St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-03-07
Our New York Letter.
BUSINESS CREDITS-HOw THEY ARE REG
ULATED--THE MERCANTILE AGENCY
sYsTEM-sKETCH OF THE BRADsTREET

COMPANY-A COMMERCIAL ARGUS.
NEW YORK, Feb. %, 1879.
To the Editor of the CaIedOnian:
In modern commerce where tangible
hard cash plays a comparatively small
part in effecting the vast daily ex-
changes of property, the subject OF
credits is of paramount Importance in
the business world. "It's easy enough
to sell goods the thing is to get the pay
for them," may almost be said to have
passed into a commercial proverb. And
well may it be so regarded, for statistics
show that more than 50 per cent. of all
legitimate failures in trade result from
bad debts. A man cannot know every
body, and. yet, in most cases, he has got
to be ready to deal with everybody if
he would not fall hOpelessly behind in
the commercial race. In view of these
facts, it is hardly necessary to enlarge
on the value of anything which tends
to aid the merchant or manufacturer in
this delicate and complicated matter of
granting credit.
The one great instrumentality to this
end, and the only one that is both COM
prehensive and effective, is the Mercan-
tile Agency system, one of the iuven-
tions born of universal necessity which
grows with the growth of the communi-
ty, and which has in this country reach
ed development of which venture to
say not one in ten of the thousands who
avail themselves of it have any ade-
quate idea. | confess that | myself was
more ignorant Oh the subject than
supposed until a few days ago, when
improved an opportunity which PIE
sented itself to look through the New
York office of the Bradstreet Company,
and witness the workings of its vast
machinery. Bradstreet's, which be-
lieve is now the foremost Mercantile
Agency in the void, was founded lust
thirty years ago, by j. NJ. Bradstreet,
who, with his son, conducted it for
many years. In 1876, the founder being
dead and his successor about retiring.
the business was Incorporated under the
name OF the Bradstreet Company, under
the presidency of Mr.. Charles F. Clark.
who has been for more than twenty
years associated with the concern. With
regard to the improvements which this
establishment has gradually introduced
INTO the system. | shall say something
further on but first | think it may in
terest your readers to give brief gen
eral outline of the institutions.
To begin with, Bradstreet's differs
from all other agencies in being single
organization, instead of
an association of more or less indepen-
dent concerns i'll various cities. 1t main
tains thirty-tive completely equipped
offices on this continent, and one SINH
lar office in London, England, besides
keeping IL great number of salaried
agents i'll the smaller cities and towns
of the Union, and several correspon-
dents in Continental Europe. All this
great network is under the undivided
control of the home office in New York.
All its employees from Boston TO San
Francisco, and from Montreal to New
Orleans, some twelve hundred in num-
Der, receive salaries directly from the
company, and are subject to the strict
est discipline. And right here would
call attention to the fact that this num-
Der of employees is something reniarka-
bic. There are, indeed, many estab-
lishments in the county - factories.
machine shops, and the like where
more individuals find work, but how
many private corporations are there
which require the services of a thousand
brain workers
As your readers are of course aware.
the labor of this large force is the con-
tinual collection, revision and distribu-
ton of reports Oh the means and credit
of each member of the American and
Canadian business community. To give
anything like full account of the
methods by which this great work is ac-
complished, to speak of the tact, skill,
perseverance and judgment which the
reporters must exercise, the untiring
care and watchfulness which must be
displayed in noting the changes in each
merchants condition, the overwhelming
amount of detail involved in the writing
out, registering, manifolding and trans
hitting these reports and changes-all
this would literally fill volume. Some
idea of the labor performed NAV be in
ferred from the fact that the last edition
of Bradstreet's Reports contains over
$780, 900 names of individuals or firms
doing business in the United States and
Canada, appended to each of which are
symbols embOdying the result of inves-
LEGATIONS which have cost time. trouble
and money, oftentimes to a serious
amount. The publication of this large
book, which is revised and reprinted
every three months, together with the
weekly sheets of corrections which
are distributed to subscribers, NAV be
said to be the principal work of the
company. 1t is the most tangible result
of its activity, and the one by which it
is most generally known, but it is by no
means the only one. The laconic print
ed rating, while atfording an accurate
general idea of the standing of it's sub-
ject, Is frequently insufficient in detail
for the purposes of subscriber, who
thereupen makes application to the
Office for W hat is termed a Especial re-
port" which means all the latest infor-
nation the company possesses regard
ing the person inquired about. The
number of such applications received
and disposed of by the Bradstreet com
pany in the course of year Is astopish-
ing. At the New York office alone tbey
average over thousand day. And
here is best seen the advantages of the
minute and machine-lke system which
governs every department. of the insti
tuition. The applications are mostly
made in person. and require prompt re-
ply (; and twenty successive applicants
may demand reports from twenty differ
ent states-several of the inquiries, per-
haps, relating to newly fedged mer-
chants who have just started in bust
ness, and whose names, therefore, do