Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1888-05-09
CORRESPONDENCE.
The Cash System.

To the merchant the advantages Of
the cash system are so obvious that
he would be only too glad to adopt it
if his customers could be persuaded
that it was equally as advantageous
to them. A merchant who gets cash
for his goods knows just how he
stands; he can make his calculations
with almost certainty and is pre-
pared to meet his own bills promptly
thereby securing the benefit of dis
count; so that man who buys and
sells for cash can afford to sell his
goods cheaper than he could other
wise; whereas, man who sells much
on credit never knows when he can
calculate on his money, especially II
no given time is set, but the account
is allowed to run on inditterently
with now and then q payment as
suits the purse and convenience OF
the purchaser. Then, too, we must
take into consideration the time and
money it takes to carry on the book
keeping necessary where many &C
counts are kept, which outsiders can
haye no adequate idea of, and which
could be largely dispensed with were
it not for the credit system.
Another argument in favor OF the
cash system is the fact that people
who run up long accounts are seldom
satisfied. It is astonishing how rapid
ly an account increases and it fire.
quently happens that the customer
declares there must be some mistake,
and having kept no track of his bills,
will demand an itemized statement
of an account that has been running
months, thus causing the poor book
keeper hours of weary and needless
toll. It is a fact however, that in a
fair dealing house it more frequently
occurs that things are not charged at
all rather than charged twice. And
we can easily see that such neglect to
charge people with goods they have
had must lessen the profits consider
ably, especially in the grocer,s trade
where smaller margins are made than
perhaps in any other line.
Another point; it is always easier
to pay for the things we expect to use
than for those we have already had.
Many a man who will cheerfully pay
for bill Of goods just purchased
grumbles dreadfully if the bill is not
presented till after he'goods are con-
sumed.
One seldom gains much but bad
debts and vexation of spirit by letting
people have goods on time. You
might expect them to be little CRATE
full to you for accommodating them
when they are hard up, but quite the
contrary seems to be the rule. AS a
general thing they will consider they
are doing you favor when they do
finally pay, and ten chances to one
they will ask you to "throw off some
thing" in view of the settlement.
To illustrate this I will cite case
that came under my own observation.
A man who was owing certain
merchant quite an account, came in
one day and offered to let him have
load of wood on the debt, to which
the merchant readily agreed, saying
he would give him credit for it at the
market price, which was $3.50 per
cord. But the man wanted 500 and
when the merchant asked why he
should demand a higher price than
any one else, the man coolly replied,
swell, thought seeing it was on
that old debt you ought to be willing
to allow me little more for it," And
he wasn't Joking, either. In other
words he wanted to be paid for his
honesty. This is an actual occurrence
and shows very plainly that a mer-
chanHgains but little by accommodate
ing people in this way. "But," you
say, this is considering the subject
from the merchants standpoint only
Well, let us look of it from the other
side. For instance, here is man
who is paid once fortnight or once
month, what objection can there be
to having an account? In the first
place, on the score OF economy,
working man needs to calculate his
expenditures very closely in order to
save anything. Ifhe pays cash for
what he buys he will get only those
things which ne absolutely needs, or
which. he knows he can afford; but
when he is running an account he
will buy s'this, that and the other