Montana labor news., 1949-12-08

old and il has all dealt with things
SO lar away from providing old
folks with food and clothes and
houses. that | wanted to talk il over
with someone who thought by force
at habit and circumstance IN terms
OF these things, instead ui terms OF
investment and money. Robinson
Crusoe would be just the man. 81
] filled a brici case with pension
plans, and reports OF negotiations
and the writings OF some deep
thinkers on related subjects,
warmed up my plane and took oil
Tor Crusoe's island.
He was glad to see me, ior he
had not had any company Tor a
long time. Old Friday had died
Right away he put the hindquarter
OF Il goat to roast on the lire, and
told me to sit down i'll his easy
chair. Since | saw only ont chair,
| urged that he should sit OF ii.
Nonsense" said X. {. You sit
i'll ii. Maybe you think that's the
bnly chair | have. It's no sense
having more than one chair by my
fireplace, ior | have only one rulnp
to put in it, but | have more chairs,
I've been making a few and stor-
ing them away just III case | should
get too old To work and too young
to die"
With that crack he went over to .
storchousc and selected one of sev-
cral chairs and pulled it up By nine
to have a bit OF talk while he kept
the leg OF goat turning on a spit.
80 you have been thinking about
the problems OF old age too !
said to prompt him along.
How Crusoe Fed Weevils
Yes says X. G.. the years
sneak up on a man. \ man Of my
age should give some thought to hi,
future. Sometimes I've even got a
bit panicky thinking how | would
take arr OF myself if ! got down
right rheumatic SO it was hard 10
get around and do things Tor my
sell. Some years ago | got really
to worrying about il, and decided
to plant more corn and stuff than |
could eat for several years, and 60
a bit skinny on everything | used.
and save up Tor my old age. !
stored food and built a couple OF
houses to live i'll years later, and
made some extra clothes for my old
age, and kept wearing some that
were WORKOUT. But soon ! decided
that didn't make sense. The clothes
got musky, the corn got wcevils, and
the houses began to rot. SO ! de-
cidcd | might as we'll enjoy lie,
and plan Tor my old age some other
way"
That's jus, what | wanted to
find out. How are you doing it,
Adopts Better Plan
well first" says X. G.. Il de-
cidcd to make my one house as dur
able and comfortable as could.
Fixed it up with some masonry,
put in a good floor, built a stove
inside | can use Tor a little ire or
a bigger one in cold weathcrs, cur
tanned and carpetcd it with leather.
And | decided to wear my clothes
But still ! had 10 figure on how To
instead OF letting them get muSty.
savc-how to store III some way
the energy | have now for the days
when | won't have SO much Of it.
There was the job OF carrying
water, for instance. made me
some tile pipes, damned the stream
and have it flowing right through
my house. was afraid | couldn't
lug and carry, so | made me a wheel
and then a w~heelbarrow. That
gave me the dea OF making this
art I'm working on now with a
hoist on it, SO when | get old | can
push it most anyplace, and pick
things up on it without any strain
ing and bring it home. After all,
about the only way can save for
my old age is either make durable
things like my house or figure cut
ways to make my work easier, and
build rigs to do things that way
He was right proud OF the hoist
truck he had invented. tried il
and il was pretty good, but next
trip | should bring him some ball
bearings. He didn't know about
them.
told him he surely was working
on sound economic principles any
wav: it was much bette sense IL
work on devices like that than to
pile up corn for the weevils to eat
Also | told him that it was this very
problem in our civilization that
had me come to him for some IN
sight and advice. He was amazed
that we should have such a pro-
blem. Said he:
Old Age No Problem
1T should be easy Tor YOU folks
There's a lot OF YOU and VI all ages
children. grown-ups and old peo-
pie. Surely the younger ones car
work and let the older n e play
nine pins
Save Your Money"
Crusoe listened and opined it wa,
a mighty complicated way OF ar
ranging the days work, bat still
was OF the opinion that with g
many people OF al ages, and SC
productive, it shouldn't be hard Il
productive, it shouldn't be hard tc
take are OF our old age. He sug.
pested that storing up the money &c
buy things in ones old age woulc
be easier than storing corn, Tor The
weevils wouldn't ca it.
"We've tried that too | ex-
planned, @and it doesn't seem &c
work. Just to show you the differ.
ence between YOU and us. 1t was Z