The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-01-08
ECONOMY aud Success.

to succeed IN life, or to be financially
independent, is the necessity Of ccono
my in his expenditure Doubly hard
IS the lesson to the youth who has a
rich or well to do father, who, before
the son enters upon career, provides
for all his wants. Economy means
self denial the sacrifice Of present
qualification for future and greater
good; and this to most men is not pleas
ant. There is no royal road to riches
any more than to geometry. 1t is not
what man gets that constitutes his
wealth, but what he saves.
Wise men in all ages have agreed
that the only way to become rich. or
even Independent, is to save the odds
and ends, the shrcds and parings. to
keep exact accounts, to keep clear Of
everything with the slightest aspect
or SAVIOR of waste. The old worn out
saws about taking care Of the pen
nics, ana "a pin day ana wilful
vase leading to woceul want which
cmbody the hoarde experience Of
many generations, are as true now as
centuries ago. and men and women
prosper just as they obey these les
sons.
y penny is :cry little thing, yet
the comfort Of thousands and tens of
thousands depends upon the use made
of pennies. Industry without ccono
my is as fatal to the acquisition of
wealth as idlcness. 70 produce dill.
gently, and to take care of scraps and
leavings, the margins and remnants,
IS the one infaliblc, compound pre-
cess OF acquiring riches; and the latter
part OF the process contributes not
less powerfully to the result than the
former.
Do you say that you get but little?
Never mind; spend less than that
little; aud next ycaryou will get more,
for you will have the profit Of interest
on the sum you save. Have you ever
reflected on the magical effect of small
savings, continued for years, upon
mans fortune? Who, that is earn
ing even meager income cannot save
thirteen and one.quarter cents day?
Yet 1t has been computed that this
petty sum. Which slips through a
mans fingers, impcrccptibly, amounts
with compound interest, in thirty
years, to three thousand nine hun
drcd and fifty dollars, and in fifty
years, to fourteen thousand five hun
dred dollars! If II man smokes cigar
daily, that costs but five and one half
cents, from the age Of twenty to
seventy, he puffs away, to the damage
OF his health, probably as we'll as of his
purse, positively, five thousand eight
hundred dollars!
Every man who would get on in the
world-cvery man who would avoid
'avish, humiliating dependence upon
others-should contriye to live within
his means, and, on account of possible
illness, to add to them. Not to do
this is the very essence of dishonesty,
for the man who does not keep his ex-
pendlturc within his income, must
sooner or later, be living upon the
means Of some one else. 1t is a
strange and lamentable fact that the
classes Of men that work the hardest,
and which might be expected to hold
their earnings with the tightest grip,
squander them the most rccklessly.
Eating up and drinking up their earn
ings as they 60, they become the sport
of times and seasons, and in ''hard
times and commercial crises incvi-
tably go to the wall. There are thous-
ands of toilers, who, though getting
? wages which should insure comfort
and independence, yet, lacking that
husbanded power which even small
savings would secure to them, live
from hand to mouth and are often
but days march ahead Of actual
want.
We are aware of the preteXts upon
which many persons excuse themselves
from The practice of economy. In the
minds of some i, is associated with
meanness. They look upon it as de-
grading toa man Of spirit and lofty,
generous impulses, ,-as the virtue of
l.ttle, sordid, contracted minds. Yet
these lofty minded persons are often,
by their habits of wastefulness, driven
to do the shabbicst things. Constant
ly anticipating their earnings; drawing
bills upon the future for which no
funds have been provided; framing
excuses, or, more probably, fabricat-
ing falsehoods, to explain the non
,oynopt of Eo;, Al