The Washington herald., 1917-04-09
High Cost Of Living-A
Blessing In Disguise
by ORIsON SWEET MARDEN,

America is more prosperous today
than 1t ever was before. Our national
wealth is increasing as IL by magic.
Yet, paradoXical as 1t seems, never
before was the necessity of thrift
both national and individual-so i'm
perative.
If>the present high cost of living
forces us to learn the art of econ
omizing our resources 1t will have
done the American peopIe-thc most
wasteful In the world-an immeasur-
able service. 1t will prove blessing
in disguise.
There is nothing more important to
human being than to be able not
only to earn his own living, but also
TO know how to use his money to
the best possible advantage. for on
this depends his power to make him
self independent and consequently to
do his best work in the world.
Herbert Spencer said that the chief
dlnerence between the savage and the
civilized man is the formers lack of
foresight. Notwithsta nding the hard
ships of primitive life. the savage but
slowly learns to practice seIf-de
in order to provide for remote con-
tingencies. Given ample provision
for today he has no anxiety about
the uncertainty of tomorrow"
L have always noticed that people
IN position to save money yet who
lack bank balance, also usually
lack brain balance They are not
very level-headed. The man who is
not thrifty has a screw loose some
where. If he is not thrifty with his
money, with his time, he is not sue
cessfully organized. OF course there
are many fine. lovable people, often
genfuses in some direction, who are
totally lacking in the sense of money
values, and spend money-when they
have it---reCklessly. But just in so far
as they fail to make wise provision
for the morrow. are they ill-balanced
and on par with the primitive
savage.
l know very brilliant young man
who earned a great deal OF money,
but who felt such confidence in his
continued ability to earn that he spent
every cent as he went along. sud
denly his young wife was takcr seri-
ously ill. and in order to save her
ire he was Obliged to get a noted
surgeon to perform a very delicate
and dangerous operation. As the sur
geon would not operate until he was
assured of his fee. the young man
was obliged to borrow the necessary
sum. which was very large. His
wife's life was saved. but her con-
tinued illness and the illness Of their
small children. together with the wear
and anxiety so injured the young
mans own health, that his earning
capacity was impaired for many
years In fact. his career was very
seriously handicapped and he and his
family suffered many privations for
lack OF ready money to tide them
over their difficulties. This young
man could easily have saved a thou
sand dollars in single years before
his wife's illness. but he didn't think
it necessary, and believed in living
up to his income as he went along
We never can tell when illness, or
accident, may impair our earning ca
pac1ty. or when some unforeseen
emergency may make an unexpected
call upon us. Tens of thousands Of
mothers and children have endured
all sorts OF hardshps because the
father never laid up any money for
an emergency and when 1t came there
was no saving bank balance to help
them over their time of stress.
I know of no other thing which quite
takes the place OF little ready
money In case of need: something
which will be a buffer between us
and the rough knocks of the world.
NO one who can possibly afford to
save 1t should be without such
buffer. 1t is a very dangerous thing
- i''C AiOih manu- 10 HlOuln, especially
in this age. of terrific competition
and high cost of living
Eat. drink and be merry. for to-
morrow we die" Is the fools motto.
and leads the way to misery and hu-
initiation. And when the man who
trusts in it is broke" he must agree
with DIR. Crane that. To be broke
is bad. It's worse: it's a crime. It's
still worse. for its silly. Crimes can
be pardoned and sins forgiven, but
for the .plum fool there is no hope"
People who spend extravagantly,
who waste money. usually do so in
catering to their own selfish desires
in dress. in pleasures or in dissipa-
ton or some sort. I know a young
man, for instance, who receives only
moderate salary, yet who thinks
nothing OF buying six or eight cigars
a day and several drinks. Ice creams,
sodas. theaters, moving pictures, and
other nonessentials, often run away
with the extra salary margin that
should find its way to the savings
bank.
There is a good deal of truth in
what Cornelius Vanderbilt said to
Chauncey NJ Depew when the latter
was young man starting in life:
Amy fool can make money, but 1t
takes very wise man to keep it."
(Copyrght, 1917