Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-06-16
Young Men and Their Money.

LhS vi lOhhrN uANh
are alarming. Not one-fourth of the
wages-earning young men in the country
are saving a dollar. They spend rs they
go, and many of them spend more than
they earn. They "get behind" anil seem
willing TO be in debt for the clothes on
their backs. Economy is stern virtue
with which they have no acquaintance.
They neither have nor care TO have IN in
vested dollar.
These free and easy" young men may
be in their way generous, good hearted,
but they are not the men TO become the
bulwarks and pillars of society. Their
inheritance will surely be poverty. They
will find themselves counted OUT left in
the rear, poor, and neglected in the hard
times that come ever and anon. They will
help swell the throng who complain of
hardship and i'll usage.
They cannot live now Il winter without
work or charity. And they are destined
to see many "hard winters"
And with their self.induced poverty will
come the horde of evils that wait on mex
cusable poverty. Men that waste their
money are apt to be inquiring how they
can live by their wits-and then come
| crimes.
1t is criminal to spend all. No young
man, in health and unburdened by needy
relatives, has a right to earn so little Or to
spend 50 much upon himself as to live and
die in poverty. Selfsupport is required,
and then it is duty to help another. Every
man should aim at more than a living
means to help others also.
1t is getting to be unpopular in many
companies of workmen to save II dollar.
The spendthrift boys make it II social mis-
demeanor for associates in shop or factory
to take care of portions of their wages.
But there is no business prosperity with
out both work and economy. The condi-
ton of competence is not in Il large sal
airy, but rather in low expenses.
/ nv INooe ilIiOlCCh Oul vi CNCIy lNCuly
young men can and ought to save little
instead of spending all. The Utces and
useless ways of spending money make all
the difference between prosperity and adj
versity. Five dollars are not much, but
it makes much matter whether it goes into
a Savings Bank every month or into livery
teams. 1t is pleasant to be shaved, but
what many young men pay the barber in
one year would purchase razors and
brushes and soap for fifty years. A chew
or smoke or drink costs but n bit, but
the young man who INDUCES in either
gets "bit" in more ways than one. Many
a farm has gone by way of liquor mort
gage. Many fortune has gone for to-
bacco in twenty-five years. Noyoung man
can afford any of these things.
When fifty or one hundred dollars will
we'll clothe young man Il year, wages
need not be high to enable him to save one
or two hundred II year.
And ! few young men are thus saving
and they are destined to be the capitalists
of the near future.
Money earned and saved makes the
great fortunes. Money inherited is gen.
orally lost. The rich men were nearly ali
poor boys. Ten dollars of every large
legacy are lost to one saved.
Young men have their own fortunes 10
make. And it matters but little whether
wages be high or low. And success de-
ponds upon no section. go west and
prosper" said Greeley. A surer way is
"Go to work and prosper If IL young
man is minded to he can own the farm or
factory or bank in New England as well
as in the west.
But he must be rs diligent to save as to
earn. He must work And he must save.
| The habits of diligence and economy will
make any man rich. A determination to
save portion Of ereru m1ntNS oCugcs will
make amy man forehanded.
We do not want generation of greedy
avarcious, penurious men. We want
working, saving, liberal men, We wan
to see every farm hand, and mechanic
and every man on the-train or the tract
preparing to earn homes Of their own. No
young man need let old age surpris
him unsheltered and homeless. Ever,
man in this best country and century shoul
prepare to he Il possessor of some wealth
The young man who does not know
how Il man feels with hard earned dolla
put into Savings Bank is to be met witt
at every street corner and at all hours O
the day. 1t would make new men O
: millions of such to put one dollar or fv
of their next earnings, not into grog, O
gambling, or rides, but into saving
institution Try it.