Page Eight
BADIN BULLET]
We
BADIN BULLETIN
Devoted to the intereiti of the employeei of
the Tallassee Power Company, and the pleaiure
and profit of all people of Badin,
Publiihed Monthly by the
Employees of Tallaiiee Power Company
Subscription!, Fifty Centi a Year; By Mail,
Seventy-Five Centt. Per Copy, Five Centa.
CONTRIBUTING STAFF
Beers, H. S Electrical Department
DanieU, L. G Carbon Plant
Dotson, W. G - Laboratories
Hadley, Clarence Cartoonist
Hunnicutt, F. R Machine Shops
Richards, R. V Main Offices
Oliver, T. M First Aid
Parks, R. E Pot Rooms
Rainey, Dr Hospital
Sheppard, Thos. C Town Site
Taylor, J. G Mechanical Draughting
Tilley, J. W Time Department
Rice, A. J .Townsite Draughting
Williams, Ben M Schools
Thorpe, J. E. S Special Contributor
Mrs Coffman \
Mrs. Parks • Women’s Page
Mrs. Thorpe - ~~)
Business Manager, Subscriptions, and Distribution
H. R. Wake
Managing Editor F. A. Cummings
Vol. 2
November, 1919
No. 2
Work and Save
Recently I read some prices which were
copied from an old New England store
keeper’s accounts for the year 1824.
Eggs were ten cents per dozen; a pair
of Morocco shoes was eighty-four cents;
goose was four cents per pound; and
other things about in proportion. In
1915, I have a very definite recollection
of the following prices: Eggs, twenty
cents per dozen; shoes, good quality, four
dollars; steak, twenty cents per pound.
In 1919, prices for the same articles
would be as follows: Eggs, sixty cents;
shoes, eight dollars; steak, forty-five
cents. These are comparisons in our
own country, but are little different than
other countries would show. What is
the cause for the great price increases?
Some people say it is because we now
have in circulation all over the world
approximately two dollars where we had
one dollar before the war, due to the
inflation of our currency. Governments
found it necessary to issue more paper
money for the gold and silver which
they held as security, altho the United
States is better off in this respect than
other countries, as is evidenced by the
exchange. Others say that it is because
so many people have been engaged in
the destructive work of war, and that
there is less production, and therefore
a lower supply with a higher demand,
which always means high prices. Still
others say that it is due to the taxes
which have been brought on by the war;
and still others claim that it is
due to the fact that a majority of the
people look on a dollar as having so
much purchasing power as measured in
pre-war prices, and have not yet ad
justed themselves to the present scale of
prices, so that they feel better off than
they really are. They are making more
money, and feel that they should be able
to live better, and because they cannot
are kicking at the price of everything.
When we get right down to it, the
basis of the cost of almost everything
we buy is the cost of a day’s work.
Some people argue that a bushel of
wheat is the basis; but after all it takes
a certain number of days’ work to
produce a bushel of wheat; so that labor
finally becomes the basis of all prices.
If we could but know what wages were
paid in 1824, we would probably find
. that for the money received for a day’s
work in that period a man could buy
just about what he buys now—perhaps
a little less. It is surely true that a man
can buy very little more with his wages
now than he did in 1915, altho his wages
are considerably higher. We have got
to quit thinking in terms of pre-war
prices, or else have to be willing to go
back to pre-war wages.
As we look back over history, we have
to admit that for a day’s wages now we
do receive more than we used to receive,
for it is possible now to get a lot of the
so-called modern conveniences which were
luxuries just a few years ago. I refer
to such things as running water, sewer
age systems, electric lights, telephones,
etc.; so that while in 1824 a man might
have been able to buy as many groceries
with a day’s pay as he does now he was
not enjoying many of the conveniences
which we now enjoy. It seems to me
that undoubtedly all of the causes above
mentioned, and perhaps others, have
united to produce the present conditions.
There is no doubt, however, that in order
to keep from going from bad to worse
we will have to increase production, and
adjust ourselves to the pre.sent price
idea. Unless we can keep up an in
creased production, things are going to
become scarcer, and naturally the prices
are going to become higher. Unless we
forget pre-war prices, and measure our
present incomes by present prices, we
are tending to spend faster than we ea:
which always spells “Hard Times.”
I have intentionally failed to menti
the profiteer as the cause of high pric
because I believe in the honesty of t
majority of the merchants in this cot
try, and believe that the cases of pro
teering form a very small percentage
the whole, and are much over-advertis
In times such as these, things c
adjust themselves in two ways—eith
the people can be enlightened enough
see the direction in which they are %
ing, and speed up production and
expenditures; or they can go on in
tl
tl
same direction until something bre»^
and we have a panic and hard tin'*
That is the natural result, and has
effect of forcing things to adjust the”
selves; but while the panic is on the'
is bound to be suffering. It is a
way to learn a lesson; just as it is
for baby to learn that a stove is hot
getting burned. Baby could have
told that he would be burned, and
have saved himself from the suffe'’’ _
but lessons are seldom learned that
\V»)
We are now told that we can save
industrial depression and hard
producing and saving; and just ® ^
ly as we fail to heed the advice we
suffer.
—R. E.
Home Ownership
W'hat a State we of North p
would have if every family owDe**
iliO*
own home! What a city Charlotte
be if every family here owned its t*®
Of course such an ideal state
will
be attained, for rarious reasons.
fact should ever be kept in niiod
the greater the home-owning
of the population of any comfflu
State, the higher the standards
zenship of that community or Stat^^jf
matter how good a citizen a n**”. t!
be, he can be made a better ci'
coming into possession of a hon>®
own. It matters little how sorry * (tf
a man may be. he Is likely to oe f
citizen if he comes Into own^r* ^
his home. As a general proposit
man who owns the roof
he and his family sleep, and the
on which the bouse stands, ha*
and more vital Interest In the
his community and State than
who has not *0 much at stake-
Ing the subject of home "
The Hickory Record says: ‘
"We would like to see a (,it '
drive started In ererr cotnO» ^
North Carolina. That would ^