The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-29
Dept.
 Doing Good Work To ]. Protect Investors
Saved Over S2OO,OOO for Local Citizens - Credit
 Bureau Kept Busy With Inquiries and Furnishing Pertinent Information to Members

news, marriage intentions, mar riages, births, deaths, new res-
 idents coming to Waterbury, etc,
 recorded during the year.
 A uniform application blank to
 be used by persons applying for credit was drafted and recom- mended by the bureau, and has been adopted by about 25 per cent of our members.
 In October, 1890, the bureau | recommended that each member request the signature of the pur-
 chaser on all charge slips, as a means of Identification. This plan I misrepresentation, During the year, we have added the following new members to the
 bureau: k. F. Wnorden, Justus oil company, Hotchkiss Hardware company, Southern New England Ice company, J. Johnson & Sons , Empire Loan corporation, Indus trial Loan company, Wilhelm Inc
 Steves: Bedford Silk House, Inc ! Bonwit's.
 During the same period, we have received seven resignations, all o1 which were due to a discontin- u ance of credit business and bank ruptcies.
 A four position, twelve-line or der turret board was installed dur | ing the year, which greatly facil- itates the handling of calls. We
 have also doubled our space and have added considerably to our filing system.
 The bureau has been handling adjustment cases during the year and has given serious thought to
 the establishmentof an adjustment and collection bureau, which, we hope will be in operation during tre coming year. We have had personal contact with several hun dred persons, endeavoring to ad- just their accounts, advising them on plans whereby they may clear their indebtedness and re-estab. fish their credit We believe that our work along this line has con- siderably discouraged attachments and has brought about better un- derstanding in the minds of folks toward meeting their obligations.
 May we remind you that this
 bureau is the Waterbury unit of
 the National Retail Credit associa- tion, which provides contact with over 1900 credit bureaus through out the country, contact whlch IS extremely valuable in locating skips and in securding credit infor- nation on folks moving to Water bury from other cities.
 Merchants Bureau During the year, We conducted two Dollar Days and a fall and
 spring opening, all of which, we are told, aided materially in in-
 creasing business. Through per-
 sonal contact with each merchant, we were successful in bringing about a more general observance of the summer half-holiday on Tuesday afternoon. Close to 90 per cent of those observing a holiday
 now close on Tuesday. The re- maining number close on Satur- day.
 our bureau aided in the uniform
 street decoration plan for Christ
 mas, consisting of streamers of
 colored lights along the curbing and decorations of evergreen on the poles, which was very effec- tive and created considerable in- l terest not only in Waterbury but throughout our trading area. Folks
 were so impressed with the deco
 ration last year that we contem-
 plate planning a similar decoration
 for next Christmas.
 ! Our attention is given to cases 1 of misreprese ntation in advertis- ing and selling, and we have been
 successful in correcting close to
 100 cases during the past year. 1 Through the cooperation of Su-
 perintendent Donovon, we secured ] a list of candidates for gradua-