33 THE LETTER THAT 



PROMPTED THIS BOOK 



Avenue, you will at once know the real truth of 

 those savings statistics. 



While the habit of thrift is being cultivated 

 to a larger extent than heretofore, these statis- 

 tics leave false impressions; and it is only when 

 you get in touch with the people that go to 

 make up our large cities that you become in- 

 formed as to the impossibility of saving among 

 workers. There are few bank accounts to be 

 found among the toilers, the clerks, the stenog- 

 raphers, the bookkeepers, the tradesmen, and 

 even some of the professionals of our great 

 cities, who earn barely enough to give them a liv- 

 ing, much less a decent home, or to give them 

 opportunities for saving. The younger ones 

 know not the value of money; the call of the 

 great white ways is too strong to resist. They 

 will stint themselves, week in and week out, in 

 order to scrape together enough of their meagre 

 earnings to go to the theatre, dances and din- 

 ners. I discussed this subject recently with a 

 young man, nearly twenty years of age, and 

 he told me in all confidence that one day's out- 

 ing with his " lady friend " a few days previous 



