But vain show fools no one. It defeats itself. Even the spendthrift recognizes a fellow-being who is living beyond his means and thinks none the better of him. It must always be remembered that a good spender is a good fellow only as long as his money lasts. Economy really makes more friends in the end because one's money lasts longer.

One of the worst features of showing off is that people delude themselves into defending it, into thinking it is warranted. It is sometimes said in favor of one of the larger excesses - jewelry - that diamonds are a good investment. That is, people think they will be able to sell their jewels if they can not afford to keep them. But aside from the fact that I don't believe any one ever sold a ring, or pin, or expensive watch for as much as he or she paid for it, there is the further fact that money invested in jewelry earns no interest. Extravagance brings in no return. Money saved is not only kept, but it continues to work for its owner. The earning power of money which is spent is given up for all time. It is destroyed.

I think more money is foolishly lavished upon clothes than upon anything else. But this seems to be more a matter of poor taste and ignorance than of failure to recognize true wants from false ones.* The one great example of money wasted for things that people do not really want is described by the word amusements, using it in its broadest sense.

It has become fashionable to take up every new and silly fad. We do not wait to see whether this or that new game will minister to our permanent pleasure or welfare, but just because an acquaintance has sampled it we must take expensive lessons, while perhaps the grocer's bills go unpaid. The happiest people are those who take their amusements calmly, and not too often or too much of them. People who feel that they must go to the movies or a dance or card game every night, either have unhappy homes to get away from or no character to fall back upon. An occasional concert, theater, dinner, luncheon or dancing party keeps Jack, and Jane, too, from being a dull boy and girl. But the mad rush for these things which is so common is a sign of weak character.

All the evils of life are not confined to cities by any means, but there is a certain glamour about spending money in the city, a certain attempt on everybody's part to live and dress and act like the rich. Outrageous prices are paid for services just because there is a lot of gold lace and flunkyism attached. Young men on small salaries ride in taxicabs when they might as well take a street-car or walk. They insist on after-theater suppers and often pay reckless prices for theater-seats.

*The subject of clothes is treated more fully in Chapter IV (Family Finance) - Family Finance.

Those who never deny themselves anything, who never bring themselves up with a sharp jerk, pass easily and imperceptibly into injurious self-indulgence. Indeed thrift often means nothing more than cutting off bad habits. Many habits, while not actually bad, are at least foolish and silly and weaken the power of self-control.

Every one knows that one of the greatest enemies to prosperity is liquor. Whatever may be said of moderate drinking, we all know there is a vast amount of intemperate drinking. The people of this country spend a billion dollars a year for liquor, or several times as much as they do for life-insurance. Most of this is utterly unnecessary and gives no real and lasting benefit. Much of it is destructive of health and character. Russia evidently thought so!

This is not a temperance lecture. I am not discussing the moral aspects of drink, but merely the money cost. There is not only the first cost of a billion dollars, but the second cost of fully as much for crime, insanity and disease. If the five-cent piece carelessly thrown on the counter for another glass of beer were only saved, how much happier the nation would be.

Candy, tobacco and gum are as wasteful on a smaller scale as liquor, and the constant use of any of them is a senseless habit.

A hundred million dollars a year go into candy, the constant eating of which only makes unnecessary work for doctors and dentists. An occasional taste of sweets does no harm, but constant munching is simply throwing money and health away. Far too often those with small wages and large families are the ones that sin most in wasting the dimes and quarters for drink, tobacco, gum and candy.

It is amazing how many weak-minded people there are in the world. And it sometimes seems as if those who take soft drinks are just as empty-headed as the hard drinkers. How many times you and I have taken a glass of soda or ginger ale when we didn't want it just because some one offered to treat us, or have bought a round of drinks for others who did not want anything. We must always be doing something, and if nothing else turns up we frequent a soda fountain, although we know perfectly well that water will quench our thirst far better.

The amount of money wasted on merely petty extravagances is appalling. People can not go to a circus or lakeside resort or ball game without spending right and left for popcorn, candy, soda, and numerous other articles which do no one any good and for at least half the people that partake of them, result either in a spoiled appetite for dinner or indigestion. If you will stop and think of how many soda fountains there are in your own town and how many other towns there are in this country, you will realize what a vast sum is sunk in this sort of stuff. Think of the number of boys that sell soft drinks at the baseball parks, and how many parks there are in America. Can you find a reputable physician anywhere who will recommend the use of soda water or candy, except in the most limited quantities? Cut out these trivial, childish, useless expenses. Do they do you any good in the long run? Answer that question. Use the pruning knife. It won't hurt a bit. If you are ever going to pitch your scale of living a bit lower, now is the time to begin. And why not begin with these stupid trifles? A dime will accomplish wonders, says B. C. Forbes: