The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-09
THRIFT.

Fol "a man who had Such extensive
business relations with the avunculal
relative, whom the French witt
characteristic gallantry style "mJ
aunt" Wilkins Micawber had a yer,
pretty idea Of thrift. Every school.
boy is familiar with the epigrammatic
form in which the impecuniouo hero
impressed his ideas of the value OF
economy upon his young friend Copper.
field. "Income, twenty pounds. Elk
penditures, nineteen pounds, nineteen
shillings and eleven pence, three farth-
ings. Result-joy and satisfaction. In
come, twenty pounds. Expenditure,
twenty pounds, one farthlng. Result
misery, beggary." There is a world Of
truth in these characteristic remarks.
It is as true to-day as over it was that,
when we take care Of the pence, the
pounds will take care of themselves.
The mar who relegates his petty como
mics to the time, when he shall have
become a millionaire and he need never
feel their pinch, is destined to die on
the poor farm, unless heaven IS kinder
to him than he has any reason to expect.
As with tho individual, SO with the ma
ton. The backbone of every successful
nation is thrift, and thrift is a lesson
that can be taught in early years as
successfully as geography or arithmetic.
The American people is a thrifty peo-
pie. The fact, we imagine, is due,
partly to hereditary causes, partly to
physical and political surroundings.
We are are sprung from a thrifty stock.
Our Puritan ancestors had, if such a
thing be possible, an almost exaggerated
idea Of the value of thrift. With them,
indeed, the avoiding of debt amounted
to religious principle. To incur an
obligation that might, could or would
not be paid, was in the light of their
high standard Of morality an ~inexcusa-
Bile offence. And, as we have said, the
good seed they sowed was watered by
our American surroundings and insti-
lions. "Once a priest always a priest"
So in England it was once a poor laborer,
always q poor laborer. The catechism
Of his church exhorted the English
toiler to be content with the sphere in
which Providence had seen fit
to place him. Any attempt to
break loose from the bonds of
his birth savored of revolutionary ideas,
and was almost certain to meet with the
crushing defeat that lack of opportunity
assured. Luckily for the American
people, u lines have been cast in bot
ter places. The right to rise has always
been one of our proudest traditions, and
the opportunities that our great country
has offered have been as numerous as
the men who have taken advantage of
them. Under such conditions, thrift
has become a preliminary of success,
and thrift and success have gone to-
There is possibly some danger that
the moderation of our social conditions
may work some danger to the economic
quality in the younger generation. Such
change in the national character could
be no less than a national misfortune,
Much may be done in the way of pre-
ventlon in the teachings of our public
system. But in this, as in many
other cases, an ounce Of praotlce is
worth a ton of theory. And this is ex-
actly where the proposed scheme of
postal savings banks should be
especially valuable. English experience
shown that these institutions are a
splendid ally in the inculcation of
national thrift. They are patronized by
those whom ordinary banking houses do
aot reach. Children take advantage of
hem to house their little savings, and
Tho possession of a real bank account is
With them an object of ambition that
cannot fail to have its fruit in after
Older people are encouraged to
save, the smallness of whose economies
letter them from troubling the ordinary
with their little accounts. These
are actual facts, as demonstrated bv
experience, and they are facts
hat lend much weight TO the post
master generals suggestion.
Now we have it straight from Clark
ion that in thirty or sixty DAYS the