Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-06-01

| lulnll ltS promise to Lower
| the high cost of living" and
the blame is well placed. But there
Is abroad in the land a spirit that no
| tariff or antitrust laws can affect and
which has its effect on our household
| eXpenses-the spirit of domestic ex-
| travagance.
some time ago a prominent house
| hold magazine asked 500 bachelors
why they did not marry and settle
down. Most of these men replied that
the average manageable young woman
nowadays is too expensive a luxury.
Many asserted that young women of
to-day are money squanderers rather
than the material out of which thrifty
helpmeets are made
why can't we have bills? Then
we could put all the people off" ar
gued bride of few months with her
young husband, professional man,
striving to make his way on an income
| OF $l,5O0 year. She was the product
OF first-rate boarding school and the
child of a family high in social po-
] sltion. But she was utterly uneducated
in the morals of handling money.
| The word morals is used adyisedlv
| because true view of economic life
| requires that every expenditure be re-
| garded as an act that involves a moral
question. for an unnecessary and un-
wise expenditure is a misuse of the
| power of money. n s.,
a ,pir1 Of t4 40
little in household work and she does
practically nothing to reduce expendi-
| lures.
Whose fault is it?
Very little of the blame can be mt
upon the girl herself. Her parents
must shoulder it. and they in turn will
say that the times are responsible.
But there are signs that people are
| becoming more sensible. Perhaps the
undoubted halting of business activity
| at present has something to do with
| it. At any rate, the organization of
the Parents League among rich people
in New York is significant.
I'VE hope to make it fashionab BILE to
be sensible and questionable to be
foolish" Mrs. John Hays Hammond
said in outlining the plans of the or
ganization which has been formed for
the purpose of uniting parents and
teachers in establishing wholesome,
common sense standards for the edu-
cation, amusement and home life of
children.
Parents of working girls also cannot
escape responsibility. Suppose your
daughter is employed in an office or
| factory at fair wages. She will be
proud to be able to pay her share
of the cost of living at home. If YOU
will supervise her spending you will
find that she can dress as well as the
neighbor girls of the right type out of
what is left after paying her share at
home. If she starts to work at sixteen
years you will find that in two years
time she can not only be entirely self
supporting but can put aside in the
bank small sum every week. If
fathers would all do their duty every
bright working girl whose parents
have met with no pecuniary. misfor-
tune may have $500 in bank by the
time she reaches her twenty-first
birthday.
That will be a splendid thing for
her, whether she marries then or con-
tinues her employment.
Girls and boys who learn lessons of
thrift do not forget them when they
become men and women. Healthful
employment for young people is a
moral protection, to say nothing of the
capacity it creates for successful bat
Ting with the problems of adult life.
Would it not be wholesome for the
nation if there were more admiration
for the savers and less for the
spenders?