The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1875-01-21
Waste.

Waste is one of the great curses of the
American people. 1t is manifest every
where and in everything-in our dress
in our houses, in our gay furniture, in
our cooking, at our tables, in we our buy
and consume. Everything we have must
be of the best, and it must be a little bet
ter than that of our neighbors. We must
have as many bay windows upon our
houses as our neighbors, and if possible
we must excel them in the number of
mortgages with which they are plastered ;
our wives must dress as elegantly as the
wealthiest ladies In the land and our
tables must be well supplied as those of
the richest and with the choicest viands
That's eXtravagance, and extravaganza
leads to wasteiulness and wastefulness
to shiftlessness, and shiftlessness to bank
ruptcy, want and suffering.
We art just now experiencing some of
the results of wastefulness and extrava-
gance The whole country is more or
less affected, and paying the penalty of
the national vice. The waste that is
going on in our kitchens daily is
enormous Ii might not pay off our ma
tional debt in year, but it would go a
good ways towards doing it. Servants
are expensive luxuries though we can
not very well get along without them.
Even the best are apt to be wasteful; and
with these if the frugal housewife should
herself go into the kitchen and prudently
i manage affairs for week, she would be
surprised at the saving which had been
accomplished The '1eavings" from
many table that are now thrown away,
would make a good meal for a poor fam
lily; many a nice bone that in Europe
would serve for the next days soup, is
now given to the dogs or goes into the
garbage box and is forever lost. There
is scarcely an article of consumption that
more or less of it is not wasted The
bread and meat that are thrown away in
a large family, and which light be saved
and prepared into good and wholesome
dishes, would quite maintain the family
of a peasant in Europe. We buy great
deal more than is needed, if it were only
properly cooked and the remnants of the
first meal cared for and made palatable
for another meal. We indulge too much.
also, in rich food and prepared delicacies,
and not enough in the simple dishes of
our fathers. The "fat of the land" alone
allures our appetites, and waste must al
ways sit sort of welcome guest at our
tables.
1t is the same story of extravaganza in
reference to what we wear. How many
have overhauled their wardrobes lately,
ments that are there slowed away Just
take them down, brush off the dust that
covers them, and be prepared to make
the confession that they are great deal
better than you supposed them to be.
Array yourselves in them, and decide
whether after all they will not serve a
very useful purpose for a good while yet.
The young man possessed of half-a-dozen
coats, still larger number of pantaloons,
and at least twenty-five neck-ties is not
a rarity. That number of neck-ties to
one young man is common enough. We
have heard our American youth boast of
a much larger extent of ownership in
that line, representing stunning variety
and wealth of colors To wear the same
tie on two successive days is to lose caste
equally extravagant. They toll not
neither do they spin yet Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of
them. Solomon was wiser in his genera
ton, probably; economy was a necessity,
and waste and prodigality were not com
mon. We confess to an admiration of
the ladies as they appear in morning cos
tune, street dress and evening toilette
all varied with the days of the week; but
after all it is expensive business, wasteful
and luxurious, and good sense and indi-
vidual and national prosperity and happi-
ness all cry opt against it. We beg them
to reform it altogether"
Our late troubles ought to teach us the
lessons of prudence anu economy. We
have had only little touch of "hard
times" bat we experienced enough to
show US the folly and the very great evils
of extravaganza and waste. We all see
the sin, and should try to guard against
it.