The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-05
Dorothy Die
Extravagant Wives Are Man Made
If Husbands Would Only Explain Money Matters To Their Wives They Would Find Them Willing To Co., operate-Extravagance Means Sheer Ignorance

A judge who presides over do- mestic relations court says that the chief cause of martlal unhappiness, so far as men are concerned,- Is the eXtravagance of wives. It is the Wlte's reckless spending that first disl!iasions the husband, then kills his love for her, that causes con- ;iaual qCarrels in the household;. that makes marriage a failure, and that leads to divorce.
 Nor can one wonder at this. There Is ID more tragic figure than that of the ambitious young man who secs his every hope and plan being smothered under his wife's endless bills. .So matte, how hard he works, nor how earnestly he strives, he can nevsr make as much as she wastes. For the honely old proverb that says that woman can throw more out of the back door with a teaspoon than a man can put in the front door with a scoop is sadly true.
 Such a man knows that he can never hope to accumulate the little nest egg that will enable him to take advantage of some opportunity to make a fortune that comes his way; that he can never even lay by any thing for his old age. He knows himself chained to his desk, slave who will spend his life toiling for dressmakers and milliners and ca- terers, and who will die, poor and broken, a victim to a woman who was a waster.
 It Is not surprising that a man comes to hate the woman who brings this fate upon him, but l often won der if the men who complain so bit terly of the extravagance of their wives ever consider how greatly the fault is their own, and how far re- sponsible they are for it.
 To begin with, nine ment out of ten marry under false financial pre- lenses. During courtship man leads a woman to believe that he is far better off than he Is. and can af- ford luxuries that are really beyond bis purse. sst,frt
 He spends money recklessly. He makes girl costly presents. He rides her about in taxies instead of the street car. He takes her to the best restaurants and buys her choice seats in the theatre. He loads her down with orchids and $2-a-pound candy All of which teaches the girl extra vagant tastes and habits and makes her think that when she marries him she will be able to indulge herself In all of these luxuries.
 Then, before marriage. a man Is hardly ever honest with girl about money. He may speak of himseif vaguely as being poor, and tell her that she will have to live in vine roofed cottage, or cozy apartment for A. little while, but he does not come down to brass tacks and tell her specifically how little he makes
 He does not tell her that, If she marries him, she will have to do her own cooking, and washing, and iron ing, and wear shabby clothes, and do without everything but the bare necessities of life. If, before man married, he made the girl he was courting understand just exactly what living on $50, or $40. or $50 week meant, there would be fewer marriages-but there would also pc fewer wasteful and extravagant wives.
 The next mistake that men make is in not taking the trouble to teach their wives how to handle money wisely. The average woman knows