The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-18
SATURDAY, MAY IS, 1878.
A Word or TtUO to our Patrons

thrift of the country people, as in
fact it does everybody, is debt. That
and its twin-sister LdW, are the two
rocks upon which our country peo-
pie are apt to wreck their prosperity.
OF course we know that debt must
be incurred for the purchase of farm
and stock, and there are times that it
cannot be avoided for the current
uses of home and farm, but the hab-
itual purchase of articles for family
or farm use on credit ought to be
sternly discountenanced by every
householder in the county who is
looking forward to a life of manly
independence, anG who hopes to
reap comfort from his labor and eff
forts. No one should allow himself
to buy on "credit" at a store, any ar
ticle that he does not pressingly need.
Nothing is so fatal to any mans
peace of mind, and by and by to his
good name, as a store account he can
not meet at any moment he may be
asked for it. The facility with which
a man can get credit is frequently the
surest guarantee of his ultimate
downfall. He is tempted into expen-
ditures he cannot afford, and before
he realizes the extent of his obliga-
tions, he is hopelessly involved. Be-
sides all this, he pays nell for the
favor he asks. No mans credit is as
good as his cash, and no man need
think that the stores are so anxious
to sell to him that they will abate
their profits in his special case. We
are all selfsh-the storekeeper no
more so than the rest of us, and if
a sale is made in any instance on
credit as low as it would have been
made for cash, the "rat is in the meal
tub" somewhere, and somehow he is
made to pay for the credit he has OBJ
tanned.
tor asks for his money-Decomes i'm
Fortunate, presses, and sues. Then,
too late, the debtor finds how dearly
he has bought his credit. Costs crowd
up, interest accumulates and the
Constable's sale ends the story of
pain, misfortune and sacrifice, all
growing out of the violation of rule
that all should adopt: Never 90 in
debt.
How many families have read this
history of debt in tears of bitterness
and sorrow, and at last undergone the
privation that if 1t had been bravely
endured at first to avoid debt, would
never have been reckoned other than
an Inconvenience and never hardened
into a privation. We are writing for
wives and children now, and we
would press upon them never to ask
papa or husband to incur a debt for
dresses, shoes or other articles. Save
the eggs and chickens, butter, wool
and rags, and when papa goes to the
store let him have the wherewith to
pay for what Debby or Charlie need.
If they will adopt this plan they will
never have to sell some pet COW, or
fat hog or the baby's lamb, to pay
Constable's costs and exactions, and
if Sally's clothing is scant and the
children have to go without shoes for
awhile, yet they will know that la,
Dor and economy will soon repleniSh
the dresses, shoes and home comforts
and when they are refurnished the
trouble is over and there is no danger
of the red flag before their farm door.
If you 60 in debt for these, trouble
begins, and does not end till the debt
is paid. Go without, rather than 60
in debt. The storekeepers will be so
glad to see you when they know you
have money or moneys worth to pay
for what they haye to sell. 1t makes
you indepenent when you can say,
oweno marian independence you can
not feel if you habitually incur debts
that you cannot discharge instanter.
The storekeepers are not to be blamed
because they press the people for
what they owe. They cannot MAIN
tain their credit and business unless
their debtors pay them, and no one
has any right to blame any one but
himself when he is asked to pay up.
We wish we could write 50 forcibly
that we could induce those in debt to
realize from their assets enough to
pay up at once and then resolve to do
without any and everything not alb
solutely necessary for health, rather
than so in debt for it. Every class
in the community would profit by
it, and chiefly those who owe the
storekeepers, and next the storekeep-
ers themselves. Pay the printer
Pay everybody! And then swear
of from debt and rum!