Public Needs to Stop Spending So Much, Says Editor, March 5, 1920

From the editorial page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., March 5, 1920, W.O. Saunders, Editor. "Damphools", the socially appropriate way to say "damned fools" in 1920.

The Spenders Keep It Up

The high cost of living is not going to take a tumble so long as the public continues to stand for it. The world has gone mad with profiteering and every fellow who has anything to sell knows that 99 out of 100 who come his way are damphools enough to pay any price demanded of them. If you want to sell any thing these days the best plan is to advance the price. With sugar selling at 20 cents a pound, families are laying in supplies to last them six months. Shoot the price up to 30 cents and they would buy a year’s supply instead.

Too many people are spending every dollar they make or letting some loafer spend it for them. Many who have saved during the war are spending their savings now, plus all they are making now. And the banks, usually the great champions of thrift, are encouraging the dissipation of war savings by discounting Liberty Bonds at rates that make one suspicious of the strength and security of government paper. When a man goes to his banker with a $100 Liberty Bond and finds he can’t borrow but $85 on it, that man is strong indeed who is not tempted to throw up that bond and blow in the proceeds.