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Show OUt NATIONAL I KSi: Kvcry mil ion has iis curse. Ou.-s is tlicj overworkul credit kjsIimii as applied to the ordinary expenditures of life, and especially to the table. If every business and professional man in this community were asked as to whether he would rather sell ror cash at a considerable discount in price, or continue the credit system, sys-tem, we believe the vote would be unanimous in favor of cash and reduced re-duced profits. The credit system is a nuisance. It is a national curse a community curse, if you please. Wherever I he credit system pre vails, there you will find the usual number of slow -pays and genuine dead beats. The merchant pays for his goods, and in turn some one must pay him. lie cannot live on wind, hope or expectations. ex-pectations. It is a case of "no cash, no live." Every merchant who extends credit gets taken in by the deadheads. Hi loses not only his profits, but the cost of his goods as well. And what then does he do? Jus' what you or any other sensible per son would do raises the prices suf ficiently on his wares to protect him against stu b losses. And the mat who pays his own bills also pays thr bills of the deadbeat. If a person can pay at the end o' every thirty days it would require but little retrenchment and sacrifice to enable him to reach the poin' whore he can pay cash where hr goes. When a merchant carries your ac count he virtually ienan you n money, and this should not be. Tlu bank is the proper place for sucl transactions. By paying cash for his goods tin dealer can get a substancial discount from the wholesaler, and this discount, dis-count, coupled with the saving of the usual deadbeat losses, would makr a material reduction in the cost o' supplies. But he can hardly statu' the strain of a cash transaction himself him-self while he is extending from thirty thir-ty to ninty days credit to Dick, Tom and Harry and all of the little Harrys. Har-rys. Prices are high enough in thif community, but condition' are no worse here than they are in other sections of the country. The wai: is heard in every city and hamlet and the volume is exceeding great. "Give us relief!" is the cry. "Give yourself relief," we bhj . To a great extent the remedy is In your own hands. Some of you are wedded to tl.e mail order habit because you get a cent or two off here and there but you pay it back in the freight! Is your credit good with the mail order concern? Not in a thousand years. Do you hand over your cash before be-fore you get your goods? You bet every time and you keep what you get, whether it stings or not. You expect your home merchant, who extends you credit and carries your account indefinately, to make the same price on goods he guarantees guaran-tees that the mail order man makes on goods he does not guarantee, and for which he demands his pound of llesh in advance. Is this fair? Is it just to the home merchant, or even to yourself? Now why can't the people of this community get together with the tradesmen and inaugurate a strictly cash system In every line of business? busi-ness? Why can't we stamp out the credit curse? It is simply a breedei of high prices, in which everybodj suffers. Buying for cash would mean more goods for your money, less worry, and a better community generally. And the deadbeat would then have to pay for his keep. What say you, brother? These .olumns are open to you for reply. TUT |