The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-10-30
Talks on Thrift
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIA-
TON, SERIES OF 1915
HITCHING UP TO MORE THAN
YOU CAN PULL

Somewhere in New England there
lives a farmer who trains oxen to
draw heavy loads. lie is an artist
at training oxen to draw heavy loads,
and the oxen he train usually take
first prize in the pulling contests at
the county fairs. He claims to have
a secret process, but it Is simply a
logical plan for developing pulling
strength. While young he bitches
the oxen to a light sled, which they
draw with ease. The load is in
creased as they get accustomed to
dragging the sled, but until they are
two years old he doesn't work, but
just exercises them. When they
are two years old he works them
every day. Once a day he bitches
them to a heavy stone in the barn
yard and lets them drag it a few feet.
Heavier stones are used and longer
pulls allowed as they become strong
er, and the peculiar fact is, he never
bitches them to something he know
they can't drag, and they expect to
move whatever he bitches them to.
He never overloads.
There's a whole lot of common
sense in this farmers ~ox-training
process that applies to human be-
ings. Business failures are due in
the main to attempting too much; in
hitching up to something you can't
pull; in acquiring a load of debt that
is staggering; in living beyond ones
means; in over-buying,- over-trading,
over-trusting.
Thirty per cent of the business
failures are due to lack of capital,
which, in other words, simply means
that a little man has hitched him
self to a big proposition.
Down on Long Island a builder
was particularly successful in build
ing a certain type of house, cheap,
but good. He knew to a cent how
much it would cost to build, and
could sell as fast Is he built. He
made money. Not satisfied with be-
ing a cheap and prosperous builder
and wanting to re in the -four hun,
dred'' of the builders, he started a
dozen elaborate and costly dwell
ings. Here ne fell Gown. He was
out of his element, beyond his
strength. He had fitched himself
to a load heavier than he could
move and a load 4" was not accus-
toned to. 1t aimost made him a
bankrupt. Now he has gone back to
his first type &C houses, a sa :der
but wiser builder.
Another business man had a very
good year. He male money. Salts
fed thai he had "strEtk his gait" hG
rented an expensive suite of offices.
moved into a fashionable neighbor-
hood. and spent his money freely.
The depression of 1913 came on
and after it the war. He had two
years of constant worry, and has
barely saved himself from failure
He had hitched himself to more than
he could draw, for when you under
! take to to pull a load, you must not
only reckon on the smooth asphalt,
bat the hills and the mud holes.
What these men should have
learned-what every mar needs to
learn, is to properly gauge his
strength. Thrift is good manage
ment, but spending it wisely, adj
vantageously. looking ahead, being
satisfied with modest things until
YOU can afford more expensive
ones. You can be as happy in a $50
flat as in a $4,000 apartment.
Some kinds of debt are desir-
able, helpful and necessary. Some
kinds of debt are nerve-racking and
costly. Buy a home on the INSTALL
ment plan, but don't buy an auto
mobile that way. Take out a life in
surance policy, but don't buy more
than you can comfortably pay for.
Dress we'll, but pay your tailor; live
we'll, but pay your grocer; don't
hang up" one to pay the other
they need the money as much as you.
Earn largely, spend th%oughtfully,
and save consistently. so that you
may have something to spend when
your earning power is less than it is
today, and your needs, it may be,
are greater. Develop financial
strength as the oXe acquire physi-
cal strength-gradually. Don't
gamble to get rich quick, nor mort
gage the future to enjoy the pres.
ent.
To develop the ability to draw
heavy loads is a slow, steady process
1t takes patience and training
While the lives of some great mer
remind us that they can max,
money by taking chances, you cal
lose it the same way. Tackle bi.
problems, undertake big things, blu
let there be first the slow, patien
training that develops strength an,
reserve energy. just as the farme
develops the strength of his oXel
by years of patient dragging o
stones in the barnyard. Few me