San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-05-17
TIME Is MONEY.

llmb 10 HUMID
This trite saying has been dinned
into the ears of men since first, as
children, it was set before them in
their copy-books. II it is true, then
there is one kind of money that
there appears to be an over issue Of.
Perhaps If business men and pro-
fessional men and mechanics were
not so lavish in their expenditure
OF this kind of money, they would
have more of the other kind to
spare. Certain 1t is that there Is
nothing of which the average man
is more lavish than his time,
nothing of which he should be
more economical. 1t is the stuff
out OF which life is made, and
which once wasted can never be
recovered. 1t is the only raw ma
terial Of which there is no surplus,
and yet men use it with a reckless
ness that implies unlimited sup
ply and very restricted demand.
Time is capital. 1t is a capital
Upon which there is no tax and Of
which there can be no monopoly.
1t belongs equally to all. The rich
and the poor, and the wise and the
simple, the man who deals in the
city and the man who delves in
the country, the professional man
and the man of pleasure, the miser
and the prof1igate-all are alike
here. No man can get corner on
time or sell futures. Even the
churches which have to say so
much about kingdom come, can not
corral a moment of future time or
put the whole of a present life in
pawn for one instant of future
time. 1t is a fresh fruit, is time,
must be plucked, and eaten at the
moment it is taken from the tree,
or it turns to ashes and is dissolved
into invisibility the moment after.
1t is unlike any other earthly fruit.
You cannot preserve it, or pickle
it, or keep it on ice, dry it, or des.
sicate it, or in any way treat it so
that which is not used the moment
that it ripens on the tree of the
ages may be used the moment
after. This is at once its worth
and its worthlessness. Its worth,
because there is no buying it, no
selling it, no boarding it. 1t is an
individual possession, just like
your breath. You cannot even
give it away. If you could it
would do you no good, for it would
not make you any richer, or whit
more benevolent in any human
eyes. No one to whom you could
give it could use it, or in any sense
benefit by it, and therefore no one
would thank you for it. This is as
true as truth, and yet it is equally
true that every one seems to think
that time is the cheapest thing on
earth.
No matter how busy you may
be, how every moment of your
time may be occupied with the
most important matter, or how
momentous results hang upon each
minute as it passes, you will find q
world Of human time murderers
who coolly ignore these facts and
thrust themselves between your
self and the minutes so valuable to
you. They will steal your time
from you, giving you nothing in
return, and then resent your disin-
clination to be thus robbed. They
even act as though they were do.
Ing you a kindness, putting you
under obligations to them for their
society, when in truth they have
defrauded you OF that which
neither they nor all the added
years can restore to you, the op-
portunity that comes with that
passing minute and which once
lost is never again recovered
through all times afterward.
In nothing is this stealing Of
valuable time more apparent
than in the recklessness with
which business engagements
are broken. You make an APP
pointment with any one, it lit
tie matters whom, particularly in
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