The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-03-02

>N as 1t is and the commercial
SSM world revolves in it's pres
>NMZA ent orbit, there is one
VT form of detective activity
which is not likely to be
overdone. So long as buying and sell
ing are the principal occupations Of
civilized man, there" will be no lack
Of opportunity for the credit man. 1t
is career that should appeal strongly
to the bright American boy, and one
that offers him certain advantages
which are not to be found In many
of the overworked callings Of the
present day.
Here is a lifework that, while Of q
sort of detective nature, is sublfmat-
ed phase of prying into the affairs of
the other man, because 1t has to do,
not with finding out If the object of
the inquiry has actually done wrong
or committed crime, so much as dis
covering If he might do so; In other
words, If he pays his bills. This is
the place that the credit man fills In
commercial life. He is the product of
the great advance in business that has
been made in the last quarter of
century, which makes it necessary for
merchants and others to learn all they
can about prospective customers, so
as to be sure Of them.
If your boy is keen youngster, he
could not get into line of work that
offers greater opportunities; for in
tegrity is the life of commerce, and
the only way to discover integrity is
to inquire, and the process of inquir-
ing into things of such delicate ma
ture requires the greatest tact, which
means that there must be places TO.
the employment of this tact when 1t
advances beyond the rudiments.
No special preliminaries. in the way
Of education or otherwise, are neces-
sary for your boy to make his start;
for, anyhow, he must begin at the bot
tom and prove himself at every stage
of his progress. This means that, at
16 or so, he applies to the head of the
credit department of large store or
other mercantile establishment for a
Job. When accepted, he will be little
more than an Office boy; for he knows
nothing, as yet, of commercial life.
He will receive S. or Sc week, and
will go through the usual Office boy
ming all sorts of errands for every
body in the office, sorting reference
cards, etc. Then, when he has got
the run Of things, he will be set to
putting away the cards and reports,
and then maybe he will be set at max
Ing various entries on cards or In
books. All these entries have to do
with people: With their personal
habits, with their earnings; with their
church going; with their paying their
bills promptly; with their spending
more than they earn; with their habit
of running up bills, paying promptly in
the beginning, then not SO promptly
and finally not at all, with a balance
still due; with their being extrava-
CANT; with the character Of their as
sociates; with whether or not their
wives and families are extravaganza.
in short, with whether or not they are
sober, intelligent citizens, thrifty, hon
orab1e, trustworthy.
That is the credit mans business, to
find out all these things, and have 1t
in such form that 1t can be told to the
man at the head of the department
selling a bill of goods, to stranger
asking credit, and there he will know
whether to give the man the credit he
seeks.
Your boy naturally assimilates all
this in a general way before he has
been filing these records very long,
and will begin to manifest interest in
how 1t is all done. If he is apt, he
will be called into the Office of the
manager couple of years after the
beginning, when he will be earning
$40 or $12 a week, and told to go out
and discover so and so about new
customer. 1t will probably be only to
learn If the mans actual address cor
responds with the one he gave or his
application for credit, or to request
one of the references to fill out "con-
fidential" blank telling what he knows
about the applicant; but this is get
ting into the credit business for the
first time in earnest.
Doing this sort of Investigating"
well, the aspiring credit detective will
be set to harder work, such as inter-
viewing the persons referred to them
selves. and perhaps running down
clues as to the seeker after credit
shat may give his proprietor a more
accurate opinion Of the customers re-
liability. BY this time, after he has