Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-13
BILL COLLECTING.
WAYS OF THE SMALL LAWYERS AND
THE REGULAR AGENCIES.
How the Tough Cs'es are Managed-Ths
Buhdozer and His CIub-The Cheerful
Debtor-The Sarcastic Kind-The Bius-
tergnv Man,


tering Man.
"There are good many collectors in
San Francisco, but they may all be de
scribed in two classes. The first class in
rludes the small lawyers-young fellows
lust getting start as a rule, though
YOU find some old hands among them.
They work singly. The others belong
usually to one of the regular collection
agencies and work together on some sort
IF a system-huut in parties, as it were
and beat out their game like band OF
sportsmen.
The collector settled himself for long
conversation by tilting his chair back,
resting his feet on the table, and light
ing n cigar.
'Now," he continued, "the young law
yer has several ways of going about his
business. Supposing him to have case
"A bill-the next thing to do is to find
his man II he is impecunious he goes
)ut in person with the bill and hunts the
fellow up. II he has had a fee within
week or two and has the price Of half
tiozen meals in his pocket he usually
writes With an ordinary bill he must
write four letters The first will say:
Dear Sir: 4 bill against you has been
placed in my hands for collection. 1ou
will oblige. etc, by calling at my office and
settling the same. There is no answer to
This The second letter is still polite but
firm. The third letter is worded some,
what in this way: Dear Sir: II the in
closed is not paid we shall begin suit at
once. The fourth and last is summons
| 10 answer in a suit. In nine cases out OF
! ten this is effectual. If Il man has any
n 1. ,fVh ho
| iustice's court for little bill, so they come
up and settle.
but these are simple cases. The tough
pnes are usually turned over TO the collec-
| ton agencies. The collection agencies will
| take anything, aud if the bill is collectibls
they can usually get the money. When
| bills come in they are 'districted' accord
| ing to the part of the city in which they
belong. They are then turned over tn
the regular collector for that district who
present them in the usual smooth, oily
| form. After a bill has been put out once
| Il is reassiCned according To the reception
which il received II the debtor manifested
disposition to pay. it is placed in the
hands of the ordinary collector. The hard
cases. though, are turned over to the col
Iector technically known as the bulldozer
"The bulldozer is big man, and usually
carries a club for company He goes to
the hard case, swells himself up 10 look
As big as possible, tramps up and down
the room with his club for n cane. and
announces that he has come to see that
bill paid. He doesn't make anv threats;
that is against the law. But he has a
yery suggestive way Of twirling his clnh
and making the most Of his hig voice
and If the hard case is a small man he
usually succumbs at the first encounter
II he is a big man the argument gets pretty
warm, and they dare each other to come
1ut into the street and fight. Rut as th"
5ulldozer has orders not to fight unless
necessary, and there are not many who
want to try to throw him out, there is
usually compromise.
What struck me as remarkable as any
thing when first went into the business,
resumed the collector, reflectively, after a
pause. twas the number of men who
would acknowledge a bill but decline to
pay it for some frivolous reason. There
are lots of men who 90 into an enter
prise with the cheerful intention Of allow
ling someone else to foot the bills in case
Of failure. l had a case where ma
chinist did some work for an inventor
presented the bill last week. The bill
is all right he confessed, but the ma
shine is no good. Do you think l am
paving bills of that kindy As he has a
little property l think he will pay in a
few days. Sometimes man of this kind
denies that tie bill is rightfully his. He
made the purchase, or had the work done
On somebody else's advice, and We must
| yet the money out of them.
lone of the characters of the profession
is the cheerful debtor. He is bland smil'
ing person that sheds threats rs u duck
ioes water. He has no property and nc
income. He is as unco lcerned as the
summer breeze, and admits the bill with
as much unconcern as though it were
his mother-in-law's. He invariably winds
up with oh, 90 ahead and sue il you think
you can get il that way. / haven't the
slightest objection
ONE OF THE SARCASTIC KIND.
"The sarcastic kind is usually woman
had one yesterday that follows the cheer
ful business of laying out the dead. b!
the way she went for me | didn't know
but what she was going to follow her pro
fession right there, and intended TO see t.
it that | furnished the corpse. And Il
hat the kind of bill We would collectS sh'
said The bill of man that calls him
self q doctor and gives a girl in spasm
medicine to be taken once in four hours,
[ demonstrated that she had called tn
loctor and ought TO pay him. Doctors i
no good, she said scornfully. Il throwet
his medicine out of the window, and Pt
like TO serve him the same. Oh, she con
tinued, becoming very sarcastic, 'ypu caI
sue if you want to; but you knows wha
them catches as sues beggars.' And sh
|. stalked Indignantly out.
'.The clustering man is another mic,
character He comes laundering arount
with big nose and red face, and want
to know why in the name OF the sever
: devils he is distraced by having a bill sen
to him through an agency. The idea, h
> busters, of anybody supposing wouldn
!, paw the bill But he never does. He gOe
out with the parting shot that he woul'
have paid it but now he will wait till h
gets ready. There is only one way to reacl
that kind of man. We go right to his EN-
ployer-he is usually getting good salar
. and we force collection. No quartz
is shown in such cases"
: What do you find the hardest class I
Q deal with in this city, asked the reporter
"Well, about the toughest cases we ge
: are the bills against laywers-some o
u the big downtown fellows that you woul'
" never suspect, too. II the clients onl
u knew it, they could pay some big fee
o pretty cheap by buying up the bills tha
are floating around The best class t
n collect from Is the medium poor, VIII
r have a small regular income. We NEE
t pitiful case of broken-down gentility
u trying TO keep mp appearances. Tn
l. excuses they make and the pains the
q take to hide their poverty are reall
!. touching. We are never hard on sue
d people, though our business isn't one tina
Il has much heart in it.-San Francisc
3 Chronicle Interview.
10 Every able bodied Indian in Maine ha
n dog, and every Indian who is not abl
"a bodied has two.
m AVanNA III