The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-02-04
THRIFT TALK
THOUCHTLESS
CARELESSNESS
LIVE WELL; DRESS DECENTLY;
HAVE WHOLESOME PLEASURES
BUT BE CAREFUL IN YOUR
WASTING.

In the practice of economy, there
must be reason and due regard for
relative values, for in the saving of
a little there may be the wasting of
much. For instance, certain bank
president, drawing a goodly salarly,
spends a great deal of time cutting
envelopes for use as scratch paper.
He is wasting his time, for if he is
worthy of being president of a bank,
his brain value is of so much greater
worth than the paper value he is
trying to save, that he is penny wise
and pound foolish. He should be
thinking out the problems of his
bank, not trying to save it a few
sheets of paper. On the other hand,
it would be good economy for large
department store, burning hundreds
of lights daily, to pay a man ten
dollars a week to watch for needless
waste of light and turn out those not
in use.
A certain man dropped a nickel at
a railroad station. In his endeavor to
find it, he lost his train, lost his
temper, missed a business engagement
that held up four other men, ard
caused confusion all around, and had
to spend a quarter for telegram to
hold the engagement for his late ar
rival. That was poor economy.
The point to be emphasized in all
such endeavors is to impress upon
the individual who wastes that if all
were to do as he does, the loss would
be enormous: and if all were to do as
he should, the saving would be great.
We are both careless and thoughtless.
We leave our lights burning when
they do no one any good. We leave
the water running, forgetting that the
meter is on its job all the time, and
every turn of the wheel means money
to some one, if not to us. 1t is all
very well to say: ITS included IN
the rent,"-yes, but the landlord has
probably figured that out when he
| fixed his rental. You pay, not he, for
every hour YOU burn a useless light,
or let the water run to waste.
A certain school teacher. wide
awake to impress these things upon
her pupils, got her great chance one
day. A little girl made few figures
on a sheet of paper, and threw 1t
away. The teacher asked why she
wasted that sheet of paper, and the
pupil replied that at was only a
sheet of paper, and besides, it was
| furnished by the board of education
free" Calling the class to order, she
asked them to take out their pads
and count the number of sheets. Then
she told them what the pad cost and
| asked them to calculate the cost OF
one sheet-a fraction of a fraction of
a cent. She told them how many
I
pupils attended the schools of the
city an an average of $50 days year
and asked them to figure the cost if
each pupil wasted but one sheet a
day. The total was surprise.
It's not the cost of single sheet
of paper, a single hour of useless
light, a match, a cent or two, that
counts,-it's the cumulative totals
that make the astonishing losses.
There is such a thing as being
mean and niggardly with yourself,
eating only enough to keep body and
soul together, wearing clothes until
they are mass of patches, and liv-
ing a life of strict denial to all the
bodily comforts. That is not the
point: you ought to live well, dress
decently. and have wholesome pleas
ures. but be careful of your wasting,
lest YOU be one of great army
wasting, it may be, but match a
dav. but if a million others are do
ing the same thing, We burn up a
lot of wood to no useful purpose
Light your pipe with one match!