CHAPTER ONE 



The Problem, the People, the Place 



UNLESS your memory is abnormally short you 

 recall that 1932 was the year the roof of the world 

 nearly fell in. Civilization appeared to be crum- 

 bling to bits. The least pessimistic could foresee 

 some such crisis as that which culminated in the 

 "bank holiday" of 1933. I have never been a bull 

 on the United States nor, in fact, of bullish tem- 

 perament. My way is to expect the worst and pre- 

 pare for it. So it was in the fall of 1932 that I took 

 serious thought of what I, and my family, could do- 

 to hedge against the economic and social disaster 

 that appeared about to engulf the nation. 



It needed no second sight, no preternatural 

 vision to see the first and most important thing was. 

 to trim our financial sails as closely as possible. My 

 business had already taken a serious beating. I was 

 convinced, and had forecast in an article in The 

 American Mercury in December, 1931, that things 

 would get worse before they got better. There were 

 a number of different ways we could cut down on 

 our living expenses. The problem was to decide 

 which way was best. 



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