The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-11

the state, shows it's present strength.
1t draws its members principally from
Salt Lake. Ogden and Provo. but all
the wholesale houses of the state are
Z interested, and applications for men,
. bership have been received from as
far east as the Missouri river and as
far west as the Pacific coast.
The objects of the association are
various. though all lead up to the one
'point-the lettering of trade relations
between the wholesale and retail hous-
tis. The primary object is TO make re-
/ ports on the financial standing of re-
tail merchants throughout Utah. Ida
no. Colorado. Wyoming and Nevada.
! The association has its regular prop
erty statement blanks and every house
doing a retail business receives one of
these. so that all may be heard in their
own behalf.
Before the organization of this asSo-
citation. the wholesale houses had TO de-
] pend upon the reports Of the two mer-
camille agencies for their information.
/ The association ISSUES what is termed
/ trade report. giving the experience
of the variOus merchants with ac-
counts. in addition to the property
! statement. Each morning an errand
+ boy may be seen going out with list
Of names on which 20 collect informa-
I
/ ceive an order from person unknown
10 it asking that the goods be sent on
"A thirty or sixty days rating. The
| house receiving the order cannot af-
/ ford to ignore it, neither can il afford
/ to sell the goods to a stranger without
| an assurance that it will receiver their
money. In such a case the house makes
( inquiry at the Office of the association
as TO the standing of this person. The
! association tabs these inquiries and
! each morning sends them out to the
different members to learn the opinion
of the houses selling regarding the
standing of the person.
Big Help to Business.
The report asked for includes the
highest credit ever given the party in
! question, how much he is owing and
how much of this debt is past due
Space is also provided for the answer
ing member to fill out telling how the
party in question pays his accounts;
that is, If he discounts pays promptly,
is fair, slow or very slow. and whether
the wholesaler has ever had to give the
| account for collection. When the boy
returns at night the information he has
! obtained is compiled and sent out the
next morning to all persons interested.
I In this way it is easy for the house
receiving the order TO determine if the
man is entitled 20 credit. 1t is also a
hint TO those selling this person wheth-
err they should reduce or increase ,neir
! trade with him. In these reports. each
member is bound not TO divulge TO
outside parties the information he re-
1 ceives. nor the fact that inquiry has
been made through any merchant Only
I the manager knows what each house
/ reports, this information being not di-
vulged, SO that no member can make
use of the report TO damage a fellow
member.
1his part of the work is illustrated
by the following incident: Recently a
certain house in Salt Lake received
an order which it was DESTROYS of fill
ing. but hesitated long enough TO make
an inquiry. The inquiry brought the
information that two competing houses
had refused TO ill this same order. so
the third house decided likewise. It's
judgment was justified a little later
when the merchant failed. owing an
eastern house for the same goods the
local house had refused to supply.
Another case is that OF a certain
merchant who owed an Ogden house a
bill for so long, and seeming to ignore
the request for settlement that it final
ly lost patience ana sent the account
TO the ASSOCIATION Tor suit An inquiry
was first made by the association and
1t was found that the merchant was
paying his other creditors promptly
\ suit would have ruired his credit
and possibly his business. When the
information came back that he was
paying others promptly. a letter was
sent TO him explaining the situation
and the results were pointed out 10 him
if payment was longer deferred. The
result was that check was immedi-
ateiy forthcoming and the man is still
doing business.
Settles Up Bad Accounts
Another feature of the association is
|, what is called the collecting ana adj
justment bureau Where the mem
bers have accounts AGAINST firms who