equipage, and the necessary expenses attendant upon keeping up a fine establishment, a yearly outlay of eleven thousand dollars, and a tight pinch at that; whereas ten years ago we lived with much more real comfort, because with much less care, on as many hundreds. The truth is,' he continued, that sofa would have brought me to inevitable bankruptcy, had not a most unexampled tide of prosperity kept me above it, and had I not checked the natural desire to "cut a dash."

The foregoing, then, are a few, it is believed the most common, sources of the loss of money. The action of the human mind on such matters, however, is so peculiar that, although shrewd men of business see the like occurring every day about them, and book after book is written setting out the attendant dangers, yet little can be hoped in the way of a radical change of these almost certain results. The reader may say to himself, "All this is very well in its way," and nevertheless turn from its reading to lend money to some irresponsible person, or subscribe to a bonanza gold mine in the sun, or take stock in a petroleum well that never has been and never will be sunk, and only awake to the real situation when his money has gone to join the millions that preceded it to that bourne whence no money returns.

Alas!

"Can these things be,

And overcome us like a summer cloud,
Without our special wonder?"

CHAPTER XXV.

EARNING AND SAVING.

In the family, as in the state, the best source of wealth is economy.

CICERO.

The acquisition of property, the accumulation of capital, is already in the power of the better-paid working class; and legislation has but few further facilities to give, or obstacles to remove. Their savings are now so large that only soberer habits and sounder sense are needed to make them independent capitalists in less than half a lifetime.

66

W. R. GREG.

All savings are made up of little things. Many a little makes a muckle." Many a penny makes a pound. A penny saved is the seed of pounds saved. And pounds saved mean comfort, plenty, wealth, and independence. But the penny must be earned honestly. It is said that a penny earned honestly is better than a shilling given. A Scotch proverb says, "The gear that is gifted is never sae sweet as the gear that is won." What though the penny be black? "The smith and his penny are both black." But the penny earned by the smith is an honest one.

SAMUEL SMILES.

E now reach the whole aim and purpose of money-making, considered as a means of accumulation. So far as the ends of this work extend, the good to be attained is a simple independence, to that point at least when money enough is gained and safely invested, so that the holders and all dependent upon

them shall be out of danger of becoming a charge upon the public or their friends. This, certainly, may be demanded of all, because, as was said before, it is a moral and political duty. But we do not desire to be regarded as asking more, although we have gone farther, and shown how fortunes may be made by those ambitious of them. Nor can we ask that savings shall be made beyond a point that will ensure independence, though we may in like manner show that fortunes will result by further continuance of the same process. As the very foundation, then, we hold that till independence is secured a man has no moral or political right to spend more than is necessary for his support, in a style commensurate with his position in life. All extravagances and useless expenditures should be avoided, and a persistent course of rigid economy followed, until independence is achieved. In order to this, one need not descend to meanness or parsimony; but instead of gratifying every want a part of his expenses may be curtailed. The principle laid down heretofore for the professional salaried man is a sound one for every grade of life. As in that case, consider that ten per cent of your earnings is not your own, but that you are your own trustee to secure your own independence, with fifteen per cent to be deposited in a savings institution, by way of reserve fund against "a rainy day." Let the ten per cent be invested in premiums of a ten-year endowment policy in proportion to your means, and this part of

your duty is sufficiently done. If you can go on to do more and get a fortune, well-much better, indeed.

In any view of the case, either of one seeking a fortune or another bent upon an independence, the operation of this cardinal rule will steady all his financial life and bring him to prosperity. Let us suppose a merchant, or trader of any kind, is in receipt of profits to the amount of $10,000 per annum, and he takes $1,000 for investment in premiums on a tenyear endowment policy, putting $1,500 also into a savings-bank, to accumulate at six per cent as a reserve fund. If he lives till the ten years expire, his policy will mature; and if it be taken in a cash mutual company, $12,614.64 will then await his order. In the meantime his life has been kept insured for a comfortable sum, his $1,500 per annum have amounted to $18,923.46, and the addition of the two sums gives him the fine total of $31,529.10.

Now, if our trader has paid his expenses, and annually invested his balance of $7,500 in his business, with profits at the average rate, say, of eight per cent, he would have from this source alone, at the end of ten years, $111,660.05, and from all sources $143,199.15. The same rule can be applied to any amount of surplus income, the main feature kept in mind being the life-endowment policy, by which, if death occurs, some provision is made for dependent surviv

ors.

Such a course is especially imperative upon

every married man when he first undertakes business. No matter how small the profits may be, the principle remains the same; but the endowment policy must of course be smaller in proportion.

Net profits depend entirely, or nearly so, upon expenses, since there is no occupation that does not afford a profit—that is, more income than is required to meet necessary expenses. To ensure savings, therefore, expenses should be reduced to their minimum, which will of course give the maximum profit. As for those who already have fortunes, the more they spend and the less they save, the better it is for the community. By this their money is put into circulation, and it becomes easier for those who are striving for it to get it. Until the independence is obtained, however, the rule of right is squarely the reverse. They have then no right to spend until this object is accomplished; for the chances are that they will spend what is not their own.

Neither has any man in debt the right to spend more than is necessary to support properly his relative position in life; for in like manner, in case he fails, he will be found in the end to have been spending money belonging to others. Since failure is one of the contingencies of trade, he is bound not only in honor, but morally, to save everything beyond his necessities until he is out of debt, when he can do as he pleases in this matter.

It becomes, then, a close question to decide what