The Scheme Of Things

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1930, Page 19

The Scheme Of Things

• (By M.H.P.) _ 1 Quite an interesting point of view appeared recently in an article which " dealt with the "good fortune" oi' wojneu. 'I'he special idea seemed to be Unit they had the spending of their husband's earnings or property, if "unearned increment." It was rather surprising to find that a ivrilor, prcsum- '" ably of some experience; of life, did not ' realise that the spending, as si very general rule, is restricted, ami attended .;,Vith a, very'serious responsibility. The ' jromen who have full command of their ■^ fcusband's means and can spend exactly fs they like are few and far between. Take the mother of a family when the means are small. The father, if on a small wage or salary, usually keeps a moiety for himself, and gladly turns over to his wifo the responsibility of making the remainder go as far as possible towards the necessities of life for himself, his wife, and'the children. The facts that the girls are less well dressed ■ than many at 'school and make their i mother's life harder by their quite natural'lamentations; that the boys outgr,ow and destroy their garments at an '' appalling rate; that some of the- chil--1 drcn are delicate, anil need better food ■ -than the family exchequer will allow; • that /they all want kittle pleasures which others more fortunately placed can easily obtain; that there is no money to", spare for a much-needed annual or bi-1 ■ annual holiday;' that the wife's own ■ clothes-are "sartorial disasters" in the eyes of her relatives and friends —these and many more troubles come to ~tho lot of the "fortunate" spender of the wages of the husband and father! Then there- is the case of the woman whose ■Husband, although earning fairly well, .does not bring homo anything like enough to keep his wife and family in .reasonable comfort- —that is,a common :^ enough case; there is little good for- • "jfcuh'c there. Of course, nowadays, there arc/niore ~ cases 'of'restricted families than otherwise, but these are among the better-off people and not among those who "are on the poorest wages or salaries, and the spending in those cases is easier and - with less wear and tear to the wife. But, so far as ordinary observation : goes, the husband usually lives largely according to his liking, with a car, a Club, games, and holiday when necessary, while, at the same time he can afford to give his wife enough to keep the home in reasonable comfort, and to ' "dress herself and the- one- or two children properly. But there arc few indeed who turn over the whole salary to the wife, and consent to live on what she- doles out. It is a state of things which no o'nc should enter upon, as it ...places too much responsibility and too much power on the one partner. The ideal is that each should have spending money, the one to disburse for the home and children, with a reasonable margin ' for .her own needs, while the earner should reserve what is necessary for himself-without question. There are, of course, untrustworthy people on both sides. . Types which are unfortunately ' frequently met with are the before-men-tioned man, who, while having a wife, home, and family, neglects to provide for them, spending all the earnings on himself; and the woman of poor inen--■taHty whose first idea in life is clothes for herself, and who pledges her husband's credit, as well as spending all the ready money she can gather on he." back, or her selfish pleasures, and deprives him and her children, if she has jiny, of proper food and care, because of her obsession. At the same time, it ap,pears rather absurd to put forward the idea that women'are "fortunate" -because- they have tho spending of the salaries of1, thoso who; earn for them. There is a good deal of fatigue attached to such spending, specially when restricted, to get tho best value for the money spent, to find out where the places are for bargains, and to buy a number of necessaries which are very dull and uninteresting. And, perhaps, after all, the "fortunate" buyer "has fault found because her purchases are not pleasing to husband or family. It is a most ungrateful job. Women need ..not be envied, or considered as "fortu,Bate ".because this sort of thing comes within their duties in life.

: Dean Inge, in speaking at the 'jubilee of a famous English' publishing house, • alluded to liigh-class English journali&m as a, tiling in which . the - country could well have .pride. He then said he thought that tho average daily paper gave too much prominence to unsavoury crime, --anil sport—were these, he asked, the - things that the public really cared most about? He felt'thai; in such case the '"blame must largely be attached to the -, consumer rather than the producer. The former paid the-piper and called the ''time lie realised iha.t popular taste had to be catered for, to a great extent, but he put forward tho suggestion * tlijit it might be possible to gradually ""getI'people used to something more "Brain-stretching. Dean Inge is soine-'-limes called-the "gloomy Scan," but ' ne seems more often to advance- cheering suggestions than not, though lie hits "hard; at well-known and'worn abuses, '■sorue'of which are dear to tho Conservative mind. Hero is tin instance- in which he has made a. palpable hit. , Those who notice such things must - seeds agree that good excerpts, and accounts' of many other world events besides crime and sport are- found readable by the people, and mauy.high-elai.j magazines with really,good reading are auiong the most popular and therefore successful. About thirty years ago extremely silly stories were very popular; , then .followed tho war and post-war yarns, which were nasty; there seems now to be a demand among tho people tfor better-class literature and of a cleaner kind. It is a thing to encourage and not to laugh at. There ■is little-doubt that the time is "coming ■when the merely nasty will be rejected ,• ivith the scorn it deserves, but tho pco-, ' pie who select and produce must first 'be shown what tho people want, as I • what they think they want Uicy pro'yidc, for evil and for good.

Bather an amusing little development 'in the fashion contest appears in the form of a manifesto by a great fashion expert and producer in Paris. ITo writes soothingly to women, urging that -they are not going to have Hie possibilities of health and &L-orl taken i'roni them. They arc simply to be made more interesting and fascinating by a "feminine" style of dress. The fact that the waist is to be defined docs not, apparently, strike him as the "thin "edge of tlio wedge" towards the horrors of the,past, when corsets restricted the organs, causing all kinds of ill-health and terrible troubles to children —for there are always- cxaggerators (there are numbers of them in the present styles), and these will undoubtedly *i pull-in" 6,0 as to be a, little more fashionable than the fashion. The same- with long skirts. The writer ■gently says that the bports frocks are ' to':be untouched, or tit least they are onljr; to' "be -a little longer, while tho