Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-05-02
Domestic Economy and Public
Wealth.
From the milwaukee sentinel."l

CaTp0tb IOr Small mousse 10 cOsI SlUU,
If the owner of the house goes with
out carpets for five years, he saves
500. In the whole nation there NAV
be one million houses that are carpet
ed. If all these houses were to re-
main uncarpeted for five years, the
aggregate saving would be one hun
dred millions of dollars. This large
amount would DO added to the CAPT
tai OF the nation. A fine silk dress
costs about fifty dollars. A million
OF them, we may suppose, are worn
out every year. The whole cost is
fifty millions. Ii calico dress, cost
ing two dollars, were worn instead,
the saving would be forty-eight mill
ions. Perhaps two million broadcloth
suits are worn out every year, at a
cost of forty dollars per suit, amount
in all to eighty millions. fla coarser
and equally durable fabric were used,
costing only thirty millions, the saw
ing would DO fifty millions. There
are perhaps six million dogs in the
country, costing five dollars per head
to keep. If the dogs were all killed,
the saving would be thirty millions
per dnnun If we had the will and
the power 10 pass and enforce an act
prohibiting the manufactures and i'm
portation of alcoholic beverages the
saving would be considerably over
a thousand millions 9 year.
1t is not generally understood that
every article, worn out or consumed,
whether an article ofnecessity or lux
ury, is destruction of value. Its
place can only be supplied by the
hard labor of somebody. Suppose
one dollar TO be the value of a days
work; the unnecessary expenditure
of forty-eight millions every year for
silk dresses will then have to be re-
placed by forty-eight million days of
labor; in other words, million of
men must work for eight days to sup
ply the waste. Once in five years a
million of men must work fifty days
to supply the nation with carpets
A million of men must work fifty
days every year to supply the mass
culine part OF the people with extra
| fine clothes. A million of men must
work thirty days every year to keep
the nation in ours. Ten millions must
,oOrk hundred days every gear to sup
ply the people nth rum.
The heavy burthen that rests upon
labor in this country-in ali countries
is not taxation for the maintenance
of government, but the consumption
OF luxuIies that must be replaced by
toll. If our people were to shun lux
uries of all kinds for one year, the
saving would be sufficient to more
than pay the national debt. II our
people were to permanently eschew
luxnries, the hours of labor could be
reduced one-haIf without any loss to
public prosperity. An advance OF a
thousand years in civilization might
thus be taken 10 a single day.
| The fault pertains to all classes
Most young men Of twenty five have
smoked up enough capital TO starr
them in business Seedy Democrats
have drunk up the national debt since
the last Presidential election, and have
wasted enough time in cursiDg the
administration, TO have gained some
solid information about public affairs
Many pretty Miss has wasted
enough for nice dowery in useless
ribbons and gloves.
Prussia is the most prosperous o
European nations, has the least pub
lie debt, because the people consume
least in luxuries, Won Moltke taught
bis staff to conquer France in a room
naked of carpets. A plain, table {
hard chair, and bsre floor, are suf
ficient for a great German professor
The German emigrant TO tins coun
try soon pays for his own farm. anC
buys the mortgaged farm of his Yam
kee neighbor, because he has learned
to dispense with Injuries The vul
gar taste for upholstery" as J. r
Lowell terms it, in our American
homes, is far more perilous to the na
tional prosperity than the public debt
The American is far too cowardiN
(socially) to avoid the tawdry indica
tons Of wealth. 1t is little saucy
to say it, but we are still too vulgar
to acknowledge the social standing
Of neighbor, he is poor. Henc
, is fostered that taste for display
which saps orr prosperity as a pco
pie.
Statesmen have often wondere'
: at the rapid recuperation of natiol
after destructive war. The expla
nation is simple, in the light Of tn
principle here stated. For a few
| years, a nation impoverished by wa
goes without luxuries, and the publ
prosperity is restored by domesti
: economy. We hardly need to stat
D that public wealth consists in tie ae
s gregate possessions of Individuals
When all prosper, the state prosper'
! When all economize, the ftate grow
: rich. When all waste, the stat
grows poor.
p@-The New York Herald pro
nounces the Joint High Commissio
0 a failure because it did not itself ad
Q Indicate the claims pending between