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Show I CONFESSIONS OF A MAIL ORDER MAN The Mail Order Credit System Exposed Cheap, Shoddy Goods Sold on Credit at Three Times the Price of Ordinary Or-dinary Articles Keep Away From the Shyster Lawyer-and-Chattel-Mortgage-Game. . 8Y8TEM. II im afway my custom to state In the catalogue In several places "money cheerfully refunded." If yon are dissatisfied, how many times do you get your money back? Did you erer get It back promptly and vtthocit a straggle? , This Is my game to pretend that your money will bo returned In case you are not pleased with your pur-chace pur-chace and then, if you do send in a good hot kick you -will get a letter back asking you to select something else from the catalogue. Ton will be tired out with letters and suggestions sug-gestions aa to what you should take instead of the article you kicked on until yon finally decide to sarc any more trouble and take something else, something you dtdnt want at all. I But I suppose that really the greatest great-est joke of all is played on the people peo-ple in the small towns by my so-called so-called "credit" system. I sand you a catalogue and invite in-vite yon to buy anything you want aad to take your own time to pay for it. The literature I send out leads you to believe that I do not care for money at all I try to make you be-liere be-liere that yon are a great friend of my concern, that you are entitled to great consideration, that your wants shall be supplied with the greatest possible care and that you are reliable and entitled to credit. I -will not make any Inquiries concerning con-cerning your credit." says my literature. litera-ture. "No Questions will be asked of your neighbors, " says another paragraph. "Your neighbors and friends will never know that you are dealing with us on credit," says still another section sec-tion of my letter. But I most certainly do inquire about you. For instance: I had an outside concern that is a concern running under another name and with a separate address from the main store. This address waB the IUWUJW VA i v. u 1 1 luauagci ui lutj ui fice of my 'collection lawyer" When you write in for credit this is the way I do it. I have you sign, first oj all, a paper which is a part of the order blank and is really a legal contract, giving me power and authority author-ity to come into your home and take out, not only the things jou hae purchased pur-chased on credit from me but also every thing else. When you sign an order or-der for goods on credit you unwittingly unwitting-ly Blgn a chattel mortgage on your household property. Then, after this paper is in my possession I can swoop down on you and drag out every stick of furniture you have In the place and sell it at auction to pay the amount still due. If a bookkeeper makes an error in figures, if some clerk steals a remittance remit-tance from you, sent in to apply on your account, you have absolutely no chance to object. It is the law. Now, when you send in your order and application for credit, you must send, also for such is my rule an order and the amount specified as the first payment You expect to get the goods right away but no, there are certain cer-tain things to be done before I ship the goods. I have your money, so you must wait. Then my credit man sends a letter, written on the "fake" letterhead of my outside concern, to some of your neighbors, neigh-bors, asking them if your character is good, if you are In the habit of paying your bills, if your morals are good, how much you earn a week, etc Your order is held until answers are received re-ceived from those of your neighbors to whom the letters of inquiry were Bent. Then If the answers have been sat isf actor)', you are sent a contract to be signed by you and you must wait until this has been received by my credit department. j Tkcn the goods are ohlpped. And I , th awful prices goodness gracious I .-1 vfhtt prices charged for the very cheapest and most unreliable class of I J good. My policy is to set a price, the .VjT flr8t payment of which pays for the - t actual cost of the goods. Then all the ,1 rest is "velvet " All of the future pay. J ratnts are profit to my house. You ' j really pay for the goods, the actual I Hi value, when you send in the fir6t pay- I J mant. I won't lose anything if you I never send In another cent. j fiut think of it you must keep V'Vjj sending ia money to meet the other payments for perhaps two years so much each month. Any time you fail to nieet a monthly payment I send the papers to a local lawyer and he can tuke PBBe8on of your household 1 goods and. sail them on the street ftot'-K, Some of the goods I send you fqX-i are not worth hauling to the cars. 1 W'f.'p remember one lot of parlor furniture iT'tj that.. had a lot of damages, one of Sfi which waB a broken leg on the divan Vl'j lt ntyr could be fixed I sent that $MM ,et out erery time I could substi yj 'ute lt for another on an order ami kSjS 1 always came back. We had a loi tgagt f joking about that old crippled set IraBg parlor furniture and, well, it hat' rajfflH lot of adventures shipped that lIBrofl set to nearly every state In the Union. Mg& Whenever a customer would order a HH parlor set, and I could not get it, for Hug1 ne price, I U3ed to ship this crippled BE ?t out instead Of cour.so it came RSi Just as I kuew it would, but it Hfl icv me a chance it turn round and l 9H. kept the money In the business, of course. Another strict rule is that you must make your complaints within a certain cer-tain period of time after you have received re-ceived the goods. No matter what was Bent you, If you do not make a complaint according to the rules I have laid down, it Is all off. You have no redress. You must kcop whatever J was sent to you. I spend a big part of my expenses In the hiring of collectors and In the maintaining of a credit and collection department. Your name is kept in a card index system. A girl has charge of a certain number of cards. She works this list every so often. If you are slow pay, and keep on being slow, your card Is taken out and placed In another list and if you keep on not paying, your card is Anally placed In the list handled by the house lawyer, who corner after von with all Bnrtn rt threats. If you persist In not paying, then there are two things to do I will send the account to a local lawyer and he i will come to your house and demand the payment. But if lt Is a small ac- count I will not send it for collection but will continue to send you dun notices no-tices for months afterward. Sometimes Some-times I sold these small accounts to "shyster" lawyers for a small percentage percent-age and they collect whatever they can. They will even follow a son or a daughter with the unpaid bills of par- J ente. And the stuff you get from me isn't worth having It is the cheapest stuff Imaginable. If It Is clothing it won t Wear well and will come to pieces the first time you wear it out in the rain. If it is furniture lt will break if a heavy person sits down on it and if Its 1 hardware it is undependablo and will I never keep sharp and it probably has a flaw in it so that it will break at the first strain. It's not worth buying in the first place and it Isn't worth having after you have bought It. Don't order it in the first place. Buy from your local dealer v.ho at least will listen to our complaints and replace any article not j up to standard He keeps a more de- I pendable stock of stuff than I do. You j can rely on him. too He i an't run away or seek refuge behind letters and lies. Yes. it's the best thing to buy what ( you need of your merchant in your own home town. He is entitled to receive your business and he keeps a place in which you cau find what you require The various articles illustrated In my catalogues look good in the pic- ! tures, they are made that way to fool you. They are misrepresented In the i written descriptions and they are ' manufactured so a to cheat you In every possible manner. I You will get better value in the store of your own merchant. Think of this when you next require something. Try him out, ask him if he has lt or If he I hasn't got lt in stock if he can't order lt for you. He will be glad to do so. |