The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-06
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer
The Allowance Question.

II think that the reason that men
object to making their wives an allow
ance," said the second woman, ..is be-
cause they are welded to the theory
that women are different from men,
and you can't convince them, to save
your life, that it's not true, and that
women feel and think just as men feel
and think.
"A man would rather die than be
dependent on anyone else. H would
rather starve and go in rags than ask
even the most indulgent father for
enough money to buy every meal%he
ate and every garment he wores but
he can't understand that women have
exactly the same reaction towards de-
pendence, and that every time wife
has to go to her husband for car fare.
or cajole him into buying her a new
hat, she is Inundated into the dust"
The reason that a great many men
refuse to give their wives an allow
ance," said the third woman, lis be-
cause they are afraid their wives will
spend some of it in helping their own
families. 1 know cases like that where
women who dress like fashion plates,
and who roll around in limousines, and
give costly entertainments, have liter
ally not one dollar of their own that
they can give to their starving old
>. L
such husbands to buy two hundred
dollar gowns, wear them once, and
then sell them for twenty-five dollars
to get little cash that they could
give to some needy relative.
And 1 didn't blame them. These
husbands forget that a woman who
performs all the duties of wife, and
mother. and housekeeper earns a fair
share of the family income, and has
right to do with it what she pleases.
The very man who would be horri-
fled at the thought of letting his own
mother want while he had plenty will
resent, and prevent his wife helping
her poor relatives. 1t isn't fair, but it
explains why many women have to
have everything charged >on bills. in
stead of having the money given them
to pay for it outright
II asked a man once why men OBJ
jected to making their wives an al
lowance." said the fourth woman,
land he said very frankly that the
reason he had everything charged on
bills was so that he could see the way
his money went. How would you
like your wife to keep tab on every
cent you spent?' asked him, to which
he responded that it was his money,
because he made it,
The cad" CALCULATED all the other
hopefully, well, 1 hope his wife re-
venged herself by spending with both
hands,"
She did," replied the woman
grimly.
Il think that the main reason that
men refuse to make their wives an
, allowance" Said the third woman, lis
because they have a sort of superhul
man vanity that makes them want to
play the part OF a beneficent Provi-
dence to those they love. They want
&c be the source from which all bless
ings flow. the power that must be
propitiated and kow-towed to, and
that rewards humble petitions with
the gift asked for.
'Of course men don't put it this
brutality to themselves, but it's that
sort of feeling in the back of their
minds that makes them force their
wives to come to them for every
penny and do the mendicant act be-
fore them. They really like to. give
to their wives. but they want the re-
ward of the wife's daily and hourly
gratitude, and they want her to feel
| that it is benefaction and not her
right
Ladies, ladies'" said young girl
who was listening. you're discussing
a problem that will end with your
generation. for we girls of today are
going 20 settle the allowance question
before we marry. and believe me- it's
going to be no allowance, no wife"
II