The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-03-13
"A Cheap Skate"

The busbear Of the average Ameri-
can is the dread that he viii be con
sidered cheap" and the fear of the
epithet which heads this article is
responsible for most Of the silly eX-
tIavagance, petty eXtortion and deliD
erately boosted prices which so tc
make up our costly American life.
A young man and young woman
keeping company" in the casual
American fashion are debarred from
reasonably priced restaurants, theater
seats suitable 70 their condition in
life and most modest amusements by
the bugbear OF being considered
cheap the result being that when
their acquaintance develops into mar
riage they have acquired a set Of Ut
terly false notions about the values
OF life and ordinarily plunge into debt
or are compelled TO move away from
their youthful environments to get a
true adjustment
Gotds purchased at cheap store,
no matter what their actual value.
are despised and held up to scora. and
the couple who pat~onize the street
cars in preference 10 tie hired car
iiage or auto lose a certain amount Of
standing with certain set OF badly
educated young folks.
Young men and women in school
and college are causelessly humiliat.
ed by this bugbear School and col
lege activities lose their flavor and
true place in educational life by the
silly emphasis on the price which is
paid, graduations appall the parents
of modest means. and cases are all
too common where the splendid facili-
ties OF cur educationa system are
wasted because Of the fear OF being
considered cheap"
In later life, innumerable abuses
follow in the trail OF this delnsion
The cheekToom extortions. the ftp
ping evil. the expensive food, the
slipshod service. the careless sales
mans attitude, the taxi holdup, the
continual half-cent tax. The scorn CT
pennies, the extras and the added
hiekels are ana part Of the foolish
system OF fear Which prevents q man
from buy wing IN tile cheapest market,
quality considered. spd conserving his
income as a thrifty American should
We laugh atlths psapess' OF the
Scot and Brlioa and scar1 the thrift
OF the FrencAmaa and the German,
yet one Of the ge3scns Why those ma.
tons have stood pre-emineuty forth
IN the terrific Wogld.oontes. is that
very habit OF thrift and Conservation.
Our national extrayaganc finds it's
most striking illustration in the ex-
cesses OF Congress-. WASHINGTON tx
the fountain-Aead of all public waste,
and private incomes and expenditures
are scaled to the ruinous standards
Of the government We need not
wonder that We have poorer army
than we ought TO have, weaker navy
and less efficient system of govern
ment
We come naturally enough by our
extravaganza but the root and begin
ning OF it all is the unutterablc folly
Of the fear Of being considered cheap.
II war comes. one of the first bitter
lessons we shall have 10 learn viii be
to conserve, We shall have to save
our food. our textiles, our leather our
steel our rubber. our timber. our
chemicals, our mines and ali our re.
sources and we have no more conecp-
ton Of what national saving means
than a sailor ashore with his ray in
hir p0cket,
We eat too much. drink too much
smoke too much. dress too much and
80 to costly entertainments too much
1t Is time we shook ourselves loose
from the bugbear OF being considered
cheap and began to live more modest.
y, more thrlftily and more whole
somely
The next time you hear a young
man called "a cheap skate" look him
over The chances are that be has
an immortal idea-Rutland Herald. .