The Washington herald., 1914-06-21
THE mFAL INCOME.
Ten Thousand, say Those with .,
sew Tho.e With O.


Say Those With o.
Whenever you indulge the dangerous
habit OF dreaming about an ideal In
: come-an income that would. you think.
supply you with all those comforts OF
life which are supposed to make Injuries
apprehension almost certainly recall
1 the classical maxim on this matter, pro-
nouneed by the high priest Of worldly
wisdom. DisraeH. long age; he informed
the, Victorian world that ten thousand
la year. and the world to think IL was
only 1--WE thousand" constituted perfec-
ton in the way of wealth
Wealth. indeed, Happy Victorian age
| that counted ten thousand to be wealth.
Nowadays those who have IL win inform
you that II goes simply nowhere" and
that they find Il necessary on such sum
to be forever thinking of ways and
means. and laboriously reducing ex-
penses There is a good deal, certainly,
| in that reservation about the world
thinking IL only five thousand; for II the
world. or the chancellor Of the exchequer.
once gets to know how much exactly you
have, the task Of administering II and
keeping II will grow more difficult than
ever. But still. as things are now in this
expensive age. ten thousand year, even
II everybody thinks IL is only five, Is not
to be carelessly called wealth. An emf
nent authority has just declared that no
body deserves so. much-nobody earns 1t.
These are UtOpian speculations- People
OF this world are willing TO admit that
you are worth what you have. And II
you have ten thousand a year you have
enough to live upon comfortably: that Is
about all that can be said for ten thou
sand.
At once. as We say this-or. rather. as
they say Il who have ten thousand a
year-the smaller financial fry raise their
heads and clamor that such talk is
simply disgraceful" Any body with
anything between FIVE thousand and ten
thousand knows perfectly well that ten
thousand ought to be- enough for any
body. More than that means more
bother and more taxes. Ten thousand Is
the ideal income. undoubtedly-to those
who have only eight.
But meanwhile those who have five or
six have been looking all their lives upon
eight as the perfect figure. With eight
IL you have five or siX-you can just do
the little things you cannot quite AFFORD
to do on what you have. There will then
be the other car for the little place in
the country. and a possibility of extend
ing the garden, and the further possi-
hility-please observe-of increasing So
and-so's little pension or Of doing some
thing for somebody else; since We all
know-dO we nOt?-that helping other peo-
pie is part of the fun of being fairly
well on. As il il, with only five thousand,
we cannot do these exquisite other
things. As il is, the income is accurately
adjusted. as decent husbandry ordains
that an income should be adjusted. There
is little or nothing left over for the un-
expected. II is enough, no doubt: II Is not
that We complain exactly. 1t is enough;
but more is wanted-another two thou
sand for perfection
And two thousand or so Is, We find
from casual conversations on this mat
ter. the amount more that is invariably
wanted by everybody who has an income
of over four figures. For those who have
smaller incomes the dream and the in
come dwindle: il will be now another
five hundred year or So" in order that
everything they want may be well within
their reach. With such small sums the
dream sometimes comes true. Everything
they wanted they now have; allow US.
for the moment, this supposition- But
Immediately they begin TO want other
things as well-things, now they have
thousand. that were clearly out OF reach
when five hundred was all they had
What is man. indeed, but a walking
bundle of desires? Do not his wants, his
hands, to this that and the other glim-
nering toy ahead Of him, actually pro-
vide him with the stock Of energy he
needs for his own and the worlds bet
teTment? Without such pursuit of more
he would surely rest and sit by the fire.
as Pascal advises him to do. And, in
that fireside world of small fixed incomes
where would be life" the busy thing We
know? Thus, as his income grows. grow
his expenses. He wants a little more
than he has. Ii is the definition, the
description. Of g man.
Those who earn everything they have
dream. in their hard-worked way, of
something they need not earn Those
who have enough without working for IL
work. sometimes, for more than enough.
Enough? II is a word we must never
pronounce Il is finis. hic jacet, to
humanity Remembering this. we adapt
our DsraeIian maxim to the needs of
new age and define the ideal income as
an income about half as large again as
the one you have already.