Evening star., 1939-04-17
Slightest Symptoms of Childish Ailments Should Not Dsregarded
Wife. Should
Not Have to
Beg Money
Husband 0verlooks
Fact That She Has
Earned 1t All
By DOROTHY DIX.

Why do men think that women
don't feel about money as they do?
Trying to solve that problem turns
wives gray and old before their time.
Every decent-minded man knows
that the most intolerable thing in
life to him would be to be financially
dependent never to have a cent Of
his own that he could spend as he
pleased without accounting for it to
any one.
He knows that he couldn't endure
the humiliation of having to ask
even the kindest and most generous
Of fathers for the price of new
suit, or money for the movies. or
enough to buy a package of ciga-
rettes or to pay the laundress, and
have to explain why he wanted it,
and what he was going to do with
1t. and what he did with the quarter
that was given to him yesterday.
And If he worked long and hard and
efficiently for father. he would be
burned up at the injustice of hav-
Ing to slave for his board and clothes
and having none of the money he
earned given to him as his right.
Yet feeling as they do about fin
ancial independence being necessary
to their self-respect, great many
husbands refuse to give 1t to their
wives because they somehow per-
suade themselves that women don't
need any money of their own, and
that they don't mind begging and
cajoling their husbands or going
through their pockets at night when
they are asleep to get the money
they have earned a hundred times
over.
But to women, just as much as to
men, the difference between being
free or in bond depends upon their
having some money of their own.
They, too. are crushed with shame
when they have to go like beggars
to some one else for every penny
they have. And here is what one
woman says on the subject:
II am married to fine man whom
I love and who loves me. He is a
good provider, is kind and has good
Income, and would be happy ex-
cept that he never gives me penny
for my own personal use. Before my
marriage had a fine position with
good salary. I made good use of
my own money and now 1 am max
Ing equally good use of his. am
an economical, judicious spender. I
am domestic and take pleasure in
making nice home and planning
and cooking wholesome and attrac-
tive meals. I study his tastes and
try to crafty them. And enjoy do
Ing all of these things and consider
them a part of my job as a good
wife.
"But the fly in the ointment is
that have acquired a pauper COM
plex because have no money of my
own now, and I would so love to
have a few dollars to spend as like
without having to ask for it, or
account for it. know that I earn
q good salary and am entitled to it,
but somehow I cannot bring myself
to demanding 1t from my husband.
What is the matter with men like
my husband-good men, leaders in
their professions and business-that
they do not realize how their wives
feel about money and how they crave
even a few dollars of their own?"
Probably the reason that so many
husbands have their wives charge
everything on bill instead of CIV
ing them personal allowance is
due partly to the masculine belief
that it doesn't humiliate a woman
to be mendicant as it does man.
Also it is partly because it gives
husbands sense of superiority, out
of which they get a kick, to have
their wives rattle a cup before them
and beg for a little small change.
But it is hard on the wives, and it
Is why business girls think long
time before they swap their pay en-
velopes for husbands.
DOROTHY DIX.