A Verse Digest of P.T. Barnum’s The Art of Money Getting (1880)
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ECONOMY
we have more land than people
there are so many avenues of success
so many vocations which are not crowded
to attain an independence
adopt the proper means
and the thing is easily done
easy to make money
most difficult to keep it
the road to wealth
the road to the mill
to have an income of twenty pounds per annum
and spend twenty pounds and sixpence
is to be the most miserable of men
to have an income of only twenty pounds
and spend but nineteen pounds and sixpence
is to be the happiest of mortals
we understand
this is economy
economy is wealth
we can’t eat our cake and keep it also
cases of failure arise from mistakes
people think they understand economy
when they really do not
true economy is misapprehended
people go through life without
comprehending that principle
I have an income of so much
my neighbor has the same
yet every year he gets ahead
and I fall short
I know about economy
he thinks he does
but he does not
many think economy consists
in saving cheese-parings and candle-ends
in cutting two pence from the laundress’ bill
and doing all sorts of little, mean, dirty things
economy is not meanness, misfortune is
let economy apply
in only one direction
they fancy they are wonderfully economical,
saving a half-penny where they ought to spend two
they think they can afford
to squander in other directions
you must have a ship at sea
in order to burn two candles at once
the good woman saves five, six, or ten dollars
but the information derived from having
extra light far outweigh a ton of candles
she is so economical
in tallow candles
she can afford
twenty dollars for
ribbons and furbelows
false economy often runs to writing-paper
good business men save old envelopes and scraps
and would not tear a new sheet of paper
they may in this way save ten dollars a year
but being so economical in note paper
they think they can afford to waste time
saving at the spigot and wasting at the bung-hole
penny wise and pound foolish
like the man who bought a penny herring
and hired a coach to take it home
true economy consists in
making income exceed out-go
wear old clothes longer
dispense with the new gloves
mend the old dress
live on plainer food
under all circumstances,
unless accident occurs,
there will be a margin
in favor of the income
a penny here
a dollar there,
placed at interest,
goes on accumulating
and in this way the
desired result is attained
to accomplish this economy
there is more satisfaction
in rational saving than
in irrational spending
a recipe I recommend
an excellent cure for extravagance
and for mistaken economy:
when you have no surplus
at the end of the year,
yet have a good income,
take a few sheets of paper
and mark down every
expenditure in two columns
one headed necessaries
the other headed luxuries
you will find the latter column
will be double times greater
than the former
real comforts cost but a portion
of what most of us can earn
it is the eyes of others
and not our own which ruin us
if all the world were blind
I should not care for fine
clothes or furniture
Money Getting is a verse digest of P.T. Barnum’s The Art of Money Getting (1880)