Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1850-02-22
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LIVING An MEANS.

: which rotten Morality. a radically false
and vicious Public Sentiment disguise
themselves IS that which characterize GER
tain individuals, as destitute Of financial
capacity. \ kind, amiable, generous.
good sort Of a man. $50 runs the varnish. J
but utterly unqualified for the manage
ment Of his own finances'-:a a mere child
IN everything relating to money, SC, &c
meaning that with an income of $500
a year he persisted in spending $1,000; or
with an income of $4,000 to $4,000. he
regularly spent five to eight thousand. ac-
cordlng to his ability to run in debt. or
the credUlity of others in trusting him
The victims Of this immOraIity-debt-
or as well as creditor-are entitled to
more faithful dealing at the hands OF those
not directly affected by the misdemeanors
of the former It is the duty Of the com
munity to repress these pernicious CLOSES.
making the truth heard and felt. that in
ordinate expenditures is knavery and
crime. No man has a moral right thus
to lavish on his own appetites money which
he has not earned and does not really need
If Public Opinion were sound on this sub
ject-if man living beyond his means
when his means were commensurate with
his real needs were subject to the repre-
hension he deservcs-the evil would be
instantly checked and ultimately cradica-
ted
The world is full of people who can't
imagine why they don't prosper like their
neighbors, when the real obstacle is not in
banks or tariffs. in bad public policy nor
hard times, but in their own extrayagancc
and Needless ostentation The young me-
oh al, ! Al
which he proceeds to furnish twice as ex-
pensively as he can afford and then his
wife, instead of taking hold to help him
earn livelihood BY doing her own work
must have a hired servant 20 help her
spend his limited earnings. Ten years
afterward YOU viii find him struggling on
under a double load of debts and children
wonderingwhy the luck was always against
him, while his friends regret his unhappy
destitution of financial ability. Had they
from the first been frank and honest, he
need not have been so unlucky
Through every grade Of society this
vice of inordinate expenditure iusinuates
itself The single man hired out in the
country al ten or fifteen dollars per month
who contrives to dissolve his years earn
ings In frolics and fine clothes the clerk
year. and melts down twenty to fifty Of it
in liquor and cigars, are paralIelled by the
Young merchant who fills a capacious
house with costly furniture, gives dinners
and drives fast horse on the strength Of
the profits he expects to realize when his
goods are all sold and his notes all paid
Let man have a genius for spending,
and whether his income is a dollar a day
al. -
to prove inadequate If dining, wining
and party-giving won't help him through
with it. building gaming and speculating
will be sure to. The bottomIesss pocket
will never fill, no matter how bounteous
the stream pouring into it. The man
' who (bein@ sinClo) does not save money on
T six dollars per week viii not be apt to on
e sixty: and he who does not lay up some
d thing in his first year Of independent ex-
ertion viii be pretty likely to wear a poor
) mans hair INTO his grave
= No man who has the natural use Of his
a faculties and his muscles has any right to
tax others with the cost Of his support. as
this class of non-6nancial gentlemen ba-
bitually do II is their common mistake
to fancy that if q debt IS only paid at least
, the obligation of the debtor is fulfilled.
-
his property for another's promise to pay
next week or next month, and IS compel
led to wear out pair Of boots in running
: after his due, which he finally gets after
q year or two. is never really paid. Very
e often. he has lost half the face of his de
mand By not having the money when he
needed it, beside the cost and vexation Of
running after it. There is lust one way
= IL
paw it when due He who keeps up a
running fight with bills and loans through
, life. is continually living on other mems
T means. is a serious burden and q detri-
, ment to those who deal with him although
his estate should finally pay every dollar
, Of his legal obligations.
Inordinate expenditure is the cause of
great share Of the crime and consequent
misery which deyastate the world. The
clerk who spends more than he earns is
fast qualifying himself for a gambler and
l. a thief, the trader or mechanic wh9 over
=, runs his income Is very certain to become
T in time a trickstor and a cheat When
ever YOU see man spending faster than
he earns. there look out for villany to be
d developed. though it be the farthest thing
:. possible from his present thought.
When the world shall have become Wis
er and its standard Of morality more lofty,
e it will perceive and affirm that profuse eE-
4 penditure. even by one who can pecunia-
i rilv afford it. is pernicious and uujustiia-
t ble-that a man, however wealthy. has no
/ right to lavish on his own aPFetites, his
o tastes or his ostcntation that which might
= have raised hundreds from destitution and
. despair to comfort and usefulness. But
+. that Is an improvement in public senti-
ment which must be waited for, while the
other is more ready and obvious
The meanness. the dishonesty, the in
: iquity, of squandering thousands unearn-
ed. and keeping others out Of money that