The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-30
The Wife's Allowance.

AS soon as the world was fairly eunched upon its career there was a ,eed for trade Or barter. This of course neceSsitated some medium of ,xchange-the coinage of money imme- liately followed the discovery of mal- eability of metals; and as soon as money was invented, there arose the teed of one of the great problems of ,arried life-the wife's allowance. The ubject is, Of course, an old one It lad its beginning in the dawn of civ lization, as soon as money existed. At the first the solution was simple. Tor the wife being little more than a Have. had no allowance at all. Then gradually, IS the position of woman reached a higher plane, the question became involved; by the eighteenth century 1t was evident; in the nine teenth 1t was prominent; in the twen- iieth 1t Is dominant. Should the wife nave an allowance absolutely definite. Should this be exactly equal to her husbands share? Does she earn the equal share?
 Tn the first place 1t Is universally ad- mitted that the wife must have some sort of allowance It is her place to assume charge of the commissary de- partment: and 1t will add greatly to the common advantage If she person. ally pays the bills which she person.
 
 nave more respect for the instructions If woman who pays her own bi1ls- she will be more of an active person. ality to them, and receive better att tenticn and better service. Then she has her own individual purchases to make-for these she must pay either out of her allowance, or with money begged especially for the purpose. We say. begged advisedly; and there is no single thing more annoying or hu- initiating to a woman than to be com pelled to ask again and again for small amounts with which to make , those numerous small purchases so dear to the feminine heart. There must be an allowance by all means the great question concerns its propor- ton to the family income.
 If that income Is divided into two equal shares the husband and the fam fly undergo some difficulty. The wife may out of her half pay for SUD- plies. the husband for rent; yet the portions remaining from each share are unequally divided in that the hus- band should have a larger amount which he might deposit in a bank. or invest for the common good. The wife's allowance should be of suffi- cient size to pay for supplies and her personal needs. The husband should certainly care for the greater amount if he is an employee, to save it; if he m DuSlneSS TOT nlIQS6H, apply II towards further success.
 The wife has a perfect right to treat her allowance as a salary. Her hus- bands work Is away from home to be sure. but 1t cannot possibly in drudg- cry and monotony approach her daily routine She is as much a wage earner as Is her husband: if she actu- ally does the housework she is accom- plishing what an outside servant would be paid for doing. While the man Is captain Of the craft she is act ing as common sailor-but in it's way her labor Is precisely as highly skill si as that of her husband. She is therefore, entitled to an absolutely definite salary-a certain percentage oi her husbands income. which she should use for herself after the house held necessities are paid for In this way she will feel the satisfaction ot having actually earned her money satisfaction which never goes with money doled out at irregular intervals by a careless husband. Her satisfac- ton will show itself by a greater in terest in household management-aI economy in one department will meaT actual money in her pocket, and that is another satisfaction. Give the wife her own income. and avert one .ianger which has made countless mar cd lives wretched. Ninety-nine pel rent- of the worlds troubles are caus- ef by money matters.
 The House wife.