The Secret Of Wealth
132 total pages.
"In moderating, not in satisfying desires, lies peace"--Heber.
CHAPTER XXXVI "Things do not turn up in this world until somebody turns them up." SOME people excuse themselves for not saving money by saying that it costs so much to live, they have nothing left. Any one who has the idea that the cost of living is high this year ought to be transported back to the year 301 A. D. when Diocletian was emperor of Rome, and Rome was just as civilized and handsome a city as Chicago is today. At that time, ham cost 12 cents a pound; butter was 9 cents a pound; eggs were 5 cents a dozen; fresh fish cost as much as it does today. And what do you think wages were? A teacher received from 21 to 32 cents a day; a lawyer for presenting a case, $1.09, and for finishing a case, $4.35; a carpenter, 26 cents a day; a stone-mason, 26 cents; a day laborer, 13 cents. Compare these figures with what the same occupations receive today. Think of eating eggs which cost 5 cents a dozen when you were only making 21 cents or 32 cents for a whole day's work! Think of paying almost one-fifth of a whole day's wages for a dozen eggs! What would the man say who was earning $6 a day if he had to pay out of that $1.50 for a dozen eggs? It is not the high cost of living which takes our money--it is that we are all pampered and spoiled. We can all save money every week of our lives, if we will do a few things for ourselves which we have been accustomed to paying others to do for us. A man in New York City owns $30,000 worth of real estate which he says represents what he has saved by shaving himself and polishing his own shoes. He invested the money saved rather fortunately, but there are plenty of such investments if we get started to saving. It is not necessary to have a large income to become independent.
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The Secret Of Wealth