Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-17
POOR RICHARDS"
| HONOR FRANKLIN
'ay Homage Tonight to His
Memory on 2l3th Ami.
versary of Birth
THRIFT DAY
Admiral Henry Mayo Will Be
Chief Speaker and Baker
May Attend
THRIFT DAY
What would he say?

MI This Is the question that will he asked
Na thousand times tonight when an as
3embly of nearly 900 men and women
Yigather In the Gold Ballroom OF the
IBellevue-Stratford to pay homage to the
3memory of Benjamin Franklin.
N Today is the 213th anniversary of
Franklin's birth.
IN If Poor Richard could return to earth
tonight and step into the brilliantly
lighted room where the Poor Richard
Club Is playing host his attention would
I, pc arrested by myriads of electric lights.
\, To him II would be the realization OF
= dream concerning that mysterious cur
] rent tnat he snatched from the heavens
more than $50 years ago.
4 Statecraft and literature have made
wonderful advances since Poor Richard
/. was summoned to his fathers in 1890.
4 put science has made greater strides
\. And Of all the miracles achieved in that
Fheld none compares in Importance with
4 the utilization of electric power.
III And as the host of diners open the
kAnnual frolic of the Poor Richard Club
&they will recall that simple little story
fof how Franklin with his kite snatched
\ electricity from the skies.
III Keep His Memory Alive
n What would he say
II Certainly that question will be upper
most In the minds of those who by at
[itending the Poor Richard Club functions
do great deal toward keeping his
memory fresh and green
Every year the Franklin birthday
celebration assumes greater Importance.
This year 1t Is to he the biggest ever,
md a great share of the credit must be
Eiven to the Poor Richard Club.
For fourteen years the city has ex-
tended to this organization the privi-
1ege Of staging the Franklin Day fes-
tival and not once has the organization
failed to put on celebration worthy
of Poor Richards memory.
Tonight's affair will eclipse al former
kevents and also draw the curtain on
Philadelphia most notable Franklin
/ Day.
Franklin's home city will not have the
honor Of holding a lone celebration for
the fedora. government has intervened
and for the purpose of launching the
1918 thrift stamp campaign and paying
full honors to the sage and philosopher.
has designated this as National Thrift
Day.
W Poor Richard was Americas original
thrift advocate, and by applying his
own thrift rules sweled fortune of
one Dutch dollar. whicn represented his
holdings at the age of seventeen. to the
handsome sum of S.5O.OOO. his fortune
when he died at the age of 81.
III While building this fortune. consid-
cred large for that period. Franklin ap-
piled himself 10 statecraft literature
and science and had time left to coin
4 some golden aXioms on thrift.
These have been handed down to sue
ceeding generations and are as fresh
today as when Poor Richard' penncd
Athem in his Philadelphia printing shop a
tcentury and half ago.
Recall FrankIin's AHioms
/ \ The element Of thrift was an obsession
tth him, and today the national gov
srnment. emerging from n great war, is
lndeavoring to inculcate into the minds
II it's l10.000.000 citizens the same idea.
Through the thrift stamp it hopes to
ccomplish its purposS<~hence the Frank
n axioms to emphasize its value:
Scarlet. silk and velvet have put the
l.itchen fire out"
"If you know how to spend less than
fou get you have the philosophers
tone"
"He that goes a-borrowing goes
i-sorrowing.'
"A patch on your coat and money in
your pocket is more creditable than q
writ on your back and no money to take
L off,
N But to revert back to the Poor Rich