Grand Forks daily herald., 1915-11-29
J - . - . :
TALKS ON THRIFT.
-Issued. BY the American Bank
ers' Association.
Hftching Up to More Than
You Can Pull.


Somewhere in New England there
lives q farmer who trains oxen to
draw heavy loads. He is an artist at
training oxen to draw heavy loads,
and the oxen he trains usually takes
first prize in the pulling contests at
the county fairs. He claims to have a
secret process, but It is simply q log
ical plan for developing the pulling
strength. While young he bitches the
oxen to a light sled, which they can.
draw with ease. The load is increased
as they get accustomed to dragging
the sled, but until they are two years
old he doesn't work, but: Just exer-
cises them. When they are two years
q day he bitches them to q heavy
stone In the barnyard and let's them
drag It q few feet. Heavier stones are
used and longer pulls allowed as they
become stronger, and the peculiar;
fact Is he never bitches them to.
something he knows they can't drag,
and they expect to move whatever he
bitches them to. He never overloads.
There's a lot Of common sense in
this farmers ox-training process that
applies to human beings. Business
failures are due in the main to at
tempting too much; in hitching up to
something you can't, pull; acquiring
load Of debt that is staggering; in
living beyond ones means; in over
buying, overtrading, overtrusting.
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 himself
to big proposition.
Down on Long Island q builder was
particularly successful in building a
certain type Of house, cheap, but
good. He knew to cent how much
it would cost to build, and could sell
as fast as he built. He made money.
Not satisfied with being q cheap and
prosperous builder. and wanting to be
In the -four hundred" Of the build
ers; he started dozen elaborate
and costly dwellings. Here he fell
down. He was out Of his element, be-
yond his strength. He had hitched
himself to load heavier than he
could move and load he was not
accustomed to. It almost made him a
bankrupt. Now he has gone back to
his first type of house, q sadder but
wiser builder.
Another business man had a worry
good year. He made money. Satisfied
that he had struck his gait" he rent
ed into fashionable neighborhood,
and spent his money freely. The de-
preston Of 1913 came on and after
it the war. He has had two years Of
constant worry, and has barely saved
himself from failure. He, too, hitched
himself to more than he could draw,
for when you undertake to pull q load
you must not only reckon on the
smooth asphalt, but the hills and the
mud holes
What these men should have learn
ed--what every man needs to learn,
Is to properly gauge HIS strength.
Thrift to good. management. It is not
only a matter Of saving, money, but
spending it wisely, advantageously,
looking ahead, being satisfied with
modest things until you can afford
more expensive ones. You can be as
happy in a fifty-dollar fiat as in q
five-thousand-dollar apartment.
Some kinds Of debt are desirable,
helpful and necessary. Some kinds of
debt are nerye-rackins and costly.
Buy q home on the installment plan,
but don't buy an + automobile that
way. Take out q life insurance policy,
but don't buy more than you can
cmofortably pay for Dress well, but
pay your tailor; live well, but pay
your grocer; don't "hang-up" one to
as much as you. Earn largely, spend
thoughtfully, 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 flnan-
cial strength as the oxen acquires
physical strength-gradually. Don't
gamble to get rich quick, nor mort
gage the future to enjoy the present.
To develop the ability to draw
heavy loads is a slow, steady process.
It takes patience and training. While
the lives Of some great men remind
us that we can make money by TAX
ing chances, you can lose 1t the same
way. Tackle big problems, undertake
big things, but. let there be first the
slow, patient training that develops
strength and reserve energy, just as
the farmer develops the strength Of
his oxen by years OF patient dragging
Of stones in the barnyard. Few men
can make one dollar do the work Of
two, and you had better not try. Bet
ter get the two sfirst, and only hitch
up to the thing you know you can
drag, for i may drag you.
REAL SPIRIT. fs
z Wills Yanr son he's the true col.
lege spirit. you say? &
9iliia YAG He firmly believes that
he 81 the greatest drinker III the
greatesr class that ever was graduated
from the greatsst institution IN the
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