Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1890-01-04
COMMUNICATION.
What Saving Will DO.
To the Workmen's Adrocate:

puninSoS ihub, anu a ilieHuly heiSh'o'
are ever ready to give you the advice
to sare" "Ah, my friend, you do
not know what saving may do" they
often say, with knowing wink of the
eye. And / am sorry to say they are
right. The great masses of the people
unfortunately do not know what the
real result of saving must neces-
sarily be. The advice to save has all
the looks of being a sensible one; it is so
common sense, you know. But, is it
really so
Reader, let us reason together.
If to save is good for one man. it must
be good for another. If shoemaker is
to gain anything by saving, the same,
of course, must be the case with the
cigarmaker, the bookbinder, the printer
and all the rest of them. q Now, we
shall not ask Whether man, making
two or even three dollars a day, can well
afford to save anything, when we know
that babies are SO apt to get sick, and
the doctor and medicine must be sent
for, and the landlord wants his rent,
and boots and shoes must be bought,
and. the grocer paid, and Ridley given
show. No, for these questions we
have mouse just now. So let us suppose
that all the working people become, all
of sudden, awfully practical, and for
dear life are in hurry to save. But
one must save on something, must MT
he? So they had better give up smo-
king cigars, l suggest. The Indians,
you know, never smoked cigars, and
did well without them, although they
were famous smokers, indeed. Shaving,
too, is luxury. Why, growing up
beard is very economic; it costs no
money. Again, ironed shirts are merely
chlnaman's "fake," to make money
on us. The rascal is quite cunning; he
never wears white shirts himself. So,
why should we? Besides, did not Mr..
Edward Atkinson-kind- hearted soul =
say, that pot of potatoes for supper is
quite enough for workingman,a and that
a dollar a day is a fair wage for fair
days work. Of course, fellow wont
look particularly handsome when shay
ing once month, or picking "butts y
on the Bowery, or using an old bag to
cover his head in rainy weather. But,
then, one must save. And to save is
good thing, people say. And a good
thing he's got tc be PAID for in some
way or other. So, it is bargain, Ell !?
And we shall say we do save, in dead
earnest. But what will come of it, is
the question.
Before answering it, let me tell you
little story.
Once upon time there lived a little
boy; what his name was is of no
account. He was bad boy, and fool
ish boy. And it further came to pass
that his mamma who, you bet, was
fully satisfied to let the landlords have
the earth wished to make her foolish
boy little more reasonable. So she
speaketh unto him: Honor thy
father and mother! Because, if not
we, who will give thee to eat, my SOM"
"Why, mamma, the grocery man ;"
says the foolish boy looking so very
smart.
Now, reader, if you think that the
"grocery-man gives you to eat, or the
"boss" gives you job, you had better
20 in great haste to the insane asylum,
and have your head carefully treated.
Do you not see that if goodly number
of workingmen should be in for saving
and should give up smoking, the result
would be that all the tobacconists, seeing
that they have no customers, would be
obliged to stop sending in new orders
to the cigar factories; while the cigar
bosses, receiving fewer orders, would
on the other hand, bounce their
hands. And many cigarmaker would
thus be out of a job. What will they
do? They will have to hunt for job,
and will wear out their shoes. Then
they will need a new pair of course
But, being out of employment, they
will have no money to buy them with
They may also be in need of new
clothes, new hats. and many other
things. But they have no work, because
others have given up smoking in order
to save and they have no money.
The result is, that shoe stores and hat
stores do now much less business than
they did before; that is, before this
saving craze had begun. So the shoe
factories and the hat factories, too, can
now employ fewer hauds than they did
before. And many shoemakers and
lawmakers, who tried to save money by
giving up smoking, are now bounced
in their turn, and they grow very mad,
poor fellows. They were steady work