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Show Domestic Blunders of Women By A MERE rVIAINJ WOMEN'S IGNORANCE OF THE VALUE OF MONEY. tN TUB last chapter chap-ter I spoko of tho absolute Incapacity Incapac-ity of women to do their marketing market-ing on anything Uko commercial nnd economical lines. I think I proved conclusively, conclusive-ly, to tho minds of nil men at least, that any business run on tho snmo linos as a "homo" is conducted, would result not only In bankruptcy, but In tho man-agor man-agor bolng consurnd by tho courts for hazardous speculation and reckless ex-Irnvoganco. ex-Irnvoganco. I Intend now to review tho financial capabilities of tho fominlno gender. I havo shown that women havo no Idea how to spond money. I shall now show thoy havo no capabilities for saving monoy. This Is tho root of tho wholo evil, but It has many do-velopmonts, do-velopmonts, as I shall show. Tho woman who asks hor husband for "house-keeping money" simply obtains monoy under fnlso pretenses, for thero Is such a thing as criminal nogll-gonco. nogll-gonco. Is, it In tho experience of nny man that, having given flvo dollars to his wlfo, ho has ever soon an equivalent valuo for It? In tho first place, Is It over posslblo to get a proper est!-mnto est!-mnto for "tho things" which aro to ho bought? A woman says sho wants "some" monoy. You ask her, how much? Sho says, sho can't toll ox-actly. ox-actly. Supposing you ask her to make out n list, and supposing you got it. Ask hor how much it will all cost. Sho hns not tho least idea. Ask hor how much each item costs. Sho cannot can-not toll you. Anxious to get to your business, you say, "How much about will thoy bo?" Sho says, about "$8.75" and adds, "It may bo a llttlq under, and it may bo a llttlo over." In despair, you glvo her ten dollars. Intent-on getting hor Into business habits, whon you roturn, you ask hor for tho chango, ,or perhaps you HvmltJ till sho wants somo moro monoy, In tho first Instance, she says sho rc-mombored rc-mombored whon sho was out that sho owed a llttlq bill, and thought Bho had better pay It, or that tho saucepans sauce-pans wnnted renewing oh, those saucopans! or she saw somo very cheap window-blind muslin, or stockings stock-ings for tho chlldron oh, thoso children chil-dren I I)ut did you over seo thoso saucopans, sauco-pans, or thoso stockings? I never did. In tho second lnstanco, Bho says, I "tho things" camo to a llttlo moro thnn sho anticipated. If you havo kept, or can recall, tho Hat, and try to got tho prlco of each article out of hor, sho will get as far as accounting for $8.25 or $3.75, but farther than that sho cannot remember. If you roally want to get to tho bottom of tho wholo business, you should say, "You must havo lost tho chango." An accusation of losing nnsy n woman always rosonts, with "Tho Idon of such n thing!" Sho next rocollocts that sho bought hersolf a pair of gloves. If you Buggost sho bought glovos a weok ago, or that sho has hor dross nllowanco, sho says, "Of courso, If you want mo to walk about without glovos, you should say so." As your "saying so" would moan a row, you suggest that ono dollar could not bo bettor -spont thnn on glovos, and you mark off your dollar llko tho iron cablo In tho English Admiralty report, "Eaton by rats." But supposing your wlfo asks for flvo dollars, and, It not being convo-ulont convo-ulont to glvo hor moro than $2.50, you again ask hor for n list of tho "things which aro roqulrod for tlio house." If you got It, you will find that moro than half tho Horns are not pressing, nnd so you glvo hor $2.50, nnd tell hor sho must mnko It go as far as oho can. Tho next day sho asks you for tho othor $2.50. To inako a long story short, you will find that sho has bought nil tho "things" which wore not pressing, and that sho hns loft unpurchased all tho things that won. Among tho formor aro half a dozon hoxos of S soap, nnd whon you omphnslzo half a dozon, bho says, "Wo cannot havo tho houso without n bit of Bonp." Obi that S soap I WWBBBl 'Pioy clvo n coupon with each box, and for bo many coupons they glvo tho children a sot of brown-paper toys. I live In a $100 a year house, nnd I have bought onough saucepans what is tho attraction about saucepans? sauce-pans? and S Boan to stock tho White Houso. It might bo going a little too far to say women are absolutely dishonest about monoy; but lt"Is not g'olng a bit too far to say that they havo no Idea how Hard It Jh to earn, that they havo no Idea of it8 vauo, that they cannot sao It, that they have not tho remotest notion how to spend it properly, prop-erly, and that, therefore, thoy should not bo entrusted with either Its saving or Its spending. Tho real fact Is, girls are not brought up either to 'have or to do without monoy. They cannot estl-mato estl-mato tho valuo of anything not even their own Uothofc. They cannot keep accounts oi money, and are really ns much afraid of It as thoy aro of a loaded pistol. Women nro divided Into two classes - tho woman who nover pays for necessaries, nec-essaries, and tho woman who never buys anything unless sho can pay cash. From tho financier's point ol vlow, ono Bystom Is as bad as tho other. Women l-notJ'"only dissipate men's money, but they destroy their credit. I am talking, of course, of J An teuf'kt tnovjk Soap tutxti thi Wkitt lliuu, middle-class women, wno marry middle-class men, who earn their living from weok to week, month to month, or year to year. Every man of business busi-ness Is a man of credit. Tho, perhaps, only having $500 In his bank, his bills for $5,000 running over three, six, nine, and twelve months, nro readily accopted and handed on as cash. In Franco, this system provnlls oven In tho homo. Owing to tho fantastic flnnnco of women, no such thing exists ex-ists hero, and tho result Is, a man has to keep monoy for "weekly books," which would bo much better employed In his business. Tho result Is long crodUndHtqfijjijsavltH&Bliop; keepersror n cistant drain of ready monoy to the detriment of credit. Wom'on will rot understand this. I will explain. Whon I was a bachelor, I seldom or never paid cash. If I wanted clothes, or oven wlna or cigars. I sent out and ordered them. When tho bill camo In, I always paid romethlng "on account." ac-count." Tho result was, my credit was oxcellent; that Is to say, my tradesmon always trusted mo, and said of mo, "He alwayB pays"; and, besides this, I was nover without money mon-ey In my pocket, and If I woro a bit short, nobody was frightened. Slnco then I havo married. My wlfo has alwayB Insisted on paying hor weekly bills regularly on Saturday. Sho said It was "her way." Sho considered it disreputable to run bllls and said that If sho sent a check on account, peoplo would think wo could not pay, and would not trust us, and, worse than all, "would talk." So far, It has not mattored. But, supposing I suddenly sud-denly wanted all tho monoy I could lay hands on for a business speculation. specula-tion. Do you supposo for ono moment that my wife's twonty years of paying pay-ing tho bills weekly would glvo us a fortnight's credit for a box of matches, or that our tradasmon would accept such a now doparturo as a small check on account? I say emphatically, "No." Having been paid weekly, thoy would Immediately suspici tnat I was "broko," and, as sura as my nnmo Is what it Is, I should receive a dozon or so District Court summonses. It muBt bo clear, thoroforo, that, since this absurd system of paying "ready money," and. getting no discount, dis-count, pervades tho entlro ranks of tho mlddlo class, women nro not only conniving at tho robbery of their husbands, hus-bands, but aie ruining tholr credit. I havo already shown that no woman J over gots a discount for roady monoy. It may bo Raid that thoy do not know that thoy could. It would roqulro very llttlo common soriso for thorn to find It out. Thoy must know thoy do know! that tholr cooks got It on everything that goes into tho kitchen, nnd that their nurses got it for tho very milk that gooa Into tholr nur-sorles. nur-sorles. If thoy only looked nt tholr drossmakor's bills, thoy would soo "A discount of 5 per r0nt allowod for cash," Btated n rod lattors. Yot it Is to peoplo who cannot put two and two together, who cannot ltooP monoy. who keop no record of what they ro-colvo, ro-colvo, and have no knowlodgo of what anything Bhould, or has, coat, to whom wo ontrust the finances of our homos. Aro wo not bigger fools, and moro to blamo, than thoy aro?l (Copyright by Funk AjWognoU?', Co.) |