680 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



which perhaps has been in your possession a great many years and is of 

 much value to you even if to no one else. A great deal of annoyance 

 and embarrassment and many times loss has been caused by papers of 

 one kind or another becoming lost or destroyed for lack of a proper 

 place to keep such things. 



Another proposition deals with the relation of the wife to the finances 

 of the household. If you will place a sum of money in the bank to the 

 credit of your wife and deliver to her the bank book with a check book 

 and allow her to transact all of her business through the bank in her 

 own name, you will have solved a problem which in many instances is 

 not only complex, but very disagreeable and many times causes a great 

 many heartaches and sorrow in the household. If it is your plan that 

 the lady of the house is to receive all of the egg money or all of the 

 chicken money or all of the milk money, whatever this might be, allow 

 her to take the check, carry it to the bank herself, and place it to the 

 credit of her own account, and if this is not sufficient, give the banker 

 orders to transfer from your own account to her account on the first 

 day of each month a sum sufficient to meet all of her expenses, what- 

 ever they might be. She will not squander the money, and you may feel 

 confident that she will make it go as far, if not farther, than you will 

 yourself, and at the same time she will have a fund which she can call her 

 own and not be obliged to ask for every cent that she spends. At the 

 same time it will give her an insight into the ti'ansaction of business, 

 and should misfortune come, so that she will be called upon to trans- 

 act the business of the farm alone, she will be acquainted with business 

 methods and be informed as to what is expected of her in the transaction 

 of ordinary business. Remember, she has worked as hard as you 

 have to build up your good name and reputation, and whatever you 

 have belongs to her as much as to yourself, and you owe it to her that 

 she be given a free hand in using what, in her judgment, she needs, 

 without being compelled to ask for every cent she receives and make an 

 accounting of just how it is spent. Do you realize that this young lady, 

 whom you led to the altar only a few short years ago, placed in your 

 hands the most sacred thing on earth? She gave to you and your keeping 

 her very existence, and with it the joy or grief which has come to you, 

 and of which she has been a part, and is entitled not only to her share 

 of the many little pleasures that come and go, but should have free access 

 to the finances of the family, without any questions being asked. 



The next problem with which we are confronted is what to do with 

 our boys and girls. James J. Hill says that the solution of the economics 

 of this country is the keeping of the boy on the farm, and how are you 

 going to do it? The first method is to give him to understand he has an 

 interest in the business. Make an incentive for him to work, no matter 

 what he gets, little or. much. If he is young, make his salary per month 

 or per year accordingly, but give him a salary. How would you like 

 to get out and work month after month and get nothing for it except 

 what you could eat and wear? I am reminded of a story, the language 

 of which is not very beautiful, but the story applies so well that I cannot 

 help but use it, and I know you will overlook the language: 



