The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-06-08
Saving VS.. Starving.

A young man, clerk in one of the
Wall street moneyed insti utions, applied
to one of our distinguished merchants,
who is a director, and asked him for his
influence to get his salary raised.
The merchant said to him: How
much is your salary now?" "Twelve
hundred dollars" was the answer.
Question-How much do you save
year? Answer-Not one dollar; with a
wife and two children l can only just
make both ends meet
Q.-What! don't save anything? A.
No, sir; can but just exist.
OIL make 1t a rule to assist no one
who does MT save something every year.
No matter how small his pay, something
should be saved. How many cigars do
you smoke-and their cost? A-Well,
some three day; costing, together, about
twenty cents.
| Q.-Do you go to the theatres, and how
often; and how many persons with you?
Al go some halt a dozen times during
the winter, with my wife and sister, cost
ing, including railroad fare, say thirty
dollars.
| Q-Do you drink ardent spirits, wire,
beer, etc.? Al generally take two
glasses of whisky daily, and sometimes
glass of ale with my wife at the gardens
in the evening.
Q.-Do you say you cannot save any,
thing-while your unnecessary yearly ex-
penses fer cigars, drinks and amusement,
by your own showing, cannot cost less
than $500? Until you begin to save, rails
ing your salary would do you no good.
Begin to- day to save, if only five cents
day. Try saving for six months and re-
port to me the result.
AT the end of the time the young man
brought the merchant his expense book,
showing clear saving o: $1O4.2O. This
induced the merchant to take him cord al-
ly by the hand down to the institution,
and urge the President to increase his sal
airy from $1,000 to 500. In another six
M nths his savings amounted to almost
$500; the merchant on this showing said
to him: "You are now on the road to
wealth and position. Go down to my
brokers and ask them to buy $50, 900 Of
such and such stocks, and l will pay for
them and give you the profits" This
young man is now worth some $50, 600
all due 10 the saving of the first $500.
The merchant, no doubt, is now daily
made happy every time he sees the insti-
tuition by the delightful reflection of hav-
ing saved this man as we'll as his family.
There are now hundreds of families in
this city who are highly cultivated that
do not know where their next meal is
coming from. Could they have had the
advice OF this old merchant, and followed
it, they would now be in atfluencc, not
bcggary. Only yesterday highly re-
spectacle lady, with three young dau"h.
tiers, applied for immediate assistance to
buy bread. Her husband had recently died
after enjoying salary for some twenty
years OF from 81 500 to So, 900, without hav.
ing saved anything. The practical result
of this case is that this lady, for twenty
years, has secured every luxury within
her reach, while am indebted for all |
now have to the denial of luxuries for
myself and family, and am now asked to
help to support her out of my savings,
such as she would not make for herself
With her present views of economy she
sees how she could have lived on half his
salary. Had she done so, it would amount
to some $50 900, the interest OF which
would have made her and her children in.
pedcndcnt for life. Such cases do moi
warmly commend themselves to my char
ity; such people must be taught by nat
ural laws that they must save or be liable
to starve.
Another case occurs to me. A young
man, recently married, has put up his
carriage with livery on a salary of 81 ,OOt
a year. One of three things will soon
probably follow. The carriage will be
laid down, or defalcation will come next
and ruin and beggary follow. All lhi;
reminds me of the old maxim that nine
teen persons out of every twenty who ar,
now respectable would not be so if the,
could get the means to make themselves
otherwise. This man with his carriage
on 81 900 is one of the nineteen.-N. Y
EueninQ Post.