The Washington times., 1930-04-05
A d vice t 0
LOvelOrn
Youth
BY Beatrice Fairfax
An Authority on Problems OF
Love. and Marriage

Love and Marriage
VTTHEN the United States Gov
w ernment begins to inquire
into such things as love, mar
riage, grocery bills, rent-and
then writes bulletins about
them-its time for prospective
brides to stop, look and listen.
The Women's Bureau-an i'm
portant branch of the Depart
ment Of Labor-haS issued a
bulletin, through its assistant
director, Agnes L. Peterson,
which is a fair warning to such
girls as look upon marriage as
q means of support
It says, in effect, marriage
offers mo economic security
for women" in other words,
don't marry, girls, If you ex-
pect to be supported. The
chances are, with the cost Of
living constantly rising, you
will have to punch time clock
as well as your husband.
The Government publication
goes on to say: "A large pro-
portion of families living in
cities depend largely upon the
earnings of women, in many
homes the entire income is
earned by wife and daughters.
A bleak outlook for those
girls who regard marriage as
an occupation, and husbands
as the source Of supplies. For.
tunately this meal ticket"
type of marriage as it has been
vulgarly and expressiVely called,
is becoming less frequent with
wider opportunities for girls to
earn a livelihood-and wait in
dependently till the right man
comes along. :.
But, as your mother or grand
mother will tell you, such was
not the case two or three gen.
erations ago. Then girls mar
ried almost any Suitor who pre-
sented himself - middle-aged
widowers with children older
than the bride, cranky bache-
lors marrying for the romantic
reason that home cooking
might agree better with their
dyspepsia, and reformed"
young men who shouldn't have
married, at all. They were all
accepted gratefully - because
marriage was one Of the few
careers open to women.
Failing to marry even an un-
desirable, the single girl made
her home with some relative,
who gave her bed and board in
return for an amount Of work no
two servants would do today.
For these services she received
not a cent Of pay and was
spoken of as a dependent"
Industry has changed all that.
No woman need become an ur1-
paid drudge today unless she
has personal reasons for being
one.
This Labor Department bulle-
tin will explain a letter to me
from Katie B., who encloses a
clipping discussing the prospects
of maintaining a home under
these conditions.
Katie Is first-rate Stenog-
rapher who understands book
keeping; she makes a good sal
ary, better than her fiance, in
fact. She is willing to pool her
pay envelope with Dams for q
couple of years, then naturally
hopes that most wonderful of all
miracles, a baby, will claim the
attention she now devotes to her
Job. Under these circumstances,
she wonders if it would be adviS-
able to marry?
Dan, who is an electrician,
makes a smaller salary than
Katie. He still speaks English
imperfectly, though knowing
French and German well, being
the possesSor of a graduates
diploma from a technical school
In the Norwegian capital.
Katie'S prospects for a happy
married life sound good to me
the same may be said Of all
the Dams and Katies who are
blessed with the equipment Of
good jobs, intelligence, and real
affection for each other.