Bisbee daily review., 1916-03-22


 rent business conditions, can decide at once the extent of credit that may pro 1 perly be allowed.
 The secretary can often, too, aid in ! keeping a mans credit good by act | ing as agent for a merchant with whom the buyer has had a serious personal difference. He may also prevent attachments where a former resident, returning, wishes to work out
 a delinquency in installments. He
 may use his influence to secure em i ployment for a delinquent. He may | often arbitrate in the matter of dis ruted bill The successful assOciatic1
 is not a bounding. dunnirg collection agency Its object $ not to secure :rIDieoiate payment of a bill that may be overdue regardless of the effect
 on the earning power of the delin- quent. Rather. it aims to strengthen the earning power of every buyer, en-
 courage regular payment of bills, fos- ter good feeling between the buyer
 and, the local merchant and in every
 way make strong each pinion, gear
 and cog in happily operated credit
 machine.
 The Warren District Association.
 The local association was organized
 in December, 1910, with a member
 ship of 42. At the time the present
 secretary, MT c. w. Ruth. was ap-
 pointed the number in good standing had dropped to 31 At present the organization is 61 members strong.
 For some time previous to 1910 bad NoI in the ledgers of every local business man. True, Bisbee had not been a gambling town for four years. The sa- looms, however, were still satisfying the longings to spend that years of life in mining camps had engendered. The merchants bills were unpaid be- cause the effects of the 1907 panic had at last reached Bisbee. In vain did the business men attempt collection by discontinuing credits. The delin- quent buyer merely sought a new mer- chant. To combat this evil and to permanently repair a credit situation shot full of holes, the Warren District Business mems Association was form ed. No member was to extend credit to a customer indebted to another member until that indebtedness was cancelled.
 As in Douglas and other Southwest ern towns, such move was jolt to those who had been getting credit when and where they could and pay ing cash only when expedient. To them it was a personal insult. The better class of customers in the dis trict were not effected and viewed the matter with unconcern. The method was heroic but effective. In time cred its got back to a normal state. This improvement was no doubt hastened by an improvement in business con ditions, that, except for the set back in the latter part of 1914, has contin- used up to the present time. Then too, the saloon has been eliminated. Today the number of residents, whose rating is bad is negligible. Saving de- posits are large. With bank reserves as high as 67I however, the mer chants of the district are also doing business in a conservative way. Bus mess conditions are good, but withal there is an air of unQuietness. The association reports (the latest is now in the press) are still carefully pc rused.
 From being a subject for arraign- ment and condemnation, these reports have become a source of pride to those whose names are written there The rating book is considered an as set now, for every purchased whose is good is now welcome in every business house in the camp