The Connecticut labor news., 1921-09-16
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Bfi BODCEI,, . SYSTEM IN HOMES

American housewives are being urged by high officials of the government to adopt the budget system Ill family book kccpmg. Members of Congress who ad- vocated and worked for the passage of the law creating the Bureau Ot the Bud get insist that the same principle should DC adopted Ill every home i'll the United otatcs Those who have made a study of the question contend that W1VeS and mothers are better managers than are the actual brcakWinners of the family. Much ,I the financial difficulty in great many American homes, the advocates of the household budget assert, is due to the lack of some system suitably appOrtlon- ing the family income to cover the cost Ot food, shelter, savings, clothing, and the other things which must be provided for decent and comfortable living, not tor getting provisions for education and the wholesome recreation
 Failure of commercial establishments to chart their course in such a way as to avoid the. reefs and shoals of bank ruptcy has resulted in many business sh1DWrcCks. Lack of knowledge Ot the exact financial condition of his business
 laS caused many a man whose conduct has been marked by enterprise and by energy to come to grief. Many of the
 
 home have been caused by the same sort of ignorance The problem cannot be solved by merely living within the fam lly's income. The contents of the pay envelope must be apportioned ln such way as to leave a reasonable sum each week for some safe investment. Treas ury Savings securities are backed by the strength of the government; pay interest at the rate of tour per cent per annun, compounded quarterly, when held to ma tl1rity, and can always be converted into cash at more than the purchase price.
 Recognition of the same effects of the lack Ot system in family financing has caused many newspapers and publlca- tions to advocate the budget sytsem for the household The Boston Transcript, one of the oldest and most influential newspapers in the United States in com menting on the campaign that is being conducted in Massachusetts by the As sociation for the Promotion and Protec- tion of Savings says that the failure of many wage earnerS to save some part of their income Is a situation that IS con- fined to no one class of society. It creates conditions, says The Transcript, under which the Wel1-to-do find patience and temper tried in efforts to keep the bills paid, and that among the poor the nec- essaries must often be dispensed with because the money that would have paid for them has mysteriously disappeared.
 The effort to inculcate habits of thrift among their employees is not new on the part of employers" continues The Tran script Plans under which the savings of the workers may be so invested as to make them virtual partners of employing concerns are familiar. There has also been persistent effort to educate wage earners to habits of prudence and sav- ing. But the campaign which has now been undertaken is more comprehensive in character, than the mere preaching of care in expenditure, valuable as that may be. Here Is an attempt to provide for the wage earner a workable system for determining in advance how he shall spend his money. Obviously 1t involves the creation of methods of advice and instruction adapted to a novel and com plicated task.
 The undertaking Jis one that deservds success. The day has gone by when Americans can afford to live up to their Old-time reputation as nation of extra- vagant spenders. There may be preva- lent idea in the Old World that every Yankee Is a millionaire, but on this side of the water we know that the mass of our people must count the cost If they would live Tn comfort and share Tn the luXures of life. It IS a period when earnings are to be reduced in many lines because of the readjuStment from war time to peaCe,t1me conditions. That makes 1t all the most desirable that not only the wage earner but the man with the white collar job should learn how to spend to advantage