The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1905-07-20
TASTES AND INCOME.
HARD TO MAKE NECESSITIES
CONFORM TO SALARY.
The Inexorable "1rust" II Every.
where in These Days Of Growing
Expensiveness and Cannot
Be Avoided.

Expensiveness and Cannot
Be Avoided.
81 have the tastes Of millionaire
and the means of a tramp" Is a say.
ing Of our friend the Sanscri' pro
fessor. OF course, he meant the tastes
which only q millionaire could AFFORD
TO crafty. for the making Of most
millionaires depends not little on
the absence of tastes. This wide con.
tradiction which yawns bet ween large
desires and limited incomes counts for
. good deal of the interest Of life and
society and helps to keep the world
going, says Ellen Olney Kirk In the
Philadelphia Ledger. Everybody
orter have $4,000 and not . cent
more" said the Nantucket man. II
that were possible 1t would make
dull world; but 1t is not possible. Fol-
divide the worlds wealth equally to
day and by tomorrow some will he
richer than others. Thoreau tried to
prove that a man of education and
ideals could build his own home, raise
his own beans and live on almost n0th
ing year. But he lived only for him
self, without wife or child, and his
pursuits were those of rich man. He
liked books and leisure to read them
nature and ample time to study and
observe II and friends to meet with and
discuss the knotty problems then Of
fered to New England philosophers
He could AFFORD to be the most exclu
sive Of men. His saying. II would
rather sit on a pumpkin and have n
all to myself than be crowded on q
silken cushion" contains the essence
Of the aristocratic idea.
A recent writer in the Atlantic
Monthly takes up the subject on is
more practical side, and from the
point Of view that most college pro
fessors are paid too little makes q
careful survey Of the necessary *
penses Of . man with wife and two
children, obliged to live in q style that
II sufhciently creditable to the uni
versity to which he II attached. His
summary Of the needs Of such . fam
lily Is most comprehensive, even taking
into account . possible operation fol
appendicitis lis II not time, by the
way, to begin to insure against ap
pendicitis?) Nothing is left out, and
in the list Of actual expenses moth
ing seems excessive. The family oi
four keep one servant, and for the Ave
there 10 grocery bill Of S25. This
with 916 for meat. S5 for milk and
so for fruit, vegetables, butter and
sggs, makes Q monthly total Of e6s
for the table. The item Of $50 yeal
for the dress Of four persons 10 x
moderate % to call for admiration
Still, counting everything. insurance
charities, amusements, outings, the
annual sum total reaches the amour,
Of $3.50. while the average salary foi
professors 10 but $1,000. The writer's
Conclusion IL: I'VE and our wives face
an impossible problem" the only solu
tion being the possession Of some pri
vate meahs
"The must is hard" says Goethe
'but only by the must can we test oul
powers. To live by caprice require.
no particular effort" and accordingl,
the professors wife would, we trust
be able to reduce her husbands sched
ule and bring 1t within the prescribed
limit. Indeed, the old-fashioned ide;
would have been to live on less thar
500 a month and save the rest for
rainy day But the tastes of million
aires are with us. Everybody has
piece of cut-glass or blue china to liv
up to. Every brides paraphernalia 4
something tragic in falling below tn
scale which such elegancies impose.
Going without might seem the bes
remedy when one wishes to adjust es
penses to means, but we are all so ir
terlinked with other people that ou
possible economy is the deprivation O
those who depend on us. Let us d.
eide to cut on the fruit supply, an
the agony depicted In the face of tn
Italian who brings us bananas an
oranges convicts us Of cruelty-almos
meanness. Authors complain II PEI
pie do not buy their books; SO d
painters II the public does not bu
their pictures, but all the time the al
guish Of soul of the fruit vende
whose fruit spoils because no one wi
purchase, goes unspoken. And thin
Of what an accumulation of bitterne.
there must be in the heart Of the ca
drivers who tout" for q fare! Wit
what scorn they must resent our ign
BILE economy, which deprives them I
Just that needed margin of incom
Such heartbYesks lie on the other sit
of silence.
In spite of the growing expensiv
ness Of everyday life, the inexorab
must" Ia everywhere. and II may
we'll be remembered that 1t is frugali
and not luxury which keeps the wor
wholesome; also that In the questit
of tastes versus means the people
taste have endless consultations al
. revenges which make them compaI
; lively Independent Of means.
Truth in Error.