The Greeley tribune., 1911-07-20
THRIFT


IL . laudable one. Generally speak.
ing q competence Is necessary TO u
well rounded life and certainly re-
moves many Of the irritations and
petty annOyances that limit and de-
press. Most people desire . compet-
ence and most Of us are engaged In
. desperate effort to get one. 1t Oc-
cupies practically all the time Of
most men.
Aside from large manufacturing,
which We do not have here, there
seems to be but two ways by which
this may be acquired-by specula-
ton, mostly In land-and by the
s&Ow method of thrift and economy.
Owing to the rapid rise in real es-
tate the former method has been In
great vogue in every western COM
munity. In all western communities
there are one or two persons who
have made good financially by spec.
ulative methods and these people
operate as a dazzling lure to the
rest who are everlastingly seeking
to make a short cut to quick profits,
big interest and easy fortunes.
For ninety-nine per cent Of us
the only method of acquiring a COM
petence is by living within ones
means, by persistent saving, and by
investing ON = permanent invest
Maent basis.
When . small amount has been
saved the investment may well be In
income bearing property where
there will he steady and often
rapid increase In value; and this in.
crease in value is q proper basis Of
acquisition of . competence, be-
cause the purchase has been made
with NO idea of sale in q short time
for great profit (Which Is the true
test Of speculation) but rather with
view to procuring permanent in.
vestment and steady income, which
Is proper thrift.
The people Of the west must
hereafter abandon hope of = COM
petence by speculative methods and
must hencefOrth largely cOafine
themselves to the slower methods Of
thrift, economy and permanent in
vestment. OF this there Is no doubt.
The era of very rapid development
Il over. This thrift has made New
England the richest community in
the western hemisphere and has
made the French people the greatest
capitalists known in the history Of
the world. 1t beats speculation to
. frAxzle.
We might as well be frank with
ourselyes-we western people do
not live within our means. The ten.
dollar-a-week man Is trying to put
ON style like his neighbor who gets
Twenty-Five q week: the twenty-five
week man is trying to OutdO the
doctor who gets three thousand .
year; the doctor who aets three
nd tc
= brick house as his friend who hao
ten thousand a year: and SO on
down the line. And the ladies (GOd
bless 'em) are not a bit slow getting
into the game either and gently as.
aisting the social rivalry. II we
could only bring ourselves to living
our lives without regard to the
standards our neighbOrs see fit to
adopt 1t would simplify life like the
devil, but We are all engaged in .
Wild competition to outdo our neigh.
boFs In cars, brick houses and gen.
orally putting On dog. It's a moor
game. It's competition that's Civ
tnA men nervous prostratiOn, ana
that's making wOmen's mouths
df0oP at the corners and putting
wr1nkles-mean little wrfnkles-in
their faces.
The idea Of many = man for get
ting . competence seems to be to
buy . piece of dry land and sell 1t
to . sucker in SIXTY days for six
times what he gave for It. Now this
sort OF thing b about played out
1t always was . punk game oven
when 1t went-a little too much like
larceny to suit lots Of folks.
Speculation IL very analogous to
Eambling-when successful IL il fol.
lowed by same symptoms as success
ful gambling. A successful specu-
lator unconsciously adopts the s'easy
come easy 60" theory. The man who
acquires by thrift has . chance to
grow with his pile and by the time
his pile has got to big proportions
tho man has also. Specializing al-
ways was and always win be
nerve-rAcking, heart-breakinG busi.
mes, 20 uncertain that taking tho
span Of . life It Il rarely successful
~ steady and persistent thrift.
It II high time that the people Of
this western country began to live
within their meals and adopt sys-