Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-05-09
THE HABIT OF FRUGAL LIVING.

Since the DAYS of Solomon has the
habit of frugality, even 10 the extreme
Of severe abstemiousness, been landed a.
one OF the cardiLAl virtues. The old
families Of New England and Of the
Atlantic coast generally possessed this
quality in all its glory They could
live on less expense and make a dollar
go farther than almost any people, ex-
eept it be the German peasantry.
The same quality of extreme frugality
has been feature of tine German people
for ages. They like the old Puritans,
ara remarkably saving of property, es
ecaally Of money. This fact gave
them the ability TO discharge debts
promptly, for they had saved the money
by rigid frugality. Yet it is notice
able fact hst this habit remains only
where money IL difficult to obtain. A
wave OF prosperity sets even the most
isugal 70 spending IL is impossible IN
these times Of abundant money to make
men and women save as much ss il they
had less. In reality, business increases
by an increase of wants among the
people, and the more OF such wants
there are. the more active is the move.
ment of money to uIply them.
1t rtquires double the money TO sup.
port an individual or family that it
d.d 80 yeas ago and it Is more than
vice ~ easy to get the money to do it
with This is because Of the great in
GREASE of the number of wants in aver
are society With the old people the
question was how 10 save dollar
against the day Of old age and helpless
ness. To-day it is question of how to
spend money 20 make life more enjoy
able
It seems anna zing to the thought of
these days, how little money it required
to rear 3 family fifty years ago How
did they live p is the question asked
by every one. And yet the question is
easily answered if we consider how few
were the wants Of the child, the single
individual or the family a. com pared
with the present The same frugality
exists today in the agricultural dis
ricts of Germany where the population
is dense, wages low and machinery
somewhat scarce There human wants
are few, they have to be, and money is
hard - obtain
When those forty five leading farmers
of Germany visited Fort Atkinson two
years ago, one of tie most prominent
among them informed us that he had
$50 acres of potatoes and that he could
not afford TO use machinery because ne
could hire men for two shillings a day
and women for ten cents, TO cultivate
and harvest crop, This condition Of
things is hard to understand from our
standpoint Of life today Yet our larger
prosperity, coming as it does because of
larger number of wants TO supply, is
destroying the old virtue Of frugal
saving.
We have much larger proportion of
people in the county house at jefferson
In these days of prosperity and easy
money getting than we did 30 years ago
when times were hard, money scarcs
and wages low Our population is only
about one fourth larger, The days of
liberal spending are upon us. There is a
disposition to rush into debt and to des-
pise the saving frugality Of other dsys.
And yet, strange as it may seem, the
old maxim Men rush into debt in
good times, ana pay up In hard times"
has always been true, Former Cover.
nor Hoard in Jefferson Comfy Union