Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-09-24
THE CASH SYSTEM FOR THE La
BORING MAN.

u u = WASH . y GtA.- 80
BORING MAN.
There is a large proportion OF the pop
ulation of our city whose support de-
ponds upon the wages earned from
week 10 week, and out OF which there
is no surplus when the bills for the
week are paid. The family expenses
are gagged and limited strictly to what
the wages of the week viii pay.
There can be no expansion in the sys-
tenn of economy which the limited
means thus enforces, and there is gem
orally no disposition to contract the ex-
penses, as they do not include anything
beyond the "necessaries." The ordeal,
of course, becomes monotonOus, and the
temptation arises to run into this or
that indulgence which may be in the
nature of choice article OF food
or an additional piece oil
furniture. To DO so means
to run into debt. They may not have
credit with the merchant from whom
they make this extra purchase, and
they very naturally determine that
thew will snake a bill" with their
butcher, grocer or other person with
whom they are more familiar.
They do this in the utmost confidence
that at some future time, by extra econo-
my, they may save enough to settle the
bill and square accounts. 1t is possible
that in the course of a few months orr
wear they manage to do so. No class oil
men are more honest than those who
work hard for living, and it is with no
sinister purpose, as a rule, that the
laboring population OF our city contract
debts. The question OF payment is only
a question of ability. There are many
men, as we are informed, who, at the
time the Belmont mill shut
down, were in debt, and have since been
entirely without means to liquidate
their obligations, are now coming for
ward and paying their creditors out OF
the first instalment Of wages received.
In the long run, it is no loss to the
merchant to give credit to such class OF
people, but the point We want to make
is that it is a mistake for the laboring
man to accept credit ii he can possibly
avoid it. Every man knows that debts
a mild kind of slavery. No matter from
how just and honorable merchant the
credit is obtained, the customer will pay
extra, in some shape or other, Tor what
he gets, before the account is squared.
He may not find that the weight
of his groceries is short, or that
they are adulterated, or otherwise
inferior in quality, but he will
De sure to find that he has been more
extravagant in his purchases; less care
jul TO have the best article for the
money, and altogether less scrupulous
and independent in his purchases than
if he had been paying the cash instead
of getting credit. Moreover he will
often find that he could have purchased
at another place TO better advantage,
and would have done so except for the
fact that he felt bound to the man who
had accommodate him when he had
not the cash. Who is il that has been
purchasing on credit that has not felt a
seLse Of freedom when the debt
is paid, and at once became
purchaser at another shop
on much better terms? The man who
pays cash will get better goods for the
same money, will buy where he pleaseS,
will respect himself more and be more
respected, and when he closes up his ac-
counts for the year will find that he has
lived better on less money by paying
cash than ne who has lived beyond his
means and cnslavcd himself to credi-
tors. These are simple, everyday facts
in domestic economy that it is well to
respect now that business prosperity
and business prospects are such as
tempt men to forget and trust too much
to the future.