The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-30
Dorothy Dix TALKS
The Wage Earning wife,.

A fine young man and woman of
my acquaintance are very much in
love with each other. The young man
is clever, intelligent, energetic fellow
who earns a salary that in our fathers
time would have been considered am
PIE to justify matrimoTy, and in our
grandparents time would have made
him catch in the eyes of managing
mothers, but that in our days, with
the high cost of living, is. too slender
shoestring upon which to risk the
great adventure.
This young man will undoubtediy
eventually be prosperous, and about
the time he is As or 80 years old, and
has gotten set in his bachelor ways,
and his heart has dried into dust he
VIII be making enough money upon
which to support a wife. But twenty
five is a long ways from fifty, and you
can't dehydyate loves young dream
and have it come out of the can. fresh
after a quarter of a century. and the
young couple want to marry now
and their hearts throb and culver. and
life is still banquet on their lips in
stead of being dead sea fruit
But they can't marry unless the
girl. who is also earning a good salary,
keeps on with her work, and they have
asked my advice about what they
shall do. 49,
I say to them to get married, while
they are still young and still can love
not to wait until life has pressed all
of the sentiment and romance out of
them. Let the girl go on with her
work. She will only be doing ~ hat
every true wife wants to do helping
her husband, and it matters not How
or where, that is done, whether in an
office, or a store. or a kitchen.
OF course for a woman to work out
OF her home after she is married is in
defiance of ancient tradition. but these
are the times when all hoary tradi-
tons are being scrapped. Other times
other manners. AS Mr.. Cleveland
would say. it is condition and not a
theory that confronts US
Therefore. we had as well face the
adays does not make enough money to
enable him to support a family, alone
and unaided, and unless the wife also
becomes a money maker. who adds to
the family income. there will soon be
no more marriages, and no more
babies except among the rich and the
elderly.
And that will be, a bad thing for
the race. and for the country.
The alternative is for the young to
marry, and the girl to add her pay en-
velope to the mans pay envelope, since
it requires both to support a home.
This may not appeal to the girl who
| thinks that matrimony is a graft, and
who looks forward to acquiring a hus-
band as a meal ticket. but to the wo-
man who truly loves a man the pros
pect of being his business partner is
not without its charms. S~
In reality. the objections against a
woman continuing on with her work
after marriage are mostly founded on
pride and prejudice. A man thinks
that it reflects upon him not to be able
to support his wife in supposed idle
ness. The girl fears that people will
think that she has nottbettered her
self by marrying if she holds on to her
job. and so for the sake of appear
ances, q couple drags out a nerve
wearing, and heart breaking intermi-
nable engagement, or else they rashly
marry and starve when they could be
married and comfortable and happy
If only they had the independence to
meet the situation frankly. and for the
! wife to continue her gainfuI occupa-
ton
Inch