The Washington herald., 1912-03-10
DISASTER BEFALLS
RECKLESS SPENDER
Make Ready for Winter in Summer
of Life.
BY DOROTHY DIX.

BY DOHOTh1 DlA.
The other day, in this city, a man COM
ritted suicide because he had lost his
joh, ne was out of money. and had pass
ed that dead line in life after which
man finds it practically impossible to get
a good. new situation in business.
A sad case. truly. hut in this particular
incident the pathos lies in the fact that
the tragedy was wholly unnecessary. and
that the man brought his misfortunes on
his own head by his own lack of provi-
dsnce.
For this man was not one of those
piteous ones who are forced TO work for
a little wage, and who. strive as they
may can never do more than keep the
wolf few inches away from their door.
He had been for many years travel
ing salesman for big concern, and had
drawn a large salary, enough, IL he had
used even reasonable economy, to have
provided luXuriously for his old age, and
10 have made him independent Of en-
pioyers.
Instead OF looking out, however, for a
rainy day he and his wife had occupied
an expensive apartment in q fashionable
street; they dressed handsomely; they
entertained Iavishly. and INDUCED them
selves in every amusement they fancied.
They lived up TO the last cent of their
stopped, they found themselves paupers.
and were plunged in such despair that
the man killed himself rather than en-
dure IL.
Suicide a Warming.
wonder how many hundreds of thou
sands of people who read the newspaper
account of this suicide saw in it the
handwriting on the wall for themselves,
h.
many other married couples are spending
every cent they make, and who would
be left in a similar plight as this man
night the husband should get the blue
envelope that told him that his sepVices
we're no Ionged needed?
II is appalling to think of the number
Cf people who sport with such disaster
for the sake of gratifying their vanity,
or their love of pleasure. The woman
likes clothes and the man loves drink;
they both love the thester, and they
want 10 90 with people who are better
off than they are, and so they live up to
the last cent of their income and gen
orally little beyond it They shut their
eyes to the future. They refuse TO con-
sider the hazards of business. They ig-
more the certainty OF age and sickness.
Crash Sure to Come.
But the catastrophies of life come TO
them, as they come to others, and be-
cause they have not had the prudence
and the foresight to prepare for them,
they are annlhilated. The improvident
always fiatter themselves that they are
the darlings of the gods, and that some
miracle will be worked by which they
will be preserved from misfortune, but
il never happens. They reap as they
g,,a1
slough of poverty and dependence.
l confess that have scant sympathy
for the wasters and the spenders who
come TO want through their own extrava-
Eance. 1t seems to ME nothing short Of
dishonesty for people not to provide for
their old age, or for sickness, or for lack
of employment. since if they are not
able TO supply their own needs, somebody
else has to do il for them.
Old age is not an accident that may
or may not befaIl one. II is a certainty.
Illness is not a chance. 1t is also a sure
thing. No man is so stupid as not to
know that in this day of strenuous COM
petition every year puts an added handi-
cap upon him and increases his chances
of losing his job. Also he knows that
employers Justly or uniustIy. have fixed
a definite age limit for employees. and
that after a man has crossed that fatal
boundary the days of fat salaries are
over for him. and he is lucky if he is
not turned out like an old work horse
to starye.
Old age, sickness. the uncertainty OF
being able to get new situation should
he lose the old one after he is fifty-hve
or sixty, these are the facts that con-
front every man who works on a salary
One would think that they were grim
enough to make the most brainless idiot
on earth stop and ask himself what is
TO become OF him If he does not lay up
something in the summer time Of his life
for that winter that is bound to come
10 him, as il does TO every other human
being.
But there are multitudes of men that
20 plithely along, spending every cent
that they make, and then when disaster
overtakes them somebody else has 10
support them and theirs. We are forever
being called upon TO chip in and bury
some good fellow who should have a
stack of government bonds. but who has
died without a penny to his name, or to
contribute to the support of his widow
VINO has been accustomed TO spend ten
thousand year and is left without 10
cents; or to pay for the hospital ex-
pensss of some man whose cigars have
cost half as much as our living, or TO
lake care OF a bunch of poor relatives
VINO have lived up to a fortune.
These people. who could have provid-
Cd for themselves II they hadn't been
too self-indulgent TO do so. are Just as
much robbers as IL they put their hands
in our pockets and stole our purses
They have no right to our hard earned
money, the fruit of our labor and self
denial. and instead of regarding them
with pity they should be held up as sub
jects of scorn and contempt.
Depends on Savings.
The man and woman who are living I'D
10 every cent of their income do well to
consider this case Of the man who COM
mitted suicide because he had spent
everything he made as he went along
and had nothing with which to face the
rainy day. Their hour of misfortune will
also come. and then their fate will de-
pend on whether they have some money
IN the bank sor not.
The difference between happy inde-
pendent old age, or one OF miserable.
sycophantic hanging on TO others and an
acceptance Of srudginsly given aims, de-
pends on how much you have saved out
Of your income. n
Marshmallow Pudding.