St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-26
Gas POOR RICHARD SAYS. :.

Something over century ago that
philosopher of common sense, Benjamin
Franklin, sent to the discontinued and
the repining of his day that lesson in
thrift. prudence, economy and industry
which, more than anything else. helped
to shape the habits of the people of the
country for half century after, his
Poor Richards observations on the
causes and the cures OF the discomfort
which then, as now, prevailed. Few
today know what it was that Poor
Richard told the people, but up to the
outbreak of the Rebellion one could
find on the walls of here and there
home printed and framed copy of Poor
Richards address. illustrated in colors,
specimen of color printing which
would make job printers boy of today
curl his lip with sc0rn.
Then as now, men, prone ever to look
for causes of misfortune everywhere but
in themselves and their conduct, COM
planned that the times were out OF joint,
labor was unremunerated, money was
scarce, times were hard, taxes were
too high, aud then, as now, they sat
talked of remedies and invoked state
aid and discussed the faults of govern
ment, idling away their time just as too
many now do. They had had their
spell Of initiation and speculation, of
cheap money and dear goods, and the
inevitable smash had come. To them
Poor Richard came in Franklin's
almanac with its wise saws interviewer
in homely discourse, telling them that
''always taking out of the meal tub
and never putting any in soon brought
one to the bottom" and that ga penny
saved is penny earned" and that
without forethought and prudence
want and disaster were inevitable,
because ''for want of a nail the shoe
was lost and for want of shoe the
horse was lost, and for want of horse
the rider was lost, being over taken and
slain by the enemy" Taxes might be
high, he told them. but men were taxed
more by idleness and by needless habits
of extravaganza than by the tax
gatherer.
Necessity-harsh, stern, inexora BILE
is doing for us today what Poor Richard
and necessity did for the men and wom-
en- of his day, teaching lessons Of econ
omy, prudence, industry. We have
been living in FOOLS paradise ever
since the war. That came with Its vast
expansions, its inflated curren CIV and
consequent prices, to inoculate all with
fever for sudden wealth and with i'm
patience of the slow Notwithstanding
processes of our fathers. Mushroom
millionaires sprang out ofsthe compost
heap of eXtravagant and reckless wealth.
Great schemes, with millions in them,
dazzled and caught the eager hunters
for money. Modest competence gained
by honest toll, content IL the margin be-
tween income and outgo were small, If it
were only there, was abashed by the
elegance and show of the new and sud-
den rich. and shrank away or, worse.
aped their airs and follies.
We have kept the fiddles going and
the mad dance on until now. When
either Stacked their pace we have re.
sorted to stilnulants, launching new
schemes, enlisting the governments
aid. When our balloon felt the pull of
gravitation we have injected more gas
and sailed away among the clouds
fondly thinking that we had made our
selves superior to the law of gravity.
We have flown high; we have had a
good time;;" but gravity has had her
way at last and we are down again on
solid earth; tine music is stopped, the
dance is over. we have wakened from
our dream; the wealth we thought Sc
solid we find is but tihsel, and the
schemes that looked so grand were but
iridescent bubbles that fascinated and
deluded us with their hues and have
burst.
We are back at last to the same eco
nomic conditions under which our
fathers toiled and economical and
gained their small completeness by fru-
gality in the days before the war The
sooner we all realize this and address
ourselves TO adjusting ourselves, our
habits and living TO this the better it
will be for .us. Lamenting will not help.
idleness will not relieve, crying to the