The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-01-14
Pay rs You Go.

the coming year, 1t would be good
thing for many of our readers to adopt
the above. Pay as you go, or buy moth
ing on credit
We are persuaded that the credit sys'
| tenn as it now exists and has existed for
some time past, has more to do with the
financial distress of which we hear from
year to year, and the annual bankruptcy
and ruin of good men than any one thing
else.
The gradual. decline in the price of
cotton aud! !other marketable products for
the past few years is bringing disaster
and sometimes disgrace to many of our
citizens.s The. purchasing power Of a
pound of cotton is as great to-day rs it
was five years ago, as the price of other
things has been reduced in similar pro.
portion. But the mischief wrought is
due to the fact that there has been no
shrinkage in the money valuation of
debts contracted years ago, and while the
present crop Of cotton will go as far to-
wards paying for the supplies O.. the
present year.as it..ever.did, yet its power
to pay the debts contracted in the year
1880 has been..ireduced by the cores
ponding depreciation in price.
Debts contracted under twelve cent
system must be me. by the. returns of an
eight or nine cent market. One hun
dred land forty pounds are. necessary
where one hundred would have answered
five years ago. This lis one fs,he ev 5
Of the credit system that is working hard
ships to both farmers and merchants.
Another evil Of tho system:is the incl
that one will make larger and more I'm
necessary purchases when buying on
credit than when paying cash. Send
two men to market, the one with one
hundred dollars in his pocket, the other
with permission to buy goods to the
amount of one hundred dollars on creclit,
and the chances are nine to one that the
cash buyer will make fewer, wiser and
better. purchases, than the credit buyer.
There is a fascination in buying on time
that often makes Il man exceedingly
reckless and extravagant in his purchas-
es. People are often ensnared into max.
ing needless purchases by the gentle,
courteous and captivating manners Of
popular statesmen who assure them that
their promise is as good as their money.
1t may be all that to the seller, but it is
neither the safest nor wisest for the
buyer.
The cash system may not be favored
by the merchants, it may reduce his
sales, leave old goods upon his shelves
and dispense with an occasional visit 10
the Northern markets, but it will event
ually prove the wisest, safest and most
remunerative 10 both buyer and seller.
To adopt it fully may be impossible, to
adopt it in part may call for rigid SELF
denial and untold sacrifices, it may cut
sharply and deeply, but in the end-and
the end will not be very distant--it will
pay and pay richly. The discipline of
self, the habits Of economy acquired, and
the surplus left over at the end of the
year, would be more than liberal com.
pensation for tho pain and denial it
entailed.
1t would be infinitely better for tho
morals of the country if merchants would
draw the lines more figidly and sell less,
on credit. The extension of time from.
year to year which has the appearance o.:
mercy is a positive unkindness to the
buyer. The process is continued from
year to year, until the unfortunate
man becomes hopclessly involved, and
all his property is absorbed by the debt.
If prompt payment had been insisted On
at the outset, and the sheriff called in
if necessary, the lesson would have done
good and the poor fellow left with some
thing with which to begin life anew.
Then hs would have been a slightly
poorer but much wiser man. Now he is
literally "cleaned up" aud left to start
anew with nothing but a damaged repu-
tation. Too much leniency weakens
moral obligation. Excuse q man from
paying an honest debt and next year be
thinks himself bestowing quite a favor
on you if he pays, and if the debt lies
over until the third year he fpersuades
himself that he ought not to pay, or if
you press him for the money he denoun'
ces you as heartlcss extortioner and
cruel persecution.
That sense of moral obligation which
should have been as a band of steel
around the mans character, protecting it
from warp and twist, has been attenuated
into gossamer thread which the lightest
breath of policy may sundcr in a moment.
Such system as the one described has
been influential in bringing about the
low standard of moral obligation that
1,
prevails in many localities, a standard
that has rendered the collection Of an
honest debt as next to an impossibility
unless the aid of legal process is re-
sorted to.
Nothing but an invinciblc detern'ina-
tion to come out Of and to keep out OF
debt will save the country from moral as
we'll as financial disaster. Abolish the
credit and adopt the cash system.
Pay as you go, and in the end it will
pay you an hundred fold.-A. r. Prcsby.