Thrift;

              HASKINS & S E L LS NEW YORK KANSAS CITY
CHICAGO
PHILADELPHIA CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS SEATTLE
PORTLAND
DETROIT DENVER
CLEVELAND ATLANTA
SAINT LOUIS BULLETIN DALLAS
BOSTON SALT LAKE CITY
BALTIMORE TULSA
PITTSBURGH WATERTOWN
LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO LONDON
BUFFALO PARIS
CINCINNATI
NEW ORLEANS E X E C U T I V E OFFICES
HASKINS & SELLS BUILDING
37 WEST 3 9 T H ST.. NEW YORK
HAVANA
SHANGHAI
VOL. IV NEW YORK, MAY 15, 1921 No. 5
Thrift
T H E R E was a time when "thrift" made
one think of a Dutch gardener, an
Italian fruit vender, or a Jewish store­keeper.
No one ever thought of associat­ing
it with an American. The Dutch gar­dener
for his mid-day meal ate a chunk of
bread and washed it down with a drink of
water from the hose. The Italian fruit
vender and his family subsisted largely on
the fruit which was unmarketable. The
Jewish storekeeper turned down the gas in
the rear of the store when there were no
customers in the place. These were all
marks of thriftiness. They received proper
credit when success and prosperity fol­lowed
their practice.
The pre-war American was too much
imbued with the millionaire-for-a-day
spirit. He asked not the price of things
for fear that he might be considered cheap.
He was fond of demanding the best which
the place afforded. His motto was "Live
to-day lest to-morrow ye die."
The American of to-day is a far differ­ent
being. If prices are too high he is
more likely to refrain from buying. He
has learned to examine for quality and to
consider it in relation to price. He has
made rapid and substantial progress in
the matter of getting a dollar's worth for
every dollar he spends. He has come to
think more about obtaining a maximum
return for the effort which he puts forth.
"Thrift" has been defined by M r . Dunn
as the "Conservation of time, energy, and
property." It is a good definition; con­cise
and yet comprehensive. It gives a
broader and more modern meaning to the
word.
For thrift is something more than the
saving and hoarding of money. Time,
energy, and property are all in the same
class. To dissipate any one of the three is
equally condemnable. Life, progress and
success depend upon action and such ac­tion
involves the exchange of time, energy,
and property, using property in a broad
sense, for the specific things which one
would possess. It, therefore, becomes ap­parent
that the rapidity with which one
achieves success will depend largely upon
his ability to so engineer such exchange
that he will receive full value in return for
what he gives.
There is a lesson in M r . Dunn's defini­tion
for every one of us. Every piece of
work which we undertake should be pre­ceded
by the consideration of methods
which will involve the least amount of
time, energy and expense consistent with
the result to be attained. We should never
overlook the fact that thrift in behalf of a
client is the essence of our professional ob­ligation.