Whilst people were being cheated in this fashion out of their savings by Governments printing heaps of Treasury notes and Bank notes with no goods at their back, several rich men of business became enormously richer because, having obtained goods on credit, they were able to pay for them in money that had become worthless. Naturally these rich men of business used all their power and influence to make their Governments go from bad to worse with their printing of bogus notes, whilst other rich men of business who, instead of owing money were owed it, used their influence in the opposite direction; so that the Governments never knew where they were: one set of business men telling them to print more notes, and another set to print less, and none of them seeming to realize that they were playing with the food of the people. The bad advice always won, because the Governments themselves owed money, and were glad enough to pay it in cheap paper, following the example of Henry VIII, who cheated his creditors by giving short weight in his silver coins. The Intelligent Woman will conclude, and conclude rightly, that hoarding money is not a safe way of saving. If her money is not spent at once she can never be sure what it will be worth ten years hence, or ten weeks or even ten days or minutes in war time. But you, prudent lady, will remind me that you do not want to spend your spare money: you want to keep it. If you wanted anything that it could buy it would not be spare money. If a woman has just finished a good dinner it is no use advising her to order another and eat it immediately so as to make sure of getting something for her money: she had better throw it out of the window. What she wants to know is how she can spend it and save it too. That is impossible; but she can spend it and increase her income by spending it. If you would like to know how, read the next chapter. 34 INVESTMENT AND ENTERPRISE If, having finished your dinner, you can find a hungry person who can be depended on to give you a dinner, say after a year’s time, for nothing, you can spend your spare money in giving him a dinner for nothing; and in this way you will in a sense both spend your money on the spot and save it for next year, or, to put it the other way, you will have your spare food eaten while it is fresh and yet have fresh food to eat a year hence. You will at once reply that you can find a million hungry persons only too easily, but that none of them can be depended on to provide a dinner for themselves, much less for you, next year: if they could, they would not be hungry. You are quite right; but there is a way round the difficulty. You will not be able to find dependable men who are hungry; but your banker or stockbroker or solicitor will find you plenty of more or less dependable persons, some of them enormously rich, who, though overfed, are nevertheless always in want of huge quantities of spare food.