The Redwood gazette., 1919-10-22
CHIEF SPOTTED TAIL AND
THE NAKED TRUTH

Chief Spotted Tail was dirty, grea-
sy, mangy7l looking copper-skin at
tached to one of our Southwestern In
dian reservations.
One of party of tourists, seeing
him basking in the sun on the stoop
before the agency store one day, ask
ed about him and was told that Chief
Spotted Tail was acting as missionary
to his fellow copper-skins. The tour
ist was incredulous. He walked over
to Spotted Tail and engaged him in
conversation.
What do you do for a living?" he
asked frankly.
"Ugh!' grunted Spotted Tail, "me
preachum.
rs that so? What do get for preach
ing?"
'Ugh! me gettum ten dollars
year"
"Well, take it from me, old man,
that's d-7n poor payn
ugh" grunted Spotted Tail, "me
d--n poor preachum!'
We are reminded of Chief Spotted
Tail whenever we hear of any articl
Ia suit of clothes, a pair of shoes,
tool or a piece of equipment being Of
fered at an uncommonly low price.
Whenever we are offered a suit of
clothes for fifteen dollars, a gas en-
CINE for sixty dollars or litter carrier
for twenty dollars, and we ask the man
how it is that his goods are so low
priced, we cant help but think that
the old Indian had it all over him as
far as an honest answer is concerned.
We buy suit of clothes, a gas en-
CINE or litter carrier not for the ar
ticle itself but for the use we can get
out of the article A suit of clothes
at fifteen dollars that will wear but
three months costs US good deal more
than thirty-dollar suit that will wear
nine months A litter carrier at twen-
ty dollars that will hold only six bush
els of manure and will give us service
only a couple of years and poor ser
vice at that-it much more expensive
than forty dollar litter carrier that
will carry three times the load and will
render ten or twelve years of untailing
service
Some of us look only at the imme-
date dollar-the dollar that we take
out of our pocket in payment for some
article Some of us say that we are GO
ing to get along on something cheap
er" for the time being; that perhaps in
year or two we can afford the right
thing. Some of US call this economy
because it means a smaller outlay of
money.
But is it economy? 1t is economy to
buy a fifteen-dollar suit when you
know it will last no longer than three
months? Is it economy to buy lit
ter carrier for twenty dollars that you
have to tinker with, and patch up,
and coax, and swear at every time you
use it in the few years of its life?
Now, honestly, is it?
Cheap things are made for people
who must "get along" as best they
can. These people pay out more in
the end by having paid less in the be-
ginning. Long before the time comes
when they think they can afford the
right thing, they will have paid sever
al times the price of the right thing
in inconvenience, in lost time and labor
and in poorer results. The economy"
that they fondly imagined they were
practicing to be no economy at all
but really extravaganza.
Without exception, the cheapest
thing, the thing most economical to
buy, is the thing that delivers the best
and the most service.
Whenever, therefore, anybody Of
fers you anything at an uncommonly
low price, remember the story of old
Chief Spotted Tail and the naked
truth James Barn Magazine.