Your Back Yard and the Cost of Living, I.— By Roger w. Babson, 



Banker and 

 Statistician 



(Editors' Note : — Is your own garden serving its part in your household economy? This is the first of a remarkable series of articles in which Mr. Babson 

 will show how the back yard garden of every suburban home can be made a vital factor in this all-important problem. A busy man with wide reaching affairs, the 

 author has come to the solution of the problem by placing himself in the position of "the average man" and writes from actual experience and as a trained observer. 

 During the summer of IQI2 we had the opportunity of visiting Mr. Babson and of seeing him at work in his vegetable garden.) 



WE HEAR a great many theories 

 as to the reasons for the increased 

 cost of living. Almost everyone 

 we meet seems to have a theory 

 and is willing to sit for an hour and tell us why 

 expenses are continually rising and why it 

 is more and more difficult every year to 

 save. What we are really interested in, 

 however, is not so much the reason for the 

 increased cost of living as how to reduce 

 the cost! With this object in view, I have 

 been conducting, the past few years, a 

 series of experiments, endeavoring to place 

 myself in the position of a married man with 

 a small salary. The result of these ex- 

 periments I will endeavor to tell in a 

 simple manner, in a series of six articles, 

 of which this is the first; and I honestly 

 believe that any reader of these six articles 

 who will follow the suggestions therein 

 contained, can easily reduce his living 

 expenses $1 to $2 per week during the 

 coming year, and at the same time not 

 forego any pleas- 

 ure or luxury. In 

 fact, he will have 

 more luxuries than 

 previously. In 

 other words, this 

 is not to be a series 

 on how to be happy 

 on $10 per week, 

 or how to build a 

 house for $1,000, 

 wherein the reader 

 is to be advised to 

 go without sugar 

 and butter and to 

 make his kitchen 

 out of piano boxes. 

 Instead, I am writ- 

 ing on the assump- 

 tion that, although 

 the average man 

 is doubtless having 

 more luxuries than 

 he can afford, 



nevertheless, he will not give them up; 

 and any practical solution of the cost of 

 living must be upon that assumption. 

 Therefore my experiments started out with 

 the belief that the man, his wife and 

 children will continue to have just as 

 many of the luxuries of life as they are 

 now having, and that any suggestions as 

 to reducing the cost of living must allow 

 the continuance of these luxuries and give 

 additional luxuries for any increased efforts. 



CAUSES OF THE INCREASED COST OF LIVING 



Before laying down the fundamental 

 principles which must be considered, let 

 me first give ten reported causes of the 

 increased cost of living. 



(1) The over-production of gold and the increased 

 use of credits, checks, etc. 



(2) Waste and fraud in the distribution of goods, 

 with useless selling expenses. 



(3) Individual extravagance and social com- 

 petition. 



(4) Growth of cities and the neglect of farming. 



(5) Irregularities of tax laws and unjust assessing. 



(6) Lack of civic interest and abnormal govern- 

 ment expenditures. 



(7) Exhaustion of natural resources and other 

 waste. 



(8) Unions, the tariff and the trusts. 



(9) Change in the tide and character of immi- 

 gration. 



(10) Loss from sickness, idleness of women, and 

 unproductiveness of the non-producing classes. 



Moreover, these are not merely apparent 

 causes, but are real causes for increased 

 prices, and they should be carefully con- 

 sidered by every reader of this magazine. I 

 might go further and say that the opposite 

 of these causes might be given as solutions 

 for the reduction of prices or reducing the 

 cost of living. For instance, if sickness is 

 an expense, then we may reduce the cost 



of living by keeping well. If the women 

 folk of our household are idle, then we can 

 reduce the cost of living by tactfully getting 

 them to do more work. Or, if there is 

 too much waste, then the cost of living 

 can be reduced by eliminating a portion 

 of this waste, and certainly these facts 

 should be considered. 



I well remember, when the cost of living 

 was under considerable discussion in Massa- 

 chusetts and the state appointed a com- 

 mission under the able charge of former 

 Lieut. -Governor Luce to discuss this 

 matter, that a reporter visited one of Bos- 

 ton's ablest bankers and said: "Mr. 



I have come to interview you on the 

 reasons for the increased cost of living." 

 To which Mr. replied: "Young man, 



177 



don't waste my time nor yours in asking 

 these questions. Go home and look in 

 your garbage pail." 



All ten of the causes given above are 

 distinct factors in the increased cost of 

 living, and the expenses of any reader of 

 this magazine can be reduced by eliminating 

 some of the causes herein mentioned. 

 Moreover, I believe that many of these, 

 especially those which relate to the gar- 

 bage pail could be removed and the cost 

 of living proportionately reduced without 

 depriving any one of the luxuries or pleas- 

 ures now enjoyed. In other words, the 

 cost of living for many of us can be reduced 

 by applying to the household some of the 

 simple principles of scientific management 

 and the use of by-products, which we apply 

 to business. 



It is only as one considers all of the great 

 by-products which are now being utilized 

 in our industries which were formerly 

 thrown away as pure waste, that it is 

 possible to realize 

 the great oppor- 

 tunity of saving 

 and developing by- 

 products in the 

 household. It 

 would probably as- 

 tonish one if the 

 facts could be 

 stated showing the 

 ratio of the profits 

 derived from by- 

 products in the oil 

 industry as con- 

 ducted by the 

 Standard Oil cor- 

 poration to the 

 total profits of the 

 industry. I know 

 that I was greatly 

 surprised at read- 

 ing the statement 

 of one of the fore- 

 most of the meat 

 packers at Chicago that all the profits of 

 the industry now come from by-products, 

 which at one time went to waste. 



It was only a short time ago when one 

 of my men was complaining to me about 

 his meat bill. After calling on him one 

 Sunday and seeing something of his house- 

 hold economies, I suggested that he drown 

 the cat and buy a cook-book! I thought 

 no more about it until a few days ago 

 when he came to me and said: "Mr. 

 Babson, my wife and I decided to take your 

 advice and our meat bill has been reduced 

 33! per cent. Meat which we had formerly 

 thrown away, my wife has worked over into 

 souffles, salads, etc., which not only saves 

 us money, but furnishes an exceedingly 

 dainty and tasteful fare." It has fre- 



