Waste is a tax on the whole people. If a man puts up a building to manufacture a silly and unnecessary luxury, the maintenance of that building is a tax upon the population, because the money that went into that building and goes every year into keeping it up, might otherwise have been invested in something useful and beneficial.

But when it seemed that our people had almost reached the last word in wanton waste and foolish expenditure, a stupendous war broke out across the sea, destroying wealth on a scale never before conceived possible. It was at once realized that unless the world should go bankrupt it must immediately begin to save where it could. Relatively only had Europe been less extravagant than America, and perhaps only in a different direction.

"Never was the necessity for saving so great, so imperative and relentless as in Europe at this time, being, in fact, no less important than valor," said The New York Times after the war had gone on for just a year, "and never perhaps in a thousand years was thrift less fashionable in the world than in the years just preceding the war. Individuals, corporations and governments were all extravagant. Private and public expenditures were limited only by the means, and as the means were enormously greater than ever before in the world's history, and multiplying faster, expenditures may be said to have been until now unlimited."

But there is probably no known measure of what people can save, what they can do without, when they begin to try. That is so because no nation has ever attempted it since the modern era of machine production set in. A great majority of people consume all they produce, and it is the difference between production and consumption that makes capital.

When the war began it was quickly seen that this country could no longer borrow billions of dollars from Europe, as formerly, to finance its railroads and industrial plants. It was seen that hereafter, for many years to come, we must finance ourselves. Indeed our bankers grasped the fact that America might become the world's financial center if only our people would save enough capital.

It is the millions of workers, the savings-bank depositors, you and I, who create capital, or financial power, not the millionaires or the financiers. We, by our labors, make the bulk of it. Upon our savings America must depend for its future prosperity, for its supreme independence and leadership. What can the individual do about national waste and extravagance, about "conservation of natural resources," about "scientific management" and the high cost of living? Nothing, except to stop extravagance in his own life, to go without a great many unnecessary and useless things whose cost is high.

Once this country economized until it grew rich. There are a few signs that, because of the strain and shock of the Great War, we are returning to our financial senses. But there is the danger, very great indeed, that with the rush of prosperity which the second stage of the war has brought upon us, the torrent of "war orders," we shall soon forget the brief lessons of the fall of 1914. When all goes well, when the sun is shining and money and employment are plentiful and the future seems assured, thrift is unpopular, or perhaps it is forgotten. Men wait until rainy days come. But it is just at such times, when wages are high, profits enormous and expenses inflated that men have a chance to save.

There is every kind of opportunity in this country to-day. Americans have not had to serve as soldiers the best part of their lives or live on the paltry pay of an ingrowing, overpopulated country. Europe is being forced to save because of dire necessity, because of fear. As if by magic this country has become the most prosperous on earth. But sudden prosperity will not last forever. It is fortunate indeed that this year of 1916 marks the close of the first century of savings-banking in America, and it should be chosen as an occasion to teach and preach thrift the country over!

"The average man feels that he is a worthy citizen," says the Odd Lot Review, "when he casts his vote regularly and to the best of his intelligence, supports himself and dependents and endeavors to live up to the requirements of the law. If, in addition, he is ready to volunteer at the call to arms, he believes himself a patriot of the first water. These characteristics are admirable and to be respected, but they are not sufficient in themselves.

"The individual may feel that his life is the greatest sacrifice he can make for his country and must, therefore, be the most that man can possibly offer. This is admittedly true in the actual eventuality of war. But the fallacy of the reasoning lies in the simple fact that, nine times out of ten, the departure of this individual for the seat of activities imposes upon his country the maintenance of those dependents for whom he is, of course, no longer able to provide. He willingly risks his life, but at the same time leaves behind a cancer which immediately starts to gnaw at the country's most vital point - its financial resources.

"That man who saves and invests to the utmost and continually, is a far better citizen and much more valuable to his country than the above type. He has incomparably more to offer in time of emergency. His life can be offered without reservation. It has no strings attached to it.

"The highest duty of the individual to his nation is to place himself in the position where he will be able to render the greatest possible service if occasion should arise. Saving and investment are essential for the accomplishment of this purpose."

If this book, by assisting a few young men and women to save and safely invest their earnings, can do even a tiny part toward this mighty purpose, I shall feel more than repaid.

A. W. A.