Evening star., 1935-08-15


settle this argument for us:
- I do all my housework, cook
ing, washing, cleaning, sewing and
baby-tending, but because I don't
bring in a weekly nay envelope my
husband does not think that I am
contributing anything to our support
Hence that the bank account should
be in his name alone, whereas I think
that 1t should be in both Of our names.
He is unfair about 1t. II I were a
spendthrift he might be justified in
this, but am not. I am saving and
economical and anxious to help us get
a start in the world. My husband also
thinks that his mother should be the
beneficiary of his insurance. Can II
be that he does not love me or trust
me? MRS. L. C. NJ.
Answer: Because your husband
wants to keep all of the money in
his own name is no indication that he
does not love you in his way. The
affection of lots of men doesn't reach
as far as their pockets and, anyway,
men just naturally like to be the
purse bearers because it definitely
settles their status as the head Of
the house, for the hand that holds
the pocketbook rules the roost.
I fully agree with you that the
family bank account should be in the
name of both the husband and wife,
unless the wife has shown that she
is extravagant and wasteful and un-
fit to handle money. Nothing is more
absurd than the theory that the
domestic woman does not contribute to
the family support because she does
not bring in money that she has
earned outside of the home. She gives
her labor and performs services sc
vast and so different that it would
bankrupt her husband to pay fol
them If he had to hire them done.
x% X
A SIX your husband to sit down ano
- figure out what it would cost tt
employ a cook and scrubwoman anc
a laundress and a nurse and house
maid and a social secretary and pur-
chasing agent and see how much II
comes to In real money.
That should surely convince him
that the laborer is worthy of her hire
even if she does work inside of the
home instead of outside of it. Anc
this does not take into consideration
the fact that the wife is the watchdog
of the treasury and that she practice:
=. tho,,eonl economics ond Y0inphn,
every penny In a way that no servant
would do, but that makes it possible Il
pile up the bank balance to which hel
husband is unwilling to give her access
OF course, your husbands point Of
view is the one that all men used tc
hold in olden times when woman va
held to lead life of idleness and in
glorious ease II she only worked Il
hours a day in her home In fact, we
still have the sardonic jest of rating
the housewife as having no profession
or occupation, while the woman who
works in store or Office is classified
as self-supporting.
MEMS attitude to women about
A money is something that nc
woman can understand, anyway. It
must forever remain a mystery oi
masculine psychology why man will
trust his wife with his honor and his
name but will not trust her with
few dollars; why husband who really
loves his wife and would not other
wise humiliate her, refuses her ar
allowance and makes her come like &
beggar to him for every cent, and why
a man has the nerve to talk OF sup
porting his wife when she earns al
that she ever gets thousand time!
over by her labor in his kitchen ant
nursery.
The only time man ever values
the work his wife does for him i
when she dies and he has to mir,
half a dozen women to take her place
The expense of replacing the wife
labor is one of the reasons VIII!
widowers remarry SO quickly.
I do not think that your HUSBAND
should make his mother the bene
ficiary Of his insurance policy unles
she is very poor and has no othe'
support. Even in that case he Shoult
leave her merely the interest on th'
money as long as she lives and tn,
principal should come to you on he
death. DOROTHY DIX.
| X
Dear Miss DiX-Speaking as al
elderly man I wonder why the mod
ern girl does not realize that tn
! greatest charm and attractiveness 70
men that a woman can have is fem
ininity. Every man loves a womanl.
woman and he is repulsed. if he is I
real man, by the freaky imitation
creatures that are neither fish no
| flesh nor good red herring. neithe