The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-06
DO YOU HAVE CREDIT?
by SOPHIE IRENE LOEB

While l was talking to a promi-
n nent business man he was called ia
the telephone and ] overheard the
following converse ton:
oh, yes. he's all right. We ex-
tend him moral credit of several
hundred dollars month. Yes, we
know, of course, that he failed, but
we understood the circumstances,
and as he had never neglected to
meet any obligations we want to help
him all we can.
mo, l can't say how much he is
worth at present, but he is honest
and won't stick you. You need have
no fear. That's the way we have
handled him."
When l asked this man what he
meant by moral" credit he an
swered:
We'll. you see, we have been in
business about forty years. (This is
! one of the oldest concerns in the city
and conducting one of the largest
businesses of it's kind in the worldD
And as we grow older we learn many
things he continued.
One thing wke learn is to be more
tolerant-especially of other mems
misfortunes. We grow mellow. as 1t
were, and grow in consideration
Now, this man that I was talking
about happens to be a very good man
who has met with unfortunate cir
cumstances. During the war his par
ticular enterprise suffered great
slump and he had to go into the
hands of receiver in order to liqui-
date his debts.
This. of course, is against a man
very often but it depends entirely on
the man himself whether he can re-
establish his credit and long expert
ence teaches us how to discriminate.
I'm this particular case the trouble
with the mans business was not en-
tirely his fault, but rather the trend
Of the times. and he was caught in
the whirlwind, as it were. Up to the
time of his embarrassment he never
failed to meet his obligations, or at
least made every effort to do so, ana
when he couldn't meet them gave us
a very good reasons why.
I'VE therefore know that his gem
| eral tendency Is to be square and
| therefore we are ready to meet him
! more than half way and help him
all we can. Every man of the husi-
| ness knows just the kind of indi-
vidual this is. and if the truth were
| known there is, perhaps, more So
called moral credit in the world than
any other kind.
And in order to get this kind OF
credit a man has just to be open and
above board-let us see that he is not
! Sinking his responsibilities and does
not want anybody else to bear them
nat Is tHe sum anu " ~
he concluded.
/ could not help wishing that many
people had heard this man rec
ommend the so-called former fail
ure" in business. and his talk with
me. The truth Is the whole world Is
built on him who can shoulder re-
sponsibility and is unwilling to lei
anybody lose on account of him.
| Moral credit" can only DE built
up by ones efforts, and when it is
developed there is no greater asset
to any human being. l have known
men Of large families who had to
| live up to every cent of their earn
! ings; yet who always could secure
credit from those who knew them be-
cause of their fine stability OF char
acter and the integrity that they MA
shown even in the very smallest mat
ters.
| 1t is not hard to. help an honest
man if you know him long enough
And no matter how humble one is ne
can at least create the right impress
sion by never falling to pay his bfils'
f'rhis he can do by not making debts
unless he can pay them.
Such a one, when misfortune over
takes him, can always secure help pc
cause his tendency to be straight mas
been founded in his time OF pros
perity.
Moral credit" is good term for
poor men, and rich men as We'll anu
Is really built on personality alone.