Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-07
By E
J. HASkN

the clerk to have the goods delivered
and then walks out of the store. She
has parted with her cash and has
nothing to show for it. 1t is within
the memory of our fathers, or at least
our grandfathers, when no OF IN his
sort. With one hand the purchaser
would offer the money and with the
other grasp his purchase. One who
maid his money without obtaining
physical possession of the goods would
be regarded as a gulible simpleton.
A. 7. Stewart, the great New York
merchant, probably was the first to
introduce the system of delivery. At
its beginning, people were certain there
was some trick in it and would not
trust the store to make the delivery.
NO. sir. That clerk will just put my
money in his pocket and I'll never see
it again, or never see the goods l
bought" That was the attitude OF
the public and it took years to educate
the purchasers that delivery would be
made honestly without SUBSTITUTION or
fraud.
The Dollar Down Plan
The next step in merchandising was
| the installment plan of paying for pur-
chases. Zone dollar down and one dol
| lar "A week Iut lCSL VI JCuA l. az
the humorists express it. At first this
system encountered the same sort of
skepticism, from the other side, as the
prepaid delivery system. Merchants
| said they would not consider letting
valuable goods leave their stores on
the chance of collecting for it some
day. But the pioneers persisted In the
F., practice and, getting most Of the trade,
drove the others to accept it.
The plan vastly increased the buying
power of poor people. Also, it assisted
them to save. Those who could not
pile up the pennies into a hoard which
would buy a new dining room suite,
could pay a few dollars a week. The
installment plan has extended to al
most every line of trade. 1t is esti-
mated that if every family in the
United States was buying something on
the installment plan, and a surprising
" large proportion is doing so, it would
be found that each of them is paying
an aggregate of S. a week. There are
0,000,0 900 families in the country. TAX
ing everything from books and diamond
rings to furniture and automobiles, it
takes an average of 80 weeks to pay
out in installments on a purchase. This
means that 10000. 900 families con-
stantly are obliged to pay 50 a week
for 80 weeks. This makes a total of
instaIlment indebtedness of S5,O00,-
100000.
Many of these families could at any
time pay off their entire indebtedness,
but most of them could not. Literally
millions of families are using furniture,
wearing clothes, jewelry, reading books,
| playing pianos and other musical in
struments and riding in automobiles
for which they are paying or the in
stallment plan.
Food bills are another large item.
1t is estimated that every American
family owes constantly a food bill
amounting to $40. This includes the
grocery bill, the meat bill, the milk
bill. the bread bill and a score of others.
Of course, these bills are settled week
~ or monthly and a new account is
begun, but there is an average constant
indebtedness of 500, 1000 900 for the
nation. In the last year or two, even
the boOtleggers have been running open
accounts with their customers, making
regular deliveries and collecting weekly
or monthly.
Farm mortgages constitute another
big item. Official figures compiled by
the department of agriculture show
that American farmers W $685.
100000 on mortgages. This all figures
into the total Indebtedness and fur
ther exemplifies the wide extension of
credit.
A still larger item is the mortgage
debt on the homes of the people in
cities and towns. The census bureau
gives the total of mortgages on owned
homes as $4,000, o 5000. This relates
only to the houses which are owned
by the people who live in them. No
census figures have been made to hsow
the amount of mortgage debt which
landlords have placed on dwellings,
apartment houses and tenements. Prob
ably the sum is vastly greater than
the aggregate of mortgages on owned
homes, but to be conservative il may
be placed at the same figure, $6,OO0,-
600, 900, or a total of $12, 000, 000,0 900
on dwellings.
In this installment age many small
houses and lots, particularly vacant
lots sold 10 persons intending to build.
are vended on land contracts. No mort
gage is given in such a transaction, the
purchaser making monthly payments
until the purchase price is met, where
upon he receives n deed. 1t is esti-
mated that Indebtedness of this charac-
ter reaches a total Of 500, zoo, 900, at
least.
These figures show what the general
public owes as a matter of everyday
life. They do not go into the matter
of the vast bonded indebtedness of the
great corporations. If the bonds of all
the railroads, steamship companies,
mines, steel mills and the thousand and
one other industries of the country
were added, they would make a total
running far into the billions.