The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-01
Eae g}erall and S5oerr5>
PUBLISHED
EVERY THURSDAY AT
NEWBERRY. S. G.
LIVING BEYOND ONES MEANS.
The Main Cause of Failure in Life-seh-
.ible Views of a New York Man.

| VI
The old Dutch merchants used to
say, when a man became bankrupt,
that he had kept bad books. " hat
they meant was, that he ought to
have known, if his books were kept
correctly, how his affairs were gong
and to have stopped in time TO save MS
credit.
What does surprise me, however, Is
that IN impending bankruptcy can be
conceaIcd and STAYED off as long as II
usually is. ! suppose the re;'soi.
to be the greater liabilities for bor-
rowing money and for obtaining
credit which are afforded by the pres
ent methods of doing business in COM
parison with those which prevailed IN
NV early days, and the enormous
growth of our population, when ren-
ders individuals much less conspicuous
than they used to be, and the condl-
ton of their affairs less matter OF
notOrietN-
When ! was a clerk with Messrs.
Bissel, Littleby Il Co., half Il century
AGO, my employers never thought OF
rclving on commercial agencies, as the
custom is now, for information con-
cerning a mans standing and respon-
sibility. They got it from their own
observation and inquiry, and carried II
in THEFT heads. They watched man
from the beginning of his career, ana
knew lust how he was doing as he
went along. His business skill, the
character Of his customers, the extent
of his transactions, and the approNl-
MATE amount of his annual pro1lts
were pretty accurately gauged, ana
credit was given to him accordingly.
Above all, his habits of life were 90
served, and his family expenses were
reckoned up, so that il was computed
whether he was adding to his capital,
barely holding his own, or falling oe-
hindhanG. Nowadays every one Is, Us
it were, lost in the crowd and can 90
almost anythinghc pleases without It's
being found out. His creditors see
him only during business hours ana
at his place OF business; but where ne
is the rest Of the time, what his occu-
Dations are. and how much he spends
on himself and his family, become
known to them, if they become known
at all, only by accident, or when his
accounts are overhauled by COM
mittee to see how many cents on the
dollar he can pay on the claims against
him.
1t is clear TO me that III the count
less cases of bankruptcy which happen
from day to day, to say nothing OF the
peculations, embeZzlements, forgerles,
and crimes by which contiding people
are defrauded, the beginning and root OF
the trouble lies in personal orerdraw-
ing. AS Mr.. Wilkins Micawber sage
" remarked to his young friend,
David Coppertield annual income
twenty pounds; annual expenditure
twenty pounds ought and six result,
misery. The blossom is blighted, the
leaf is withered, the god Of day goes
down upon the dreary scene, and, in
short, you are forever tloored, as I am"
This is concise statement Ct an ever
lasting truth which cannot be too di-
ligently needed. \ disregard Of 1t,
like the disregard of any other law OF
nature, is sure to be punished, though
the punishment is not always distrib-
uted Us it ought to be to satisfy our
ideas of jnstice. If when the profits Of
business diminish, those who are
conducting it cannot nerve themselves
to reduce their personal expenditure IN
corresponding degree, they must
necessarily eat into their capital and
when this process once begins it must
inevitably end in ruin.
One OF the draw backs Of the demo-
cratic constitution Of our society Is that
very few Of our citizens are content to
let their immediate acQuaintances sur
pass them in their style of living. y
man with 4 thousand dollars Il year
does not, indeed, expect to live like 4
man with five thousand, nor the man
with five thOuscnd, like one with a
hundred thousand. But the thousand
dollar man is under a constant strain
to emulate his fifteen hundred dollar
neighbor and the five thousand COLLAR
man the one with six or seven thou
sand, and so on all the way up the So
cial scale. Between each grade ofin-
come and the one next above it there is
L perpetual rivalry, stimulating excess
sive expenditure. In older countries
where rank and position are fixed by
the accident Of birth, this rivalry is
unknown. People, as the Catechlsm
enjoinS, learn TO DO their duty in that
state of life unto which it has pleased
God to call them. and only in excep-
tional cases do they try to raise them
selves above 1t. Here, where every
thing is fluid and plastic, and where
men can start with nothing at IS or 20
to become milli0Maires at 10 or -, no
such stagnation is possible. "Onward
and upward" is every ones motto, and
while it is 4 good one for the advance
ment OF the country in wealth and
prosperity, it leads to 4 strug-
gle, not 50 mucll for existence as for
position, in which great numbers sue
cumb.
We were talking over this subject in !
the E.ocenc Club one AFTERNOON and |
when | advanced the views | have |
presented above was gratitied to find !
not only that they commanded general !
assent, but that they were even re-