THE RANCH PURCHASED BY VICE

Basil Bain served as a cook in the U.S. Army during World War II.  He was stationed on the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific Ocean.

Monday was a day that every soldier looked forward to.  That was the day of the week on which beer and cigarette rations were doled out.  Each soldier received his allotted share which was intended to last through the coming week.  The ration was generous, but for many it was insufficient.  By Friday many men were running out of beer and cigarettes, and were desperate to find a supplemental supply.  They went to Basil.

Basil received his beer and cigarette rations each week just like everyone else; and like everyone else, he took his ration and locked it in his foot locker where it would be safe.  Beer and cigarettes were valuable.  Unlike everyone else, however, Basil didn’t use his ration.  He neither drank alcohol nor smoked tobacco.  Basil’s rations sat untouched in his foot locker until his fellow soldiers’ cravings made them desperate enough to offer Basil exorbitant amounts in order to purchase fixes for their cravings.  By Monday Basil had sold all of his beer and cigarettes, and had collected a nice sum of money.

Basil sent the beer and cigarette money home to his parents who put it in a bank where it accumulated.  By the time the war and Basil’s enlistment ended, the bank account had grown to a handsome amount.  Basil used it initially to buy a machine shop.

Deciding later that he’d rather be a rancher, Basil traded the machine shop for a 640-acre ranch at Creswell, Oregon.  He bought the ranch with his brother with the intention of dividing it in half between them.  How to divide it fairly was a problem.  Basil told his brother, “I’ll draw the line, and you pick the half that you want.”

His brother thought that was a fair offer, made his choice, and thereafter complained because Basil got the better place.

This is the story of how Basil Bain bought a ranch free and clear of debt using the beer and cigarette money he’d collected from his vice-driven peers.

Basil was actually peerless.  What might we accomplish if we kept our own appetites under control?

Basil raised Angus cattle on his ranch, and kept a vacation house at the coast.  His family spent an enjoyable week there every summer, until they decided to trade the Angus cows for a dairy herd.

They never went to the coast again.