New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-12-21
49,. democratic wb,a General
Living and Means.

Ore OF ehs mort rnischievoUs phrsie, in which
q rotten Morality, radically fal,e ,rd vicious
Public Sentiment disg1iss themselves, is that
which charsc.erizes certain individuals 90 dsssi-
tpte Of financial osoacity. A kind, srliable ger
eroos, gopd sort Of man. 100 runs the vsrDi'hJ
bat utterly unqualified for the management o.
his own ansaces-'s mere child 10 everything re-
la.ing 70 m o1ey, &c. 6c.-nssoingtnA WIN I'd
Income Of $500 q year he persisted IN spshoins
o. 600 or with an income Of t2oO0 20 $4,000, he
regularly spent eve 10 eight thousand, according
70 his ability % run 10 debt Or The cyetulity OF
others IN trusting him.
The victims Of til. inrno-ality-1ebtor - well
a oredito,-s,e entitled 20 more faithful oesling
At the ta'ds OF those not directly affected by ths
nisdem.soors Of the fDrmer Isis TIE 10tT Of TIE
community IN reboke and rspre's these pernic'o1,
glosses, makn7 the truth beard ard fer .hst i,o-
diosts eYp'n1iture 10 knsvery and crime. No
man has a moral risht thus 20 lavish On bic orn
sppstites money which he has rot earned and
does not rally need. n Public Opinion were
sound on this subject-if a man living beyond bis
means when his means we've com I'M snsura'e with
his real needs, were subjected tothere p-ehepsion
he dessrves-the evil would be instantly checked
and ultimately era1icsted.
The world is foil of people who CAN'T imagine
Why they don't prosper like their neighbour, when
the real obstacle 10 not in banks nor tariffs in bal
public policy nor hard times. but in their own ex
trsvaeance and needless osteptstion. The young
mechanic or clerk rnsrries ard takes a house
which he proceeds IN furnish twice 80 eZpen,ively
as he can sYrrd. AVID then his wife, instead o'
taking bold IN help him earn livelihood by doing
her own work must have hired servant IN help
her spend his limited earnings. Ten years sfter-
ward you will find him struggling under q
double load Of debts ard children, wondering why
the luck vas always against him. while hi' friends
regret bis unhappy desttution Of financial ability
Had they from the first been frank and honest, he
mead not have been unlucky.
Through every grade ~ society this vice Of In
ordinate expenditure insinustes itself The ain
se man hired oct in the country al ten b hteeD
dollars per month. Win contriv-s 10 dissolve his
years earnings In frolics and fine clothes; the
clerk Who has three to five hundred dollars year
and melts down twenty 10 fifty Of II into liquor
and cigars, are psrsllelsd by the young merchant
who fills q spacious house with costly furniture
gives dinners ard drives . fsst horse on the
strength Of tho profits he expects TO realize when
his goods arc all sold and his notes all paid. Let
q man have a genius for spending, and whether
his income IL a dollar a day or dollar minute Il
10 equally certain 20 prove inadequate II dining,
winning and party giving won't hello him through
With II, building gaming and fpeculsting will be
suro IN. The botsonlsss pocket will never al, no
mater how bounteous the stream pouring into IT,
The man who (being siugle) does not save money
on six dollars per week will no, be sptto on sixty
and he who does not lay up something in his first
year Of independent exertion will be pretty likely
10 wear poor mans hair into his grave.
No men who has the natural use Of his faculties
and his muscles has any right to tar others with
the cost Of his support, as this osss OF non hhsn
cisl gentlemen habitually do. 1t il their common
mistake to fancy that if debt is only paid at last
tho obligation of the debtor lie fulfilled but tho TACT
10 not 90. man who sells bis property for an
others promise to pay next week or mex; month,
and 10 compelled to wear out pair OF boots in
running after his due, which he finally gets ntter
q year or two, is never really psid. Very often
he has Lost half the face Of his d.mtnd by not hsv
ing the money when he needed IL beside the coat
and vexation OF running after il. There ia just
one way 70 pay sn ob alton in full, and that is to
pay Ii when due. He who keeps up RAINING
fight with bills and loans through lite IL continualy
living on other mems means, is q serious burden
and de'riment to those who deal with him al
though his estate should finally pay every dollar
Of his legal obligations.
Inordnate expenditure Ia the cause OF great
share Of the crime and consequent misery which
devsstate the world The clerk who spends more
than he earns 10 fast qualifying himself for 4 gam
bier and a thief; the trader or meohsuic who
ovsrruns his income Ia very certain t. become in
time trickster aud cheat. Wherever you see a
man spending faster than ne earns, there iook out
for vna,ny TO be developed, though il be the Ia
thsst thing possible from his present thousbt
When the world shall have beooms wiser and
its standard Of morality more lofty, 1t will perceive
and affirm that protuse expenditure, even by one
who can pecuniarily sflrd 1t, ia perncious and
urjastiasble-,hst msu, however wealthy. has
NO right to lavish his apostles, his tastes
or his ostentation that wnieh might have raised
hundreds from desttation and despair 10 comfort
and usefulness. Bat that Ia an improvement In
public sentiment which must be- waited for, while
the other 10 more ready and obvious.
The mssnness. the dishonesty, the iaiqaisy, Of
squandsrins thousands unesrnsd, and keeping
Others out Of money that astly theirs have rarely
been urged and enforced a. they should be. They
need bat to be c,nsidsred and understood to be
universally loathed and detestsd.
QvsArv CoNNirrrNS Thu cast of the stapd.