The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-01-15
THRIFT VS.. SAVINGS.

Il have bank" said young
man the other day, and every time
shave myself put fifteen cents in
it which would have gone to the bar
Der. When | want to smoke and fore
go the pleasure of it, I put a nicke'
or a dime in the bank. I'm saving at
great rate and already I have four
teen dollars"
Probably you have heard such
remarks before. Inwardly you COM
mended the person who made them.
It's great habit to save money. If
it wasn't banks wouldn't spend mon
ey advertising their advantages.
But along about next Christmas,
the same young man who is saving
barber money will be heard to say:
II saved up my money all year,
and I'm going to buy girl I know
diamond ring and a gold-headed
parasol for Christmas" And even
then you envy him
A great trouble with American
people is not so much that they do
not save or cannot save earnings
when they want to, but they are not
thrifty, says the Fort Worth Tele-
gram. Almost any one will save for
a purpose; for new hat, for suit
OF clothes, for vacation trip for
an automobile, but not so many save
as an earning investment, so that
they will have something when their
own earning power is diminished or
even taEen away.
1'he bank plan is by all means to
be encouraged, but only so far as it
ment character. The young man who
is saving to buy lot and after that
a house and after that its furnish
ings, is not only saving, but thrifty,
and there is a sharp distinction be-
tween the two. Saving is merely pill
ing up what one has acquired. Thrift
is putting what one has acquired to
some useful purpose, something
that will not decrease, but rather in
crease in value.
There is an old parable in the BIZ
bic which has practical applica-
ton most preachers overlook 1t is
seldom preached about at that. 1t is
the parable of the man who went
away into far country, first giving
each of his servants a talent After
wards he came back and demanded
an accounting. One had gained ten
talents from the original one; ano-
ther had gained five; while the third
said he was fearful TO lose his mas
ter's gift, so he took the talent,
it. The parable went on to say that
the one who had gained the most
talents received the greatest reward
for his thriftiness The usual appli-
cation of the parable is spiritual
but its sound business principle is
not to be forgotten.
Money, first of all, is a medium of
exchange. 1t is medium which can
be used for increase, or it can be
kept in a napkin and gain or lose
nothing. The savings bank is better
than the one which pays no interest
and this, if allowed to compound,
will increase the original invest
ment Yet even this is not the best
kind of thrift. 1t is letting the money
work for instead of with it's owner.
The point to be remembered is
that money is not useful unless it is
working. The thrifty man works
in order that his money may
work more. The mere saver lets the
money work of itself, passive form
of getting a competence.
Every earning man and woman
should have an account in a bank,
but only as a means to an end. Only
that sufficient capital may be ac-
quired as start to making the mon
ey work harder and do more.
Saving to spend is not saving at
all.