"But how does it happen that so honorable a word as thrift has fallen into a certain disrepute as prosperity has come, a disrepute not so much among the wasteful and extravagant as among the progressive and enterprising? Why has "thrifty" become a mark of low esteem in the eyes of the community? "The argument for saving runs so easily into an apology for niggardliness, so many evasions of the plain responsibilities of the well-to-do are cloaked under the pretense of economy, that it has become a question whether what needs most What impressing upon any American community is saving Causes on the part of those who ought to save, or spending on the part of those who ought to spend. It has become a question whether the wants of those who want are due most to their own improvidence or most to the unwillingness of the thrifty to keep the wheels moving. Want. "Thrift may properly be described as one of the dangerous. virtues. In one condition of life and under certain circumstances thrift is imperative. In another condition of life and under other circumstances a "thrifty" man not only Wise narrows his own possibilities but closes the door of Economy. opportunity to everybody else. On one side of the line the main. duty is to save. On the other side of the line the main duty is to use the resources of life freely. Just where the line is drawn it may be hard to say. But the line is there and it is important for the individual and for the community to recognize it. "Everybody has in mind those of his acquaintances who should spend more as well as those who should spend less. Everybody knows communities dying of dry rot as well as communities being over boomed. Everybody can point to farm homes that should have bathrooms and laundries and furnaces, as well as to costly automobiles driven by families with limited incomes. "There would seem to be two plain duties resting upon individuals and communities, one to conserve all the Conserve energies and resources with the utmost prodigality Resources in the promotion of better living and the opening mote Better of wider horizons. Saving by itself is not enough, Living. and Pro nor economy, nor thrift. There must be the large and generous purpose, the noble ambition, the risk of all in the promotion of great undertakings. The man who merely saves and the community that merely saves is running just as serious risks as the man who wastes and the community that wastes." Power of Pride. From "The Register, Des Moines, Iowa. "When Benjamin Franklin preached his hard, sound doctrine The Driving of thrift and saving to a people well prepared to profit by his words he had in mind more than the Wholesome accumulation of money, more than the building up of comfort and prosperity. He knew better than Youth's most men that the driving power of thrift is wholeCompanion." some pride, that the shrinking of the sensitive soul from pauperism in any shape is the only influence strong enough to support hardship and self-denial. And he also knew that this independence of character is the backbone of national sanity and self-respect. Careful of Puritan of Wealth. "Prudence is an unlovely quality. The saints of the Eastern and of the Western world have been alike disposed to contemn it. But pagan Rome ranked it with justice; and Husbandry Christian theology, borrowing from Rome, gave it place with the cardinal virtues. If it asks much and Quaker Laid it gives more. The careful husbandry of early Foundation Puritan and Quaker laid the foundations of wealth, and made possible education and self-development. A race of men and women, reared in robust simplicity, looked the world in the face, feared no frugalities, and whined for no favors. They did not like to economize any more than we like it now. They wanted what they could not afford just as much as we want it now. But they were a prouder people than we are now. Genteel mendicancy was as distasteful to their spirits as holding out a hat on the street corner. "We have grown kinder since those stern days. "Service" is now our watchword. In our anxiety to smooth our neighbor's path we have pressed the state, the city, the church, “Service,” the club, the college into work. We have made the Our world a better and a softer place to live in; but the Watchword. pride that promoted thrift and fostered independence is waning visibly. An immigrant family for whose sore needs a charitable association had appropriated six dollars spent half that money in having their pictures taken. They said truthfully and touchingly that as long as they lived they might never again have a chance to be photographed and that "if anything happened to them" the pictures would be a consolation. They were simple, kindly people, but they belonged to a recognized type. They would go on asking and receiving alms while they lived. "Three years ago a famous prima donna gave a concert in a small town in the Middle West. The tickets were two dollars and a half; and a certain minister and his wife-music lovers living frugally on a small salary-determined to give themselves the rare delight of going. It was a great deal of money to spend on a night's entertainment, but such temptation seldom came their way. When the point was happily settled they heard that a friend and parishioner had been thrown out of work. He was in great distress, and there were little children to consider. The minister's wife had a hard half-hour of renunciation. Then she sent the five dollars with a pretty note to her neighbor and tried not very successfully to forget the pleasure she had foregone. Two days later she received a rapturous note of thanks. The grateful parishioners wrote that the money had come like dew from heaven. They had so longed to hear the concert, and they had given up all hope, when that blessed letter arrived. Five dollars was just enough to buy the tickets, and they would never, never, never forget the enjoyment that so kind a friend had given them." Illustration. 1. Behave towards your purse as you would to your best friend. 2. View the reckless money spender as a criminal, and shun his company. 3. Dress neatly, not lavishly. A bank pays a higher rate of interest than your back. Harry Ten Thrift 4. Take your amusements judiciously. You would enjoy them better. 5. Don't throw away your crusts; eat them. They are as strengthening as beef. 6. It is more exhilarating to feel money in your pocket than beer in your stomach. 7. Remember it only takes twenty shillings to make a pound, and twelve pennies to make a shilling. 8. You can sleep better after a hard day's work than after a day's idleness. 9. Always get good value from tradesmen. They watch they get good money from you. 10. There is as much pleasure in reading a good bankbook as a novel. An Encouragement to Save from the "Offi one "In encouraging the people of America to save, it is believed that the Liberty Loan Bonds are going to perform an important function in our national life. The small denomination of some of the bonds renders cial Bulle- it possible for the ordinary wage earner to purchase tin," Oct. 9, with the savings of a few months, and the banks 1917. of the country have undertaken to provide for the purchase of these bonds in small weekly or monthly payments. "By devoting, each week or each month, to the purchase of Liberty Loan Bonds such little sums of ready money as are often frittered away for useless things one not only Duty and a can acquire property that ranks among the very Good Habit. best securities in the history of the world, but can at the same time feel that a patriotic duty has been performed and a habit of saving acquired. A Patriotic Saving for for Future Contingen "The ultimate result of this war will be victory for America, but what the effects of the war will be upon America and American people is unknown. When such a future confronts us prudence demands that we provide for contingencies. No one knows how great a help savings invested in a Liberty Loan Bond may be a few cies. years hence. And one's savings not only will be secure but will be constantly bringing in interest. "There are other possibilities—they might better Liberty Premium. be called probabilities-and one is that the Liberty Bonds will Loan Bonds, when peace comes and money now in Sell at a active industrial use will be seeking quiet investment, may bring a premium." "I suppose not many fortunate by-products can come out of a war, but if the United States can learn something about saving out of this war it will be worth the cost of Worth the the war; I mean the literal cost of it in money and Cost of War. resources. I suppose we have several times over wasted what we are now about to spend. We have not known that there was any limit to our resources; we are now finding out that there may be if we are not careful."-From President Wilson's speech to the War-Savings Committee. Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo authorizes the following statement: "This war can not be financed unless the American people immediately stop waste, practice self-denial, economize in every possible direction, and lend the money and Practice Stop Waste they save thereby to the Government. The cam- Self-Denial, paign which opened yesterday for the sale of war- Urges Mcsavings stamps in denominations of 25 cents and Adoo. $5 is of the utmost importance. No such opportunity as this has ever been offered to the American people for investing their savings with absolute safety and at such attractive rates of interest. The Government will accept your money and pay interest at the rate of 4 per cent per annum, compounded quarterly. the "Let every man, woman, and child reflect, as they are about to spend even 25 cents wastefully or needlessly, how much that 25 cents will do for some splendid son of America Save even who is fighting on the battle fields of Europe; how much even 25 cents multiplied by 100,000,000 loyal Quarters. and patriotic American citizens will help their Government to bring to a quick end this horrible carnage in Europe; how many lives of America's noble sons will be saved the sooner the war is ended. Every dollar saved will hasten this result. "The widespread practice of economy is absolutely vital to |