Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-04-26
TALKS ON THRIFT.
THRIFT-THE MAINSTAY OF THE
NATION

ergetically into the movement for
the conservation Of her natural
resources, Theodore Roosevelt,
with statesmanlike pertinacity,
compelled the nation to heed his
warning and by dint of persistent
reiteration awoke the public con-
science to realization of condi-
tons that were fast leading to
bankruptcy and ruin. Literary
Digest.
Thrift in the individual and thrift in
the government are more closely re-
lated than is often realized.
Here is great truth, truth which
it was high time several million peo-
pie were beginning to realize. They
cry for economy for the elimination
of waste in government. and they do
not practice economy, they do not
eliminate waste in their business or
in their private affairs. Only as we
as people become individually more
thrifty-that is, more saving, more
economical, more conserving-can we
expect our councils, our legislators,
our congress to be likewise.
Consider thrift in it's relation to
the industries of the country.
If everybody should spend his en-
tire income every year there never
would be any capital for investment
beyond that which is already invest
ed, no new enterprises could be float
ed, and improvements Of all kinds,
public and private would be at an
end. The worlds supply of new cap
ital is simply the margin between the
worlds income and it's expenditures.
If we har more thrift we would
have more temperance. How genu-
inely useful the money spent for the
100000 gallons of whiskey we
drank in the last half of 1913 would
be if turned into constructive industry
now!
Nor are the benefits of thrift to
be measured wholly in terms of eco
Monies. The steadiness, the industry,
the sobriety, the respect for property,
which are fostered among thrifty and
frugal people are political virtues
that make for stability and perman-
ence of government.
The habitual spendthrift is men
ace to the community and the nation !;
the careful citizen, guided by a sense
of the true value of property Is a
safeguard to our institutions. Habits
of extravaganza tend to make trouble
in the family, the community, the
nation.
| An american Society for Thrift
has been organized in Chicago with
the avowed purpose of promoting
nationally the individual thrift which
is the basis of good citizenship and
community prosperity" Men of prom
inence including governors of several
states, are back of this movemen :
which aims to advocate broad and
sensible view of economy, pointing
out to the people that, as a general
English statesman sad, Thrift is not
meanness, but management"
The continued rise in the cos OF
living, unaccompanied to any great
extent by a corresponding increase
of ndividualincomes, is making
many an American family right-about-
| face in the matter of personal and do
nestle economy.
Perhaps the new tariff will reduce
cost of living eventually, but it hasn't
yet, Possibly government Investigate
ing commissions may lead to tha'
consummation, but these are no
signs of it yet And no other pana-
cea has been found for it, Appar-
emily, theferoe, for the present al
least, there is no hope of abating the
steady rise inthe price of everyday
necessities, and, so far, no way has
been found to beat the high cost OF
living except to stop living so high
1t isnot quite possible that in good
old fashioned thrift may be found the
solution of the difficult problem OF
living up to modern standards under
modern conditions?
T. d. MAC'GREGOR.
The next "Talk on Thrift" will ap-
pear in The Graphic on Sunday, May