The Washington herald., 1913-08-09
A LESSON IN THRIFT.
Bord Buyinx on the Insta1lment
PInu m Education In Saving.

tCop,right. Iyl3, by NJ C. Keys. New York;
merchant in a small country town in
New York State has a son who has been
a whole lot of trouble. He is not a bad
sort Of a fellow, but is haphazard and
easygoing His father. who used to work
for s. a week and his keep, in his early
DAYS, and who thinks good days work
begins at 80 in the morning and ends
at the same hour at night. is worried
constantly because his son never could
cultivate the habit of saving money, and
never seemed to be able to get decent
idea of what money was for. The rea-
son. Of course. lay in the fact that when
the boy was born the family was in fair
ly prosperous circumstances and when he
grew to be old enough to spend money
there was plenty of money to spend. and
he did not have to do any particular
thinking about where the money came
from.
1t was when the boy was about four
teen that his father began to try to teach
him something about money. By the
time he was sixteen he knew nothing
about 1t. and his father had kind Of
conviction in his mind that he never
would have any sense in this matter
Apart from his happy thriftlessness. the
boy was made of good stun. honest
clean. and straightforward. 1t seemed to
his father and his friends a very great
pity that he lacked this one element
which is such powerful factor in the
making of a real American character.
About the time the boy was seventeen.
the father began all sorts of experiments
to teach the habit of thrift He started
a savings bank account, which went all
right for a few months, but which was
neglected after then and became a bone
OF contention between the father and son.
He took out a life insurance policy which
was also all right as far as it went. but
it did not go very far, because it required
only two annual payments. Whenever
he got a good chance the father preached
the habits of thrift in the old-fashioned
way; but 1t was very evident that. with
the best intention, he got little from the
sermons.
One recent experiment along this. line
in the education of the boy Is the sub
ject of this article. The writer does not
know whether 1t will be a success or not.
and puts it down merely as a matter Of
record rather than as an experiment to
demonstrate anything.
1t came about through the visit Of q
bond salesman. This young man hap
winter for a day on account Of q washed
out bridge on the railway line, and the
merchant. who had done some business
with him, invited him to come to the
house. They talked shop in the evening.
the salesman telling the merchant lot
of more or less intimate details Of the
bond business, and the boy became more
and more interested. Among other things
that the salesman mentioned was little
experiment that his house was making
selling quiet bonds on the installment
plan At first he dwelt upon the buying
of bonds by business concerns as sort
of sinking fund. Then he came down to
the buying of a single bond to be paid
for 500 at time at intervals convenient
to the buyer.
An idea struck the merchant. He said
nothing about it at the time. but drew
the salesman on to tell about the classes
on people who bought bonds in this way
from his house, how they go along with
II. and how it resulted to the buyer. The
salesman seemed perfectly willing to talk
about his business, and went into elabo-
rate details. telling how people had got
ten into the habit of saving money to
pay OF their installments and the pleas
ure they got out of completing their pay
ments and starting new circles OF invest
ment The boy was evidently more and
more interested in these personal stories.
and himself got to asking lot of ques-
tions.
The next day the father made a sug-
zestion to the son. He had figured out
about how much spending money the
young man had. and what he ought to
be able to save out OF 1t on very con-
servative estimate. The suggestion was
that he would himself pay $1oo down on
a bond for the boys account, and that
he would pay IN addition so month as
long az the boy would Keep on saving q