The Washington herald., 1921-05-27

sort of man, he will be glad TO
know that she Is protected against
the hardships Of poverty and want.
no matter what befalls him, and II
he Is the wrong sort of man, she
will need her money more than
ever.
For that type Of husband never
treats the wife who Is financially
independent. as meanly as he does
the one who is dependent upon
him.
believe that the married woman
who has money should keep her
financial affairs in her own hands
and separate from her husbands
for many reasons First, because
IL makes the family doubly safe
All of the eggs are not in one bas-
ket. II the husband is a good bus
mess man. he will not need the
wife's little roll, and IL he is poor
business man, the wife's income
helps out and keeps the wolf from
the door and sends the children to
school.
Until within a comparatively
short time ago a woman's property
automatically passed to- her hus-
band on her wedding day. Many
women still put everything they
have unreservedly into the hands of
the men they marry, and merely
sign on the dotted line whatever
paper the husband brings to them
The result is that all Of us know
dozens of women who were reared
in the lap of luxury and inherited
fortunes. who have been brought
to direst poverty by their hus-
bands.
Most of these men did not inten-
tionally rob their wives. They
were just bad managers or reckless
Spectators, and they took risks
with the money they had not earned
that they would never have taken
with money for which they had
toiled and sweat. Come easy, go
easy, is the eternal laaw of the dol
lar. You rarely see either men or
women wasting the pennies that
represent their own hours Of toll
and sacrifice. It's inherited money
or married money they throw at
the birds
Some of the most Iovable men in
the world, the kindest, the best. the
tenderest, the most ideal husbands
in all the higher matters, are utter
ly incapable Of taking care OF
money. The very qualities that
make them so adorable unfit them
for practical matters. Their soft
ness of heart that can never say
mo" their CHEEKY optimism tnar
refuses to look on the dark side of
any proposition; their hope that is
confident everything will turn out
all right; their visions and their
dreams, all make them the predes-
tined prey of every sharper and
schemer and vendor of gold bricks
that comes along.
Such a man is always on the
verge of making billions, and he
has no hesitation in taking his
wife's last cent to invest in some
mine in Peru or invention for max.
ing gold out of sea sand: and he is
surprised and broken hearted when
the scheme goes to pot and every
thing is swept away. But the
money is gone, and there is as little
profit in crying over split dollars as
there is in crying over split milk
Such a man needs to be taken
care of as if he were a child, and
his wife can only do il by keeping
a death grip on her own pocket
book Moreover, the woman who
inherits money owes something to
the parents who toiled and saved
that their children and their chill
vantaEes that money gives. AND
that perhaps they did not have in
their youth. The man who lays up
? fortune is thinking for the future.
He is thinking of his grandchildren
and planning to give them an edu-
cation and a start in life, and his
daughter is in honor bound to full
filI his desires as far as she can.
She has no right to turn the money
over to a stranger to waste, and so
risk her children's Inheritance.
OF course, it will be said that now
and then a wife does give her prop
erty to her husband, and he turns
a few thousand dollars into a for
tune. True. There are exceptions
to every general rule, but the man
who has the money-making instinct
would make his fortune anyhow.
and taking IT by and large, the
risk is too great. Nine times OUT
Of ten. the woman is better OF to
keep their own.
But the woman who inherits
money should play fair with it
She should keep the principal, bur
spend the income for the benefit of
the family. and not selfishly use it
for her own benefit.
II she has enough to be person
ally independent, she should not
expect her husband to pay all of
her bills or those of the house. Her
money should be the velvet that en-
ables the family to live more COM
fortably and indulge in luxuries
that they could not Otherwise have.
And the clinchinE argument for
a woman's keeping her own money
is because there is no other thing
under the sun that brings with 1t
so much self-respect, such an in
effable sense of independence, as to
have your own money that you can
spend as YOU please. and for which
you do not have to give an account
to any human being. No matter
how generous and kind a husband
may be. his wife has a sense of
degradation and humiliation every
time she has to go to him for mon
ey- The woman who has a chance
to save herself that and doesn't do
4 ought to have her head operated
on for the sillies.
Also a man treats every woman
b who has money in her own right
differently from the one who hasn't.
This instructive kowtowiRg to mon
ey extends even to wives, and so
the woman who wishes to keep her
husband on his good behavior does
well to keep him interested in her.
There Is no financial problem
more complicated than the domestic
one, but the woman who keeps her
money may be sure Of one thing:
She Is playing a safe game, instead
Of taking a fier on her comfort and
happiness