The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-01-28
SETTLING BILLS.


This Is closing up uine-lue ehu va
the year. If anything is due you col
lect Il; if you owe anything pay 1t.
| DO not let 1883 advance further than a
week without finding yon "settled up
| At least once a year every person,
whether his business be big or little,
should know exactly chow he stands
| Three condition are essential to sue
cess, viz: |. To secure business. 2.
| To attend TO It. 8. To get paid for 1t.
A man who possesses these three eie-
ments is absolutely sure TO prosper.
Thousands fail In II or moro OF them.
To get paid for what you sell requires
tact, system and eternal vigilance. A
condition of primary Importance IS to
make no mistakes in charges, to have
all contracts distinctly understood ana
to credit no one who will o pay.
| Good bookkeeping, candor and care.
fulnels in dealing, and discretion and
irmness regarding credit max COL
lectiug an easy matter, as it alec saves
thousands from ruin. Many u business
nan of energy and merit fails for the
lack of one OF all OF these clement.
Collect often. Quick settlements
make good friends. Not only is much
saved by collecting while are
fresh in mind, but a man who pays
monthly or quarterly will buy vastly
more than If he is looking forward to
n big bill at the close of the year. Your
collector should be vigilant and dis
/ Greet. A loose, dilatory, and boorish
collector can do great damage to bust
ness. Men are sensitive about being
dunned, and it requires tact to do II III
the proper way.
If you owe anything 20 and pay it,
Seek your creditor. Do not wait for
him to come to you. This is the best
policy. 1t makes your custom desira-
BILE and will secure to you attention
and the best goods and prices. 1t Is
also right in principle. The theory
that it is a creditors duty to hunt you is
morally wrong. 1t is your duty to hunt
him, and, after thanking him for his
indulgence, pay him. After some
twenty years Of business experience
we have arrived at the conclusion that
the surest test of . gentleman Is the
way he pay his debts. The kind OF
clothes he wears, the extent OF his edu-
cation, his external manner, his pur-
suit in liie-whethcr he is a preacher
| OF u IcuCuCT, u iuCCtl0uiS VI % -
u laborer, or a lawyer, "a soldier or a
sailor, a tinker or a tailor"-none OF
these afford any index to u mans char
acter. 1t Is the way he pays his debts.
It Ia the way he acts when that main
spring of character self-interest-is
touched.
We regret to say that many men, in
response to this touch, reveal a very
| different side from that which they
turn 10 the world. Many will grum-
BILE, and dispute, and get mad, and
tear their hair, and postpone aud treat
the creditor who has INDUCED them as
though he were . thief trying to
nefarlously plumber them. Ask any
business man and he will recognize the
truth of this picture. Now all this is
unthoughted, unjust and ungentle-
manly.
Instead OF treating your creditor as
though he were a robber. you should
receive him kindly. Ii you have not
the money TO pay him, tell him 80 can
didly. DO not vent your dlsgruntled
feelings upon his innocent head. ii
YOU feel sure there is error in the bill,
point it out in a genteel, firm way, but
be certain of the error before you
assume it is there. 1t is astonishing
how many people will set up their own
/ frail memories against the books of a
creditor, and even more astonishing
how, in nearly all these instances, their
memories are in the direction of their
own interest,
Our experience in business Is that IS
Il rule business men are honest. In
their bookkeeping they cheat them
selves ten times by failing to charge TO
where they cheat customers once by
overcharging. This is a very general
rule, with its few exceptions. Every
business man Of success knows that he
cannot prosper by %thieyery, and the
fcwest number attempt it.
1t an erroneous charge is made, and
you ar%e.absolutely sure OF il, respectfully
point il out. Do not quarrel about il
and, unless il is considerable, pay it,
but never deal with that person again
This, in the end, is u cheaper and bot
ter method than q fight and a law suit
On the other hand, be il remember
ed, that refusal to pay a debt when you
know you owe, and are able to pay, il
=. ] the worst sort OF stealing. 1t is taking
advantage of a mans confidence and
kindness in order to rob him-sOme-
thing of which neither the burglar nol
pick pocket is guilty. There is al
element of courage in the latter i'll in
curing the risk of punisbment--some
thing that is lacking in the individual
who steals from the man who trusts
him, tor, unfortunately, the law doe
not reach this kind of %thievery.
Our closing advice is-this: Go a
once aud gather up all your little bills
Ii you have moi the money 10 pay Dor
row it. II is better and iuster to have
everything in one place, and be paying
interest upon it, than to have You
dues scattered every where, and to hay,
the whole community bounding you
With little bills, until you arc almos
afraid to walk the streets. If you can
borrow it then you are "broke," All,
go aud say so to those whom you owe
As we said ut the outset you mus
know once Il year chow you stand"
These are but a few hOmely truth
upon 0 subject about which much els
, could be said, but they are pertinent L
the close of the year, and we hope ma
he seed soWn OH good ground.