MONEY IN MATRIMONY

In these days of high income taxes that ancient problem in cupid's mathematics of how to prove that "two can live as cheaply as one" is so absurd as it might at first seem. The Internal Revenue Department has become a sort of Beatrice Barefacts for the dissemination of advice to the matrimonially inclined. It is constantly being deluged by letters from all kinds of people, especially from worm who want to know what returns their husbands filed--a lamentable commentary one the state of marital confidence in this country. Like "tar-baby", however, the department "ain't saying' nothing". Financial information goes in--but it never comes out again except in court.

Nevertheless, the bureau is able to give some timely tints to the lovelorn. Despite the admittedly "high cost of loving" it is nothing compared to the high coast of remaining single. By the simple process of taking a wife, a man may jump his exemption from $1,000 to $2,000 which virtually makes the ordinary citizen's income tax-free. Many a blushing June bride has been hustled to the alter in the middle of December to gain the $2,000 exemption for the entire year. Love as usual has found a way to surmount all obstacles.

There is one case on record, however, where marriage would have proved decidedly less profitable than single blessedness. An American heiress was about to wed as English nobleman when she bethought herself of consulting the tax-collector. From him she learned that the tax to which she was subject as the wife of a foreigner plus that of the English government as a citizen, totaled more than her entire income. Result; no marriage. Thus Uncle Sam is not exclusively a match-maker; he is however, taking very much of a hand in the matrimonial relations of his nephews and nieces through his Department of Internal Revenue.