Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-09-18
Keeping Down Expenses.

Keeping Down Expenses
The question uppermost In the home.
of the average American family is how
TO make q dollar go as far as ii did
before the nigh prices that came with
the European war We have been sur
feited with advice from SO many
sources that our heads are awhirI over
what we should take seriously and
what we should not. One item that is
occasioning its full need OF worriment
is coal. A family goes along year
after year laying in the same amount
of fuel in preparation for winter. never
taking into account retreuChmeDt pos
sibHities. The house, Wen say, has
eight rooms and bath. Every room
must be heated. The strength of the
family may be four members Two of
these may be Youngsters who could
just as well bundle into O. single bed
as to have each q room to himself
Father and mother also each has
room For ecOn0my's sake fathers bed
could be moved into mothers room or
vice versa Then there is the bath
room. That must be heated, too, in
order that each member the house !
hold may indulge his or her morning
plunge seven times every week. There
are five rooms Oh the second floor ami
four on the first The coal bin holds
q dozen ions of fuel il is crammed
to The neck every faII. the supply just
about pulling the family through until
spring This amount is consumed in +
keeping the entire home warm F.
throughout the winter. Now why
couldn't the family abandon the sec-|
0nd floor for the cold months and con
fine their living to the first do0r2 Some +
Inconvenience would be suffered. but
it would be profitable. On a basis Of /
cutting coal consumption so per cent. i
assuming you have been told YOU must !
pay SIS per ton. your fuel bill would /.
be $&6 less than it would be under /
normal living conditions But what +
OF your bathing To he sure you must /
have your friyol in Inc tub Bat why
couldn't YOU endure what your for
bears went through for just one win (
ter 10 hold expenses in CheCk2 0rf
perhaps you can recall when yau !
barhed but once q week, and thought !
YOU were being imposed upon when /
mother led you to the washtub in the
Kitchen on Saturday night. You could /
turn the heat off the bathroom all
days except Saturday. On that night +.
the whole family could have a weekly f
treat. But where would the family .
The TWO children could bunk there +
while father and mother could double +
in one of the beds to be hauled down /
from the second floor and placed ina I
the parl0r for the winter. You mavt
argue that this wouldn't look very
we'll and that your friends might talk
about YOU when they found how you
were skimping. Well. perhaps they /
would. But you would have m0re#
money than they when the robins
sang again in the spring You could .
use part Of the s36 that You saved to /
buE seeds to plant your garden, from
which YOU might take enough foods /
to supply your own table. with some
TO spare for the neighbors at so much
per spare and the balance left from
the amount that you deducted from
your usual coal bill you could lay
aside as an automobile or a building
lot nucleus. We have submitted this
argument to q local capitalist and he
says 1t emb0dies the fundamentals of
getting q start in life towards sue
cess He recalled that his family
went the scheme here one-yes, two
better, for he declares instead of him
and one of his brothers occupying the
one bed four Of them piled into II.
That is. they were ali n the bed when
=
we're not there every morning. Most
at least half Of them were
on the floor. But, no matter, you
can't reduce living expenses by mere
iy talking about them. You must act
and sacrifice 10 do it.
DO the Children Count2" asks 2
picture title # you think
they don't take four pennies and hand
them over TO some child OF your ac-
and tell him that he has 5
cents.
ROBBERS Get Big Haul i'm Chi
cage. Headline. What was your
Irst thought as you read this2 Il
vas that BIZ Thompson had been car
lied away and interned for the dura-
ion Of the war wasn't it?
MARY Garden, returned to US after
several months in Red Cross work in
europe, could be called another of Il
sur war gardens. 4
J. NJ. c. /