The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-26

idea of the living problem. But why l should not the poor man desire to live like the we'll to do man, and why should not the well to do man aspire to some of the luxuries of the rich man? It is in the l line of such aims properly directed that l the betterment of all human conditions
 lies, and life will never be what it should, l till wages and incomes make due pro- I visions for this desire and need of man. kind to keep Up with the better scale of living, IS the progress of arts and inyen- | tions can never be too high if those rich | enough to control it can be humane 1 enough to give those of smaller means a
 fair chance to move on in it's path, and it may be that the inspired millionaire will come to an appreciation of this that l will bring a happy solution of the high l cost of living problem which the mot afraid-towork" housewife can never solve
 l. is a significant feature of the present
 condition of the matter that, whether she | is to blame or not the housewife is the main victim of the increased cost of living and the effort of her own sex to ad- just the wage question to it has but
 added to her discontinue in all but the homes of the rich. While the wages in mans world are still insufficient for the requirements of good living, the price of domestic service even where the best living is assured the help, has put the
 servant problem beyond the reach of or
 dinary households and fighting the n- creased cost of living is verify a matter of acquiring the ''not-afraid- to-work hab- it' for the overburdened housewife So | there it is that, with all her advanced life and opportunities woman is still the main victim of the wrongs and abuses
 attending the old war between labor and capital, and where once her husbands income might have enabled her to keep a | 1of f1n inn in hat irn fe- ,1 lowed to meet the higher price of maids
 as of every other necessity for true liv- ing.
 Pinching Not Real Life
 | An existence that must give itself to | 'fnchng and pinching," to say nothing Of endless cooking and cleaning to keep the family expenditures within the limits of the family income, can never be called
 real life for any intellectual being, how
 ever the modern Solomons may try to commend it to the modern houselSeeper in this wild struggle with the high cost
 of living. The ancient Solomon made no such blunders. For though looking well
 to the ways of her household" is held high virtue in his ideal woman, it does
 not preclude clothing herself in silk and purple and adorning her home with coverings of tapestry" To watch every crook and corner, and weigh every eX- penditure of the household merely to keep heI self out of bankruptcy is quite a diff ferent matter, and that is really where
 the foolishness of preaching economy to housewives, instead of fair dealing to em- ployers and captains of industry, comes
 in. To say that the increased prices which are "a serious menace" to the very na- tior's existence. are yet "a blessing to
 woman in calling out her best powers to | combat them is about like saying, with all old time theologian, that God made
 the heather that good mlssronaries might get to heaven by converting them. bX- | travagance may be a national vice, and
 wastefulness is always vulgar. To over- come these in the nations life and char
 acter may be a work worthy of the best powers of man or woman But it will
 never be done by scrimping in the kitchen and larder, and all those pickaninny de-
 vices for trying to save at the spigot what is let out at the bung, which the explor- ers in domestic fields are bringing for ward.
 Cutting Does Not Help
 | Even the willingness of men to help in the demand for economy and cut down on cigars and tobacco, clubs and sports, will not put the home on the desired footing, and, indeed. if it affects all men as it does some, will rather upset it's footing altogether. It is well, no doubt, for them 10 awaken to sense of the one sided economy which an indulgence in these luXuTleS may lBFOW upon d Wllt who tries to live within the limits of what remains of their income. But here, as elsewhere, to increase the income in- stead of decreasing the pleasures of life, is more in the line of flashing insights" of- Soyes, who declared the highest value of innocent pleasures and luxu- ries in the monotonous round of life. To be sure. when a man spends "$20 a
 mcnth on cigars" and "reproaches his wife for spending 10 cents in a summer on lee cream" it may be time for an equalzing principle of economy to lay hold of the household and protect wife who seem so peculiarly incapable of pro- tecting herself As a rule, however, the American husband is not of that type. It may be true. as one frank husband ad- mits, that 8 woman dispenses with lux ures much more readily than man when
 once her eyes are opened to the need. But 1t fs also true that a man will make heroic efforts, and even sink himself in debt, to keep wife from any knowledge of that lneed. or any sacrifice of the luxuries to which she has become accustomed. This may be a mistake which the better un- derstanding of married life and it's true equalities will eventually remedy, but at least 1t shows character in man that makes his share in the suffering entaled by high prices and low incomes under | existing conditions not so far behind l womans. Unquestionably. too, it rele- gates such cases of one sided economy, l as the ice cream and cigar story presents, to grade of life and society that re- spectable Americans seldom encounter.
 Even 10 put his shoulder to the wheel in