The Washington herald., 1917-11-18

so O1ten prOQlSalfy wasted. ana IL
is for that reason that we are, as
It were, learning thrift over night,
and developing a new and much
needed side to our national eharac-
ter in the process.
This does not mean that the great
national thrift campaign, which is
being conducted by the government
through the leadership of such men
as Mr.. Hoover and DIR. Garfield. is
10 be discounted; for as a result
Of 1t the people are acting on the
thrift idea much more quickly, and
with more of intelligent purpose than
would otherwise have been possible
ia so short a time But, II there
had been no thrift campaign, We
should haze nevertheless have had to
practice thrift. We should have been
slower but inevitably We should have
come to it.
In this whole matter we seem to
have been putting the cart before
the horse. We have been regarding
thrift too much as a kind of forced
and artificial et onomy. brought about
by eXhortation from national lead
ers, deliberately resolved on and de-
liberately carried out by the nation.
All IndL mas Ihl us Dll we
ought to see this thing as 1t ac-
tually is. 1t Is important to realize
that real thrift is an attitude OF
mind. forced on an individual or a
nation largely by circumtance till 1t
becomes an ingrained habit of life.
We are learning thrift from want
tho same great task-master that
taught 1t to Europe long ago. And
the result will be, If the war con-
tinues, pronounced, far-reaching
change in many of our habits of life,
our manner of thought, and our whole
way of looking at things.
Thrift, I repeat, is not, and ought
not to be, a forced and artificial
economy deliberately resolved on and
carried out by a nation. Rather, thrift
Is an attitude of mind caused priInar-
lily by circumstances, and continued
and increased by resolve. The signifi-
cant thing about Thrift is not that it
saves and conserves merely. but that
IL implies, on the part of the nation
that practices 1t, habits OF self-con-
troll and self-denial. Its significance
is a spiritual significance. just as
waste is significant Of slackness, of
disorder, of a mind and spirit ill-eon-
trolled. Thrift means rational living.
Without its cultivation to a reason
able extent no individual, no nation,
can live a rounded life.
Thrift does not means 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
ance in all living. 1t calls for well
considered conduct OF thought and of
living. 1t does not mean that the
world will he a Utopia, but merely
that the standards Of the average
man and the orderlIness of his life
will be raised. Thrift, then, is net
saving and conserving merely, but
something far more signifcant-self-
control and self-denial and temper
ance; qualities that mean more in
terms of sheer national wealth than
all the gold that was ever mined.
All of this is important and funda-
mental: but. as I have already said,
that does not lessen the Importance
OF the present nationwide propaganda
for thrift. quite the contrary. That
propaganda is thing of capital i'm
port: and it derives its significance
the form of an appeal to the patrio-
tism and sense of personal RESPONSE
bility and self-respect of every indi-
viduat citizen. It is, in the last an
alysis, the formulation of n national
idea. 1t should be considered in that
light.
The one great task, then, that all
Americas patriotic citizens. young
and old, can at once undertake Is to
practice thrift. England has already
round that the stay-at-homeS fight
the war just as much as those at tho
front. Those at home wage the bat
tie by furnishing to the soldiers anu
sailors the enormous supplies OF all
Kinds that they require in their des-
perate work at the front. This means
not chiefly guns, munitions and air.
Craft-Vital as these are-but food,
clothing, shelter. fuel. transport, hos
pitfalls. medicines. surgeons, nurses and
all the prodigiOus quantity of ma
terial absolutely required to keep the
millions OF soldiers and sailors Of
America and of her hard-beset allies
in efficient shape.
All this means that every particle
OF food that we save releases Just
that much more for the use of the
army and navy. II our households
can. without real suffering that leads
to malnutrition, save an average of
10 per cent in their food and fuel con-
sumption, the amount of additional
supplies thereby rendered available
for the war, in the course of a year
is almost incalculable. President
Wilson put the subject of countrywide
economy and thrift into the fore
ground of national duties when he
said, This is the time for America
to correct her objectionable fault of
wastefulness and extravagance. Let
every man and every woman assume
the duty of careful. provident use
and expenditure as a public duty as
dictate of patriotism which no one
can now ever expect to be excused or
forgiven for ignoring"
The Six Why's Of Thrift.
In England 1t took long time for
the nation-even close as it was to the
actual theater of war-to wake I'D to
the necessity for economy In consump-
tion. But Great Britain has grappled
the problem, and for months past the
campaign for thrift has been sweeping
the country most effectively. Millions
OF leaflets have been distributed over
there in the educational campaign for
national thrift. Here, for instance. is
one of them:
i. Because when you save you help
our soldiers and sailors to win the
war
Because when you spend on
things you do not need. you help the
Germans.
3. Because when you spend you
make other people work for you, and
the work of everyone is wanted now
to help our fighting men. or to pro-
duce necessaries, or to make goods
for export.
4. Because by going without things