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Show Let's Have a Pay -Up Week! Mr. Roger Babson's statement for the month of March is interesting and enlightening to say the least. We all take pride in doing certain things and I in doing them well. But, altogether too few people take pride in paying their bills promptly, and this one duty, faithfully and promptly performed, per-formed, would be a tremendous impulse im-pulse to better business. The report is reproduced in full: '- I have before me Bradstreet's report j on collection conditions in 40 leading ' cities in the United States and Canada. Cana-da. In only two of those 40 cities collections are reported good. In 17 cities they are shown as slow or poor. Moreover, reports coming to me from smaller cities and towns thruout the country show about the same unsatisfactory unsat-isfactory credit situation. : Why is it so hard for manufacturers manufactur-ers and merchants to collect their just debts when business is generally active, ac-tive, wages and employment good, and purchasng power greater than ever? This problem calls for sonr: serious thinking! Changed attitude Toward Debts I believe there are several reasons for slow collections. The most fundamental fund-amental of them, however, is the relaxed re-laxed sense of duty and obligation toward debt which is so common today. to-day. Our forefathers regarded e just debt as something to be attended to immediately if they were to keep their self respect and the repect of the communty. Now-a-days no such attitude exists. . We need to return to some of the old fashioned ideas of the men who founded this country and built it up. The instalment idea has been a considerable con-siderable factor in changing the atti tude of the public on the matter of owing money. Where it was ones . considered very questionable to buy things when you did not have the money on hand to pay for them it is now considered quite the thing to do. This tends to break down the old prejudice against owing money, and this new attitude spreads toward all kinds of debts. A sharp distinction, towever, should be made between money due on instalment purchases and money due the grocer, landlord or doctor. In the case of instalment purchase" the purchaser is paying interest and recompense for the financing of his debt, the same as one would pay interest in-terest to his bank when receiving i loan. On the other hand, in the case of the grocer and the landlord they are financing the purchaser without any interest or recompense whatever. Instalment purchasing, is therefore on a just business basis, whereas going into debt to the grocer or landlord cannot be considered good ethics or good business. Much has been said both for and against instalment sales. Personal observtion convinces me that instalment instal-ment buying is here to stay. We must not, therefore, abuse the advantages which it offers by thinking that we can pay all our bills the grocer, landlord land-lord and doctor by the deferred payment plan. Rapid Money Turnover Essential This matter of slow collections is a vital one to the continuation of general gen-eral business prosperity, entirely a- side from the losses and inconvenience inconven-ience which it causes individaul business busi-ness men. The only way to keep business good is to keep money circulating cir-culating rapidly. It is not so much the amount of money in the country that helps business, it is the speed of the turnover. The great difference between good and dull business conditions condi-tions is the rate at which money changes hands. One dollar spent twice develoips the same amount of business as two dollars spent once. Apparently, however, neither the public nor the business men realize that fact. The prevailing idea seems to be to hold on to your cash balance and let the bills go. I am not speaking speak-ing of any particular locality or any particular line of business. Ease Money Conditions We are in a period of stiff money rates. The federal reserve's recent warning against loaning for speculation specula-tion was based on fear that the high rates if they continue, may seriously hamper business and industrial activity. ac-tivity. Reduction of the amount of money employed in the stock market would ease the situation, to be sure. Few of us realize, however, that slow collections have a similar effect to the stock market in reducing the workable work-able supply of money for business. When collections slow down 25 per cent, that is exactly the same as sending send-ing one-quarter of the money out of the country. t)n the other hand if checks were mailed this week for even ev-en 20 per cent of the unpaid bills over ten days old, that would be equivalent equiva-lent to increasing the amount of workable money for business purposes purpos-es at least $1,000,000,000. Therefore, i if we want to keep business in a ; healthy, strong condition we must oaph inrliviHii.nllv rin whflh Wfi p.nn t.n keep money circulating; and the best way to do that is to pay all bills promptly. Losses Severe Burden There is, of course, a vast difference differ-ence between slow collections and bad debts. The majority of accounts now past due are pr.od for payment sooner soon-er or later. However, the loss :s suffered suf-fered from really bad debts are altogether alto-gether too lav.ye. Careless credit granting is responsible for many ol them. In the present mad rush for larger volume of sales, credit safeguards safe-guards are often iginaed. The result is that losses averaging over $2.00.000 every working day art experienced by manufacturers snd merchants in the United States. Ciedit losses in the past ten years have totaled iucund $4,700,000,000. Losses from bad debts are twice as great as the total fire losses in this country. Moreover, the fire loss figures fig-ures includes all kinds of property, and not only business property. The policy of making sales at any cost is swelling business failure records. 'Pay Your Bills Week!" The time to push collections is now when conditions are generally prosperous pros-perous and wages are high. We have had different ' weeks ' set apart for various good causes such as "Fire Prevention Pre-vention Week," "Safety Week," etc. I think it would be a fine thing if we could have a "Pay Your Bills Week." If properly advertised and "put over" it would prove a tremendous help to business. Graduation For L.DcS. Seminary North Sanpete L. D. S. Seminary graduating exercises will be held in the Scuth ward, chapel Sunday, May 5 at 8 p. m. with A. H. Anderson, instructor,- in charge. Following is the program: Singing, "True to the Faith" class Invocation Eugene Peterson. Talk, "The Value of Religious Education" Edu-cation" Miss Margaret Peel. Reading Mabel Johansen. Selection N. S. H. S. orchestra. Talk, "Repentance" Melvin Cox. "Story of Ruth" Reese Anderson. "Our lives and what we should make of them Louise Fowles. Vocal solo Mnss Alice Peel. Trombone solo Faril Madsen. Address President James L. Nielson Niel-son of Fountain Green. Presentation of graduates A. H. Anderson. Awarding of diplomas Pres. S. M. j Nielsen. j Benediction Vernon Christensen. I Tho graduates are: Kieth Allred i Reese Anderson. Melvin Cox, Vernon .Christensen, Louise Fowles, Kathryn Fowles, Bernitta Frandsen, Shilah 'Gundcrson, Pearl Hafen, Ray I. Johansen. Jo-hansen. Mabel Johansen. Edna Jensen, Jen-sen, Elda Lund, Viola Madsen, Farril i Madsen, Leoan Madsen, Ina Madsen, , Helen Madsen. Louise Matson, Sina : Neilsen. Nina Neilsen, Moyle Mills. 'Margaret Peel, Lyman Peterson. Eugene Peterson, Blanche Rosenlof , Clara Reynolds, Esther Rasmussen. Christie Pvasmussen. Lucile Stewart, VanNoy Stewart, Clyde Stewart, Que Seely, Alice Seely, Anna Sorenson, Jo.y Winkelman. |