New-York tribune., 1920-12-12
By T. N. Carver


Professor Of Economics, HARVARD
University
IT IS a common error among econo-.
L mists who have not trimmed them
selves to see things in their larger
relations to assume that there is some
thing antagonistic between thrift and
high standard Of living That this
to any one who once understands what
high standard Of living really is and
what thrift really means. There may
be said to be high standard of living
among the people Of any community or
class when its members commonly re-
fuse to marry and have children, or
generally postpone marriage and child
bearing until they are able to pro-
vide themselves and their families with
considerable number of other salts
factions.
In very true and special sense. the
standard of living may be SAID to in
clude the total number Of things which
the average person prefers to mar
riage and children. Anythlng-leis-
ure, house, an automobile, foreign
travel, library, education, amusement
which the individual desires strong
ly enough to cause him TO postpone
can afford. 1t may be said. to enter into
his standard of living Ii there are
few things which he insists upon hav-
ing before undertaking the rsponsibili-
ties OF family, his standard OF living
IS low; II there are many such things,
his standard of living is high.
There does not appear to be any good
reason for distinguishing among those
things which man insists upon hav-
ing before undertaking the support of
a family, or for saying that some of
them enter into his standard of living
and others do not If in one class q
man must afford house rather than
fat, while in another he must afford
an automobile before he will marry,
there is as good reason for including
the house in the ones standard of liv-
ing as for including the automobile m
the others. If in third class q man
will not marry until he can afford an
insurance policy, and In a fourth class
he will wait until he has a savings ac-
count of certain size, then, by the
same reasoning, the insurance policy
and the savings account enter into
their standards of living. There is no
reason for believing that the standard
Of living is any lower in classes three
and four than in classes one and two
Yet classes three and four are thrifty
classes. In short, the time element en-
ters into ones standard of living as
we'll as into every other subject of eco-
nomic choice.
Why Marriage Is Postponed
One Of the commonest things IN real
life Is for men and women to postpone
marriage until they have saved up
enough to provide themselves certain
comforts and conveniences In such
cases thrift is q necessary part of the
standard Of living. If they wait until
they have saved enough to buy a house,
a farm. shop, or to make certain in.
Investments. these things become
part Of their standard of living In
fact, it is the writer's observation that
the thrlftiest people are the people
with the highest standard of living
These are the people who rank eco
nomic safety high among the desirable
things of life--to whom the thought
of an uncertain future is as painful as
present deprivation, and to whom that
Of future we'll provided for is as
satisfying as the immediate gratihca-
tion of the senses.
The difficulty With those who fail
80 see the relation between thrift and