EXTRAVAGANCE

Waikato Independent, Volume XXX, Issue 2319, 3 April 1930, Page 6

EXTRAVAGANCE

WHAT DOES XT MEAN.

MODERN TENDENCIES

(Contributed by G.H.)

Each ago, as far back as we can trace in our history, deals in some manner or another with the extravagance of the period. We are all more or less conversant with the handling of money as it is traced up to the present time. Yet how many people stop to think just what extravagance rcally means, and what class of people are guilty of this, what we might term " sin" ? In the years during the middle centuries it was generally the King and .his royal followers who were accused, and no doubt with no little right, yet we never heard anything of the general public being'wasteful to any degree. Turn to this modern age, now, and which class is it that is mortgaging its future by living beyond its means? Royalty? No! The ordinary man of the streets, who is afraid of doing a fair day's work; who supports lock-outs and strikes, yet who will not forego or curtail his pleasures or luxuries and try to build up for himself an income with which he .can depend upon to support himself and his family should he be suddenly thrown into some unforeseen circumstance or when his working days are done. In his annual report, the Australian Federal Auditor-General is particularly outspoken on Australia's extravagance, and along with other things deprecates the large amountf of capital that is sunk in new companies of the mushroom and wild-cat variety, which give .a living to parasites the whole year round. If people would only stop to try to find a reason why they should keep, as the Americans would term them, "suckers" w r ith their own hard or perhaps soft-earned money at the risk of one day finding themselves in the gutter, they might see the folly in leading a life of so-called luxury which in their own heart of hearts they know that they cannot afford, yet they do because it is the ruling fashion of the day, and everyone else that is considered anybody is doing the same. It is perhaps a bold statement to make, but it is nevertheless true, that the modern generation arc losing the fortitude of standing by -their own convictions. We see examples of this every day. Men, and women too, are doing, what they know to be wrong, yet allowing themselves to be led, like a lamb to the -slaughter, by one who has a stronger grip on them than they have on themselves in a crisis. It is a fine thing to have the courage of one's own convictions—a trait which so many of these heroes and great men of a past age possessed, and to which can bo attributed their greatness. It is no Avonder that some of the old "fogies" as they arc called, eye the age of progress critically and pass censorial remarks on "modern youth," and its tendency to overdo things, especially its pleasures.