Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1920-07-17
SPEND BILLIONS
FOR LUXURIES
Secretary of the Treasury Shows
How Americans Can Save
$22, 100000.
CLEANED FROM TAX RETURNS
Carpets, Furs, Autos and Soap Chased
With Gum, Candy and Rouge
$75o,o0o,o00 Spent for Perfum.
cry and Cosmetics.

Washington.-Cut out the chewing
gum, lay off the cigarettes, pull the
sweet tooth, drink only water, do with
out cosmetics, perfumes, cigars, tobac-
co, snuff, furs carpets and such cloth
ing luXuries as silk shirts; wash your
face with yellow soap, ride the street
cars instead Of the autos and depend
upon your own cultivated or uneul-
tivated voice for music-and you will
save $22,7OO,OOO,OOO!
That, in effect, is the advice recently
handed out by Secretary of the Treas
ury Houston to the 100000 Amer
leans, in the course of an economy ar
ticle. His figures for expenditures up
on so-called luxuries are compiled
from federal tax returns and are prob
ably, for that reason, not very far
from the truth. Just how many per-
sons might agree with Secretary Hous-
ton concerning his definition of what
constitutes luxury-for instance car
pets, tobacco, automobiles and toilet
soaps-is problematical. 1t is def.
milton similar to that famous by.
pothetical question-never answered.
when is a man drunk?" Likewise
the wartime puzzle Of "what is an es-
sential Industry"
Here Are Our Luxury Expenditures.
However, the figures are interesting
from the standpoint of knowing ap-
proximately what the American peo-
pie do spend on things that they could
do without and still go on living. The
table of luxury" expenditures ar
ranged by Secretary Houston from the
reports from the present internal rev.
enue system, federal tax returns, and
so on, follows:
Chewing gum ...................,$ 50OoO,0O0
CANDY .................."......... IOOO,OOV,VV
Cigarettes ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. SOC. 100000
Soft drinks, including ice 20
cream and soda ................ $4,000, 600
Perfumery and cosmetics. 900
Cigars ......................... 100000
Tobacco and snuff .............. 800, 100000
Furs ............................. 3000O0,0O0
Carpets and luxurious clothing. 1900 100000
Automobiles and parts ......... 1000, $1,000
Toilet soaps ...................... 4OOOO0.OO0
Pianos, organs and phono-
graphs .......................... 5o.ooo.ooo
Making Costs Still Higher
According to comment in an editori-
al in the New York Journal Of Com
merce, which prints Secretary Hous-
toms table of figures. "few persons
would deny that of those items which
have been specifically enumerated
here, nearly all could be greatly re-
duced in amount without inflicting Suf-
fering or even inconvenience upon the
population.
1.-THE fact that the American public
is spending such sums as these for the
purposes mentioned gives point to the
often repeated and often disregarded
injunction to be guided by the policy
Of thrift at least to a reasonable ex-
tent in both personal and business ex-
penditure," says the editorial. ut also
throws glazing light upon the cur
rent complaints concerning the cost Of
living. If the nation can spend $22,-
7OOOOO,OOO upon articles which in
large part are purely luxuries, it evil
IDENTIFY is not suffering from a de-
pressed standard of living. While, on
the other hand, it is obviously making
things much harder for itself by draw
ing off the commodities, services and
capital used in the production Of this
great volume of consumable goods
which otherwise would go to make
the 'necessaries of life more plentiful
and hence cheaper"