Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-29

Howard Whitmon examines the rea
incoming Of success in our time.
funds. Money then becomes the
servant Of our purpose, our own
obliging genie who comes out
of a billfold rather than q bottle
but none theless does our bidding
/ OF the variety of good pur-
poses men may choose, some
require much money, others
little. A man whose purpose is
to seek nature and solitude for
rest and contemplation can have
1T in modest retirement made
possible by saving perhaps just
a 1.-THE of his income during say,
rs working years at modest
earnings.
| But if a mans good purpose
is to travel around the world,
own a collection Of old masters,
raise a family in comfort and
elegance on a broad estate, and
have enough left over to endow
a library or two, then obviously
his plans must provide for a
compatible degree of money
making.
A Personal Choice
This is a personal choice And
it should well up from the depths
of ones own personality, reflect
ing those things which to him
represent the summum bonum.
He does violence to himself when
he adopts purposes out of the
dictates of others or the fashion
of the time, regardless of their
desirability to his own inner self.
Once good purposes have been
elected, money simply is a tool
for their realization. One must
be careful that the appropriate
tool is chosen for the Job.
We do not saw with a ham
mer nor can We endow libraries
on a bank clerks stipend: on the
other hand, we do not drive
carpet tackS with a sledge ham
mer and it is equally incongru-
GUS to struggle for vast sums of
money for the achievement of
picayune purposes.
Ruskin wrote, ITO lose money
Ill Is indeed often a crime; but
to set it i'll is a worse one. and
to spend it i'll worst of ALL"
( 1t is still a worthwhile goal
Tor young people starting out
in the world to aspire to earn
enough money during their work.
ing years-and to save enough
to provide a self-sufficient old
age and a rewarding retirement.
We have so greatly stressed
security" as though it were
someone else's business land
we've called it social security')
while actually there is and al
ways has been social security"
for any one of us in a savings
account at the nearest bank on
the nearest corner in our home
town.
Security ought to be our own
business. and one of the first
orders of business. We have. to
our harm. looked down our noses
at savings and no longer teach
the young in our schools that a
penny saved is a penny earned.
Charles Dickens, in David Cop
perfield, wrote, Annual income
20 pounds, annual expenditure
ID six. result happiness. Annual
income 20 pounds, annual ex-
penditure 20 pounds ought and
six, result misery.
On the sixpence that made the
difference between living I'D to
income and living over 1t. Dick
ems knew that human economic
happiness was balanced.
1t has become somewhat old
fashioned to put by: people
who a generation ago would have
been ashamed to admit it now
proudly boast that they are liv-
ing so much and so much over
their income. They blame this on
imitation. Their deceptive logic
as that when it costs so much
to live you simply have to spend
more than you make.
There are occasions--serious
illness or a temporary business
criSis-when individuals are con-
strained TO run their books into
the red. But let US not accept
this as normal. 1t is as much
In violation Of the basic laws
OF economics as the laws OF
physics are outraged at the
notion OF a river rising above
us source. Our standard OF living
ought simply to be what we can
afford.
Pride Is Natural
Individuals who have achieved
a oountiful solvency have some
thing 70 be proud Of in our free
economy wherein a man can 60
as far as his skill and industry
will take hun We all have
natural aequisitiveness and there
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