in 



There is more than one woman who is in just that situation. No man 

 has a right to blame the wife or child for extravagance when that wife or 

 child has no notion of his income. That is a perfectly self-evident fact. How 

 in the world could you manage a business if you didn't know how much 

 money there was to use. 



I feel very keenly that it is necessary for the wife to be informed' in 

 regard to the income, for it is her business to spend most of the money that 

 is spent in the household. She must buy the materials, the food, and most 

 of the things that are used in the household. 



If she does not know what amount of money is available, how in the 

 world can we expect her to be intelligent? That does not need any argument. 



I want to make the same plea for the children. I am often interested, 

 in talking to a group of people, in saying: "How many give allowances to 

 your children?" You will see. several hands up. Or if I am talking with an 

 individual: "Oh, yes, I give my little boy or girl an allowance." "Well, how 

 much, and what does this boy or girl do with it?" "Oh, he buys lead pencils, 

 chewing gum, candy, marbles and goes to the movies." Now that is what 

 most people who give money to their children expect them to do. The only 

 money the children have is the money with which they are expected to do 

 foolish things. 



If your boy or girl is to learn to spend money, he must be made to buy 

 things that are necessary. There is no reason why the young boy or girl 

 should not buy their shoes. There are few things that interest children as 

 much as shoes. Even a very young child' will say: "See my new shoes?" 

 They seem to have a tremendous pride in their new shoes. They had much 

 better be taught to spend money for a useful article like shoes than to spend 

 it for chewing gum and candies. It does not make very much difference 

 how much the allowance is, but it should be a definite sum of money to cover 

 a definite set of expenses, for which the child must be responsible. For the 

 sake of the interest and co-operation of the children, I do beg that they be 

 taken into the family confidence with regard to money and the use of money. 



I have been talking about money all the while in connection with this 

 family income. Now I want to just call our attention to the fact that there 

 is a money income, but that is not the sum total of the family income, 

 because the money usually represents the return on the services of the 

 father in his business. If the mother is putting in all of her time, she is 

 giving a great deal of service. Very frequently the children are giving a 

 great deal of service, too, so in the total income we must include all these 

 things. For the purpose of analysis we have been discussing money, but 

 that does not begin to make the whole of the income, by any manner of 

 means. 



In connection with children, there is one other thing that it seems to me 

 we may well think about. Much is being* said at the present time about 

 inducements to children for saying "Good morning," or "Thank you," or for 

 brushing their teeth, and so on. They are given a penny or nickel for this. 

 I don't know how you feel, but I have very strong feelings on the subject 

 that money is no fit reward for doing one's d'uty. I believe that a child 

 should not be paid for doing right, or paid for doing what he ought to do. 

 [Applause.] 



But hard on the heels of that, I do want to say that the child should 

 have a straightforward, out and out money allowance, and be made to feel 

 that he is a part of the family, that he shares in this income, and that he has 

 certain responsibilities, and that he will have the opportunity of learning to 

 assume these as fast as his years will permit. That I really would like to 

 urge very earnestly. 



When ready to make your budget sit down some evening with your 

 wife around the table, and if there are older children, call them in. It will 

 certainly take two of you to work out this thing of how much you are spend- 

 ing for clothing, food, etc., and how much you think you will want to spend 

 in the future. 



The lawyer, the physician and the farmer are very apt to say: "Well, 

 I don't know what my income is going to be." The dentist probably will 



