San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-08-11
DEBTORS FEEL EASIER,
NOW THAT AN OFFENSIVE METHOD
OF CUNNING Is PROHIBITED.
What the Head Of bad Debts' Collect
ing Agency says-The Kind Of Envelopes
He Sent to Delinquent Debtors-various
Tricks.


"Pve lost my right bower" said the head
of little collection agency yesterday, land
I've got the postal authorities to thank for 1t.
Flows thatp asked a reporter.
By way of reply the professional dun
opened a big drawer disclosing few thou,
sand envelopes, all of which bore in startling
red and black characters of considerable size
the words bad debt" "These l used to
send through the postoffice," he continued, ito
my delinquent debtors, inclosing request
to pay up First I'd call on the man, then if
that failed I'd send an envelope with the tell
tale inscription written small upon one cor
ner; the next envelope had much larger char
acters, and so on until finally the very worst
kind received postal cards bearing the words
Bad debt in flaring colors on one side and
calling the debtor Mr.. Dead Beat and other
harsh terms on the reverse side. This used
to fetch a great many hard cases who could
be compelled to pay their debts in no other
way There is no man who wants to make
any pretensions to honesty but dislikes to
have such publicity given to his shortcom
ings as is insured by sending such letters to
him through the public mails He fancies
everybody sees them and is laughing at him
or thinking little of him, as indeed great
many people must
KNOCKED OUT.
"But now my pet scheme is knocked on the
head, for a new act of congress was passed
the other day providing that all matter
otherwise mailable by law, upon the envelope
or outside covering of which libel
GUS, scurrilous or threatening delineations
epithets terms of language, or rejecting pre-
judicially upon the character or conduct OF
another, may be written or printed, are de-
clared to be non-mailable matter, and shall
not be conveyed in the mails, nor delivered
from any postoffCe, nor by any letter carrier
The act further provides as a penalty for de
posting such matter in postOttice, fine of
from 800 to 5000, or imprisonment at bard
labor from one to ten years, or both | never
did see such happy hunting ground for dead
beats as New York is any way. When man
won't pay his honest debt you can't clap him
into Jail till he does, as you should be able to
do. You've got to start supplementary pro
ceedings and have him examined as to his in
come and what he does with it The law
here allows every man to retain enough of his
income free from the claims of creditors to
enable him to live decently, and it's hard
generally the worst kind Of dead beat, to adj
NIT on oath that there are any loose ends OF
his income not fully absorbed in purchasing
for him the very necessaries of life"
"What will you do nowT said the reporter.
Il suppose there are lots of objectionable
ways of collecting debts, are there notT
TRICKS OF THE TRADE.
"There are tricks of the Trade, of course,
such as sending loud mouthed and expert
enced collector to dun clerks within hearing
of their employers; trying to catch debtors
in public places, surrounded by people whose
good opinion they value, ETC., ETC., but none
so effective as this one now rendered use
less | think l shall have to introduce the
Chicago method of going round in a big
covered wagon, painted bright red and vel
low in most attractive manner, with such
fine notices as Bad debt collector Terror
to dead beats, etc, conspicuOusly emblazoned
on it. Let this stand for an hour day for a
few days before delinQuent'S house and the
ueighbOrs will get into the way of looking for
it. the small boys and the lOafCfs will form
an admiriEg circle round it, and stare up into
the house windows, and if the police don't
stop it for some reason or other, | guess it
will do almost as well as the postal cards
but it's more expensive"
"Who are your best customersp
Small tradesmen and doctors. The latter
can't refuse an urgent call because the pay
may be poor, and so a large proportion of
their accounts are never collected. We used
to do big business collecting grocers bills,
but now retail grocers in this city have
mutual protective and collecting agency Of
their own. The two work together admir-
ably. A black list is kept of people who
don't pay their grocers' bill, and when a
debtor finds he can't get credit anywhere, it
soon brings him to time New York
Tribune.