is merely
specious, involving assumption not in accord with the facts. Excuses
of this kind we often make for ourselves in the endeavor to justify
our indulgence in present pleasure rather than perform the irksome
duty of self-restraint. The laborer whose ideals are such that he
quits at the end of the fourth day is not the type of man who is going
to spend the two holidays in pursuing higher aims in life; he is going
to pass them in inaction, quite likely at the grog-shop. The man who
fails to take advantage of the security for the future offered him and
his family through the opportunity of saving from extraordinary
earnings is one who is adding to the abnormal demand for such things
as phonographs, jewelry, spirits, and tobacco. And this helps to
explain the tremendous market for luxuries during wartime. Doubtless
there are many workmen who follow a more rational course, who are
reaping and storing the harvest for the comfort and security of
themselves and their families during the winter of life. Could any one
think that this policy involved an aim that was sordid, tending to
draw them down, and away from higher considerations of life? Certainly
a course of careful planning in one's affairs would be in so far a
better course and on a higher plane than indulgence in idleness or
shiftless expenditure of surplus for present luxuries, regardless of
future need.

This case of the workmen under conditions of abnormal wages seems
exceptional; yet the choice so presented to him is not very different
fundamentally from the choice normally presented to all the rest of
us.

The young man starting out in life may be as negligent of his
opportunities as the workman who quits at the end of the fourth day.
Or if he devotes himself properly to his vocation he may consume his
earnings in current self-gratification. If, however, he will both
concentrate on his work and practice self-restraint with the purpose
of creating a saved surplus, all will agree in considering him as so
far headed on the road towards success. In the case of the beginner
this seems clear enough, but, after all, the same considerations apply
to everybody else, whether in business or profession, beginners or
experienced, young or old; to all of us is the same choice presented
daily, and at our peril we must make it wisely. The physician, for
instance, although he cannot afford to pay more attention to
money-making than to the welfare of his patients, to his s