The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1895-04-26
TIE SPENDTHRIFr.

The Oregonian reads homily on the
subject of wages and prices under the
title of "Meals Five and Ten," and ar
rives at the conclusion that economy
and thrift are lacking in America, and
thrifts. This is no doubt true, but
whether that trait is an injuryt to the
country or not is at least debatable.
That the thrifty, saving man generally
accumulates a fortune, is undoubtedly
true; but would he do SO if it were not
for the spendthrift class? If we were
all economical, thrifty and saving, it
would be hard game for each of us.
That the spending of money, even Law
ishly, by the rich is a blessing to the
country. is undoubtedly true. The
clerk who gets $50 month and spends
it, at least keeps it in circulation, and
assists those who are employed in max
ing the clothes that he wears, the luxu-
ries that eat mp his income; and when
he gets. that much per week and spends
it, he simply quadruples the good he
does the class furnishing the articles
upon which his money is spent. A
mining camp, a live one, is a regular
beehive; everybody gets good wages
and spends ther.. The money circu-
lates, and the economical, thrifty, saw
ing man finds in such communities his
best picking.
We are nation of ependthrifts. But
let that trait he suddenly corrected; let
our foolish, if you please, spendings
stop, and tbs business of the country
would be stagnant. Our boasted home
market would vanish, or enough of it
would that starvation would set in, and
gaunt famine would sweep through the
manufacturing districts. Suppose to-
morrow that every citizen of the United
States would determine to save, and
that he or she would purchase only the
things absolutely needed. The smoke
would die out of the factory chimneys,
the stores would be two-thirds of them
closed, the millineEs, the dressmakers
and the tailors would become county
charges, the newspapers would lose
three-fourths of their patronage through
the inability of the people to subscribe
for them, and the uselessness of adver-
tising. The bicycle factories would
close permanently, and those of agri-
cultural implement temporarily; grass
would grow on the railroad tracks, and
moss on the steamship wharves.
As long as we spend our money at
home the spendthr;ft Is no injury to the
country's business, but its benefactor.
When we buy abroad, then things are
Z
spendthrifts become easy plucking by
other nations whose people are more
economical. more saving, and more
thrifty. 1t takes all kinds of people to
make country, and the spendthrift is
by no means the worst kind. He is a
necessity, for his habits tend to the dis
seminaIion of money into the channels
of trade, giving life to business, and
making it possible for that very spend
thrift's employer to raise his wages
eventually from $3.50 month to $50 a
week" We know this sounds some
what like the proposition of man lift
ing himself by his boot-straps, but it is
true just the same. God bless the
spendthriftI He furnishes the grease
SAIaS Au6AC5 bAO WAIOCAo Vi AnOuSIIy
smoothly. He gives employment to the
poor, keeps the lawyers and profession
ais from hard labor, supports the coun-
try editor in luxury, puts the arc lights
In the shop windows, encourages litera-
ture, makes talent appreciated, puts
music in Jenny Lind's tongue, and mo-
tion in Cerito's heels, builds the palatial
hotels, supports the floating palaces on
the ocean, the drawing room cars on
land. He Is the product of modern civ
ilization, and yet the cause of it. He is
q necessity, and though not of the right
sex, is indeed the mother of invention.
His needs, or his imagined needs, are
the lever and fulcrum that move the
world. We like him, regardless of poll
tics, age, sex, religion or color. His foi-
bles are food for the hungry, and his
toothpick shoes and DIR. Mary Walker
pants are not made in vain, sInce they
create labor. Let him suck his tooth
some cane, since somebody got paid for
making it, and emile not at his creased
pantalettes or his overpowerine clothes,
for somebody bought groceries with the
money paid for them.
When we all get economical the silver
question will be settled, for copper will