Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-03-19
MING. MARCH 10, 1875.
PINCH.

.Ss. "a II. PINCH.
IN letter from prominent citizen Of
who might well be taken as
,,saei eby every man in the county in, his
,,s;,,ess affairs, we find a sentence that
ofnds SO much like it ought to be a text
hal, we can't refrain from preaching lit
.le discourse from it: SAT this time. as
,eSeral rule, each man or family desires to
,peed the earnings Of from two to ten
men: this foolish mania causes the man OF |
$500 income to copy the style Of the man
who has $4,000 year-henee the eager
ness among men of small capital. or of no !
capitar at all, to borrow money to go into
trading, hoping to obtain means to meet
their artificial wants." That is what the
writer says, and we have rarely seen the
matter SO well condensed. 1t isn't the
extravagance of the rich that hamstrings
j community; that rather benefits every
body. It puts money in circulation, helps
the poor, gives work to the needy, and is a
general benefit. It is the extravaganza of
the moor that is rninous. There is enough
money wasted in the clothing Of the wo-
men and children Of persons of limited
means in Staunton i'll six months to start
a cotton factory, and almost a blast fur
mace. These women and children. VINO
live on husbands and fathers, are non-pTo-
ducers; they do not make dollar in
year, and yet upon them, through very
pitiful sort of pride, the men who own
them fritteF away their profits for the
wear, and, twenty chances to one. go in
debt TODD it. The man and his wife who
have $500 year to live on must keep up
the style Of another who has 81 900, and
the $1,000 man runs race with the $4,000
man; his wife must dress as well, his chill
dr5ean must dress as well, his style of 'house-
keeping must be as good. And extrava-
gance Beginning At home gets to be wide
spread. It begets ah unwholesome desire
to get rich, and an adventurous spirit to
accomplish it. Tie small merchant doing
a safe business finds his Expenses" so
heavy that he must enlarge it t. meet
them. and to do this he must borrow mo-
new at a ruinous rate Of interest. There
is no want in the city for his enlarged
business. though there was for his small
one. and his experiment ends disastrously.
The industrious mechanic, to meet his
.serpenseg, !" wants to set up for himself
bafors he has saved money enough from
his wages to do it, and he, too, borrows.
He sets up his business; there is not de.
mand enough for his manufactures; he
can't meet the interest on his borrowed
money. and he collapses. The farmer who
is safely cultivating 100 acres he owns, and
owes nothing, tries to spread over another
hundred. He buys the land, and from
that moment becomes slave to the man
me bought from. These enterprises
were not needed; to carry them out money
was wanted that was not needed for the
real wants of commerce, and an excessive
demand was created for it, which creates
scarcity and high rates of interest. And
that in a short way is the whole story.
The trouble with us is not SO much lack
of money to carry on commerce. as it IS
lack OF individual economy in our affairs,
for with all our failures in business the
ulUIlEy 10 oH0pV cSV oy AAVAAA ~ S'SS~- ~ 49,
snoney centres. Having proved ourselves
Huworthy servants, the talent is taken
away. So you see in the great money cen
ire. New York to-day money is plentiful,
while the rest OF the country is starving.
II all of US suited our expenses to our
means, and our expenses to our capital,
we should be able to look upon our tight
money market with comparative lndlfter-
ence. and more than that. We would be
richer and happier and honester people.
We will not seop be out Of our present
troubles until we learn the WORD FINCH,
and make no our minds that it is not dis
reputable to do it-that it is indeed bit
more honest to pinch a little, and live even
with the world, than to live above our
means, with hundreds of others doing the
same thing, all Of us surrounded with all
atmosphere Of mean, petty, false pretence.
through which it is not hard to see, and
which. seen through, renders Us objects Of
inst sidicules not to say contempt.