The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-10-29
PAYING CASH..
Some OF the Evils OF the Credit Sys-
tenn in Retail Business.

Some OF the Evils OF the Credit Sys-
tenn in Retail Business.
Perhaps in the millennium, of which
those who dream dreams have had fair
visions, people may pay as they go. and
thus the accounts of the world will be
vastly slmplified, says The San Fran
cisco Chronicle. But until that time
comes we may look to see the old cred
it system prevail, with all its vices.
And these vices are many. Their chief
results is that they make existence q
hard struggle for thousands of honest
and energetic business men; that they
put a premium on dishonesty; that
they waste many a good estate in litiga-
ton, and that they force the men who
pay cash to bear a portion of the bur-
den caused by the improvidence or
knavery of those who live on credit. 1t
is perhaps true, as asserted by political
economists that credit has MANY adyan-
tages when properly extended, but the
tendency is always in the direction of
carelessness. If men could always
Judge the integrity of their neighbors
accurately, the credit system would be
deprived of half its dangers. But as
we are all liable to be deceived, the cash
plan seems the only safe.one. If adopt
ed it would put an end to the specula-
tive ventures which so frequently dis
turb the equilibrium of trade, and it
would largely restrict the number of
men engaged in all kinds of business,
and would force these men in more
productive branches of industry. One
of the worst evils of the large cities,
in this, as in all other countries, is the
overcrowding of all mercantile bust
ness. Ten men desire to keep a store
and earn an easy living where there Is
legitimate business for only one mer-
chant. The fruit of this is runious
competition and a heavy percentage of
failures. Every failure means loss to
CT editors, frequently the crippling of
fine business houses carried on for
years in an upright andhonorable man
ner. The general adoption of the cash
system would do much to prevent this
overcrowding and it would compel nom
esty besides.
But even granting that in wholesale
trade the credit system offers many adj
vantages to merchants of which it
would be a hardship to deprive them,
the same argument can not be adj
yanced in regard to the retail trades.
Here is the direct meeting of the con
sumner with the merchant, and there is
no good reason, why the cash system
should not prevail. We have inherited
the credit system from England. 1t is
a relic of an ~aristocracy which argues
that the plebean trader must be kept in
proper subsection and the best way to
do this is to withhold as long as possible
the coin which rightfully belongs to
him. The wealthy classes in our large
eastern cities adopted the same ideas.
Ii is no. uncommon incident to find
butchers, grocers, and other retail deal
ers in. New York with unpaid accounts
of millionaire customers running over
two or three years. The men will
tell you that they are perfectly sure to
be paid in the end, unless THEN Jus
toners fortunes should suddenly col
lapse. but they are constantly hamper
ed for the cash which those wealthy
customers could pay with ease, but APP
parently never dream of doing. save at
long intervals. The dealers send In
their bills regularly every three or six
months, but those intimations are re-
ceived as a mere matter of routine. and
it is seldom that any attention is paid
to them. Retaildealers in almost every
department of trade could parallel
this instance. There was q case re.
Gently of a dealer in rare books in New
York who failed because he was unable
to collect tho accounts on his books
many of them belonging to wealthy
bibliophiles.- If he could have collect
ed these debts which represented ONLY
a fair profit on what he had paid fo
the books, he would have escaped tn,
disaster that overwhelmed him after
quarter OF . century of active business
life.