The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1914-09-22

pany get the money which Il is going
to lend TO you and the other gentle
mon who have signed these con.
tracts? Why, It gets 1t from you and
those same gentlemen. and from no
one else. Speaking to all OF you col
lectively, 1t says, in effect, Gentle
men. this company has no money OF
its own but II you will pay your
money into It's treasury, we will then
be glad to lend it back to you, II
you will give good security, on very
favorable terms, indeed"
u such company ceased getting
new contracts, 1t could not lend you
your thousand dollars until you had
paid in thousand 1t has no other
source of income, and 1t can not Gre
ate something out OF nothing. If 1t
continues to get new contracts after
yours. then It can take the money
paid in by those who follow you to
lend to those who precede you. In
this way your turn may come before
you have paid in quite the full
amount which you expect to borrow.
But those who follow you will have
to wait still longer on that account.
II new applicants should sign up rap
idly and in large numbers, and begin
paying their good money into the
company, the company may then be
able to give you your loan tolerably
early. But that only postpones the
evil day. Those who follow you in
such numbers will have to wait long
err and longer, unless the applicants
should continue increasing in geo
metrical ratio. But the longer this
sort of thing goes on the greater will
be the smash when it comes.
Unless you have been initiated in
to the mysteries of geometrical pro-
gression you may imagine that this
sort of thing can go on indefinitely;
but If you will take your lead pen
Gil and figure awhile you will find
that in order that you may get your
loan within a year there must be
about ten times as many applicants
next year as there were this. In or
der that they may get their loans
within year, there must be ten
times as many applicants the follow
ing year as next year, and so on in
definitely. Now, If there are 1000
applicants waiting for loans this
year, in ten years there would have
to be, at this rate. 10000, 900 100000
new contracts in the tenth year.
This is nearly seven thousand times
the present population of the earth.
But If YOU and all the applicants
are willing to wait five years for your
loans it would only take 1,O2A,ooo new
contracts in the tenth year TO keep
the company going. BY the thir.
teenth year there would have to he
S,l92,0 new applications. There are
about 6,5OOOOO farms in the United
States. II there were several com.
panies like this operating on our far
mers, you can see that the competi.
ton among them would, by that time,
become what might be called severe.
But why mince matters? Every
one who has ever studied the ques-
ton knows perfectly well that this
sort of business is foredoomed to
failure. There are only two possible
conditions under which It can posi-
bly, last, and both these conditions AS
sumo degree OF foolishness on :he
part of the American farmer of which,
even his worst enemy would not &c
cuse him. One is that he will be
willing, in considerable numbers, &c
continue paying his monthly install
ments into the treasury of the com
pany until he has actually paid in as
much as he expects to borrow back
A savings bank would be better, be
cause It will allow him interest CT
what he pays in, and when he draws
out what he has paid in, he does no
nveT