The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1889-11-24
WORTH READING.
Getting Money And Then Keeping II.

Here is the cleverest editorial that
has come under the writer's observa-
ton this week.
1t is from last Thursdays Seattle
Post -Iztelligeilcer. It is entitled
MONEY SENSE.
The origin and nature of the faculty
which, for want of a better name, may
be called money sense" is to the ma
Iorlty OF mankind an inscrutable mys-
terry. 1t neither implies nor discredits
the possession of other intellectual at
tributes. Along with it some men
possess varied and brilliant intellectu-
ahty; others, except as to this faculty,
are dull, stupid and obtuse. In some
cases it bears the marks of genius,
while In others it is hardly distinguish.
able from brute instinct.
Money sense is the faculty which
enables or compels its possessor to get
money and hold on to it. It.is an ex-
ploded notion that industry, economy
and self-denial are the groundworks of
money sense. There are plenty of
men, who, from the day ofltheir birth
to the day of their death, never. over
work themselves, or practice self-de-
nial, or take any pains to forecast the
future, or practice economy in any
shape, who neyertheless get ahead
and keep ahead, while there are others
who drudge and save and calculate,
and are eternally looking forward to
and saving up for rainy day, and it
is as much as bargain If their assets
will pay for a decent burial when
their time comes for joining the ma
| iority.
Be it understood, not all who &C
quire fortunes are to be credited with
money sense. Striking a bonanza,
for instance, is but the lucky outcome
OF gambling experiment. But to
get more. money for the hole from
which, the bonanza has been taken
than was made in working the bonan-
"a is considered money-sensieal. 81
One man projects vast mercantile
enterprise, discovers new channels OF
trade, and does the work OF thous-
and in keeping the world in motion.
and gains but little if anything for
himself, while another starts family
grocery ten miles from anywhere and
In a few years is rolling in wealth.
One viii start with million, loan il
at a big interest all the time, and die
a financial wreck, while another will
within a few years put up half q
dozen brick blocks from the sale OF
beer at five cents a glass.
Some men will go into stagnant
town, and In once walking through it
will see and seize score of opportu-
mites for making a fortune, where
thousands apparently just as bright
have hung around for years, willing
and anxious to do anything that might
offer, and could no more see a chance
than so many moles or bats. Jay
Gould will take a road worth a mil
lion, mortgage it for two million, run
it for ten years without a dividend
and make twenty million by the trans
action.
And so it goes; money sense Is like
lightning, striking few and missing
a multitude. But the practical ques.
ton is. Can it be cultivated? If so
why would it not be wise to create
classes for instruction in this desirable
branch of knowledge in our public
schools? And seriously, it would be
long step in the right direction il
boys could be taught to have money
and save it. Any boy can be econOm
ical who has nothing, but not one in
ten thousand can have it without be-
ing crazy to spend it. Perhaps and
probably right there is the turning
point between having and lacking
money sense in after life. The thought
| is worth thinking over.