The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-07-26
Money Struggles
OF Jay Taylor


was a lot Of money. Only the re-
lative few earned or had a rea-
sonable hope of earning as much.
Even nowadays, with record taxes
and a four-bit dollar, it is far more
than most families ever see, the
average income being in the neigh
borhood of $1,000.
Yet there is $4,000 agar
class of people in this country who
simply can't make both ends
meet. economic as they will. That,
at least, is the theme of a fascinat-
ing article in the July issue of Har-
per's magazine, called 'Going
Broke on $10,0 600 a Year" which
is signed with the pseudonym Jay
Taylor. This class consists of jun
ior business executives who must
put up front, appear to live very
well, have good addresses, enter
tain as a part of their jobs, and
donate generously to charities and
other worthy causes. Mr.. Taylor
writes early in his article: "I'm
a symbol-and a simpleton. I'm a
symbol of the group from which
drawn, group now being iqui.
dated.
Mr.. Taylor goes into meticulous
detail as to his finances. and it's
quite a story. Last year, he wrote,
he earned s10,400 and spent s10,-
456. And here, in capsule form, is
what happened to his money. To
get the full flavor of the account,
of course, the whole article should
be read.
First of all he actually got not
$40, 400 but So, 1913, taxes having &C
counted for the difference. His first
outgo was for rent-$1 $50. This,
he says, is about as little as he
could pay without moving to SO
cheap a neighborhood that he
would lose cast with his associates
and endanger future promotions.
Several hundred dollars went out
for unavoidable household expen-
ses such as utilities, and his wife
| got $2.049, or some $40 a week, to
buy the food and other supplies
needed by a family of four. Fur
niture swallowed $274, and insur.
ance SAT-. Mr.. Taylor has no car
and says he can't possibly afford
one, but Communication tickets cost
him $50 and are scheduled to 20
! UP in price.
/ Doctor and dentists accounted for
$2644, and the children's expenses,
such as their clothes and school
books and a summer camp, dug
in to the tune of $241. He and his
wife spent only $173 on clothing
for themselves. Gifts and holiday
expenses totaled around $500 all
told. and there was a miscellan-
eous item Of 1854. which included
such odds and ends as church con-
trlbutionS, wood, bushes and bulbs
for the garden.
So it goes, in Mr.. Taylor's sum-
mation-everything is accounted
for down to the penny, save $133
for which he has no records. None
of the items Of expenditure seem
at all high for man in his position
many of them seem almost
amazingly low.
Mr.. Taylor's conclusion Is typi-
cal OF the tone of his article: $50
l speak as one small symbol of a
class. / look at the broken down
occasional chair which should have
been replaced a year ago. l post,
pone my trip to the dentist for
another six months in hopes that
the pediatrician's bill can be paid
In the interval. And realize that
l belong to a new class of forgot
ten men in whom no labor leaders.
politicians, farmers, corporation
presidents, or commencement
speakers take any vested interest
the SIC. 00o-a-year men, Vanquished