The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1873-12-10
pOEkET-BOOK LOGIC.
POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED IN CON
TRACTING BILLS NEXT WINTER.

IL IS i SOOd time 10 examine
some ofthe notions that arc put
forward as an excuse for eXtrava.
gance. 1t is no news to most peo.
PIE that it is the ''little things that
| count" Nevertheless, there is
universal difficulty in stopping the
small leaks from the family purse.
Each one seems so small, and is so
small, that not to indulge seems
parsimony. Supposing we repre-
sent expenditure By the one article
cigars, while we ask liberty to
waive all discussion ofthe influence
and utility in general Of tobacco.
4 mans expenditure for cigars may
seem small US a daily item or rs i
per cent. Of his income for the year.
But itmay represent nevertheless:
iust that fraction of each days wa
ycs, Or just that per cent. fthe an.
uual income, which would, other
wise, be q surplus. This surplus,
or the savings Of most mcn- what
they lay up-is necessarily; in it.
self, small per cent. ofthcir total
come. Extravagant outlays
shoalI, therefore, be computcd,not
Us a per cent. Of tn" total income,
but Of the proba"le surplus. Sup
pose 4 clerk with d salary Of one
thousand dollars L year to spend
fifty dollars in cigars, and To sa"e,
from his entire income two hun
dred dollars. Ills extravaganza
should be measured, not by the fact
that he spends fivc per cent. ofthe
income needicssly. but by the fact
that he thus cuts down his savings
twenty per cent. 1t makes a great
difference which five per cent. il
is that is thus dissipated. If it rs
the last one, The one between 90
and 100, it is evidently the one
which will have TO de reformed be.
fore the young man will save any,
thing at all.
There are 4 good many current
traditions Of the pockct.book
which is trying to keep up an all
of gentility, that arc open to some
criticism. We fear that the motto
of our dictionary friends is rcspon
siblc for some domestic bankrupt
cics. "Grt the hest" must always
be interpreted with strict regard tc
the relatively Of all human things,
rs Sir William Hamilton calls it.
The best" has come to mean the
most expensive, which may be the
best indeed, for people who can af
ford it. and the worst for those
who cannot. Ofsimilar character
is the despotic dictum that "the
best hotels arc always the cheap
est" We have heard this opinion
advanced with an air that was in
tended to brand any one who
doubted it as mean and vul gal
fellow. If the cheapest hotel i:
tho one which surrounds its gucsts
with the vainest luxuries, such q:
most Of them do not enjoy or ask
for at home, undoubtedly our first
class houses deserve all the custom
Who is there that has not puz
zled himself with the soothing spec
ulation as to whether, in the even
Of 4 certain questionable expcndl
tnre, he will "be any poorer tel
years from now?" The remote
ness of the era, the infinite com
p!exity Of possibilities entering in
to the computation of the results
the utter righteousness ofsuppos
ing that paltry five dollar dissi
patton to-day will affect anything
so far down the stream Of time
make this a most dangerous issu
to raise. The bare suggestion o
it generally outwcighs all consid
crations Of economy, and dow
comes the money. We have ottc>
wished that somebody would tr.
this interesting but impossible eX
pertinent" both ways" and inform
an crring world whether the MAJ
who spends five dollars foolishl.
today will be just five dollars poor
er when he dies, say fifty year
' hence or not. And yet there ar
a good many people in the wor!
" ho have solved the problem, an
some Of them can be intervicwc
at the aims house.
But it is not this expenditure Q
that saving that makes 4 :amil,
poorer or full -handcd-it is th
habitual carelessness regarding cX
penses, or the habitual scrutiny {
them, that determines that resul
And we wish to say a word hel
, about the relations OF econom
: and charity. Many people hav
i great contempt for 'Scrimpine g
but like 10 sec observation-disclosures,
We have space merely TO obscr1
that the people Of economy and j
dicioas expenditure areas a ru
e the people who maintain our gre:
4 charities with their timely and sy
!. tcmatic contributions. The "fre
! hearted" fellows, on the other han
! don't amont to much for the pra
tical alienation Of real sufferin
t They have spurts Of giving, ar
i often give where it were better
withhold, or where there is alare
per cent. Of social pleasure rctur