ng money matters. Many a man
who is generous with his tips and buys expensive cigars and orders costly
lunches for himself and friends at the club because he wants to be
considered a "good fellow," will go home at night and bicker with his
wife over the smallest expenditure, destroying the whole peace of the
household, when perhaps she does not spend as much upon herself as he
does for cigars and drink.

Why is it that men are so afraid to trust their wives with money when
they trust them implicitly with everything else, especially as women are
usually much more economical than men would be in managing the home and
providing for the children? A large part of the friction in the average
home centers around money matters and could be avoided by a simple,
definite understanding between husband and wife, and a business
arrangement of household finances. A regular advance to the wife for the
household and a certain sum for personal use which she need not account
for, would do more to bring about peace and harmony in the majority of
homes than almost anything else.

To be a slave to the home, as many women are, and then to be obliged to
assume the attitude of a beggar for every little bit of money she needs
for herself, or to have to give an accounting for every cent she spends
and tell her lord and master what she did with her last money before she
can get any more, is positively degrading.

When the husband gets ready to regard his wife as an equal partner in the
marriage firm instead of as an employee with one share in a
million-dollar company, or as merely a housekeeper; when he is willing to
regard his income as much his wife's as his own and not put her in the
position of a beggar for every penny she gets; when he will grant her the
same privileges he demands for himself; when he is willing to allow his
wife to live her own life in her own way without trying to "boss" her, we
shall have more true marriages, happier homes, a higher civilization.

Some one says that a man is never so happy as when he has a few dollars
his wife knows nothing about. And there is a great deal of truth in it.
Men who are perfectly honest with their wives about most things are often
secretive about money matters. They hoodwink them regarding their
incomes and especially about any ready cash they have on hand.

No matter how much the average man may think of his wife, or how
considerate he may be in other matters, he rarely considers t