The Little River news., 1921-08-24
PLENTY OF MONEY IN THE
 STATE IF PROPERLY USED
Experts Think That Business fin Ark. anSas Will be Very Good This Fall and Winter.
(By Clio Harper)


 Special to the News.
 Little Rock, Aug 23-It is general ly conceded that there is plenty of money in the country for the transac- tion of it's business when supplement- ed by a sane system of credit. There is as much money now as there was during the flush times of the war and immediately afterwards The thing that is producing depression and stringency is not so much a lack of mondy as it is lack of confidence and the absence of sense of financial honor among individuals
 The most successful business men and industrial or commercial concerns find it necessary to borrow money at times. In fact, under even normal conditions of trade, no business can be successfully conducted without credit, but it is the abused credit that is proving ruinous not only to corpora tions but to individuals. There is pre- valent generally a sentiment of loose ness in relation to financial obliga- tions that is one of tha most des- tructive elements in the conducting of business. Credit is extended too cas- fly and often without thought on the part of the borrower that the day of reckoning must surely come. There are comparatively few business houses or individuals engaged in the state who could not pay their obligations and have money in the bank if those who owe them would pay their debts. The circles q have thousands of dollars on my books, most of it it in good business, but collections are so slow that it is difficult for me to meet my current expenses" If someone would start the ball rolling and others would keep it going, few hundred thousand dollars would clean up millions of dol lars of debts and reduce to a minimum the talk of hard times. But, so long as those who have the money continue to hoard it, deferring from week to week and month to month payment of their obligations, their creditors are forced to similar subterfuges in order to get by. In consequence, business interests generally are more or less paralysed and only the abiding con- fidence of the more level-headed busi- ness men and the intervention of the banks prevent the country from being forced into a financial panic. Close observers of conditions agree that it is not lack of money, but the lack of financial conscience that it responsible for present conditions. Fundamental and subordinate to these broader priA- ciples is the attitude of many indi- viduals toward their private obliga- tions. Never before have the banks received so many checks which are turned down because of insufficient funds and only the stringent law against overdrafts and the careful scrutiny of the bankers keep the over drafts reduced to a >nlnimum.
 Honesty and Integrity.
 Another custom which cannot be too severely condemned is more personal in it's nature and effects the honesty and integrity of persons who through extravaganza, carelessness or purpose to defraud, are guilty of acts as wor- thy of condemnation as highway rob- bery or sneak thievery. When per- son contracts for goods, merchandise or services with another, knowing at the time that he cannot pay, he may not be a criminal before the law, but his act is none the less despicable. When man presumes upon the friendship or the sympathy of another to endorse accommodation paper and then deliberately refuses to pay the note when due. forcing the endorser to pay it, he is not subject to prosecu- tion for highway robbery, but he should be by all rules of justice. There are thousands of instances of this kind and cases are known of men prominent in the business affairs of a community who go so far as to ask the endorsement of their friends, some cases of women, on their personal notes and then refuse to pay even the interest, declaring that they have no intention of doing so as they propose to live and cannot be bothered with debts. When men or women deliber- ately contract extravagant bills with merchants, frequently for useless simply because credit is easy, the rankest injustice is done not only the merchants but those who must eventually pay the bills. They are guilty of a species of dishonesty tbat cannot be too severely condemn o< kafv