Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-10-22
MAKING ENDS MEET,
What 1t Costs Young Men to Live In
the Busy Metropolis.
New York Herald.


New York Herald.
ga great horde of young men make
their way to this city annually, said
a prominent Wall street fnancier to
+ Herald reporter, deserving the
farm, and country store and light oc-
equations IN small towns, ambitious
to wrestle for the spoils of commerce
and the golden fruits of trade, without
the slightest knowledge of how to live
on small pay. The first lesson had
to learn was how to spend -howSto
make small salary put food in my
mouth, clothes n my back ana roof
over me. Strange as 1t may seem,
some never learN the lesson, and so
back disgraced through debt, broken
through disappointment and useless
by reason OF their city experience"
"But how can it be expected that
verdant youth will know now to
spend, how to manage?" asked TIE re-
porter.
ut is not to be expected. 4 boy
coming to this city with a few dollars
must learn how to get what he wants
at the least possible cost. He must be
shown. This knowledge Will be more
beneficial than a place. He must
know that every penny saved is
penny made. See all our rich men.
Many of them slept under the coun-
tiers in the store, and had only bread
and milk for breakfast. See y. T.
Stewart, Edwin Morgan, John Jacob
Astor, Pierre Lorillard, Isacc 7. Sher-
man, Jay Gould, Commodore Wander
bilt. Why, these men matched their
stomachs and their backs against the
pennies In their pockets, and the pens
MES won, for they saved them.
''With the very poor it is case of
deprivation. Poverty is poverty. 4
young man should, upon getting the
iron foot of poverty Off his neck, and
when he is IN receipt OF 8 far salary
say $500 to 81, 200 a year. Look about
that will prove ultimately beneficial
to him. He must then spend more
literally, but still in accordance with
his means, keeping cautiously a re-
serve or accident fund for the evil
day which is sure tocome unexpected
ly. This is where young men go
astray. AS the gain is to slow: later
it is too fast. In word, it is how to
spend, for how to spend means how
to live. [ believe in so much for mes
cessities, so much for pleasures, so
much as a reserve against accident.
1t makes no matter whether it is the
young clerk on $500 g year OF the OPP
ulent bondholder on $4,000 a year"
The banker spoke with emphasis.
What he had said was the result of
his own experiences and observations.
The Herald reporter, to rest the
theory advanced, made tower Of the
town, and he found that on a salary
OF $500 year young man with per-
severance might not only live but lay
up a portion Of his pay. OF boarding
houses there is no end, the prices
largely depending upon the situations
and the class Of people living in them.
A young man sharing his room with
some friend may be able to get fair
accommodations for 81 per week, and,
If the sole occupant, for $5. There
are many small rooms on the upper
floors of boarding houses in excellent
locations which are rented to single
men, with board, for IS and SO
per week. While many young men,
wishing to know exactly what their
expenses will come to at the end of
the week, adopt this system of living,
there are others who prefer to have a
room and get their meals Ia restaur
ants Rooms can be secured without
meals for 50 and So per week.
The table d'hote system has grown
| to great dimensions in this city during
the past ten years. There was time
when dinners at fixed prices were
only to be had at the hotels, but now
| they are to be found On the principal
avenues and on the side streets, with
prices varying from 40 cents to 81. so.
some Of these establishments give
their regular customers dinners and
breakfasts for IS per week. If it were
not that the establishments employed
cocks, both economical and skillful, it
would be indeed a mystery how they
could set before their guests two meals
s. day for less than 81, and particular
ly so when both dinner and breakfast
are bountiful and palatable. 1t is es~
timated that no less than 5000 men
daily dine in these places during the
winter season. The great city clubs
have very generally adopted the sys~
tenn of providing their members with
dinners at fixed prices.
It is not to be supposed that men IN
easy circumstances will suffer them
selves to live on the same careful
plan which marked their fnanciering
in the early days of small pay. And
the sight of the great buildings
throughout the city which are known
as bachelor apartment houses carries
conviction to the senses that the days
of their tenants deprivations are
over. Inquiry Of the janitor in charge
will show that young men pay for
two rooms rentals varying from $500
10 $1,000. Often these rooms consist
only of a small sitting room and q
bedroom, with a bath room attached
the prices being graded Ia accor>
dance with the facilities, attendance,
modern Improvements and ath actions
furnished. The apartment-for By
ouch q name the two rooms are