The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-24

New York City Aug. 24.-What
is the price of comfortable
marriage?
Although several frivolous an
swers to this question viii no DOUBT
readily come to mind, 3 serious
one is badly needed. Divorce law
yers tell us that most marriages
fail because they are badly n
nanced. The family income is un-
fairly distributed or insufncien'-
Money" declares one OF these
busy lawyers ELECTRICALLY. lis the
rock upon which the majority Of
marriages go to smash.
How them engaged couples
well might ask, !" can We avoid this
common reef of matrimonial woe
and guide our dispositions and
bank accounts safely through the
Storm They well might. but do
they?
The results of QUESTIONABLE
recently sent out to 1000 young
men and women living in the y.
N. C. A. and Y. ". C. A in New
York would indicate that they
don't Suppose you wanted to
marry someone" this QUESTIONABLE
asked, what weekly income would
you consider necessary TO finance
comfortable marriage?" Then, in
parenthesis, the young things were
reminded that while comfortable"
might mean the possession of a
talking machine, it did not include
an eight-cylinder car.
The object of the QUESTIONABLE
was to obtain exact and detailed fig
ures that could be used as basis
it making up standard budgets for
the newly married. What did the
average person expect matrimony
to cost?
OF the 1000 persons selected,
only 200 had given the matter suf-
f1cient study to make their sug
gestions of value They were how
and were intelligently aware of its
financial problems. OF the others,
the young ladies seemed to feel
that the consideration of family
budgets was rather premature. As
one of them explained, First eaten
your husband" was her motto. In
similar vein one of the young men
replied, Never bother trouble till
trouble bothers you"
Nevertheless, the QUESTIONABLE
secured a great deal of useful in
formation for the benefit of those
who are interested in the relation
of money to matrimony. 1t show
ed, for one thing, that women are
more extravagant than men. They
require a larger weekly income as
the basis for comfortable" mar
rage than do men, but the men
are higher in their estimates of
what is necessary in the way of a
savings fund. A weekly income of
81 was the minimum upon which
the women thought it safe to get
but the men felt that a
comfortable" marriage could be
arranged on from $50 to $50 d
week
Budgets According to Sex.
The estimates varied among the
men according to their earnings
and occupations. Statesmen were
inclined to agree with the women
bliss, while professional
men felt that $50 would be suff-
Cient, and clerks felt that $50 was
ample clerks are resigned 10 maj
rimony on a small salary. Their
estimate was lower than that of
workmep.
The women, on the other hand, !
showed no class distinctions what !
soever. Regardless of varying de- |
grees Of education, refinement and |
they were all de- |
termined to keep On exactly the |
same scale. None was willing to |
risk her happiness for less than
ST. per week, while one out of |
every four felt that 800 a week /!
would be necessary to her peace
and comfort. 1t must be remem- !
berod. however. that these esti-
mates are based upon New York !
prices, which are greatly above /
those existing in other cities. Be
low are couple of specimen bud
gets, showing the different esti-
mates of men and women:
Item,