“The dollars wasted Yesterday bring neither . pleasure nor content Today.”
STORY is told of how much keeping ac?counts has had to do with the making of the great fortune of John D. Rockefeller.
In his early boyhood, money was an extremely scarce article in the family and what was spent had first to be earned. When John D. was about eight years old his mother gave him a few turkeys. These he tended with such care and patience that he was able to sell them at a good price, and the record of this sale was inscribed in his first book of accounts, which he called Ledger A.
How many boys of eight keep an account book, showing their small earnings, and every penny they spend? Very few.
That is why there are so few John D. Rocke?fellers.
When thinking of a rich man it is natural to think of him as being lavish with the things which men in moderate circumstances feel irritated at having to conserve.
This impression is not correct as to the self-made millionaire.
He has amassed his wealth because he knew the value of saving, and practiced it in the smallest details of his daily life
It is related of E. H. Harriman that while open?ing his morning mail at his office, when he was practically the railroad king of America, he always removed the metal clips which held the sheets of paper together, and tore off any blank pages of paper and laid them aside for use in writing memorandums. When a visitor remarked upon this custom of Mr.
Harriman, the man of millions, answered, “No man can afford not to be saving of every trifle. Only the poor are wasteful.”
The self-made millionaire has amassed his wealth by saving the pennies which were the foundation of his fortune–
But–asks the spendthrift–why does a rich man save after he has become a millionaire? Habit–he cannot help it. A good habit is as hard to break as a bad habit, and that is the reason he remains a millionaire. He continues to practice in his domestic and business life the same saving habits and careful prudence which have made the difference between his financial condition and that of men who despise saving-and whose purses show it.
Mr. Harriman utilized his magnificent estate in the mountains of New York for profit as well as for a country home. He and his family owned and operated a model dairy, and sold milk and butter extensively. The business was practically organ?ized, and conducted in the farsighted way which was characteristic of the great financier. To him, the dairy as a business, was a natural and obvious use of his land and cattle. He had to own cows; he had acres of rich pasture; he raised grain and .hay; he must have milk and butter for his own house and for the employees on his huge estate; common sense and good business judgment demanded that the dairy be made a plain busi?ness proposition–a money-maker instead of an expense. The rich man allows nothing to be a waste–he knows that the only way to be rich is to continually have your income greater than your expenses, and to get 100 cents’ worth out of every dollar you spend.
“Do not wait for opportunities–seize the common everyday events and turn them into opportunities.”
“A brave man carves out his own fortune, and every man is the son of his own works.”–Cervantes.