The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-05-31
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 The Credit. Mems Association have been after me some time to have some- thing in this column about the virtue of paying up." l thought all along 1t was a good idea, but somehow l never felt any overweening,de desire to boost it. There was a reason" The fact Is. with my name written on so many of their ledgers I was a bit timid about going too strong on the evils of those who allowed themselves to become de- lnquents. There was danger that some of them might drop around and ask me to practice what l preached. 
 And so I had to walt I recalled that Mark Twain in ,his travels abroad, pestered by the innumerabl ehorde of servitors in the Italian hotels who lined up at his departure. got desper- ate and one day after sizing up the small army said in effect: T am about to leave the country, and if there is a ! man, woman or child who I have not tipped, let them now step forward or forever afterward hold their peace. l am not quoting verbatim, and for the moment l cant place my finger l on the passage, but l think l am giv- l ing the meaning. of what he did say. Now, I am ready to call on anybody in all this town whom I have over 1 looked in settling up my accounts to | tp me of he black list" for l have tried to make a clean sweep of my debts by paying them.
 I'll except one firm, because for years it has been my custom to settle | once year. l got into this habit when | l owned the Alabama Baptist. They were liberal advertisers and l bought much of them. It had been my cus- 1 tom to pay cash, but they insisted that | I run a charge account, and l did so, | just to let them know that my trade amounted to something in twelve month.
 l l have not set this down to boost my 1 credit or to brag that l am good enough to be trusted for whole year, | bu. to call attention to the fact that | here in the south for years and years l it was the custom to have yearly set | dement's. The great planters never l thought of doing ibusiness on any l other basis, and the smaller farmers 1 followed in their footsteps It was the time of long credits and liberal profits, for when man takes his time to pay he rarely ever is a close buyer. l I well remember when the majority of business in Eufaula, my home town, | n a fl years ago a leading grocer went to l the cash basis and lost his trade. He 1 vas Q pioneer, however, and today more and more not only grocery, but ! other stores are adopting the pay plan. It's the coming way. The old credit system may hold in some of the older firms, but eventually charge ac- counts will dwindle away and die out I altogether or be but small part of the volume of business.
 The pay-up habit should in many cases be cultivated. In the old days when the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power Companys bills were pay able on the first of the month, I rarely ever missed paying up to get the dis Icornt; but ever since it went to refider bills all during the month and at no stated time l have lost track of them and it's the rarest thing for me to save the 10 per cent, for I overlook it until the collector comes around. My 1 standing joke with him is, "If it wasn't fer the forgetful ones like me, you would lose your job"
 But do not let any one jump to the conclusion that I am against a proper l extension of credit, for the bulk of the worlds business is done on a credit. There may be difference in amount, but in principle there is none between the. man who has a charge account at a store and a great industry which has ! a line of credit at the bank. The fact that man or concern can buy on time is an evidence of the character of the former and the stability of the lat ter
 When store which makes a busi-
 ness of selling on a credit, sends out
 to customer any package marked )C. o. D. it is notice enough that the
 firm does not wish the party to get
 his name on their books. A story has
 come down for more than two score
 years of how a shoemaker ih Eufaula
 let one of his patrons know that he
 did not care to credit him. A young
 man ordered an expensive pair of
 boots, it was at time when they were
 the fashion. About week later he
 called to know if they were ready, to
 be told: "The boots were not ready,
 but the bill was made out"
 I would hate to be the credit man
 of big concern. It must be a nerve
 racking job to have to pass daily on
 the ability and reliability of men and
 women to pay their bills. Not only
 this, it must make a man something of pessimist when from time to time he has to go over bills which afe. to say the least, not liquid assets I had supposed that they were a tribe of
 cvnics until had the pleasure of din- ling with a bunch of them at the Civic Association a few weeks back. I found l them to be a crowd of jolly good sports I used the word sport pur-
 posely, for they certainly do take some | long chances.
 Just last week I was called upon to
 hurry down to a Salvation Army meet ihg at the Hillman hotel. I had been
 to several and they were held in the little dining room just above the of flee. I was a bit late and the crowd
 was at table. I walked in and took
 my seat and was about to- eat when looked around and said to myself. "They have got lot of new blood in
 the committed" A gentleman came
 and said; Doctor, do you know where you are at?' Sure I replied, T am , with the Salvationsts." Not by a , jugful," he laughingly answered. You
 ore in the midst of the credit men" I lheat a hasty retreat saving "I came