The Secret Of Wealth
The Secret Of Wealth132 total pages.
What we tax ourselves through lost time and opportunity, what we tax ourselves through false pride and in an attempt to outdo all of our neighbors and what we tax ourselves for our follies-- these are not "the sinews of the state" and are not things which serve to build character and position. It is altogether likely that most of us waste some time every day and decrease our earnings just that much. Even that person who is paid by the month cannot increase his earnings until he increases his earning power. Earning power comes only through more intensive work and the worker's application to the business in hand. "Life is a short day; but it is a working day. Activity may lead to evil but inactivity cannot lead to good." The taxes which our pride assesses against us are the most burdensome of all. Our piano or phonograph, our dining-room table, our best dresser cover, our shoes and everything we possess must be better than similar things owned by our friends. They must not only be useful and good and beautiful but they must cost more, just as a matter of pride. Pride in the useless spending of money is a poor pride to indulge and such pride taxes the American people untold millions every year. Those other taxes that our follies assess against us are also as burdensome as they are unnecessary. The buying of entertainment, which we are too sated to enjoy, is the purest folly. The purchase of things for the mere joy of spending money is the commonest and the worst folly. What house does not contain stored away in the closet or attic things which were bought in a delirious hour of spending and for which real use will probably never be found. It is not possible for us to prevent the state from assessing taxes against us because the state must have money to maintain itself and protect and serve its people. There is nothing, however, to prevent our wiping out a lot of the taxes we have been paying and prominent among them are the taxes of idleness, the taxes of pride and the taxes of folly.
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