The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-04-04
The Law of Accumulation.

money, Dut ~ BuOb GNC4 JH1uJ luuta p1Is
attention to the mOdllS operdadi By, which
Ibis is brought about, and to the practical
consequences which lpllow4
Schooiboys are taught the rnlc'of COM
poIAd interest, put nine out Of ten Of
them forget all about It for the remainder
OF their lives. Yet this principal Inns
more to do with the accumulation Of large
fortunes than any other cause whatever;
and it has bearings on the increase OF
wealth and on the ratio style Of expendi-
tlre, both. personal and national, Of which
the principal character cannot be over.
rated. .7-s-s, -
We read in -the papers Q few months
ago Of the death OF m eminent london
capitalist, who lett the enormous fortune
behind him OF three millions sterling.
This old gentleman was over ninety years
OF age at his death, and it is pretty evil
dent that hewas . man Of quiet habits
and moderate expenditure, letting his
capital accumulate from year to year by
its own natural force. Now 1t is only
when it has been in operation for long
series OF consecutive years that We see
what the force Of compound interest is.
For the flrst few years tho augmentation
ia almost imperceptible, but when once
the power Of increase is developed, it goes
on at an hugLenting ratio, until tho re.
suits are almost incredible. There can be
little doubt that in the case just mention
ed, the wealth accumulated after the
natural duration oflife had been reached
was far more than in all the seventy years
previous. - a.
II money can be invested at eight per
cent, and the interest reinvested at the
same rate, it will double itself in nine
years. Allow ten years for this TO take
place, owing to the loss Of time in rein
vesting, and we reach the remarkable con.
.clusion-remarkable, we mean, to those
who have not thought about it-that II o
man lay by thousand dollars at one and
twenty, and let 1t accumulate at COM
pound interest, 1t will amountto the enor-
nous sum Of thirty thousand dollars II he
lives TO the age Of seventy, 10 sixty thous-
and at eighty, and to one hundred and
twenty thousand at ninety. This is the
secret Of the large fortunes Of the great
bankers and capitalists OF Europe, whose
money goes on accommodating for genera
tons, and augments with prodigious
rapidity after thirty or finy years have
passed on.
The process, however, may be reversed.
A man wastes or spends thousand dol
lars ncedlessly, by the time he is one or
two and twenty. What Is the effect! II
be lives till seventy lie will be thirty
thousand dollars poorer for 1t; or, we will
say, he will have lost the chance Of being
thirty thousand dollars better of than
he is. r.
We then arrive at tho general truth,
that the younger man is the moro valua-
bic money is 10 him. We have seen what
athousand dollars Is to man Of twenty.
one, viz: the making Of a fortune; but a
thousand dollars to man Of fifty would
DO Of comparatively small account
Suppose q man begins life with econ.
opical habits, and by rigid seltdenial &c.
cumulates frye hundred pounds by the
time be is twenty-five. That sum will
amount to a competency by the time he
desires to DO free from the cares Of bust.
ness, and lie can then land indeed for
years before have the pleasure Of laying
out his money freely, and without fear, in
gratifying his tastes Or in doing good.
But II he is inclined TO crafty his tastes
when young, TO buy, We will say, eXpen'
siYo furniture, or to lningle freely In soci.
ETY., so that he never saves at all I'LL he Is
five and forty, what good will five hund.
red pounds do him then? 1t Is OF course
good in itself, but us the foundation Of q
competency ii is utterly inadequate. 1t
would only amount to two thousand
pounds at siXty.fvc, and not 10 u Compe-
tCncy till long after threcscOrc and ten.
The points Of the whole matter arc
therefore this: Every dollar saved in
youth is worth thirty dollars in old age;
every hundred dollars spent in foolery or
flnery before five and twenty Is simply
three thousand dollars thrown away Of
provision Tor the time when work must be
u burden.
Let Our young men OF business think OF
this They are exposed, on entering life,
to innumera6le temptations to spend. Let
such be steadily resisted. Thetrue course
in youth is quick saving and careful
economy. By and by time will come
when this will bear its legitimate fruits,
Then is the time for openhanded freedom
in expenditure, when the judgment. is ma.
tured, when knowledge Of the world is
acquired, and when capital has been ac-
cumulated to such an extent that, even II
there is no more saving, there need to be
no further anxiety. -,