The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1916-01-13
PAY-UP WEEK.

What promises to become an an
nual national event has been in
augurated as National Pay-Up Week,
February 21-26, inclusive.
Credit is one of the great assets
of our present-day system of bust
ness, but like many another good
thing, it is sometimes abused and
overdone; and because so many peo-
pie are careless about paying their
accounts, there are millions upon
millions of dollars in outstanding &C
counts in this country today that
could be paid without inconvenience
ing the debtor, and if all these mil
lions of dollars were put into circu-
lation during one week, there would
be the greatest week of prosperity
ever known in this country.
While credit is a great thing, it
at the same time becomes a tax when
his debts pays a penalty or tax
every time he buys dollars worth
Of merchandise; but not only must
he pay this tax, but the man who
pays his debts is compelled to bear
his share of this unjust taxa tax
collected in increased price on the
commodities of life occasioned by
the failure of the debtor to pay his
bills.
1t is often said that the customers
of the retail merchants who pay
cash pay more for their merchandise
than they should because they have
to pay for what deadbeat gets
without paying, and there is much
truth in the statement, too-the
man who pays his bills, pays cash,
does really pay more for the commo-
dities of life than he should pay be-
cause so many do not pay.
National Pay-Up Week has it's be-
ginning in the little city of Wau-
kon, Iowa, county seat of but little
over 1900 population at the end of
a little railway in the northeastern
part of the state of Iowa. Waukon
is beautiful little city, and busy
business center; but the people of
that community are like the people
in many another town and community
that is, some of them have, dur
ing the past years, bought goods for
which they never paid, until the
week of January 9-15, 1915, the
principal of the high school, who
happened to be secretary of the
Commercial club, suggested that it
would be good thing for Waukon
to have a day of reckoning, or ra-
Their, week of reckoning. The idea
appealed to the business men of
Waukon, more particularly to the
merchants who had considerable
money in outstanding accounts. So
the week of January 9-15 was adver-
tised as Pay-Up Week, and during
that time in this little city, over
$4,000 in old accounts was wiped
off the books of the local business
houses.
Everybody seemed to join in the
spirit, and consequently all found it
easy to pay their debts. And it is
needless to say that prosperity
reigned in that little town, for it
means something to a town of 1000
population to lift debt of $50,
in one weeks time, and especially
when part of the debt is so old that
it has been considered uncollectable.
The results of Pay-Up Week at
Waukon were so good that the
Merchants Trade Journal, a national
magazine read by all retail mer-
chants in every town of any conse-
quence in the entire country, told it's
readers of the success of the Wau-
kon people in paying their debts and
urged business men in other towns
to give greater attention to their
collections, and soon other towns be-
gan trying the plan-all with splen-
did results. And now the entire
country seems ready for this extra
ordinary event of National Pay-Up
Week. &.
Our credit is national in it's scope.
The manufacturer extends credit to
the jobber, the jobber carries the re-
tail merchant, the merchant in turn
extends credit to his customers, and,
therefore, every business interest.
should be interested in National
Pay-Up Week. # local people in