The Hazlehurst signal., 1884-04-10
THE ART OF SPENDING MONEY.

Uncle Esek," In The Century, re-.
marks. There arc plenty Of people
who know how TO make money. and
how 10 waste il, but few who know
how Ia spend it." The more any one
reflects on this the more he will DO con
WINGED of the wisdom Of the saving.
II must be confessed that the
opinion Of the world Is just
the contrary. Tho belief OF most
men might he summed up In the
saying: "Any fool can spend money.
hut il takes a shrewd man 10 make II. v
II is not often that the general opinion
of men about matters of every day life
is wrong. yet in this case we believe that
IL Is certainly wrong. A fool can waste
money, he can squandcr II In disslpa'
ton or let it slip away from him
through sheer Incompetence to hold II,
but he can not spend 1t wisely. II
might be maintained that spending q
fortune Is harder than getting II, and
the thesis would have many plausible
arguments to sustain il; but nj any rat,
this Is true. the talent for money-gct'
ting and that for money-spending are
separate gifts, not often united in III,
same person.
Few of the great millionaircs hav,
been successful in spending the fortune
they have acquired. The name of Pea
bod N will occur mt once rs an instance
of % man who succeeded in so spending
his great fortune as to do vast amount
of good with it.-good Of n Kind that i
continually multiplying itself and add
ing new contributions Of its own to thu
sum Of the worlds happiness. But
what other name shall We place along
side Of his? What work Of practical
bcnciiccncc Il associated with the names
of Stewart. Vanderbilt. Gould, Sage.
Field. and the rest? In Europe the cas-,
is no better. The name Of Sir Moses
Mon,ciiorc is cherished everywhere n
that OF great bcnciactor o; his owr
race. il not Of humanity ut largc; bn
with what great work of bcncilccncc
even for their own race, has the nam,
of Rothschilds been conncc,cdP
We have mentioned the name OF
Stewart among the, rich men Of thi'
country whose name is connected will
no great work for his fellows. But he
n, least l. entitled 10 this honor, that b,
desired to do something for them. and
really made tho ell, ri. lie began =
palaiial home for working women, but
so badly was the whole thing planned,
and 80 ineiliciently was the idea carried
out by his executors. that IL was cost,
failure. His name greatly strengthen,
our thesis that the talent for spending
money is quite distinct from the talent
for getting money. The only one of the
great millionaircs of Ncw-York iwhc
has ever ,hown any disposition towar,
n large charitable enterprise failed be-
cause he had not studied the condition,
of successful money-spcnding rs he had
studied those Of money-getting.
The talcn. for moncy-spcnding Is one
that may be cultivated II Is the dut,
of q Christian man to cultivate 1t. IL il
noteworthy that the New Testament has
little TO say about the getting ofmoncy.
1t is apparently taken for granted that
men will look out for the means OF get.
ting money without any injunction to do
do so. and that what they need Is in.
struction In the art and true principle OF
using the money they acquire. In this WI
have another proof Of tho ndaptedness
of tho Scriptures to human needs. The
men OF Ncw-York. and Of every Other
place In like manner. are all busy about
plans for acquiring money; few OF them
ever stop to think what they shall dc
with II when they have gratilic,
their highest amb lion in money
getting. As result, when they
become rich they do not even
know how to use their money for
their own pleasure, and are obliged In
order to save themselves from uncn'
durable ennni to go on piling up their
millions when the possession OF great
wealth has ceased TO be pleasure In
itself to them. They are even more
ignorant Of how to use their money fol
the GOOD OF their fellows. nor do their
actions give us any warrant to suppose
that the desire SO - use II has ever
entered their minds. II men devoted
half tho thought and skill to the wise
spending OF their fortunes that they
do to their acC ,uircment, we should moi
see great charitable and educational
pro ects languishing for lack OF the
means TO carry them forward. nor would
the few enterprises undertaken by rich
men 80 often miscary and prove utter
failures. .
The most generous givcrs to every
object that appeals with force 10 q
Christian mans heart are the men who
began to consider, when they had little
TO give. how to give that little 40 that |,
would accomplish the most, and who,
trained in such school. when they had
largo sums ut their disposal had nc
doubt whore to put them In ORDER "a
make them o continuous power fol
good. The art Of spending money
wisely Is not to 10 learned In day. mol
Is fortune TO be disposed Of without
an amount Of care and thought com.
parable to that consumed In the making
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