New-York tribune., 1918-09-15

4 ceiving as big money as it has been
- rumored they are, what, one may
wonder, are they doing with it? In
The Saturday Evening Post" Albert
W. Atwood presents some interesting
facts and figures relating to this sub
ject, the results of personal investiga-
ton he has been conducting. He re-
rorts that
unfortunately far too many workers are
not looking ahead, not preparing for
the future The thought of having to toll
for low wages again has not occurred to
many of them. They haven't caught the
idea that part of their present big wages
should be considered as capital to be put
away, to be kept intact, and not to be used
Us income at all. A shipyard worker MAX
ing eight dollars day was recently killed
Il his automobile a Sunday afternoon,
md it was found that not only did his fam
y have money to bury him, but that
when his wife and two children got home
that night there was nothing for them to
eat in the house and no money with which
to buy food"
And this gives an idea of exactly how
the money is spent:
at is striking coincidence that in every
great industrial centre gets almost
denticaly the same stories or anecdotes
about the extravaganza of the young work
ing men and women. These stories always
relate to clothes and shoes; waists and
shoes for the girls and shirts and shoes for
the men. Sometimes hears of whole
suits of furs, but waists shirts and shoes
seem to be the great hearts desire of the
Younger element of working people. In a
small coal mining town in Western Penn
sylvana ! was told that $40 is q price rather
commonly paid for suit by boys working
in the mines, at far below the highest
wages, at that.
1.-TWO three days later I was told al
most the same story in one of the big
powder centres. Young men would be sized
up by the clerks in clothing stores as proper
candidates for a $50 suit, and they would
successfully refuse, without explanation or
any sign of animation, the $50, $25 and S2S
DTaHuS, only 10 DrlShlen up ana purchase
the spot suit for $50 or more the mo-
ment it shown them. Everywhere ono
hears of the same type of anecdotes in re-
gard to shoes From the purchasers ap-
pearance q pair at $3.50 would be suggested
Result, general apathy and discomfort on
the part of the purchaser. Finally he
would ask timdly for the SO pair in the
window and remark: 4 guess they're good
enough for me-
apparently munition, shpbuilding
coal, steel and oAer war industry centres
are having much the same experience with
extravaganza in dress the English towns
did couple of years ago. In English
muntion towns there was a considerable
increase also in the sale of jewelry, and
curiously enough | have found this to be
true near several of the great government
arsenals in this country. Evidence of the
ers, however is nothing impressive or
universal the proof of an increase in the
purchase of expensive clothes
"The attitude of young negro worker in
a Southern powder plant is only little bit
more exaggerated than that of thousands of
young people of lighter color He was
stretched out or a couple of seats in train
one Sunday, and the man sitting just back
Of him heard this solioquy:
James, he said as he gazed at his bright
yellow shoes and noisy but expensive new