'Owe no man any thing,' is an apostolic injunction; and happy is he who
has it in his power to obey. In my own opinion, most young men possess
this power, did they perceive the importance of using it by
_commencing_ right. It is not so difficult a thing always to purchase
with ready money, as many people imagine. The great difficulty is to
moderate our desires and diminish our wants within bounds proportioned
to our income. We can expend much, or live on little; and this, too,
without descending to absolute penury. It is truly surprising to
observe how people in similar rank, condition, and circumstances,
contrive to _expend_ so very differently. I have known instances of
young men who would thrive on an income which would not more than half
support their neighbors in circumstances evidently similar.
Study therefore to live within your income. To this end you must
_calculate_. But here you will be obliged to learn much from personal
experience, dear as her school is, unless you are willing to learn from
that of others. If, for example, your income is $600 a year, and you
sit down at the commencement of the year and calculate on expending
$400, and saving the remainder, you will be very liable to fail in your
calculation. But if you call in the experience of wiser heads who have
travelled the road of life before you, they will tell you that after
you have made every reasonable allowance for necessary expenses during
the year, and believe yourself able to lay up $200, you will not, once
in ten times, be able to save more than _two thirds_ of that sum--and
this, too, without any sickness or casualty.
It is an important point _never to buy what you do not want_. Many
people buy an article merely because it is cheap, and they can have
credit. It is true they imagine they shall want it at some future time,
or can sell it again to advantage. But they would not buy at present,
if it cost them cash, from their pockets. The mischief is that when the
day of payment is distant, the cost seems more trifling than it really
is. Franklin's advice is in point; 'Buy what thou hast no need of, and
ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries;'--and such persons would do
well to remember it.
The difference between credit and ready money is very great.
Innumerable things are not bought at all with ready money, which would
be bought in case of trust; so much easier, is it, to _order_ a thing
than to _pay_ for it. A future day, a day of payment must come, to be
sure; but that is little thought of at the time. But if the money were
to be drawn out the moment the thing was received or offered, these
questions would arise; Can I not do without it? Is it indispensable?
And if I do not buy it, shall I suffer a loss or injury greater in
amount than the cost of the thing? If these questions were put, every
time we make a purchase, we should seldom hear of those suicides which
disgrace this country, and the old world still more.
I am aware that it will be said, and very truly, that the concerns of
merchants, the purchasing of great estates, and various other large
transactions, cannot be carried on in this manner; but these are rare
exceptions to the rule. And even in these cases, there might be much
less of bills and bonds, and all the sources of litigation, than there
now is. But in the every day business of life, in transactions with the
butcher, the baker, the tailor, the shoemaker, what excuse can there be
for pleading the example of the merchant, who carries on his work by
ships and exchanges?
A certain young man, on being requested to keep an account of all he
received and expended, answered that his business was not to keep
account books: that he was sure not to make a mistake as to his income;
and that as to his expenditure, the purse that held his money, would be
an infallible guide, for he never bought any thing that he did not
immediately pay for. I do not mean to recommend to young men not to
keep written accounts, for as the world is, I deem it indispensable.
Few, it is believed, will deny that they generally pay, for the same
article, a fourth part more, in the case of trust, than in that of
ready money. Suppose now, the baker, butcher, tailor, and shoemaker,
receive from you $400 a year. Now, if you multiply the $100 you lose,
by not paying ready money, by 20, you will find that at the end of
twenty years, you have a loss of $2,000, besides the accumulated
interest.
The fathers of the English _church_, forbade selling on trust at a
higher price than for ready money, which was the same thing in effect
as to _forbid trust_; and this was doubtless one of the great objects
those wise and pious men had in view; for they were fathers in
legislation and morals, as well as in religion. But we of the present
age, seem to have grown wiser than they, and not only make a difference
in the price, regulated by the difference in the mode of payment, but
no one is expected to do otherwise. We are not only allowed to charge
something for the _use_ of the money, but something additional for the
_risk_ of the loss which may frequently arise,--and most frequently
does arise--from the misfortunes of those to whom we thus assign our
goods on trust.
The man, therefore, who purchases on trust, not only pays for being
credited, but he also pays his share of what the tradesman loses by his
general practice of selling upon trust; and after all, he is not so
good a customer as the man who purchases cheaply with ready money. His
_name_, indeed, is in the tradesman's book, but with that name the
tradesman cannot buy a fresh supply of goods.
Infinite, almost, are the ways in which people lose by this sort of
dealing. Domestics sometimes go and order things not wanted at all; at
other times more than is wanted. All this would be obviated by
purchasing with ready money; for whether through the hands of the party
himself, or those of some other person, there would always be an actual
counting out of the money. Somebody would see the thing bought, and the
money paid. And as the master would give the steward or housekeeper a
purse of money at the time, _he_ would see the money too, would set a
proper value upon it, and would just desire to know upon what it had
been expended.
Every man, who purchases for ready money, will naturally make the
amount of the purchase as low as possible, in proportion to his means.
This care and frugality will make an addition to his means; and
therefore, at the end of his life, he will have a great deal more to
spend, and still be as rich as if he had been trusted all his days. In
addition to this, he will eat, and drink, and sleep _in peace_, and
avoid all the endless papers, and writings, and receipts, and bills,
and disputes, and lawsuits, inseparable from the credit system.
This is by no means intended as a lesson of _stinginess_, nor is it any
part of my purpose to inculcate the plan of _heaping up_ money. But
purchasing with ready money really gives you more money to purchase
with; you can afford to have a greater quantity and variety of
enjoyments. In the town, it will tend to hasten your pace along the
streets, for the temptation at the windows is answered in a moment by
clapping your hand upon your pocket; and the question; 'Do I really
want it?' is sure to recur immediately; because the touch of the money
will put the thought into your mind.
Now supposing you to have a fortune, even beyond your actual wants,
would not the money which you might save in this way, be very well
applied in acts of real benevolence? Can you walk or ride a mile, in
the city or country, or go to half a dozen houses; or in fact can you
open your eyes without seeing some human being, born in the same
country with yourself, and who, on that account alone, has some claim
upon your good wishes and your charity? Can you, if you would, avoid
seeing one person, if no more, to whom even a small portion of your
annual savings would convey gladness of heart? Your own feelings will
suggest the answer.