Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-03-16
A VIRTUE NEEDED IN AMERICA.

We Americans are the most wasteful and
extravagant, people in the world. We waste
feartully in food, in clothing, and in extras
We waste in every secular day of the week,
and waste a double amount on Sundays
Men waste shamefully, women shockingly ;
boys and girls too are permitted to waste
wotully- usefulness is one of our worst
national vices for if economy be virtue,
then extravaganza must be vice The
English don't waste half as much as we do;
the French not a quarter and the Germans
while i'll Germany don't waste at ALL
Hundreds of leading hotels here and
throughout the country prepare daily from
twenty TO fifty different dishes for dinner,
and out OF these from a half to two-thirds
are regularly wasted. Thus not only is
food wasted but also labor at the same
time. In ordinary families unwholesome
meals of half dozen dishes are gotten up,
where PLAIN meal would at once be more
economical and wholesome. We gorge
ourselves with great numbers of articles,
which are neither nutritious nor delicious,
but simply costly Men buy four hats
year, where one ought to last them four
years. They throw away coats and pants
when they are but little the worse for wear;
and instead of having their shirts mended,
they purchase new ones and fling away the
old. W omen wear very expensive articles
of dress without wearing them out and,
we have heard, are inclined to spend and
waste money and material without stint.
The present is a most excellent time for
the whole people to begin to learn and
practice the virtue of economy. If those
.l,x f.
cause OF the high price of living, would
instead of this, waste less in their homes,
their clothing and their sundries,' it
would be much better for themselves and
for the country. If dealers would live less
eXtravagantly, and waste less, they could
sell more cheaply. If rich men would
squander less on their tables, their taiors,
their wine merchants, their fast horses, big
houses and fancy ixings," they would set
better example would better enjoy life,
enjoy better health, and be more able to
help their country If the fair sex would
pay some attention to this matter-and we
refer not merely to the wealthy classes, but
to those III the common walks of lifc-thcy
would be thrice blessed themselves and
would confer blessings on the bearded sex.
Among the mercantile, mechanic, agri-
cultural and working classes of Germany,
the same garment will not only be worn for
one season or one year, but for half life
time or more; and yet they will be no less
comfortably clad than our people, who wear
out hundred suits of expensive clothing
during their brief existence In Dachau,
the unterTOcE of the women will often be
handed down and worn for three genera
tions-which is fact that might profitably
be )ndered by the daughters of America.
They are no less economical in articles of
food on the European continent. 4 witty
Frenchman asks the question why pork is
so dear i'll Paris, and himself answers the
inquiry by saying it is because they can't
raise swine in France, for the people them
selves consume all the garbage There is
hardly enough truth i'll this to point the
joke but the fact is, that the nice and eco
nomical habits of the French, in matters Of
diet, prevents the vast accumulations of re-
fuse which are seen i'll some other countries
Our habits of waste astonsh all foreign
ers. We waste enough in this country, of
food and clothing, in one year, to sustain
the whole population for five The times
are hard. The currency is deranged We
know not what lies in the future. The
whole country should begin to learn habits
of economy. And it is a virtue, which, if
1t is ever TO become national should at
once be begun to be practiced by individu-
ais