The San Francisco call., 1905-05-29
EVILS
or 81 WING
NONE Y.
NOVEL VIE w
OF ONE MAN

SONS and our OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES we
| know breaches the gospel OF saving
money.
! II is all wrong, says contributor
| to the Chicago Tribune. We begin
| wrong and keep getting farther away
| from right. all our lives. What we
/ should teach is spending-not saving.
The statement that money Is the root
of all evil is untrue and unjust. 1t Is
not money that Is the source OF evil
it is the saving OF money. No one
teaches us to save pebbles-unless we
ares in the gravel business-but silver
dollars are no more valuable than peb-
b1es except for the fact that we are
taught to save them.
It is the spendthrift, and not compe-
tition that Is the life of trade--and 1t
Is the saving of money that makes
hard times.
so many times we hear the spend
thrift rebuked and the man who has
drawn his salary Monday night and
spent 1t before Tuesday morning spok-
en- OF scornfully Possibly we should
feel sorry for them and regret that
they have not more to spend, but in
stead of looking upon the spendthrift
With scorn we should hold him UP as the
model for the community.
ECONOMY SOURCE OF ALL WOES.
The teaching of children that they
must save money is the source of all
evil. and economy is the cause of most
human woes. If every child was taught
to spend all the money it could get just
as, rapidly as possible, and If every one
followed. this idea, every person in the
world would have all the comforts and
many of the luxuries. want would dis
appear and theft and crime and most
lsHf -t<rx a y AAc
The Socialist who can persuade the
people of the world to erect monuments
TO noted spendthrifts will establish
immediate" socialism
To see how 1t would work, figure this
way: Suppose q town of 100 inhabitants,
where every one suddenly decided to quit
saving money and to spend all as fast as
possible. IT this town were entirely cut
of from the world--so that no outsiders
could come in and get the money-those
100 persons would be the most ideally
happy In the world. The average wealth
per capita probably would be 500. so
there would be s100 900 in the town. Every
body would rush at once to buy every
thing he or she ever wanted. Trade
WOULD boom Every shopkeeper would
be busy as long as the doors remained
open. Every worker would toll diligently
to produce enough TO supply the increased
demand and get more money to spend.
Public works would. flourish. new houses
would go Up, parks. streets and gardens
would be beautifled
ALL PERSONS WOULD BE Equal.
Crime would Immediately disappear be-
caiise there would be 10 motive for mur-
der or theft. There would be no Jealous
les because each person would be equal.
The man who did the menial work would
| have TO be paid the largest salary or he
Would not 40 it, and what he lost in pres
tire by being forced to clean a sewer he
woulG make up by spending more for
| adornnlent or entertainment. Every man
| could afford to keep his children in
school, every young man could afford to
| get married. There would be plenty OF
money for all who were willing to work
! for II, and those unable to work would
be. cared for at public institutions or in
| their. own homes at the expense or the
rest of the community. No man could be
elevated above the other ninety-nine by
election to Office because there would be
no crimes or mlsdemeanors ana no OIL
| GERS would be needed.
Take the same town under present con-
| ditions. Every man Is taught from birth
| 10 save Ten men prove better savers
| than the others and accumulate s92.UV0
out of the 100000. Then five get the bet
ter of the other five, and then two beat
the three out of their money, and event
II
| perhaps $4,000 and ninety nine have slo,-
! 0Na The one loans MONEY at per cent,
and ffl,a few years has all the money and
mortgages on all the property. Times are
] G,Iii people are out of Work, hungry,
Without peace or comfort, crime and vice
! and disorder increase
And yet we teach everybody to save.
Why?
SHOULD SPEND EVERYTHING.
Probably there is nothing new In any
of these statements of fact. The world
has known them for ages. Nobody dis
putes them. Yet everybody keeps on
saving, in theory at least, and advising
everybody else to save. The ultimate
result OF all saving is that the ninety
nine save for the one. If the Social
lists prevailed and all wealth was dis
tributed, 1t would all go back to the
one again. unless the world could be
taught to spend.
1t is q fact, known to every. business
man that war makes business. 1t re-
leases stored up gold and prosperity
| follows. 1t is equally well known that
war scare injuries business. 1t
causes the people who have money to
cling closer to it and the result is hard
| times.
verybody-especially business men
and gAmblers--know that wide
OPEN town means a thriving town,
where business Is good and money
easy" why is this? Simply because
d gambler, or a drinker, usually is a
! spendthrift. Gambling and drinking
| loosen up stores OF money and pros
! perity follows. Shut down on gambling
and drinking, and in the language of
| the gambler, the town is dead" He
means not only dead from a sporting
standpoint, but from a Legitimate
business standpoint
This explains the reason the ''promi-
nent business man" favors saloons and
| gambling and looks upon violations Of
! the law with leiience. They make
! business"
If everybody spent all the money that
! fell into his, hands gambling would
cease to be hurtful-and nearly cease
to be interesting-and there would be
little drinking because there would be
no trouble to drive man to drink,
nor any buns" seeking solace in
whisky Drinking would cease to be
! an evil.
The writer has been striving for
years to bring about this condition of
affairs That is why he is writing this
on space rates
New--ali ogether-everybody quit