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Show LOW PRICES THE RESULT OF LOOSE CREDITS. The resson why it is so difficult to maintain remunerative prices is that credit is so easily obtained, and there is so much more business done on credit than could be supported by cash reserves. Business men may organize and combine and fix prices to the end of time, but so long as credit is so easily had irresponsible manufacturers will go beyond their limits. The true remedy and the true protection consists in limiting credit to correspond to capital, or rather to bear a closer correspondence correspond-ence to capital than is generally borne. But while this statement is true in a broad sense, it is not applicable ap-plicable at all times and to all cases' for the reason that well capitalized concerns sometimes fail, only because be-cause they cannot collect fast enough. But- even in cases like these their inability to collect is due to the fact that other manufacturers who went beyond their legitimate means overcrowded the market in times when the market would not take supplies as fast as it had been accustomed to. Analyzed to its ultimates, however, low and unre-munerative unre-munerative prices can be generally ascribed to loose credits. Loose credits are due to the anxiety to do the greatest possible amount of business. bus-iness. Against this willingness to give credit and take risks, what protection pro-tection is there? Perhaps in the long run it is well that there is substantially sub-stantially no protection, for the reason that this over competition I makes prices lower for all buyers. |