The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-02

Time was when the man who vol
HateeFea te teach others AeAt ttt-Eat
rich was tooked upon with suspicion.
Ii he was wealthy it was attributed to
luck. and Ii he was poor mis- method
was clearly fraudulent Getting rich
quick ts as hazardous as ever, hut gel
ing rich sure has become s. matter
of mathematical calculation. Ii Is
part OF the science OF personal fl
nance. which Is OF quite recent de-
yelopment little known and less
practiced, says the st. Louis Times.
OF this science, the finances of the
family form an interesting and In
valuable chapter. The support of
self and wife and the raising of chill
dren Is no less a business than the
selling of groceries, the operation "
a railroad or the manufacture Of steel.
and Ii seems reasonable that to insure
success the family should have the
most expert knowledge Of finance
available. Not to possess such knowf-
edge would be sufficient TO insure the
wreck OF ANY Arm or corporation in
the business world. Business men put
themselves to great expense for book
keeping. that they may know In
what condition the business is Dnd
apportion their revenues according
IL.
One reads without surprise that
George Dash and Miss Birdie Hope
have gone into partnership. but the
item ASSUMES IN dddity When expand
ed in the following correct manner:
Fathers Way Haphaxard.
George Dash 4 Co: president.
George Dash; vice. president, Mrs.
Dash: junior partners, William ana
Mary Dash.
1t devolves upon the president to
ma no ht.H In
and conservative manner. He recol-
iects the haphazard way Of his father.
much like game OF jackstraws.
Money was drawn from the pile as
needed to pay the bills. on the theory
that the profits would be the remain
der. Tn practice nothing ever WINS
left. Wise men have been under the
deiusion. Eaisons bookkeeping was
done at first with two hooks, one
other What l owe" Edison sup
posed the memoranda of the What
1t owing hook would cancel the
memoranda OF the What / owe."
and leave a handsome balnce to spare,
but at the end OF the year he found
that this was not the case. He had
had the money and It was gone. The
was all he could tell. After that he
employed bookkeeper. with the re-
cult that each year showed satisfac-
tory profit.
Every income should be consider
ed as consisting of two parts, the cost
of living and the profits. The ratio
between these Is not constant, but
may be. considered 80. except for the
extreme OF poverty.
Profit Should He 10 Per Cent.
The president of the company must
decide from experience what percent
age Is due to each expense. The
profits have ben placed at the mini
mum. The family should pay diYi-
dend of 10 per cent. Some economists
compute larger dividend than this,
but. unless the income is 5000 or more
a month, q larger dividend will be
found impracticahle In the majority
OF cases. The first difficulty that pre-
sents itself is that the expenses to
which members -of- r. the family are
accustomed eat up the entire income,
perhaps more, leaving no 10 per cent
profit, The dif1culty Il only apparent.
The sbvious course ID to reduce some
item or items sufficiently to allow that
salutary 10 per cent. profit to be set
aside.
That is the program. In opera
ton. the first official act on the presi-
dent upon receiving the frfofitffsE pay
liz To get aside the 10 per cent. He
makes the FIRM preferred creditor
Some bills may so unpaid that
month, but the expenditures OF the
following month will rcadjust them-l
selves to the new order.
4 Servings are the salaried mans
~