The love of money is the root of all evil. Nevertheless, money in a
civilized country is a necessity. How to make it is one of the great
questions, and how to spend it aright is one of the great difficulties.
Money is power. It is power, if we use it aright, it overpowers us if we
use it badly or even carelessly. It is a great mistake to want to make
your money too quickly, and a still greater mistake to think that you are
likely to do so. Money that is the result of honest labour will, if
rightly used, be a blessing to you and yours.
1st. How to make it. By honest labour, honestly done. You have chosen
your trade or occupation--let your money be honestly earned therein, and
look more to the quality of your work than to the quantity of your money.
You have a right when you have learnt your trade to a fair day's wage for
a fair day's work, but be sure that the word fair governs both the work
and the wage--the fair work must be done before the fair wage can be
rightly claimed. There is far too much scamping work in the present day,
working simply for money and not for any interest in the work itself.
Money should not be a man's test of success, but the perfectness of his
work. Men used once to work for love of their art, and so long as the
picture was painted or the sculpture wrought, they cared little for the
money they were to gain by it, or the hardship of their lives, but now
men paint for what the public will pay for, and write and work not from
their hearts but for their pockets. And with high and low, not success
but money is the moving power--not how can I can make it more perfect,
but what can I get for it. A man who will leave a piece of work, or a
clerk who will leave a few minutes writing only because the clock has
struck the hour, is little better than a money-making machine. Work done
in such a spirit did not give us men like Wren or Stephenson. Read their
lives and you will see what I mean. If your work is thoroughly and
honestly done, you have a right to your own price for it, if you can find
a purchaser. You have a right to sell your labour at your own price, but
the master has an equal right to buy or to refuse. Combinations and
unions of working men are perfectly right, if they unite for their own
advantage, and for protection against oppression, and strikes may, though
in very rare cases, be a painful necessity. It must be borne in mind
that there can be no fixed standard of wages. Wages must vary with the
state of the markets. Men must be ready to accept lower wages when trade
is dull, they must bear their share of the depression as well as the
masters, and the true principle is for men and masters, or if you like
the expression better, capital and labour to go hand in hand. The
success or ruin of the one is the success or ruin of the other. There
are of course cases of grasping masters who will endeavour to grind their
workmen, and there are cases of worthless and obstinate workmen, who look
only to themselves and the present moment, but both ought to be and might
be very rare exceptions, if the good and true men on both sides would
come to the front.
2nd. How to spend the money. Remember that you are God's steward, and
will have to account for the use of this bounty. Give your tithe to God
first. The tenth part of your profits, whether reckoned weekly or
yearly, should be given to God in some way or other, and those who do it
will find themselves blessed in earthly things, whilst they are laying up
a treasure in heaven. God's tithe paid, how is the rest of your income
to be spent? 1st. Necessary expenses, _i.e._, food, clothing, &c. 2nd.
Useful expenditure, _i.e._, learning, books, &c. 3rd. Recreation and
minor luxuries.
Pay your way as you go, and never run into debt. Debt is next door
neighbour to theft. Two things I would impress upon you, first, that
where the need is you should repay your parents care by helping them.
England is disgraced by the number of old people who are left to the care
of the parish by children who ought to be thankful to be allowed to
support them. Secondly, that it is your duty to make provision for the
future, so that the workhouse may not even enter into your calculations,
as a possible refuge in old age for you and yours. This can be done by
regular savings, even though very small, and by insuring your life. Post
office and other savings' banks, will help you in the former, and various
insurance offices offer special facilities by weekly and monthly payments
for the latter.