The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1920-01-01
i00D MATE tIAL TO
PONDER OVER NOW

The article. reprinted below from
ublication issued by the Multnomah
0tel in Portland, has some good data
q cover while YOU are formulating
920 resolutions. The article. written
~ b. F. Irvine, Portland newspaper
nan. shows the ends 10 which Amer
ca : made reyel of eXtravagance Will
cad.
Normal business principles are
lead. Thoughts of thrift are for
often. A mans hat at $50 has be-
one commonplace. Portland dealers
ll2ced them on sale and the supply was
Exhausted. The dealers were plunged
nto wonderment and awe. They are
ow buying hats that will be sold at
;25 and $50.
Nothing Is stable. New York man
ufacturers and jobbers no longer quote
prices of goods on future delivery
They tell YOU the price now and say
hat the price on future orders will be
controlled by the then market. Mean
while, operatives in the factories de-
mand higher wages and operators
grant them. Operators have found
lhat any Price asked will be paid, and
the advanced wage is granted and
added. with increased profit. to the
ptice at which the goods 90 To the
retailer. The public comes along and
pays whatever is asked
And SO the pyramiding goes on.
People were excited during the war
in many ways they are crazy now
fhev never saw so much money spent
so lavishly, never saw 1t come and 20
so easily.
All have forgotten that it was gov
eminent money that we had been
spending. 1t was the great sums told
of in billions that fed the shipyaIds,
the munitions factories, the machine
works. the spruce camps and all the
other great works of production. In
all the lhistory of .the world. money
was never poured into industry with
such prodigal hand.
The spirit of those days has become
epidemic. Though the great supply
source that the government maintained
during hostllities is cut off, the spend
ing goes on. 1t is without end or
shape or limit. The shipworker 5
pAs lfN dutOlAlObilt, anu lliltulN > RE,VNN
fur. the housemaid's $3.50 tailor suit,
the stenographer' $500 coat. a
woman's handbag at $3.50. a lady S
gown displayed in San Francisco
shop window at the price of house
and lot. These are parts of the long
array of lavishness in this extrava
ganza of expenditure,
People seem crazed with the notion
that any eXtravagant thing, any prodi
gal purchase, any figure of wage, any
measure of profit is obtainabe.
Do you realize what havoc habits Of
unthrift are working in America? In
Portland, in 1918. with an increase OF
II, 600 in population. we built 2Gt
dwelling houses. We bought $500
automobiles. We spent something over
nalf million for houses; more thar
ten million for automobiles. The
mortgage Indebtedness placed on
homes for the purchase Of automobiles
was 81, 000, 600. Listen SiXty-siX out
of every hundred persons who die ir
the United States leave no estate
whatever, and of the remaining thirty
four only nine leave estates larger
! Atidll bsDNp. ~ tilC hEC Vi va, IllltlJ
seven out of every hundred persons il
America are partially or wholly de
pendent upon relatives, friends or the
public for their daily bread. for then
clothing and for roof under which tC
sleep Ninety-eight per cent of tht
American people are living from day
TO day on their wages, and a loss OF
employment would mean paupersm fol
all but two per cent.
Fewer than 5000, 600 American fam
lies own their own homes, 2, 600. 00t
are carrying mortgages and 1000, 00(
are renters. Every seven years one
third Of the population Of New Yort
applies for charity One person il
every ten who dies in our large cities
is buried in pauper's grave.
These figures are from government
statistics. They are terrifying story
Of poverty. Surgeon.General Gorgas
who made the Canal zone habitable
said in public address Physician,
nave located the great cause of genera
ll.health in poverty" Poverty is her,
directly attributable by an eminen
authority to the great American hab
of unthrift.