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Show Mf i i i i 'win. iMt ,jpnmt impwh'ipw iMt-marwmmrwemmi'wmim.-irrmrmimTW&mmmmmmvmWmMmmi9mptmmBtf I CREDIT THE FRIEND OR T" I ' ENEMY OF EVERYONE H By J. H. Trogoo, Socrotnry National Association Credit Mon H "Woto 1 to bo asked what featuro of J nodal llfo wax Ionst understood, I should unhesitatingly say, Credit. Tho H happiness and tho prosperity of all our H pcopto are nftootcd by credit, and yot J too few of us know what it Is and j how U should bo used. B When an artlclo of dross or tho food- H stuffs and supplies for a heme aro not H paid for wbon bought and It Is agreed M that thoy shall bo paid for at some H futuro tlmo, then a credit transaction H has boon entered Into. What this trans- action Implies and how It affects tho wolfnro of tho buyer and Boiler aro seldom considered. Along big lines, tho buslnOBs of tho Nation has BUffor-cd BUffor-cd a number of rolapsos and moroly because crodlt was not properly used. Tho Intorosts of mon bocamo vory tonso In somo kinds of commodltlos, in teal estate perhaps, or In securities. Ilollevlng that chances favor making good prollts, thoy would buy largely on credit and either thru rapid shrinkage In valuo or from other cuuses, finding thomsolves unable to redeem tho promlso of payment, thoy would dcfnult on tho obligation and when this occurrenco Is duplicated many tlmos dlsturbnncos or panics occur. No ono should over oak or bo given credit who does not know what It Is and how the confidence Implied in tho crodlt extended should bo protected. Uuylng on more chnnco with tho hopo that somothlng may nrlso to help the buyer moot tho obligation Is a vory poor way of handling crodlt and fro-uuontly fro-uuontly loads to dofault and failure Credit and Value Inseparable. Credit Isn't something that can bo manufactured. Bvory commodity possesses pos-sesses Inhorontly tho power of creating' creat-ing' a crodlt. Tho pair of shoes bought by an Individual, or a largo lino of goods bought by a merchant, possess In thomsolves tho inhoront ability of crontlng a crodlt transaction. Tho rollt ihiw created is not Hsolf a valuo, yet It rollocts tho valuo of tha pair of shoos or tho commodities bought. Crodlt, thoreforo, can novor bo sop-nratod sop-nratod from value. It must havo an underlying valuo to bo n real credit. Whon the, commodity which created tho credit Is consumed, tho credit should bo oxtlngulshod. To havo tho credit llvo longer than tho llfo of the commodity, creates a situation which mnkoB tho position of the crodlt ox-tromely ox-tromely dangerous, and this Is what wo technically cull a credit Inflation. It snomu so porfoctly slmplo for pooplo to buy anything thoy want oltlior for personnl or homo consumption or for their business, upon moroly saying. "I will pay you nt such and such a tlmo." Should tho commodities bought bo transferred to tho buyer on this slmplo promlso of payment, Just a moment's reflection will show what n delicate operation It Is, and how much conlld enco has boon expressed by tho seller. Iiocauso of our ignornnco, credtt has been roundly nbusod. Tho Individual has bought without considering tho payment, Tho merchant has bought without a reckoning of tho contingencies conting-encies that might arlso In tho handling hand-ling of tho goods bought and because of this condition, nnd as wo havo not thot enough on tho subject, tho defaults de-faults and failures mako an nggregato each yoar of many millions of dollars. Certain Kinds of Credit Unsafe. Tho principles of credit, its proper uses nnd tho case with which It may bo abused, load us to bollovo that crodlt should nolther bo asked nor glvon for artlclci which will immediately immedi-ately bo consumod. Tho pass book for tho cornor grocery, tho freedom with which crodit is granted for homo supplies of all kinds, represents a typo of crodlt which la not at all Bate and which ought to bo curtailed. Boar In mind that credit touches tha llfo of ovory man and woman in tho nation. Tho fluency of crodlt has moro to do with tho prosperity of buslnoss and consequently with tho prosperity of tho pooplo than any otlior featuro, not excepting monoy. Clogging crodlt channels loads to buslnoss dopresston; kooplng crodlt channels trco accelor-atOB accelor-atOB business. What wo havo passed thru In recent months is nothing more .nan a reaction from roundly abused credit. tie-irlng to make this briuf artlclo x eiouidntary as tho subject will al-w, al-w, 1 will not enter Into tha moro in-ncato in-ncato tecimlauo of crodlt; but the mador will understand that overy timo icnlldonco has boon reposod In him, thru the extension of a credit, ho has assumed a certain obligation. To default de-fault In this obligation affects the wealth and tho wolfnro of tho entire .tatlon. It will Boom strange, no doubt, for tho reador to appreciate that defaulting on an obligation for a small purchaso has proved a public misfortune Dut suppose, for a moment, that each ono of many thousands thou-sands of Individuals were to take from a roBcrvoIr a small amount of water 3ach day and not roplace It; some tlmo the resorvolr will bo deplotod and the pooplo will suffer from tho exhaustion of tho supply. So it Is with crodlt. Every tlmo an obligation is dofaultod upon, thoro has een created a decrcaso to Just that extent In tho contents of tho crodlt reservoir It cannot bo ropluced. It continues. And the sum total of such defaults In tho courso of years may 'nURO exhaustion. It would como ipeedlly and disastrously at tlmos, wero not commodltlos produced which becomo tho foundation of othor credit. Credit as Vital as Life Itself. Just as wo should study to uso our body profitably and presorvo It from Ills, Just as we carofully guard tho air wo breathe and presorvo It against "ontnmlnatlon, so wo should proserve our crodlt nnd savo It from abuses. Thoreforo I hopo that whonover a imnll artlclo or a numbor of commodities commod-ities aro bought on credit terms, it will becomo habitual for tho buyer to rolloct on those two things: Shall I bo ablo to pay? and, Shall I bo willing to pay? Tho confidence of tho seller n tho buyer is founded on tho belief that tho material and moral obligations vlll bo moL Wo havo Indeod a great deal to loarn about crodlt: much that Is per-"ectly per-"ectly elementary must bo told about It; and I long for tho timo to come vhen tho youths of tho land shall bo taught crodlt principles beforo thoy "iave reached maturity nnd before 'heir individual or commorclal buying habits bocamo flxod. |
