Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1897-12-30
THE CREDIT MERCHANT.

ny 1dl 90 PlOPOA NAOAA
debtor classes, says the Tyler
Courier. The season is on for a
settlement of accounts and it is
attended with the usual unpleas-
antness and heart aches. In
many instances the account is
larger than the assets of the
debtor; and whether this is the
case or not the debtor feels that
he is paying more than value re-
ceived for the goods bought in
the months that are past and
gone forever. He feels that he
has promised more of his earn
ings than AUST compensation for
what he has received. All this
is natural and it is the feeling
year after year. In January,
February and all of the spring
months, the credit merchant en-
joys a season of popularity; he
is much sought after, encour-
aged and flattered. He is the
big man in town, and not infre-
quently he is called colonel,
judge or major. But iii June
and July he begins to tell the
debtor that the account is grown
and that the debtor must hedge;
and this news brings on sad
feeling, and the debtor thinks
and thinks and thinks, and the
more he thinks the more he feels
that he has been paying noun
tain high prices for bacon, corn,
shoes and the like; and by the
time settlement day rolls around,
he not only feels that way, but
he knows it. And just at this
time the howl goes up against
the credit merchant and it is
kept up until the new season is
on and then the same credit
merchant regains his, popularity
and is the big man of the spring
before, and SO the endless chain
is readjusted and on the business
goes as it has gone ''for twenty
years or more
Nothing is better understood
than that the life of the credit
merchant is one of anxiety and
fear. Sometimes he makes
money and sometimes he lands
in bankruptcy. Five of them
fail in business to where one of
their customers fail and they
have customers by the hundreds.
Say what you will, the credit
merchant has a rocky road to
travel. He buys the best brands
of goods and sells them on time
at a large advance. This fact is
known far and wide. He takes
chances. He sells on a culture
prospect" He sells on a crop
before it is planted. 1t is largely
his goods and capital that make
the cotton and produce that find
their way into the local market.
But for his appearance early in
the year, there would be wailing
and crashing of teeth by the
cornless, meatless and shoeless
farmer, be he populist or demo-
crat. If he did not appear on
the ground with bacon and farm
ers supplies and offer to ex-
change them for a crop not yet
planted, indignation meetings
would be held and the town Wig
orously denounced because of its
failure to furnish the farmer so
that he could make a crop and
save his little wife and big chill
dren from hunger. 1t is when
the rainy day comes that the
farmer rushes to the credit mer-
chant and expects that the mer-
chant has laid up enough in dry
weather for all, and to spare.
Viewed from any standpoint
the credit merchant is a neces-
sity in any cotton growing
country. He helps and be-
friends more people than any
other class OF citizens. He loses
more money by helping the poor
than does any other class.
But for the credit merchants in
this town this year, many farm
ers would have been ruined and
many people would now be with