The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1920-02-06
Friday. February 9th, 1920
THE FOOL AND HIS MONEY

AZ tlO Jbllct GltilG III IilC liSGOly
of America has the adage, the
fool and his money are soon part
ed" had such force as at the
present time. Business is being
conducted upon the principle and
an absolutely valid one under the
prevailing conditions-that the
higher the price the stronger the
demand. There is no disposition
here to distribute blame or to seek
to say how much this should be
laid upon the manufacturer, the
middleman Or the retailer. The
blame fundamentally belongs to
the fool. Carlyle's dictum that
England had a population Of a
a certain number of millions,
mostly fools, was cynical enough.
That dictum applies absolutely to
the United States. If the roll
call of fools could be read from
the experience of the merchants
and other dispensers of any kind
of wares of service, the recital
would be a list ssof fools of such
amazing number as to startle the
country. Even the fools them
selves would be amazed at the ex-
tent Of the folly that they repre-
sent. These fools are the newly
affiuent or those that think them
selves such; those that get wage
that is beyond anything in their
highest dreams before, and for
an amount of work that is dis
proportionately smaller, so that
while getting an increase of one
or two hundred per cent more
than their normal earning capa-
city they are doing from fifty to
one hundred per cent less work.
The result is seen in the pre-
vailing prices.
There is no clerk in any of the
stores, no dealer in any line of bus
mess who does not tell the same
tale, namely, that their prize GUS
tom is from sources that hereto
fore represented relatively little
to them. The prossessors of in
comes that to the mare dazzling
and they are in fact dazzling
when two or three of the big
wage earners are found in a sim
gle domicile-are ready to pay
any prices for what they want
and are not satisfied to pay less
than a big figure. The sense of
citation is present in talking about
how much one pays for stockings
or shoes or silk fimsles. To be
able to talk big" has a value to
the fools who pay the big prices
that makes up to them for the
fact of paying SO much more
than necessary if they would pur-
chase nationally. AS for the
manufacturers and the middle
men and the dealers it remains
to be seen whether their big pro-
hts are or are not substantial. Of
these boom profits the dealers
probably get less than the other
two classes. The falling away
OF purchases if the so-called
middle class and the sure reac-
ton from prevailing conditions
will be apt to leave many of those
who have been getting big profits
In the same FOOLS paradise where
will be found the fools who are
so readily paying with their
easy money. Attorney General
Palmer has sought to organize and
to have the women of the land
banded against needless purchas-
ing but all to no effect.
The,psychology of the situation
is very simple. The fool type of
spenders who do 80 much
to keep up prices have big money
in their pockets. They pay pro-
portionately big sums for their
purchases. It is useless to say
they are not better off, for they
areein their own feelings of salts
faction, at least. Yet their gain
in circumstance, is not at all
comparable to their own views of
the matter. They are sustained
by the thought that they have
money to spend, no matter how
they spend it and how little they
get for it. Formerly they did
not have the money to spend,
even though things were much
cheaper. What they did spend
brought them no sucn things for
display and vanity as they can
now command. Yet many of
them have found that their revel
of spending has lead them into
extravagances that their increas-
ed incomes do not justify. Hence
they are cashing in their Liberty
Bonds and their Thrift Stamps.
While the bulk Of those who