Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-04-05
Thrift: an Interpretation
by Frederic ]. Haakin


by Frederic ]. Haskin
New York. April 5-That the United
States is one of the most thriftless ma
tiona on earth, and that tho average
American is incompetent and reckless
IN the spending OF his cash, are two
disagreeable facts recently emphasized
by New York banking concerns after
an extensive study OF thrift as IL does
| not appear In this country.
II. as the bankers point out, thrift
does not consist of boarding resources.
| but In their wise use. these facts really
| reflect upon our native intelligence.
| Instead OF being the most sagacious
| neorla in the world as we have thought
! II seems that almost any little Euro
mean nation. like Belgium or Switzer-
land cah Give us cards and spades In
| matters of economy.
without n budget system. our Gov
| ernment squanders money wherever ana
| whenever tho whims OF Congress direct
| ~ without even bothering always 10
keep slrtctly iternized accounts. and we,
the taxpayera, good -naturedly foot the
bills II finances the building oil re-
mote bridges and village post offices
with amazing prodigality, ana scrips
|
pubiic health. II pays out immense
snma IN war pensions. but makes
no rrovisitn for ita superannuated civil
employees. According to the bankers.
no European nation would support such
| n slipshod financial system.
And our national waste is faitnfuhy
| initiated by the Individual. The major
ttv OF the American homes have no bud
| syet avatarns Household expenses arc
| regulated IN, the whims OF the family.
ana the bills are considered hfterwhrd-
usually. long nfterwnrd Very Atue
: rn-,.rn ration is made for the hazards OF
the future. The uneducated Immigrant
who dveus so numerously In our hliass
! generally exhibits much greater skill
in spending his earnings than does the
] American born citizen. Thousands ol
the former class return to Europe eVery
vear. with small fortunes TO ease theli
/ | 9eclininp wears, while thousands OF thf
latter enter homes for the INDECENT
The following statistics, quoted from
{ a publication of the American Bankers
: Ass4,ation. show how pitifully fe"
: Americans ever achieve well-proVldes
for old age:
Your Chances of Success.
a. the age Of 25 we find in thil
country 100 men are all strong ant
vigorous. They have started lie phys
icallv Mt and on a plano nr equailty.
= .gren vears later. 10 are wealthy. !
ara IN fair circumstances. 40 have moo
crate means, while 80 have save
nothing =, :
AT the age OF As. the number Q
wealthy persons has fallen TO o, % ar
merely supporting themselves whlLe
have passed into the discafo' iHe
h are no longer self supporting
al the age of SO. 20 men nave Sue'
only one Is very wealthy. only VI
saIf-s,pporting. while 81 are depene
ont ,pon their children, upon relative
e. or upon charity for support.
AT the age Of 75 note what mas nal
in paned. 63 are dead: of these 90 lett I
10, property at all; 5 are well-to-ao,
ara dependent upon their reatiNe
children or charity for support; 70 p
cent of these viii not have suinclei
means to pay their funeral bhls.
e. One of the reasons why Anerlcai
g, are less thrifty than Europeans Is IN
- have been nourished on an oil
faehioned and no longer practical the
rv-the theory that this country po
sesses boundless resources, that tue
is plenty for everybody. that 10 ever
one comes the opportunity TO De We9
tbv. This may have been true In l
old davs when the population was I'M
= " scattered over only small port"
= of the land. and virgin wllderh ness
We ,,ainad for those who would claim
- Then, perhaps, it was only natuFdt - -
.N' the term thrift should be ignominlous
associated with parsihohy' suns nv
lol and miserlness.
IN different. We have tremendous pc
ne ulation in proportion to which our
ish sources do not seem so Infinitely houi
less. Furthermore these resources,
The bankers have shown, are now &C
trolled by a few-the , per cent W
are eli to do-arf opportuil1es
the rest have become limited. Thr
may now be said to be an unrecognH
necessity.
The bankers, however. are now dol
what they can to see that IL Is rect
nized. They are endeavoring to ha
thrift courses introduced into the p'
lie schools; they are attempting by
e,ilars and by personal advice to int
duce the budget system into the Am
lean home, and they are putting
some worthy propaganda concern
the advisability of caution IN spend
money and making Investments.
bankers do not claim to be motiya
bv a philanthropic feeling in this. II
business is to handle money theref
it is TO their interest to promote indy
ual savings accounts.
Spend Wisely.
Nevertheless, their arguments
favor of thrift are sound and rema
ably unbiased. They point out, as
been said before, that thrift does
mean saving money so much as 1t me
spending it wisely. They do not
plaud saving at the expense of he'
or education or other necessities for
deye4opment of the Individual. .
= weekly wage properly spent is thr
r they say, even though not a pc
$50. may have been put into savings
rch. count or into the purchase OF q nom