Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-10

A stock lest in the American press Ior
wears was the alleged parsimony OF Rus
sell Sage. and popular current jest is the
alleged RIGHTEOUSNESS of Hetty Green
When a man of wealth begins to spend
money so freely as to earn the questionable
title of "princely spender, or 10 purh
money so extravagantly as to make 1901
of himself the world laughs at him. Wneh
q man runs to the other extreme and buys
an apple piece of pie for funch' instead
of cracking a cold bottle and commanding
that the proverbial hot bird be served. the
world also laughs at him. 1t is hard
world to please.
II is a nice question whether the wanton
waste of money or pernicious miserliness
presents the worse example. 1t is easy 10
rur uu a strong argument that the man
who spends great sums for needless pleas
ures. who devotes a large part OF his
wealth to the qualification of his senses.
and whose wantonness in the use OF money
is a spectacle, does great harm He arouses
envy In the avaricious, calls direct atten-
ton to his superfiuous wealth, and to the
fact that millions of his fellow-men nave
not enough money to buy necessarles OF
life. He is apt to set pace Whlch other
men. less rich, feel that they must follow,
and he is apt to establish a false standard
of living. -:
His friends will declare that by throwing
his money away in reckless fashion ne Is
encuura ging industry and keeping the cur
reacy in circulation. This argument is not
convincing. 1t is true that he is encourag-
ing industries but as rule they are not
what might be called basic industrlss-m-
dustries essential to national life ana
growth And every employe in these In
49, 9th n
perhaps more deserving of encouragement.
In the case of the thrifty and intelligent
m:ser. and most misers are of this sort.
they set an example of meanness which
so far from being emulated by men, Is
avoided The miser is never lauded and
| is nearly always ridiculed. Therefore, the
example he sets is not really bad, but good.
| The only man who is apt to suffer by the
miser's meanness is himself, If he carries
his miserliness to such extreme as to
stint himself what he actually needs. The
| money of this miser is at work, and is work.
| ing harder and more effectively than the
spendthrfts money.
If the miser's money is deposited in
banks 1t is being loaned at as high rate
! of interest as money is worth. A man is
not borrowing money from a bank to riot
or revel with it, He is borrowing 1t to
work with. He needs it in his business.
That money is circulating in the channels
of trade. The man is earnest In it's en-
ployment for he knows that he must make
it earn the interest. He knows that the
interest must be paid. There is no philan-
thropy in the transaction
If the miser has invested his hoardings in
securities he is helping the work world
more than the man who spends a fortune
in fancy wines, fancy furniture, fancy
horses that cannot do any work, fancy
books that are too fine to be read, fancy
pictures for which he pays kings ran
som, and for which the painter and creator
got small pay, ETC., etc.
In the matter of relations the miser is
more useful than the very rich man. The
:niser's relations are apt to go to work
and hustle for their bread and butter. The
rich mans relatives are apt to hang on his
bounty and become miserable creatures,
dependent, non-self-supportlng, and woe
| fully deficient in grit, self-reliance, and the
other manly or womanly qualities.
There are at least a few things which
may be said in behalf of the miser and
against the position of the man who reck-
| lessly and showily spends his money.