Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-31

~ MEEA hNNttAAN NAAA ~-@N -
SS829 fesses his s%elfishness in a let
ter to the New York Independent. Let
us be honest with ourselves" he SAYS.
There are fewer marriages and fewer
hon es not because we are materially worse
off than our fathers, but because we are
not satisfied with what they were salts
fled. our tastes have grown out OF pro-
portion to our salaries, and he who dances
should pay tho fiddler and not complain"
Contrasting the selfishness he represents
with the devotion and home spirit Of his
father the writer draws his self-accusing
picture:
II was one of q family Of four and my
father earned $50 per month. For the same
Ntade OF work I I'm now earning S10O per
month. When my father bought a suit OF
clothes the price he paid was SIS. AS my
monthly wages are 662s per cent above that
of my father, this would warrant me in
the purchase OF a suit OF clothes that
would cost SIS, and without a doubt this
suit I am able to purchase for SIS is as
good or even better than the suit that he
purchased for his S15. But no; the suit Of
clothes that 1 purchased cost $5, or, in
other words, I have paid $50 to satisfy my
taste or vanity. whichever you will.
Then in the matter of theaters. NY
father went to a theater three or four
times a year; I go as many times in a
month. In this respect my expenditures
are twelve times as great as those Of my
. father. When he smoked he smoked a
I pipe; I smoke cork-tipped cigarettes that
' cost a cent apiece.
"As a young man, of his $50 a month
there was perhaps $50 to pay for living ex-
penses, leaving him $50 which he might
save or spend TO satisfy his tastes or pleas
are. OF my salary there is about $50 that
] pay for living expenses, and the balance
of $50 I may save or spend as I see fit.
lie saved the most of his $50 and 1 spend
most of my $50.
He had the foresight TO save for a fu-
ture day when he would need his money;
/, like many others, have not the same
foresight. and some day I shall rue It.
Perhaps then I shall look for some out
side cause to which to lay the blame,
without examining myself at all. 1t is
not easy to economize, and we OF the
present day find it hard to deny ourselves
things that we want, and as we earn more
money than our fathers we are very apt
20 give in to our temptations rather than
to go through the moral struggle to deny
ourselves the things that our better judg-
ment tells us we should. When the time
Of marriage came to our fathers they had
trained themselves in the matter Of econ
omics, and when the extra expense came.
which are sure TO come with matrlmony,
they were better able to meet them, as
they had had this training.
81 am now a little over 80 years Of age
and for the last ten years I have not been
out Of employment, and my salary during
that time has been over $1,000 a year. /
have never married; not because l do not
love home life. but rather because I do
) not care to run the risk. What risk? ]
am afraid that I would not be happy and
God at least intended that his children
should be happy. Then there is not only
the risk that l would not be happy my
self. but also the risk that the woman
that / would marry would not be happy,
and that would be the greatest risk OF
Ill.
Look about you among the young mar
ried people and what will you find? How
many of the wives of today are doing theil
own h~ousework? How many of our moth
ers had hired help? Many of the young
husbands are not able to economic AND
manage the affairs Ct the family as theii
fathers have been able TO do before them
both wives and husbands not having tina
religious horror Of debt that their fore
fathers and mothers had; living beyonC
their means, purchasing things they coulC
easily do without, not knowing when the!
will be able to pay for them"