The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-12-31
THE REAL BENEFACTOR.

Thereal benefactor of the working classes
is the man who saves his money instead OF
spending it. BY the term saves we
mean that the owner invests his money OF
places il IN bank where others invest 1,
in some industry.
Money that is saved is the fund from
which wages are paid. If there were nc
saving, no self-denial, by those who pos
sess the means of acquiring wealth, there
would be no wages paid to others not sc
fortunate.
1t is a common and very natural error
for working men 70 condemn ''stingy''
capitalist, and to praise a rich spendthrift
on the supposition that the latter makes
times good by squandering his money-put-
ting it into circulation they call it-while
the former is supposed to be sort of cause
of hard times by not spending his money.
Now, the fact is the exact reverse of this
supposition. The man who saves is the
benefactor, the man who spends is the one
who Injuries the wage Garner and society in
general.
Money saved or invested in almost any
form is really at work, and at work in
wage paying. If we analyze closely the
value of almost any ordinary commodity
that is bought and almost any article offered
for sale, we shall find that their value con-
sists almost wholly in the labor that has
been expended in their production.
Money invested in almost any kind of en- :
terprise is paying wages; money in bank
is paying wages, for the bank lends it out
anew, and somebody is paying wages with il
in some shape or other. This money paid to
the workers will of course be spent by
them; and therein lies the principal differ
ence between the service rendered them by
the spendthrift and the one who saves The
question is simply who shall spend, shall
enjoy, the money? BY the spendthrift
method it is he that spends and enjoys the
money; by the method of the saver, it is
paid in wages to the working classes, and
they spend it.
But some one will say, docs not the
spendthrift furnish employment by consum-
ing articles that are made by workingmen?
True, he does; and that is the end of it; he
has consumed, used upon himself, Just that
amount of the good things of this world,
that the man who invests his means has
made it possible for poor people to consume
In both cases, the money is spent and prob.
ably the same amount of employment given
TO the people who make the articles con.
sumed. What the laborers spend will fur.
nish as much labor to others, though of q
different kind, perhaps, as what the spend
thrift spends. But here is the difference:
the man who saves his money and pays
wages in some kind of enterprise, not
only permits the laborers to spend
as much money upon themselves
as the spendthrift does upon him
self, but he receives profit from this en-
ployment OF labor and has his original sum
with profits added to invest again in the
same way. The spendtnrift uses up the
wealth. The saver permits his laborers to
spend the wealth upon themselves, and
also creates as much more each time to be
used again in the same way. The former
decreases the worlds wealth; the latter
increases it.
From this follows another conclusion,
that is quito stumbling block to some peo-