling will be
one Of Indignation" he says to himself
until love dies in his heart
Or woman who longs for the noble
life that only thrift can procure, sees
her husband frittering away his money
on cigars, or dropping it into slot ma
chimes. while she and the children have
scant share OF the very necessities OF
life. No wonder she broods over it until
she becomes embitteredi
Repr0aches begin TO be heard Quar-
reling follows. Then comes separation
or the divorce court.
I Now, this is what I have to say. II
/ people want happy homes they must
! arrive at a mutual agreement about the
use of money. There are certain in
exorable laws which they break at Their
peril. Along the path of obedience tc
! these laws, and along that path alone
they may travel to the goal Of domestic
J felicity.
/. We must live within our incomes
?. We must save something fol
/ emergencies.
3. We must agree absolutely as to the
/ objects of expenditure
4. Neither one Of US may indulge ir
a purely selfish luxury.
5. Whoever handles the money ought
/ to give the other an allowance"
Perhaps the last is not the least, fol-
nothing in the world so belittles and
I degrades a grown-up person as to keeI
asking for little driblets of mony. The
man who does not give his wife ar
allowance does her a gross injustice
and dwarfs his own soul. She never
ought to have to beg. He never ought
I TO question her honesty or judgment. II
takes a saint not TO become mean-ii
4 he doles out money to his wife as il
she were a dependent. Such a woman
summoned uD her courage one day and
asked her husband if he wouldn't take
her TO the theater with him. His eyes
! widened, and he replied in tones of sol.
/ emn Indignation: Don't / always tel
you what I've seen and heard when
come homer What more do you want p
! A man ought to be a gentleman-tc
! be married. Nothing is more imperative
and nothing more difficult than for hus-
bands and wives TO arrive at this per-
( feet understanding about the use OF
their income. l have known of q
woman whose heart was broken into
little bits because her husband told her
I that she was not saving" She con-
+ founded the word saving" with econ
omy," and felt insulted. She was eco
nomical, but not saving. Economy
makes money go a long way, but "sav-
ing" lands il in the bank. Economy
1 is good, but il is saving" that turns
rainy days to sunshine. Women are
likely to be economical and not saving
men to be saving and not economical
Hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: No home will be happy where
money is not expended wisely.
Worth Repeating.