MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD, OREGON
TUESDAY, MAY 28. 1963
A 7
lid
Your Money's
Worth
By SYLVIA PORTER
Copyright, Hall Syndicate. Inc.
WHAT SHOULD A WORKING WIFE PAY FOR? I
"I'm to be one of those June brides you wrote about last
week and I intend to keep working after our marriage. Now
that you've told me how much my husband will cost me on
our wedding day, can you tell me how we should divide out
paychecks after our wedding? . . ."
"My wife and I have been married 11 years, she has a
steady job and we have no children. I pay for everything
except the part-time maid. She insists she should save her
money in her own account as 'protection.' Your column 'How
Much Does A Husband Cost?' prompts me to ask whether
this is the right way to manage money when both husband
and wife work. We fight a lot about this. . . ."
Out of thousands of letters, two - to remind me that it has
been a long time since I've dug into such a deep-down family
finance subject as this. Yet, in an all-time record 12.5 million
households - or three out of ten married couples in our land
-this subject is of prime bread-and-butter concern. This ts
the total of husband-and-wife working households in the U.S.
today.
To all married couples too, the question of proper man
agement of the family's finances is of crucial importance, for
a harmonious financial relationship is essential to a harmoni
ous spiritual and physical relationship.
In today's column and tomorrow's therefore, I'll report
10 basic rules I've worked out over years of discussions with
experts on family finance, of interviews with husbands and
wives in every income bracket across the country, of personal
experience as a working wife. These are my rules, no one
else's, but I'm sure all of you can benefit from some of them,
some of you can benefit from all of them and any of the 10
can be revised to fit your individual circumstances.
(1) Make your marriage a financial partnership and dis
cuss your income and plan your spending as a husband-and-wife
team.
The wife who insists she should pay for only the part-time
maid and the rest of her paycheck belongs in her own savings
account is selfish and wrong. If you're a team in other ways,
be a team financially as well. If your mutual decision is that
the wife's paycheck should be saved, excellent - but make
the decision as a couple. Otherwise, deceit and suspicion are
virtually inevitable. This is a fundamental rule.
(2) Pool pari of your individual paychecks in a family
fund which is to be used to cover essential household ex
penses. In many households, the pooling will be automatic, for
both paychecks are being used to buy things and non-things
the family wants. It should be automatic. How much of the
wife's paychecks will go into the pool may vary from home
to home, depending on the wife's income and the family's
circumstances, but the key point is that there should be a
pool.
(3) Decide which of you will be responsible for paying
specific bills out of the pool. As a husband you might lake
over payment of the "big bills" - rent, mortgage, insurance,
taxes, the like. As a wife, you might lake over management
of the "household bills"-food, entertainment at home, ordi
nary household overhead.
This is both a logical division of responsibility and a high
ly significant one from a psychological viewpoint. It seems
right to me for a man to write the checks for the rent or
mortgage. It seems right to me for a woman to write the
checks for the food and entertainment at home bills. It's
entirely okay if you have other ideas, but talk them out to
your mutual satisfaction.
'(4) Set up two bank accounts. In one, your checking ac
count, put the money for day-to-day living expenses and the
big fixed items. In the other, your savings account, build up
your nestegg.
This is the way to "control" where your money goes as
well as to mana'? your paychecks properly. If you don't
carefully separate savings from your regular bank account,
your savings easily can dribble away without your knowing
just how or why. For most couples, the two-account "control"
works best. ,
Next: More on working husband-and-wife finances.
a maj .'' -ir- .y.. -.
J -T:
SECOND MARRIAGE Dinah Shore is shown at Redlands,
Calif., as she was married in a civil ceremony to Maurice F.
Smith, a Palm Springs, Calif., contractor. It was the second
marriage for each. (UPI)
Bridegroom Lost
On Navy Flight
San Diego, Calif. - (UPD -When
Judith K. Wolfe, a
blonde 22 -year -old school
teacher, boarded a Hawaii
bound airliner on Sunday, she
was "very excited, very
thrilled," according to a
friend.
The attractive Miss Wolfe
was to wed Navy Flier Lt.
(J. G.) Richard E. Farrington
in Honolulu Wednesday. For
the occasion she had obtained
a leave of absence from the
high school where she teaches.
Monday word came from
the Navy that Lt. Farrington
was one of four crewmen
missing and presumed dead in
the crash of a plane south of
Honolulu.
PRESENT FOR JFK
New York (UPD A group
of more than 100 physicians,
who take a scholarly Interest
in good food, wine and spirits,
have given President Kenne
dy a keg of 46-year-old cog
nac for his 46th birthday
Wednesday.
Bombs Dropped To
Break Yukon Ice
Anchorage, Alaska -H'rn- A
Navy patrol bomber dropped
a number of bombs into the
ice-clogged Yukon river at
Alakanuk Monday in an at
tempt to speed the flow of
rising water into the Bering
Sea below the Seward Pen
insula. But civil defense officials
here said there was little evi
dence that the bombing was
successful.
Huge chunks of ice moving
down the river Sunday
knocked away part of the
Northern Commercial Co.'s
fish cannery at Kwiguk, about
seven miles upstream. Damage
was estimated at $100,000.
Residents of Alakanuk, a
community of about 400, told
civil defense officials they
have never seen ice conditions
in the Yukon so bad. The vil
lage is near the river's mouth.
Oregon Fraternity
House Damaged
Eugene - tUPU - Fire heavily
damaged the Tan Kappa Ep
silon fraternity house at the
University of Oregon here
Monday afternoon. Damage
was estimated at between
$30,000 and $50,000.
The fire was confined to the
top two floors of the four
story frame structure. Cause
of the blaze was not known.
It began on the roof outside a
fourth floor window.
J. O. Lindstrom, business
manager for the university,
said the 35 men students
housed in the fraternity would
be placed in dormitories for
the remainder of the school
year. The university owns the
fraternity building.
Many students lost their
books end class notes.
Omar Khayyam Would Flip
Congressmen Don't Say What They
Said Until They Say They Said It
13
By DICK WEST
Washington -W- Members
of Congress dp not say what
they have said until they say
that s what
they said.
This is one
of the things
that set mem
bers of Con
gress apart
from us ordi
nary mortals.
When you and
1 waft a re-
W,M mark into the
thin, translucent air, it is, for
good or bad, gone forever,
never to be retrieved. As
Omar Khayyam put it:
"Nor all your piety nor
wit shall lure it back to can
cel half a line, nor all your
tears wash out a word of it."
Obviously, Omar Khay
yam, the poet, never met
Omar Burleson, the congress
man. In the transcript of de
bates and certain other con
gressional pro c d i n gs,
Burleson and his colleagues
can indeed cancel half a
line. Yea, half a line and
more.
Neither piety nor wit is
needed to lure back a tran
script, and, so long as they
stay within the rules gov
erning such practice, they can
wash out words as they see
fit, without shedding a single
tear.
The ability of congressmen
to confound Khayyam was
pointed up this week in a
press release put out by
Chairman Wayne N. Aspinall
(D-Colo.) of the House Inte
rior Committee.
Aspinall was exasperated
by the fact that some unedited
transcripts of a hearing on
legislation relating to Puerto
Rico had been reproduced
and were being widely quoted
on the island.
I am noi familiar with the
details, but apparently some
one Jumped to the conclusion
that what was said at the
hearing actually was said.
In reality, as Aspinall
out, the committee mem
bers were only speaking
tentatively and perhaps not
at all.
"I want to make lt clear
for the benefit of the people
of Puerto Rico that any quo
tations taken from these tran
scripts are not official and
are subject to revision," the
chairman declared.
Newspapermen who regu
larly cover the House and
Senate are accustomed to
have quotations shot out from
under them, lt is regarded as
an occupational hazard.
Congressmen may, of
course, have valid grounds
for expunging or otherwise
editing their remarks before
they are committed to pos
terity. I suspect, however, that in
most cases they are in the
same boat with another poet
whose name I have forgotten
but who wrote:
"How can I know what I
think until I hear what I
say?"
SUGAR PRICE REDUCED
Vancouver, B. C. -WPP- The
British Columbia Sugar Re
fining Co. announced a 25
cent cut in the wholesale prico
of sugar Monday. Prices start
ed rising to a high of $17.50
for a 100-pound bag last
week.
GRADUATION
CARDS
When you care enough
to Mind the very but
217 E. Main St. Mcdford
Two Reach Shore
As Boat Capsizes
Halfway, Ore. - IUPD - An
outdoor film producer and
his brother, both from Ka-!
miah, Idaho, safely made their ,
way to shore monday when
their riverboat capsized in the '
Snake river near Steamboat !
creek.
The boat's owner, Dick
Roby, said Uie craft overturn
ed when it hit rough water.
However, he said, the boat
had ample pontoons on it to
keep afloat and "we should
be able to salvage most of
the stuff."
Roby said lie and his broth
er, Del, were on a fishing trip
when the mishap occurred.
The men swam ashore and
then made their way to Halfway.
ECOH-0-CLEAN
Professional Dry Cleaning
with REAL ECONOMYI
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38s
GRESSETT'S
DRIVE-IN CLEANERS
702 Weit Main
CRYSTAL WHITE lAUN?rm
A nilMAC DOMESTIC LDY. I DRY CLEANERS
ifVIIIMW 30-32
NU-WAY
North Rivenidt
CLEANERS
601 Eait Main
BIRD STOPS TRAINS
London-IUPD-One train was
canceled and three were de
layed near here Monday be
cause of a swan with a broken
leg. The swan could not move
off tracks between Shepper
ton and London's Waterloo
station. The engineer of the
first train decided to wait
until the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to An
imals removed the bird.
F M
3
2
iiermitage
is now
j 6 years old
attract
it
rjopulat s0qo
rjMjjAflS S.
o Superbly smooth and mellow
Fine Straight Kentucky Bourbon
9 Taste Favorite since 1889
11 1 1 in iiiiiuii intuitu to. toimiiit. it., it riiir
1
I-mtwrocKr
!uy a gallon of nal paint...get a color-matched quart of trim
a
',1 ' ' I ' . '
Mothing can change a room faster than color! And
colorful "Dutch Boy" Nalplex and Satin Eggshell are
the smartest, easiest team to do the job.
"Dutch Boy" Nalplex is a truly scrubbable latex wall
paint that covers in one coat, doesn't show stop 'n' start brush
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Nalplex, there's no "painty" odor! Brushes, rollers clean up as
easily as you wash your hands in plain soap and water.
"Dutch Boy" Satin Eggshell is tough, durable enamel
'that dries quickly to a soft rich luster that defies moisture,
scrubbing, even small-fry wear and tear. After that, all you
need to keep rooms looking fresh is a little soap and water.
And the "Dutch Boy" colors you can choose will make
you want to start today! Doesn't the whole idea give you
spruce-up fever? Come on in and buy your gallon. We're itch
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We're the men who sell it!
ASHLAND
Ashland General Hardware
90 N. Pioneer
MEDFORD
Pat & Mike'l Builders Service
2802 Crater Lake Highway
MEDFORD
Smith Lumber Co.
8th & Fir Street
MEDFORD
Dutch Boy Paint Store
401 East Fourth St.