82 
•Uhe R U R AL N E W-YO R K E R 
January 10. inis 
Some Causes for “Hard Times” 
Yet Not the Whole Story 
[This papor was read at a meeting of 
the Cattaraugus Co. (N. Y.) Pomona 
Grange by F. (J. Daniels. Mr. Daniels 
is a plain and substantial farmer, and 
what he says no doubt expresses the opin¬ 
ion of most farmers who have worked 
hard and lived economically in order to 
own a farm and .secure a competence. 
Most younger people will scarcely agree 
with him, but they can hardly deny his 
facts.] 
The Story of a Crank. —I hope no 
one will take any offense at what I have 
written, as I have no notion of offending 
anyone. P.ut, in order to do justice to 
the subject assigned me, I shall be 
obliged to talk about my neighbors .some. 
I am sure that some of you will think 
that I am a crank. And I am a crank 
in some things, i.et me tell you a story 
about a crank before I take up my sub¬ 
ject. I once heard a very not<’d woman 
deliver a lecture at a teachers’ institute. 
She said : 
“One night, after I had done my very 
best with my subject, I overheard one 
lady say to another, TIow do you like 
•her?’ ‘Oh, .she is a crank,’ said the other 
one. ‘That is just what I think,’ said 
the first one. I didn’t wait to hear any 
more, but I went (to my hotel and to bed 
with that awful word crank ringing in 
my ears, and I cried myself to sleep. I 
got up the next morning sad and dis¬ 
couraged. Now, there was a large manu¬ 
facturing plant in that village, and the 
superintendent invited me to visit the 
plant with him. I accepted, and as we 
went through the rooms he explained the 
working of the different machines, and 
finally we went down into the engine 
room to see the big engine. I noticed an 
arm attached to the drive wheels, and I 
asked what that was. He said it was a 
crank. I .said, ‘A crank ! What is that 
for?’ ‘Why, my dear lady, that runs all 
of the machinery of the plant.’ I said 
to myself. ‘Mary, don’t you cry any more 
when j)eople call you a crank,’ and now I 
am lu'oud to be called a crank.’’ 
King Barleycorn. —I claim that old 
King Barleycorn takes the lead in making 
people hard up. T think that every hon¬ 
est-thinking per.son will agree with me, 
that intemi)erance causes more sulTering 
and misery than any other thing. Now. 
in order to handle this subject satisfac¬ 
torily, I must cite you a few instances 
that I know of. I know one man who 
earns .$8.50 a day, and is always hard up. 
Why? I remember one time that be drew 
one-half month’s pay, went on a week's 
spree and spent every dollar of it. llis 
wages and the week’s time amounted to 
over .$75. You will say, “Oh. he doesn’t 
do that every time.” No, but he does 
waste a lot of money and time nearly 
every month. I know another man (a 
cutler) who often blew in his entire 
week’s wages before going home, after he 
got his check. He died, brother Sutlers 
buried him, and the town took care of his 
family. I know another man who, 25 
years ago, had a good farm. 10 cows, 
horses, all of the necessjiry farming tools - 
and a considerable amount of money, who 
is now a pauper ; and every dollar of his 
property has gone through the .saloon. 
He Learned His Lesson. —Here is a 
true story of how one drinking man 
awoke before it Avas too late. He in¬ 
vited a friend to go in and have a drink. 
His little daughter ran in after him and 
said, “Papa, please give me .50 cents to 
buy me one of those little felt hats.” He 
said. “You’ll have to wait until some 
other time, as I haven’t the money to 
spare.” He threw a .50-cent piece on the 
bar to pay for the drinks. While it lay 
there the saloonkeeper’s daughter ran in 
from the back room and said. "Papa. I 
want .50 cents to buy me a hat.” He said, 
“All right, Mary,” and shoved the 50-cent 
piece to her. The man who bought the 
drinks said, “Mr. Man, I couldn’t spare 
that 50 cents to buy my girl a hat, but I 
could spare it to buy your girl one. That 
is the last cent of my money that will 
ever go for drink.” Now, it is not my 
purpose to deliver a temperance lecture. 
whether my debts are paid or not. If my 
neighbor gets a new piano, we must have 
one too, no matter whether any of us can 
play or not. You all know of many a 
poor family that .supports a fine piano, 
but no musician. Is it any wonder that 
the.v are always hard up? 
Mortgage or Motor. —^Now here is 
something worse than that; the automo¬ 
bile craze. If my neighbor gets an auto, 
I must have something faster, and I must 
honk for him to get out of the way. One 
dealer told me that I would be surprised 
Some Cau.ses lor Hard Time 
This Electric System Was Put in by the Money Saved in a Community Where There was 
Water Power and Good Neighborly Spirit 
but I wish to prove my statement that 
intemperance causes hard times. I knoAv 
several cases like the ones mentioned, and 
so do you. 
IVasteful Buying. —The next in or¬ 
der is extravaganc-e; buying things that 
we don’t need just because someone else 
does, or because an agent wants to sell; 
trying to keep in pace or to outdo your 
ueigbbors. If my neighbor’s wife gets a 
new coat and hat every Spring and Fall, 
my wife must have one, too, no matter 
whether I can afford it or not: no matter 
to know how many people mortgaged their 
homes to buy automobiles. I know a 
young man who bought a 10-acre lot on 
a contract. He had ijossession of it about 
four years, when he lost it, not being able 
to pay the interest. Soon after he 1 t the 
place go back, he came out Avith a ncAV 
automobile. 
Men and AVomen Alike. —Y'ou often 
hear the old saying that a Avoman can 
throAV out as much Avith a .spoon as a man 
can carry in Avith a shovel. That is true 
in .‘5ome cases, but many times the man 
doesn’t shovel in much. I knoAv of many 
women Avho are much more economical 
than their husbands. I will relate one 
instance that I know of. A certain Avom- 
an Avent to select a baby carriage. She 
found one that suited her for .$20. She 
told the dealer that her husband Avould 
call for it soon. The hu.sband did call 
on the dealer soon afterwards, but 
thought the carriage Avasn’t good enough. 
He bought a .$38 one. He is a working 
man at that. Now here is a different 
man: I was taking his order for gro¬ 
ceries and other articles one day when 
his AA'ife said, “Fd, I wish you AAmuld 
order a yard of oilcloth to put under my 
sitting-room stove to protect my carpet.” 
He .said, “Go on with your oilcloth ; you 
don’t need it. Put me doAvn for a pound 
of fine-cut tobacco.” He AA'as practicing 
economy. Another instance comes to my 
mind Avhere a Avoman practiced economy. 
She asked me the price of salmon. I told 
her 20 cents. She said she could buy it 
in Salamanca for IS cents, and tAvo cents 
was as good for ber as for me. I said. “I 
don’t blame you for saving your pennies. 
I do the same.” She said, “Yes, you save 
your iiennies to get rich, but I save mine 
to buy something else A\5th. I have seen 
a .$12 pair of shoes doAvntown. and I am 
going to have them as .soon as I get 
money enough to pay for them.” 
The In.stallment Plan.^—B uying on 
the installment idan keeps many, many 
people hard up ; because they buy so many 
things that they don’t need. And even if 
you do need those articles, you can’t af¬ 
ford . to pay the difference betAveen cash 
price and the installment price. One of my 
neigbboi’s once paid .$0.5 for a seAving ma¬ 
chine that the agent offered to me for .$.35 
cash. ’This is only one of the many in¬ 
stances that I could mention. It isn’t 
necessary. You knoAv them as Avell as I. 
I iLsed to live in the lumber Avoods. I 
have knoAvn lots of men Avbo Avork steady 
and scrimp and save during May and 
•Tune so that they might celebrate the 
Glorious Fourth appropriately. Some of 
them Avere married men, too. 
IVasteful AmusemenTvS.—Noav, one 
thing more, and I am through ; circuses, 
theaters and movie.s. IlaAmn’t you no¬ 
ticed that Avhen a circus comes to toAvn 
the jioorest families are the first ones 
there and the last ones to leave? Hoav 
is it Avhen a big shoAv is coming to the 
opera house? You have to order your 
.seat in advance, or you don’t get one. 
Is the house filled Avith people Avho can 
afford to be there? No. How about the 
movies that run day and night? I at¬ 
tended one in the afteimoon recently, and 
the hou.se was croAvded- ’There Avas no 
.special attraction that afternoon, either. 
I Avent again in the evening ^to another 
house, and we couldn’t get seats until 
some of the people left. Noav, one of 
those hoiLses employed a 16-i)iece orches¬ 
tra, and the other had 20 men in their 
orchestra. Who p.ays them? The peo¬ 
ple Avho cry “hard times.” 
F. G. DANIEL.S. 
• 
B. N.-Y.—There is another side to this 
niatter of the “movies.” Ncav York is 
AA'ell covered Avith these theaters, and 
they are croAvded nightly and kept Avarin 
and cheerful. ’J'here Avas a rumor that 
.schools Avould be closed for lack of fin'l, 
and someone suggested that the “movies” 
be shut up to .save fuel for the schools. 
A man high up in the city government 
states privately that the city Avoiild not 
dare to close the movies, since that Avould 
shut off the usual entertainment for thou- 
.sands of people aaIio have no capacity for 
entertaining themselves. If their minds 
Avere not '’’verted or if they Avere throAvn 
upon hemselves for amusement there 
Avould be riots or Avorse! That is the 
judgment of a man Avho knows Noav York 
thoroughly. ’There are hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of people here, who. Avithout the 
city’s entertainments, Avould be as help¬ 
less as children Avho do not knoAV hoAV to 
l)lay 1 It seems to be pretty much the 
same spirit that cropped out in Koine 
(Continued on page 86.) 
