OCR Text |
Show ECONOMY. Throughout the campaign which culminated in the election last Tuesday, we heard much of the merits and demerits of "new nationalism," protective protec-tive tariff, free trade, insurgency, progressiveness, graft, to say nothing of the local campaign, which was, to say the least, a very trying one, but hardly a murmur of economy. Of course, where extravagances extrava-gances was held up to the scorn of the populace, economy got a little whirl, but there was no campaign cam-paign carried on in any of the states based upon this one fundamental principle upon which our wellbeing rests. And at Washington, the subject came up in cabinet meetings, where it was decided that retrenchment was to be the watchword during dur-ing the remainder of the present national administration. admin-istration. But economy as a principle in public and private affairs was lost in the political confusion confu-sion and dispute of the campaign. Yet there can hardly be two sides to the question of the necessity of economy or retrenchment, nor as to its application, appli-cation, individually, or publicly, from the smallest political subdivision to the nation. In the old days when men were compelled to provide everything they ate and wore, the necessity of maintaining a reserve supply was so emphatic that no one needed to be told of it. If all their products of the summer were consumed before a new crop could be had, they would die of starvation, starva-tion, and dying of starvation is not as desirable as the self-denial which guarantees life. Of course, times are different now, and the cold storage plants are very kind to gather up the surplus of summer and dole it out to us in the non-productive seasons. But even with this beneficent guaranty, the way to prosperity and plenty lies not in disposing of the profits of our labor to meet current expenses, but in laying up a surplus, no matter at what sacrifice. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of the University Uni-versity of California, after several months spent in Europe, upon his return to America, remarked upon what seemed to him as our very craze for spending money. He said we seemed to be living in all ways under a forced draft, making the pressure pres-sure as high as possible. And President Wheeler is not alone in holding such views. The testimony of all keen observers is along the same line. Our magnificent country is capable of producing all and more than we need in ordinary years, yet one big failure of crops, with the burdens which we have taken upon ourselves would inevitably produce pro-duce a panic beside which the flurry o" two years ago or the hard times of the early '90s would be comparable only as a zephyr to a whirlwind. Economy is essential to happiness in a great many instances; it is the backbone of permanent prosperity; it is the bulwark which the waves of adversity cannot sweep away. It is a virtue lauded by all the wise men and statesmen of all ages. And certainly the time is ripe that we, individually and as a nation, should take heed, should profit by the wisdom of the wise men of the past and the far-seeing men of the present. |