Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-08-21
WHERE WE LOSE.

the Iolly OF the wildcat system OF cred
It's as practiced in Hendersonyille, on,
contemporary leads q column articl,
entitled Where We Lose with tn,
following important question: "Hov
much time and energy and mon !.
spent every year in this country in tn.
4crt to collect debts?
The Times goes on to relate the an.
necessary expense incurred and the
valuable time wasted in chasing ate.
those who owe small amounts but per.
slst in further time for payment. Il
tells of the thousands Of bills printed
n Hen~dersonville at regular and irreg.
ular intervals for the same business
hrm; how these bills are mailed and
aaen in person for collection repeated
IL without the desired results, and
finally sums up the consequences in
this strong paragraph:
Zone result of all this waste of time
and energy and money is that a num-
her of business firms have gone into
bankruptcy, while many more are Sc
r.ously crippled. Another result is
that business houses in general have
to charge higher prices than they
otherwise would. In other words all
OIL us are paying about a dollar for
what under other circumstances would
cost US seventy five cents. There is
no in the wildcat credit system.
1t is foolish, wasteful and deadly ak
pens.ve."
No business man in He~ndersonVille
can doubt the accuracy of this plain
talk. We are all vitality affected by
very undesirable business conditions
ss far as credit goes, and the com
munity would be in a much better
shape were conditions different.
While our contemporary gives actual
conditions and results, it fails to point
out the cause and also the remedy,
which bear important relations to this
momentuous question. We know that
the man who pays promptly is the
ran who helps to reduce the cost If
living without reducing wages. Under
these conditions why should it not
be more profitable for all concerned
to pay more promptly? Why should
We not strive to stamp out the causes
OF such conditions and conduct our
business by a better system. 1t is q
we'll known fact that there are busl-
Tess men in Hendersonville who can
pay bills at any time without the least
inconvenience, but they persist in cou-
Quoting their business and putting of
their creditors until a later date,
without a reasonable cause.
This bill-co1lecting business has be-
come a habit with some and they have
made the habit a nuisance. There are
certain lines Of business which are
mostly on a cash basis and
this fact Is thoroughly known by bus
mess concerns, which should pay cash
Tor what they get. There are other
businesses which are customarily
this fact, a day or so after the debt IS
contracted the creditor arms himself
with a bill and goes out in the high
and hedges seeking the debtor
When custom, it would SEEM, would
stay him in this course until the first
Of the month. This practice is one of
the real causes of the many annoy-
ances of the present system of bust
ness. Another reason why we have
-hese unbusiness like methods is be-
cause u business interests are so
.nterlocked, interlinked and inter
that we. are afraid to press
our debtors when collecting time
we assent to being put off for
ear that u W interests will be in
ured. With this as a cause Of the
rouble against which our contempor-
ry is waging a relentless war, a speci-
lc remedy is difficult to prescribe. We
iced to be educated to the advantage
# a change. Until a change is
rought about business conditions IN
~1endersonville will be seriously hand
capped for the reason that we waste a
,reat portion of on renergy in trying =!
o collect when a two cent stamp {
hould bring things r
We heartily agree with The Times !
Then it says that Henderson county {
ideally fitted to take the lead In the
york of placing credit on a business :
asis, because the great majority Of .
ur people are thoroughly honest. The L
rouble is that too many Of ss ar. {
areless." !
i