The Mankato free press., 1916-04-21

1
| Wholesaler Has Been Wiser.
The wholesalers had been wiser
They had a credit association long
before the retailers took that up. At
length Mr.. Lane and the credit man
of the Dayton store became members
of that association. The two men got
better acquainted, and each saw that
the other had no horns, tail or cloveli
hoof. They became mutually more
trustful, and at length they conceived
the idea of organizing a retail credit
association for the Minneapolis mer-
chants. 1t was done and the exchange
of information had proven exceedingly
beneficial. Lists of dead BEATS" lists
of men whose checks are Ieturned
and protested lists OF divorce cases
and any and all other information
throwing light on the question of
whether this or that person is deserv-
| ing of credit are compiled by the as
sociation for the benefit of the men,
bers.
Mr.. Lane said the information
secured by the association was posi-
tive as well as negative. The associa-
tion that only listed the bad people
and the dead beats" would be doing
only half of it's work. The good mems
records were right at hand too.
Will Not Misuse Information.
The speaker declared that in
twelve years, he had not known of a
single instance of member OF the
association misusing the information
that he got. The ledger of each men,
ber was open to ther members.
Everything worked we'll
Mr.. Lane said he could only think
of one sort of a town that would not
need a retail credit association and
that would be a town where there
was only one store and not another
store within 100 miles.
"Does he drink?' What are his
eXpenses?" "Is his wife eXtravagant? ?"
Such were the questions, Mr.. Lane
said that could be answered abou>
customers through the Minneapolis
association. Mr. Lane declared that
in the matter of bad debts, prevention
was far better than cure
Mr.. Lane spoke of the excellent
retail credit association in ST. Louis.
He said that there one firm paid ST.
600 year for the information that it
received through the association.
The speaker remarked that the
national association was very useful
in running down those dead beats
who went from one city to another.
Much information along that line was
obtained through the national as
sociatiOn.
Mr.. Lane dwelt for some time on
the new garnishment law, which he
said was very good one. It's en-
actment had been secured largely
through the retail credit association
of Minneapolis. If a man had been
paid $35 during the past thirty days,
his creditors could go right after any
of his other assets.
How 'Tis Done in kato.
Mr.. Otto remarked that in Man
kato the attorneys did not seem to
care to use that law, but Mr.. Lane
said it was greatly used in Minneap-
Oils, where there were about forty
garnishments every day of the week
Mr.. Lane spoke also of function
of the retail mems association IN
keeping good man from being
bounded and driven into bankruptcy
by nagging creditors. The assoca-
ton would sometimes take hold of
all the credits of man who was in
bad luck, and would come to an
understanding with him, that the
creditors would nag no more, if he
would just buckle down and make an
attempt to get the debts paid off like
a man within whatever time Was
practicable. This system had been
very successful -"
Mr.. Lane advised the Mankato
merchants to organize a. credit as
sociation and have Mr.. Berg as
manager. The business men should
be gotten together at banquet. The
"eats" should not be forgotten.
There should be a good speaker to
stir UP enthusiasm. Music or some
|other~entertainment should be pro-
vided. There should be social at
fractions at the meetings, to keep
interest of members from tagging.
In one connection Mr.. Lane re-
marked that it was not well for
manager to be too close about ex-
tending credits. He knew of the man
ager of certain business in Mime
apoils who took great pride in see
ing now low he could reduce the per
centage of loss on bad debts, and he
got it down to one twentieth of one
per cent. But so careful was he that
he lost a great deal of good trade,
and the result was that he lost his
position. He might have done far
better had he been content with a
loss of one-tenth of one per cent and
not driven away so much good trade.
Passing Out Information.
Mr.. Berg told something of his
system of getting and passing out in
formation about this and that GUS
toner through his credit bureau.
with his card index system.
Mr.. Lane remarked on another
function of the retail association at
minneapolis and that was to help
man go over to cash basis. Some-
times a man with an extravagant
wife or boy would notify the associa-
ton not to extend credit to them, as
he did not like to have the pll,s
coming in so fast
An interesting story was told by
Mr.. Lane abOut q had man that oama