s indeed it is with the majority. But to them
that goal is to be reached by saving every penny, by denying themselves
and theirs all expenditures beyond the necessities.

The woman who marries such a man is humiliated to the quick by his
attitude. That a man values a dollar more than he does her wish is an
insult to the sensitive woman. There ensues either a never-ending battle
with estrangement, or else a beaten woman (for the stingy are stubborn)
accepts her lot with a broken spirit, sad and deenergized. Or perhaps,
it should be added, a third result may come about; the woman accepts the
man's ideal of life and joins with him in their scrimping campaign. With
this agreement life goes on happily enough.

It is not of course meant that all or a great majority of American women
have difficulties with their husbands over money. But I have in mind
several patients who would be happy if this never-ending problem were
settled. The struggle "gets on the nerves" of the partners; they say
things they regret and act with an impatience that has its root in
fatigue.

This difficulty over money and its spending gets worse in the late
thirties and early forties, for it is then the man realizes with a
startled spirit that he is getting into middle age, that sickness and
death are taking their toll of his friends, and that he has not got on.
The sense of failure irritates him, depresses him. He finds that he and
his wife look at the money situation from a different angle.

"If you loved me," says she, "you would see things a little more my
way."

"If you loved me," says he, "you would not act to worry me so."

Here in the year 1920, the high cost of living is becoming the strain of
life. Capital and Labor are at each other's throats; men cry "profiteer"
at those whom good fortune and callous conscience have allowed to take
advantage of the world crisis. The air is filled with the whispers that
a crash is coming, though the theaters are crowded, the automobile
manufacturers are burdened with orders, and the shops brazenly display
the most gorgeous and extravagant gowns. That the marital happiness of
the country is threatened by this I do not see recorded in any of the
discussions on the subject. Yet this phase of the high cost of living is
perhaps its most important result.

The housewife's money difficulties are not confined to the question of
expenditure. For there is a factor not consciously put forward but
evident upon a li