This would be aside from the money you would naturally try to save to pay for your house. This shows that owning the house you live in is a good business investment. Because: First, it gives you the satisfaction of owning your own home. Second, you need not fear moving or having your rent raised. Third, you are paying toward your own home instead of paying rent to someone else. Does not this seem worth while? It is very simple. Just save all you can until you have $1,000 in the bank. Then you can make the first payment on a home. Later in life you will be very glad that you did it. NOTE TO TEACHER. Warn pupils against dealing with so-called "loan sharks" who ask a higher rate of interest or a big bonus. Questions and Topics for Discussion Do you own your home? Have you ever thought out just what the expense of owning your own home would be? Suppose you wanted to buy a $5,000 home. What would the first payment probably have to be? What sum of money would it be necessary to have saved? How large a first mortgage will you be able to get? What rate of interest will you have to pay? What will it amount to? How may the rest of the money be obtained? Why is it harder to get a second mortgage? What will be the rate of interest on the second mortgage? What are the other expenses? What is the total expense for one year? What rent will you receive for the upper flat? What is the balance? If we consider this your rent for a year, what will it be for a month? Why should it be paid every month? If you pay a higher rent what will you have on hand to pay on your house? Is not owning your home a good business investment? Give three other reasons why you should own your home. What must you do before you can begin the business of owning your own home? LESSON X THE ECONOMICS OF SAFETY WAR DECLARED WAR IN THE UNITED STATES The War Zone Now Covers the Entire United States, Dead 20,0001 2,000,000 If such a notice appeared in our daily papers, it would be read with surprise and horror. People would cry, "The scourge of war is upon us again." Yet the figures above are not the report of some great battle. They are simply one year's losses in industry, in the never-ending battle between Safety on the one side, and Carelessness, Thoughtlessness, and Improper Protection on the other. 1 Figures estimated on basis of available records. More than 2,000,000 people lose working time every year through industrial accidents. Of that number 750,000 lose a month or more. It is safe to say that over 10,000,000 working days are lost in a year. The average pay of each man is at least $3 a day. 10,000,000 days lost means a loss of at least $30,000,000 in a year. Not only does each person injured lose time and money, but the working public as a whole is also held up and delayed. This loss is so great that it would take 34,965 men, working 5 days a week, one year to make it up. This time is gone forever. And think of the sorrow and suffering such accidents bring. Numerous expenses follow, and usually this is another hardship. We think of war as a great waste. But the above figures show that lack of carefulness and lack of protection are worse than war. What may each one do to reduce this great loss? Each one of these 2,000,000 people who were injured last year was a man or woman just like you and me.1 Such injuries may occur whenever a small cut is left uncared for until infection starts. They may occur whenever an object is left on the stairs, or in the aisle of a factory. They may occur whenever a man refuses to obey directions and rules made for his safety. 1 The total number of accidents and deaths is much greater than the number given here, these figures representing industrial accidents only. And another name is added to the list of injured. The grand total is swelled one more. It is only through the care and thoughtfulness of each person that the number of accidents can be reduced. Thus, hardship, suffering, and sorrow will be avoided. There will be less loss in time and money. The world will become a better and safer place in which to live. Questions and Topics for Discussion What do the figures in the beginning of this lesson represent? What are often the causes of such accidents? How may they be avoided? What accidents have occurred in the factory in which you work? How did they happen? Could they have been avoided? Write in your notebooks three or more ways in which injuries often occur. LESSON XI CAPITAL In these days we hear much about "capital." There are some who would destroy capital if they could. But that is because they do not understand what capital really is. In Lesson VIII we read about people who put their money in the Savings Bank. Each person who saves money and puts it in the bank owns capital. Let us see how this is. Money that is put in the bank is loaned by the bank to others. Suppose Mr. Green wants to start a shoe business. He has not enough money with which to do it. He needs "capital," that is, the money to be used in the business. Mr. Green goes to the bank to borrow this capital. Some of your money, on which the bank pays you interest, is loaned to Mr. Green to start his business. Mr. Green makes his shoes at as low a cost as he can. He sells them at a higher price, making a small sum on each order for himself. After paying expenses he has some money left. This is his profit. With his profit he buys more leather. This time he makes more profit, because he has more shoes to sell. After a while his business increases so that he has to ́have more help. After paying his help and all other expenses, he finds that he has considerable money left, that is, he has made considerable profit. This profit he uses to pay back the money he borrowed from the bank, and to enlarge his business still more. It was your savings and the savings of other people which were invested by Mr. Green in his shoe busi ness. It was the use of your savings which helped him to enlarge his business. That is, your savings were part of the "capital" supplied to Mr. Green by the bank. Capital is produced by savings, and everyone who has a deposit in the savings bank is a capitalist, even though he may not know it. In the same way every man who has an insurance policy on his life or his household goods, is a capitalist, because |