The Coconino sun., 1926-04-23
WHAT FAVORS DO YOU GET
FROM MAIL ORDER HOUSES


or nine-tenths, or some such big pro-
portion-the exact figures do not
matter-of the business of the world
is done on credit. If this was not
! true there wouldn't be much business
done for no currency system could be
1 devised that would furnish enough
money to meet the needs Of commerce
| if every article sold had to be paid
! for in actual cash. The amount Of
money in circulation in the United
States is only SAT per capita and this
would not go very far if everyone had
! to keep enough cash on hand to pay
for all that he might buy.
The greatest of financiers need
credit They keep their resources
employed and at times are in need of
ready cash. The same thing is true
| at times of men of smaller means.
The credit system, as it is used some
/ times, especially in the smaller COM
munities, is abused and works ser
4 ious hardship upon the business men
/ of the town. Some merchants, to
avoid the loss that results from such
abuse of the system or possibly to
enable them to sell goods at a lower
price than their competitors, operate
+! strictly on a cash basis, but the great
majority of merchants in every COM
munity give those customers who are
responsible and honest the privilege
! of a charge account and the chances
are that some sort of credit system,
properly safeguarded, will always
continue to be a feature of legitimate
trade.
Ask Catalogue House For Credit
You who have reputation in
! your community for being at least
fairly responsible and upright know
that when you desire it or need it
/ you can obtain credit from at least
some Of the merchants in your town.
But some time when you are in need
of some article Of merchandise and
are little short of ready money, or
der what you want from a mail order
house in Chicago or some other city
and ask them to please charge it till
the first of the month. The expert
ment will be interesting, at least, and
the answer that you receive may
cause you to give little thought to
/ the difference between trading with
the mail order house in some far-off
city and buying from the merchants
in your own home town.
Some mail order concerns are now
operating a so-called credit system,
4 but it is not credit system such as
is maintained by most retail mer-
chants. These mail order houses sell
certain merchandise on the install
ment plan, but they not only demand
an initial cash payment, but require
operates as a mortgage not only on
the merchandise purchased, but upon
any other property that the customer
may possess. There is nothing in
this system that bears any similarity
to the open credit system that is used
by the majority of retail merchants.
There are some other requests you
might make of the mail order man
when the occasion arises and the re-
sponses might be equally interesting.
4 For instance, you, Mrs. Farmer, who
/ bought that box of groceries from the
catalogue house last month, might
write the manager and ask him to
buy your butter and eggs Of course,
it would be considerable more trouble
to pack them for shipment to the city
than it is to take them in to your local
grocer, who is always ready to pay
you the market price for them, but
then maybe the mail order man would
pay you enough more than the mar
ket price to pay you for the extra
trouble. And then again, maybe he
wouldn't.
And, then, there is that moving
1 machine that you, Mr.. Farmer, have
been figuring on trading in for
new machine Suppose you write to
the mail order man from whom you
bought that wire fencing and ask him
what he will allow you for your old
machine on a trade for a new one. Of
course, the local hardware dealer in
the town where you find a market for
your farm products will allow you a
fair price for your old machine, but
what's the use of asking him to do it +?
The mail order man surely will be
glad to do that much for you, will he
not? Yes, he will not.
I List Is Endless
There are good many things the
mail order man will not do for you
The list would be too long to crowd
into one issue of a newspaper. He
will not give you credit however
much you may need it, He viii not
buy the farmers produce. He will not
pay dollar of taxes to help support
your schools or build your roads. He
! will not contribute cent to the sup
port of your churches or your chari-
table institutions. He will not lend
you helping hand in time of trouble.
/ The local merchants in COM
munity will do everything for the peo
pie in that community that the mail
order man will not do for them This
fact should make it easy for the peo-
pie of the community to decide which