THE MISERY OF £3,000 A YEAR.

Evening Star, Issue 12964, 8 November 1906, Page 8

THE MISERY OF £3,000 A YEAR.

“The necessaries of life,” said a leading article in ‘The Times,’ whose authority will, of coarse, be accepted as final on this as on all other matters, “can be bought for £2,000 a yean” Inquiries among owners - of this income and .of incomes slightly more or slightly less, confirm the statement very precisely. Exceptionally lucky younger sons, moderately lucky professional men, and unlucky speculators, who all have this income and have a prejudice in favor of making their income cover their expenditure, agree that ‘The Times’ has hi: off its limitation and capability in one admirable sentence. One buys tho necessaries of ife—no more and no less. “ And now you see,” said the doctor the other day, “ why . the mqority of men with about £2.000 a year are among the poorest of mankind. We have a position to keep up. We must give dinner parties and go to the stalls of theatres. A house in Harley street is just possible; a carriage is just possible. Wc may just manage a holiday in Switzerland with our wives and families. The latter want to dross well and to go away for week-ends, and the boys want to go to Oxford. But see what such a life means. One’s mind is never comfortable. Every dav of this life brings one up to the verge of debt and difficulty. Every accidental expense means a nerve crisis. One has left nothing for charity ; nothing for a friend who wants to borrow a fiver ; nothing for those pleasant little unreck-onod-for sprees which arc the best holiday in the world. Yet we are doing nothing which is rosily beyond our moans or different from our neighbors with the same income. Why is it that a Londoner with an income of £2,000 or £2,500 a year and a family is usually one of the poorest and most miserable of men ? No one demanding money for charities would think of asking him twice fur a shilling. Tho London hospitals do not get £5 a year out of five score of hia kind. He tips nobody ; lends nothing to anybody : and can afford very litt c that which he has, and still less that which he really wants.”