New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-25
Bv Thomas w. Lamont
(From The Nations Bus'neso)

"HE American people are learn
ing Thrift. They are learn
Il ing it as the result OF eco
nomic pressure. For the first time IN
our history we find ourselves acitho'tt
enough of those things which in the
mast we have so often prodigally
wasted. And it is for that reason
that we are, as it were, learning
Thrift overnight and developing
a new and much needed side to our
national character in the process.
This does not mean that the great
national Thrift campaign, which Is
Icing conducted by the government
through the leadership Of such men
as Mr.. Hoover and DR.. Garfield, is 70
be discounted; for as result OF II
the people are acting on the Thrift
idea much more quickly, and with
more Of intelligent purpose, than
could otherwise have been possible
N so short a time. But If there had
been no Thrift campaign, we should
nevertheless have had to practise
Thrift We should have been slower,
but inevitably we should have come
to it.
In this whole matter we seem 10
have been putting the cart before
the horse. We have been regarding
Thrift too much as kind Of forced
and artificial economy, brought about
by exhortation from national lead
ers. deliberately resolved on and de-
liberately carried out by the nation.
All that has had its place; but we
ought to see this thing as it actually
is. It is important to realize that
real Thrift is an attitude Of mind,
forced on an individual or a nation
largely by circumstance till it be-
comes an ingrained habit of life.
Want Is
Revolutionary Leader
We are learning Thrift from Want
the same great task-master that
taught it to Europe long ago. And
the result will be, if the war con-
tinues, a pronounced, far-reaching
change in many of our habits of life,
our manner of thought and our whole
way of looking at things.
Thrift, repeat, is not, and ought
not to be, a forced and artificial
economy deliberately resolved on and
carried out by nation. Rather,
Thrift is an attitude Of mind caused
Primarily by circumstance and con-
tinued and increased by resolve. The
significant thing about Thrift is not
that it saves and conserves merely,
hut that it implies, on the part Of the
nation that practises it, habits Of
self-control and self-denial. It's sig
rifcance is a spiritual significance,
lust as waste is significant of slack
ness, of disorder, of mind and
spirit i'll controlled. Thrift means
rational living. Without its cultiva,
ton to a reasonable extent no indi-
vidual, no nation, can live rounded
life.
Thrift does not mean stripping life
of all relaxation and all beauty. 1t
means no fanatical, puritanical ex-
tremes of self-discipline. 1t means
rather something Of the idea that
underlay the civilization Of ancient
Greece-the ideal Of national temper
anee in all living. 1t calls for we'll
considered conduct of thought and of
living. 1t does not mean that the
world will be a Utopia, but merely
that the standards Of the average
man and the orderliness of his life
will be raised. Thrift, then, is not
saving and conserving merely, but
something far more significant
self-control and self-denial and tenn
perance, qualities that mean more in
terms of sheer national wealth than
all the gold that was ever mined.