p. 11 | The Cost of Indulgence

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 9, 1913

The Cost of Indulgence

MUCH is said to-day, and that too justly, about the increased cost of living. Many necessities of life have materially increased in price during the last few years. It must be admitted, however, that many families spend for luxuries, and for articles of wholly unnecessary use, a large amount of money which, if expended in more moderate ways and for life's necessities, would do much to offset the increased cost of food products. Of the extent to which the spirit of indulgence, intemperance, and costly living has entered into the life of the higher-school men of the country, the Advance of Dec. 19, 1912, says:—

The tobacco habit is gaining a tremendous hold upon the young men of the schools and colleges of the country. According to the Harvard University Register, the undergraduates spend more money for cigarettes than they do for books. The amount spent annually for cigarettes and cigars is figured at $98,225, whereas the expense for books is only $71,250. The cost of wines and liquors is also higher than that of books, being $73,500. The cost of the students' clothing heads the list, at $334,250. None of the other items approach it. Cigarettes are the second largest item. The cost of eating is apparently less than that of smoking, for the figures as given in the list are only $88,340, while the up-keep and buying of automobiles is rated at $83,790. The haberdasheries glean $45,300, and over $53,000 is spent for taxi hire. Smokers constitute more than ninety per cent of the boys who fail in grammar and high schools, according to Prof. M. V. O'Shea, of the University of Wisconsin. The tobacco evil, he declared, is the most serious one with which the public schools have to contend. He showed a statement made by high-school principals, which declared that fifty to eighty per cent of high-school boys use cigarettes. Unruly boys, Professor O'Shea declared, are almost always addicted to the cigarette habit.