The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1960-03-04
DOWN
TO
EARTH
By
CARLTON
MORRIS
MOST PEOPLE WILL PAY
Editor, The Index
coiesvills. N. c.

Despite the fact that most mer4
chants have story to tell of how
first one or another of their Gus
toners have managed to owe them,
nearly all people are honest. Prac-
tically everyone intends to pay an
honest debt. Some of us just can't
seem to raise enough money to go
around. Of course there are various
classifications of customers such as
prompt, medium and slow as we'll
as very slow when it comes to pay
ing debts.
The very best place to learn
about the honesty of your neigh
bors is at a country store. We all
use credit in town and have a cut
and dried credit file with the mer-
chants and their credit associations,
but the true yardstick of mans
honesty can only be found at the
country store. Having once opera
ted one of these stores, / know
whence speak.
Everyone intends to pay all
debts, some are just slower than
others. And most people can find
more excuses to get mad with him,
than a dog has fleas. And once
mad with him, they not only re-
fuse to pay their debt which was
created when they were in the best
of humor, but refuse to spend any
cash with him. When l was in the
country merchandising game, I
invariably went around with feel
ing of guilt, and could never under
stand how l could be so nice to a
man until he got in debt to me at
which time l turned into the big
gest sinner in the community.
People will also pay up if they
need a bigger favor. l once got
bit by this writing bug and so L
decided to close my country store
forever, take my loss and try
another slow way of getting rich.
When / announced l was selling
out, almost everyone that owed me
anything, came forward and paid
up, which helped to restore my
faith in the human race to some
extent. -. -
One man owed me a small debt
and happened to be mad with me
at the time and so / took care of
his obligations to me by destroying
his bill and even went far enough
to forget all about it. Many years
ago / made bargain with myself.
/ agreed to never let the sun go
down while l was still angry with
any man. In that way / can get
mad with a lot more people be-
cause l don't have to waste much
time on any particular one. And
l sleep better.
One day a couple of years later,
this man came to me and insisted
that he pay his debt in full. He
said he didn't know how much he
owed and I had never thought of it
since the day 1 tore up his bill.
So he selected AN amount and we
settled on that and he paid it on
the spot. Since the whole thing was
surprise to me gave part of
the money back to him for / hap
pened to know that he was really
in pretty desperate circumstances
financially. During the whole cpl
sode l was wondering what had
caused him to pay up for l GER
tainly hadn't tried to collect.
AS soon as he gave me the money
and l gave it back to him, he ask
ed if would write our Congress
man and ask him to help my debt
or get a job he was trying for,
which just goes to show you that
everyone will pay if You can al
ford to wait long enough.
People have been going into debt
for many ages, even before me
chanical bookkeeping or even be
fore reading and writing. A classic
example dates back to the time
when farmers traded on credit
from one crop to the next and one
man protested long and loud when
his marchant charged him with
grind stone. He swore all up and
down that he had bought no grind
stone. So the merchant took a
closer look and decided that it must
have been a cheese as the picture
on his bookkeeping had no hole
in the center.