Year: 1873




s# q travelling through the country and
oonversing with farmers, I an ever more
deeply impressed with the disastrous re-
suits Of the credit system. In comparison
with the curse Of this pernicious system,
drouth and grssshoppers and wintry storms
are insignificant. It is terrible engine in
the hands Of creditors to wrench from toll
very large proportion of its earnings. 1t
reaches every part Of the country and the
humber and poorer man is, the more
helpless he is, and the more surely he be-
comes victim Of the merciless extortion
practiced under cover of the credit system.
1t comes to the poor man under the guise
of friend in need it proposes to furnish
his present wants, and kindly wait upon
him until he is able to pay therefor, but
when once its clutches are fixed upon it's
victim, rarely leaves him until he is stript
barer than the poor Samaritan.


The system, to some extent necessity,
is growing, out of the pecuniary condition
of our people, but it is also largely due to
negligence, carelessness, want of calcula-
tion, want Of thought, and above all, to a
want of union and combination on the part
of those who are most feeced and robbed
by it, Until we shall fully appreciate our
own fault in this matter, we shall look in
vain for improvement.


Let us look for moment at what the
man who has been buying upon credit has
been paying for.


The man who sells upon credit knows
that out of every one hundred debts he
makes there will be some poor ones, and he
must therefore add enough to his prices so
that those who do pay will give him as
much return as if the whole number had
paid without such addition to prices. In
other words the good debtor must pay for
the poor debtors machines. But the cred
itor does not know how many poor debts
there will be and, in his efforts to be sure
to cover them, he will be very apt to add
more than enough. He will be very likely
to feel quite liberal in this matter


Again, the creditor knows that but few
Of these debts will be paid when due, and
there will be dunning letters to write, and
he must employ man to write them, and
there must be an Office to write them in,
and there must be books kept. Here will
be expenses for postage, paper, envelopes,
Office and clerk hire, and all this must be
added to the price list.


Still further, he knows that after writ
ing half dozen dunning letters each to
some of that number, still there will be a
large proportion unpaid, and he must send
a collector to see them. Here will be wa
ges of collector, team hire, and travelling
expenses. all to be tucked on to the prices.


But after all this, there are still a num-
ber unpaid. and he must employ lawyer.
Suits will be commenced, some of the debts
will stand out, and litigation. follows.
Here will be loss Of time in attending upon
court, expenses in going and coming, and
while staying there: lawyers fees, witness
fees. and fees for dispositions, and all this
must be added to the price, and paid by the
men who meet their demands when due.
Does any one suppose that all this amounts
to much short Of fifty per cent. on the real
value Of the article sold?


But this is not the whole of it. The
creditors know very well that men will use
their credit recklessly, while these same
men would be cautious and careful in using
cash if they had it. Men will agree to pay
5000 for q machine on time, when they
wouldn't pay 500 in cash for the same
machine if they had the money in their
pockets. A man will think several times
before he puts his hand down in his pocket
and pulls out his money, where he wouldn't
think once before using his credit for twice
the sum. Manufacturers and indeed all
other creditors take advantage of this fact,
and tuck on the prices accordingly. Well,
who is to blame? Is not the man who al
lows himself to be gulled quite as culpable
as the other? A man has no more right to
cheat himself, or allow himself to be cheat
ed, than he has to cheat another.


find that many Of the farmers are be-
ginning to look at these matters in their
true light, but there are by far too many
who are content to let these things take
their own course, and never bother their
heads about it until the day Of reckoning
comes, and then they rage about robbers,