The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-02-27
PAY CASH AND BE HAPPY
pictorial Review

| Here is a New Years resolution to
ponder over and then put into opera
ton. adoption means easier times
for 1914.
What we own means happiness.
What we owe means misery.
Twenty per cent of the increased
cost of living during the past twenty
years can be traced to the credit sys-
tenn. Fifty per cent of the divorces
can be tracted to extravaganza and
debt on the part of either husband or
wife. Ninety per cent of the marital
unhappiness can be traced to dissen-
sions over financial matters.
The first percentage was furnished
by a provision dealer who has been
IL he business forty years; the Sec
ond by Judge VINO nas, heard thous-
ands of divorce cases; the third by
an observing probation officer in the
Court of Domestic Relations of New
York City. And the cure for all three
evils, so there authorities claim, is
the perfect understanding and
thorough appreciation of a dollars
purchasing value on the part of sboth
husband and wife. These can be Sc
cured only by handling cash, paying
cash and carefully watching each cash
transaction. The man or woman who,
when paid at the end of the week,
the month or the quarter, exchanges
the contents of his or her pay en-
velope for a stack of receipted bills
is the individual who complains that
he does not know what becomes of
his earnings.
This editorial is not plea for Pc
nuriousness, but a direct, straight
from-the-shoulder blow at the
charge account" system in all it's
enticing dissension provoking forms.
The habit of having things charged,
of saying, II can pay next week, next
month, next year, what l cannot pay
today piles up debt and breeds
wrinkles. More cases of insomnia can
be traced to debt than to overwork.
The shadow of the man who holds a
mortgage or note that is overdue
or the collector for the piano or the
green plush parlor suite, or the mil
liners and modistes clamoring for
money due on feminine finery long
since worn out, has driven more men
to suicide than hard times or bank
crashes.
In this twentieth century, it is the
waste of money, not the love of it.,
which is the root of all evil, par
ticularly domestic evils. More men
and women-commit crime be-
cause they lack money to pay for
what they have already eaten or worn
out than because they desire to &C
quire and hoard money. In the aver
age home or with the average indi-
vidual, boarding money has gone out
of fashion, because it is spent before
it really come in. This is particu-
larly true of salaried persons, high
salaried, medium-salaried, minimum
salaried. The only difference be-
tween the three classes lies in the
amount Of credit extended from one
salary day to the next
"But" protests the wife of a sala-
ried man, 1--WE run only few &C.
icounts-the grocer, the butcher, the
milkman, and, oh yes, the iceman
It's such a nuisance to wait for
change, and they really prefer us to
run bill. You see, they are sure
of their money on the LIST, Toms pay.
day."
Yes, and sure of about twenty pei
cent more of Toms" money than il
you paid cash, dear lady. Part Of
| Lulo L"OuIy pei COHt 6Oc6 luIO Jue
cost of keeping books; part to bal
ance the bad accounts, bills that some
of your neighbors do not pay, and
part into careless marketing and
shopping on your part. The actual
physical handing over of a dollar bill
breeds a caution which soon dies al
the magic words, Charge that
please"
A man works hard to provide ant
maintain home. The woman works
hard to make that home habitabl'
and attractive. Neither has pleasure
in the home SO hardly acquired wheI
/ debt is seated between them. Prid'
in that home often leads the couple
; to spend more than the man earn
and that pride leads to the destruc
ltion of married happiness. Withou