Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-01-20
DelrOlt Froo Pres..I

DetOlt rIco fTehs'I
How was trade last year2'
"0h, f~rst-rate."
Get stuck much?'
swell, we had to charge up about a
thousand dollars to the ID. b. ac-
count, but we'll make it all back out
ofyou cash customers this year.
The foregoing conversation occurred
in a Detroit grocery house on the Sd
instant. The grocer meant all he said
when he replied that the dead beat ac-
count would have to be made good by
cash customers. All merchants in
tend to make the nan who pays cash
down responsible for the debts Of
those who do not pay at all. This has
come to be generally understood, and
the wonder is that cash has not re-
bolled against it.
ANY retail dealer can buy closer
with cash than with credit. The
closer he buys the greater are his
profits. Money put down on his
counter gives him a chance to discount
his paper, meet his notes and pay cur
rent expenses. Charges on the book
mean cash next month, or the month
after, or the next year. Cash asks no
favors except to be waited upon.
Credit must have a bookkeeper, a
collector, and a lawyer. If a retail
dealer in groceries asks the price OF
starch, he is told that he can have it
at so much on credit, or so much for
spot cash. If the consumer asks the
price of the retailer, it is one price to
Cash Down or Dead Beat.
The more one thinks this matter
over, the more he realizes the remark
OF a prominent western fnancier, who
lately observed: 1.-THE man who pays
cash when he can get credit is fool.
And so we all say. II dead beat is to
have the same prices as cash down,
with an additional advantage Of sixty
six days time-which means ninety in
nineteen cases out Of twenty-why do
any of US pay cash? Why not all take
credit?
We know Of several Detroit firms
whe have long realized the injustice
of making cash pay credits debts.
They have said that it was all wrong,
but they could not see how a
change could be made. They
would not say to customers; This
is so much for cash down, and so much
if you want credit" That plan would
be offensive, but there are others.
Suppose a grocer should adopt the rule
of handing back to every cash custom
er FIVE per cent of the purchase? If
cash bought So worth of goods his re-
bate would be twenty-five cents. II
credit bought S. worth, he should
have the same prices but no rebate.
Cash would be encouraged, and credit
would only be paying for the favor,
the same as he would have to if he
borrowed the money. Let any
grocer now doing a h~alf-cash, half
credit business, put this plan in oper-
alton and his cash customers would
increase faster than he dreams OF.
Scores who now ask for credit would
turn about and pay cash. 1t IS simply
adopting the plan Of the wholesalers.
1t is no experiment with them, and
would not long be with retailers. Cash
has preference and advantage every
where and in all cases except buying
at retail. 1t must be accorded an
advantage there. If retailers refuse,
then a citizen who pays cash when he
can secure time is indeed a fool.
Credit should be made the same bust
ness transaction in a grocery that it is
in a bank, and cash should be appre-
ciated in a dry goods store the same as
dealing with jObbers.