“Let all your views in life be directed to a solid, however moderate, independence; without it no man can be happy, nor even honest.”–Junius.

HE measure of a man’s freedom and the measure of his independence depends greatly upon the manner in which he orders his own life.

The only man who is really free and independent is the man who saves. You’ve looked at him and admired him and wondered how he got along so well.

The man who is free of debt is usually free of worry and therefore free in reality; he is truly free and independent.

Such men are free to work or play, to go or come. They never neglect their work, their play or their families:

Such men do not neglect their health because they know how to conserve physical strength and financial strength. They know how to save useless effort and thus conserve their own energy and earning power and, having earned, they know how to save a proper proportion of those earnings against the time when energy will be less and earnings therefore smaller.

We hear much talk of personal freedom and independence but personal freedom and personal independence are impossible except to the saver.

Each man must earn his own freedom, create his own independence and, having earned them, he knows how to use them and never abuse them.

There is some man in your own town whom you have always admired and about whose evident freedom from worry and care you have always wondered. You know him to be a successful man and you almost envy him. At least you would like to know the secret of his apparent success and happiness. The next time you meet him on the street, stop him and ask him. Such a man is always glad to impart the secret of his success to any worthy person.

And when this man has told you the secret it could be summed up in these words: He knows how to save; he saves physical effort, mental effort, tangible things such as food and clothing and–money.

It was some years after the Declaration of Independence before this Country became really free and independent. It may take some of us a few years after the declaration to realize absolute freedom and independence, but those who have the courage to make the declaration will finally win and those who have not the courage will be like the seven members of Congress, who did not sign the Declaration of Independence. Most of us do not even know who they were; they have passed into oblivion.

“Men do not have their choice whether they will accept life or not; but they can choose how they will live.”–Emerson.

Tags: The Secret of Wealth