Community Civics and Rural Life Part 23

The farm labor supply in your locality and state.

The work of the United States Employment Service in your state and community.

Employment agencies in your community at the present time. By whom conducted. Are they free, or run for profit? Advantages and disadvantages of the two kinds.

Harvesting the wheat crop in war time.

The Boys' Working Reserve in your locality. The experience of the farmers of your locality as to its value. Possible objections raised to it. Its continuance since the war.

The Junior Section of the Employment Service.

Junior counselors in your community.

READINGS

Procure from the State Department of Agriculture, the State Agricultural College, and the State Experiment Station, publications relating to their work.

Send to the U. S. Department of Agriculture for its List of Publications Available for Distribution; or for publications relating to particular topics. Among the useful publications of the Department are:

Farmers' Bulletins (covering a wide variety of subjects).

States Relations Service Circulars.

The Year Book.

Annual Reports of the Secretary of Agriculture.

Program of Work of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1917 or later years).

Report on Agricultural Experiment Stations and Cooperative Agricultural Extension Work (1915 or later years).

A very useful publication is the "Guide to United States Government Publications," published by the U.S. Bureau of Education as Bulletin, 1918, No. 2. It not only describes the publications of each department of government, but also the organization and work of each department and its subdivisions.

(Government Printing Office, 20 cents.)

More recent and equally useful is "The Federal Executive Departments as Sources of Information for Libraries," also published by the Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1919, No. 74 (Government Printing Office, 25 cents). The work of each Department and its subdivisions is described in some detail.

In Lessons in Community and National Life:

Series B: Lesson 30, Employment agencies.

Series C: Lesson 12, Patents and inventions.

Lesson 13, Market reports on fruits and vegetables.

CHAPTER XIII

THRIFT

"THRIFT IS GOOD MANAGEMENT OF THE BUSINESS OF LIVING."

NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF THRIFT

This definition is taken from "Ten Lessons in Thrift," issued by the Treasury Department of the United States Government (February, 1919). The United States Government sent out these lessons because "America to-day stands in the position in which all her economic problems must be solved through thrift ... Unless our people gain a deep, sincere appreciation of the absolute necessity for thrift, we cannot hope to hold the proud position we occupy as the flag bearer of nations ..." [Footnote: S.W. Strauss, President American Society for Thrift, in "The Patriotism of War Savings" (National Education a.s.sociation pamphlet, THRIFT, 1918)]

LESSONS OF THE WAR

The great war taught us some lessons about the importance of thrift to the nation. The enormous expenses of the war were paid and the armies and the civilian populations of the countries at war were fed very largely by the combined small savings of our people. Nearly 20 million people contributed to the fourth liberty loan, by which almost seven billion dollars were raised, an average of about $350 for each contributor. Almost every one bought war savings stamps, by which about a billion dollars were raised in 1918. Practically all this money came from savings.

Enormous sums were also given to the Red Cross and other causes.

To do this people saved and sacrificed "until it hurt." The provisioning of our armies and of the needy peoples of Europe was made possible by the saving, in American homes, of slices of bread, of teaspoonfuls of sugar, of small portions of meat and fats.

THRIFT AS PATRIOTISM

Thrift, however, is not merely a war necessity. "The time when thrift shall not be needed--needed as vitally as food itself--will never come ... Through thrift alone can the rebuilding come--the rebuilding of America--the rebuilding of the world ... Thrift is patriot ism because it is the elimination of every element that tends to r.e.t.a.r.d..." [Footnote: S W Strauss, "The Patriotism of War Savings"]

Thrift is necessary both for individual success and for good citizens.h.i.+p. It is only by thrift that the individual may in some measure repay others for the care he himself received during dependent childhood, and provide, during his productive years, for the "rainy day" of sickness and old age. It is by thrift that CAPITAL is acc.u.mulated with which to carry on the world's work.

The citizen who saves and invests his savings in a home, in business enterprises, in bonds or savings stamps, not only makes his own future secure, but becomes identified with the community and takes a greater interest in it. The thrifty citizen inspires the confidence of the community, and acquires an influence in community affairs that the unthrifty citizen does not enjoy.

Finnish farmers in a certain section of New England are said to be able to obtain credit from neighboring bankers and businessmen more easily than many of their neighbors, and to be considered as especially desirable citizens, because of their reputation for thrift and honesty. Thrift is often confused with stinginess and selfish ness. On the contrary it alone makes generosity and service possible.

THRIFT, "THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY"

"Thrift is the very essence of democracy." For democracy means freedom, equality of opportunity, "self-determination." No man is a greater slave than one who is bound and driven by financial necessity. By thrift the mind is "unfettered by the petty annoyances that result from improvident ways." Thrift means providing for the future. There is nothing in the world that will so establish one's faith in the future and that will, therefore, give that freedom of spirit upon which democracy depends, as the wise use of to-day and of to-day's resources.

THRIFT A RIGHT AS WELL AS A DUTY

"Every man must practice thrift and every man must have the CHANCE of practicing it." It is a RIGHT as well as a duty. Before the war it was said that four fifths of the wage earners of our country received less than $750 a year for their labor. Studies in various cities also showed that an average family of five could not maintain health and efficiency on an income of less than from $750 to $1000. Under such circ.u.mstances thrift is the strictest necessity, but it is a thrift that means pinching economy and the sacrifice of health and efficiency. It is not the thrift that provides for the future and gives freedom to the individual, the thrift that is "the essence of democracy itself." Every man should have an opportunity to earn a "living wage," which includes an opportunity to provide for the future. Democracy is not complete until that opportunity is afforded.

Thrift, or the good management of the business of living, is shown (1) in earning, (2) in spending, (3) in saving, and (4) in investing.

THRIFT IN EARNING

(1) Since the earning of a living was the subject of Chapter XI, we need not dwell upon it now except to note that a thrifty person is an industrious person--he makes wise use of his time; and also to note that many of those who are now in want, or who, in advanced years, are receiving small wages, owe their condition to a failure at some time or other to make use of the opportunity for thrift. Many people do not recognize the opportunity when it is presented, or lack the wisdom or the courage to seize it. Thrift involves MAKING A CHOICE, and in many cases a wise choice requires courage as well as wisdom. It is a choice between the satisfaction of present wants and the sacrifice of present enjoyment for the sake of greater satisfaction and service in the future.

When a boy in school has a chance to take a job that will pay him wages, he has to make a choice between it and remaining in school.

It may seem to be the thrifty thing to go to work; but real thrift is shown by careful choice of vocation, and by thorough preparation for it, even though it requires sacrifices that seem difficult (see pp. 137, 139).

We may note here, also, that physical fitness is essential if earning power, which means power to perform service, is to be fully developed. The "conservation" of health and life is so important that a chapter is devoted to it later (Chapter XX).

THRIFT IN SPENDING

(2) After money has been earned, thrift shows itself first of all in the way the money is spent; and many of us have the spending of the money that some one else has earned. Every time we spend a nickel or a dollar we make a choice--we choose to spend or not to spend, how much we shall spend, for what we shall spend.

A lawyer in a small town reports that in one month he made out the necessary papers to enable 75 men to mortgage their homes to buy automobiles.

Butchers say that during the war they more often sold expensive cuts of meat to wage earners who were by no means well-to-do, but who happened for the time to be getting good wages, than to people of larger means. One reason, perhaps, for extravagance in food and clothing on the part of unintelligent people who find themselves unusually prosperous, is that they see no better way to spend their money. Those who find pleasure in books, in education for their children, in travel, in investing money in serviceable enterprises, and in the higher things of life, have to make A CHOICE in regard to what they shall enjoy, and as a rule prefer to sacrifice the grosser pleasures.