The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BURE AU-
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. D. c.
A WOMAN AND HER MONEY.
d. G

A WOMAN AND HER MONEY.
Washington, D. c., Nov. 19.-There
is a young woman supporting herself
on salary of s1,40O year in one of
the government departments here who.
/ a few months ago, enjoyed an income
of $1,000 a year without working.
Her sudden jump from the leisure
| class to that of the workers does not
seem to have depressed her; she
makes ne wall and blames only her
self. But she does want other women
to hear her story, and take to heart
the moral thereof: which is that a
woman and her money are often soon
parted for the simple reason that
women either scorn or neglect to learn
anything about business.
That is not q new idea. A recent
notorious murder case brought to light
some of the methods by which wealthy
| women are legally robbed. But the
point is that they go right on being
robbed. Thousands of them today are
at the mercy of lawyers and other
agents to whom they have trustingly
given full power over their wealth.
Take the case of this girl, who will
be called Jane. She wanted to go to
France and do relief work. She called
on the head of the business firm that
handled her affairs the day before she
left.
81 wouldn't know anything more
| about bonds and mortgages over here
than over there" she told him. My
signatures? Oh, to be sure! But isn't
there a power of attorney or some
| thing that would take care of that. :"
Three years later she was caring
for eight little refugees and had near
| ly succeeded in losing her American
| accent. One afternoon she went back
to her pension to find her mother in
| tears and neat legal document on
dial business terms that certain in
vestments had turned out badly and
That she had no more money.
RMS is James story, as she tod 1t
| the other day, sitting before a highly
polished oak desk in one of the new
| war buildings here. Her good looks
are of the sturdy type; it was difficult
to place her in the role of the senti-
| mental. trustful heroine who per-
J mitted an INSCRIPTIONS business man
| to divest her of her worldly goods.
| 81 want you to write my story"
said Jane determinedly, land make me
| look just as silly as possible. was
supposed to be we'll educated Amer
lean girl. Yet 1 had simply turned my
| s5,OOO year over to a man out of
sheer stupidity. I do not even claim
| that it was a misplaced trust. There
| was no reason why I should have
trusted the man particularly. I simp
| ly did not realize what 7 was doing
when 1 signed that power of attorney.
"Since this has happened to me I
| have heard of many other women who
| have lost their fortunes thru the same
sort of business ignorance. A friend
of mine who is Wall street broker
| can tell you Of hundreds Of such cases.
| Mrs. Hopkins of the government en-
ployment bureau here, who got me
this job. can tell you of'many more. I
think that a business education for
women should be compulsory, and
| that no man should leave his estate
| in the hands of a woman who cannot
manage it. The feminine attitude of
trustfuI ignorance may be very ro-
mantle, but this is not a romantic
world. If women are ever to achieve
economic equality with men, it will
be thru the assiduous cultivation of
| business sense"
| An interview with Mrs Grace
| Porter Hopkins, chairman Of the gov
| eminent employment service here in
| Washington revealed that she had the
same viewpoint. Mrs. Hopkins has
not only been at the head of this
service for the past three years, but
| she has started several other govern
| ment employment bureaus In other
! cities She has found jobs for thou
sands of women. and about every type
| of human has passed thru her office.
To use Mrs. Hopkins's own words, her
business is "to find round pegs for
round holes" sometimes" she says.
sit takes only little whiting to make
the peg fit; sometimes it requires an
axe"
.The value of business training for
women" says. Mrs. Hopkins, cannot
| be overestimated." Life is a business
in which every human being has his
value, but he should know what that
value is. 1t is this knowledge which
women lack. We have women con-
stantly coming in here who demand
salaries of s1.400' a year as their
natural right when they actually are
many, on the other hand, who under
estimate their abilities and get put in
the wrong places"
Mrs. Hopkins is a strong adherent
| of that venerable and much esteemed
| institution-the home. The home, she
believes. is the foundation of the ma
ton. But she also believes that in
order to run the home efficiently and
get the most out of it, woman should
have business training and. If possible,
business experience. A woman must
prove her efficiency before she is per-
mitte1 to buy goods for a department
store. but any unframed, inexperf-
enced woman is supposed to have the
ability to buy goods for her family.
Women still shrug at the word "sys-
homes still lack a budget system. 1t
is this Indifference to the principles
of business which makes a woman
such an easy prey for the unscrupu-
lous.
Not long ago, a midd1e-aged woman
drifted into Mrs. HoplSins's office in
search of a job. She was well-dressed
but in the course of the interview she
explained that the clothes she had on
I, CT, lao =,
pawned everything else, and she was
now penni1ess. Yet in her youth this
woman had been a wealthy belle whose
social activities and photographs had