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Today we wish to tell our readers
some important facts about CREDIT.
From the earliest formative period of
COMMERCE, POLITICAL ECONO
MISTS have wrangled, and clashed, and
differed about the FUNCTIONS OF
CREDIT. It has been a brand of discord,
the vexed issue, the casus belli.
The keenest, most analytic intellects
have raised more rows, and rackets, and
rumpuses—have met in more open rup
tures and engaged in more jarring contro
versial scrimmages concerning this one
subject than any other that affects BUSI
NESS.
We have heard men claim that their
“CREDIT IS THEIR CAPITAL.” They
are victims of a foolish self-deception.
The extension of CREDIT can never
be the equivalent of the creation of CAP-,
ITAL.
If your prosperity is increased by bor
rowing money or by buying goods on cred- ,
it, the man who lends or sells finds that
bis means of production are correspond
ingly DIMINISHED.
The SAME sum cannot be used as
CAPITAL bv TWO persons.
CREDIT has no creative capacity, but
it does have purchasing power 1 * It is
based on confidence.
Our policy, as RETAILERS, is to bor
row money and pay CASH for merchan
dise. That’s because MONEY costs us
less than we have to pay for CREDIT-.-
• The quantity of mir own money nat
urally increases as .our volume of sales
rises. It looks like the time is approach
ing when we will be in a position to make
' purchases on a strictly CASH basis, with 1
out the necessity of asking some one to
lend us money. This will save us interest
expenses.
It may surprise you to know that
fully TWO-THIRDS of the goods we sell
are sold on CREDIT.
A system involving such heavy re
sponsibilities demands the most rigid vig
ilance. A slipshod policy would be ruin
ous.’ . {
. i With but slight effort it would be pos:
slble fhr us to extend our credit business
twb or 'three hundred thousand dollars
%raater a year than it is now. i However,
to accomplish .this SAFELY is not such an
■ easy task. ■ Were we to incautiously urge
people to buy beyond the limits of their
means—giving them indiscriminate and
unrestricted CREDIT as an inducement,
we could probably double our present
output. But such a method would subject
•hundreds of people to embarrassment and
humiliation and end in wrecking the busi
ness. Prodigality is a sin and has its cer
tain punishments. The frugal, judicious
Customer is not only a benefactor to him
self, but to the store, as well.
Straining your CREDIT is miscon
duct. We discourage the practice for your
sake and our own.
You may claim that we have nothing
whatever to do with the extravagance of
the individual. And we haven’t—UN
LESS THE EFFORT BE MADE TO
CONSUME OUR CAPITAL IN A PRI
VATE SPLURGE. To allow it would be
a fatal error of administration. You,
&
would deprive us. of proper machinery for
the economical operation of the store and
at the same time prepare a pit for your
self.
Bankruptcy is perhaps the greatest
and most mortifying calamity that can
befall an innocent man. A renowned po
litical economist says: “The large mass
of men, therefore, are sufficiently careful
to avoid it. Some indeed do not avoid
it; as some do not avoid the gallows.”
The question arises: Is the dealer
innocent who coaxes a customer into finan
cial water above his head?
We hardly think so. In our opinion
he is culpable, because in a mercenary
spirit he invites a customer to chance
trouble and distress.
Claiming IGNORANCE is no justifi
cation. There are effectual expedients for
ascertaining any applicant’s moral and
financial standing. Such sources of in
formation should be consulted in every
ease of doubt.
Some merchants crudely affirm that
they invariably insist on customers having
their purchases charged, in the candid
hope or belief that they will buy larger
quantities on credit than they would if
they dealt on a cash standard. Such a
view is low and selfish.
We have nearly FIFTEEN THOU
SAND CHARGE ACCOUNTS. No dis
tinction is made. Each man or woman
who ’has a Bill here is represented by a
number. All are accorded the same cour
tesy and consideration, and subject to the
same rules that control -collections.
One customer is permitted to have
twenty dollars worth of goods charged.
Her income satisfies us that she can meet
an obligation of that size without in
curring hardship.
Another customer is given carte
blanche.
But when the day of settlement comes,
we are not fawning and cringing to one
and insolent or blustering to the other.
That course would not be just or fair.
The one who has spent twenty dollars
with us has probably given us all his or
her patronage. Such preference should
be, and is, entitled to the same quality of
appreciation that is rendered to the cus
tomer whose circumstances and neces
sities justify larger expenditures. We are
obliging and concessional to both to the
limit of SAFETY. More than that no
one can reasonably expect.
We could easily lose thousands of dol
lars every year by giving CREDIT care
lessly. \
It would not be difficult to increase
our sales tremendously by cajoling people
mto buying more liberallj- when the goods
are to be charged. ^
OUR LOSSES ARE INFINITESI
MAL.
THE BUSINESS GROWS STEAD
ILY.
There are the two proofs of your sa
gacity and intelligence.
The stream of money constantly run
ning FROM this store must not be larger
than the stream that flows INTO it. And
, since two-thirds of our business is done on
CONFIDENCE instead of CASH, it is
obvious that we must exercise judgment
and discretion in the management of the
collection department. We do this in the
same spirit that every conservative and
successful bank does.
We find it practical and pleasant to
. give accommodations to anyone whose
record indicates' that the obligations as
sumed in the past have been met with fair
promptness. However, since we charge
about a million dollars’ worth of goods a
year—and could easily charge much more
—we are compelled to insist on sound
methods, otherwise oiu 1 business would
languish for the want of money.
It may appeal to your vanity for a
retailer to urge you “to buy as much as
you wish and pay whenever you get.
ready.” There is an irresistible ring of
seductive - flattery in that broad, general
invitation.
No bank takes that attitude even
when dealing with its richest and most
important patron. Nor can wt do it with
out exposing ourselves to certain danger.
This store has already become one of
the. largest in the South. We are planning
to , make it FIRST in respect to magni
tude; variety, comprehensiveness and di :
versitv of stocks, and convenience .to the
public. With such an ambition, we can
not distribute our capital where it will
lie idle and rusty. Every dollar must be
industriously employed.
Our expansion means prosperity to
factories and shops, . independence for
hundreds of productive store workers,
economy for YOU.
When the payment of small bills—
but collectively representing hundreds of
thousands of dollars—are , deferred—the
consequence to the merchant may be se
rious enough to necessitate the appoint
ment of a receiver.
The purpose of CREDIT is to in
crease the productive power of money and
when regulated judiciously it is of enor
mous value to buyer and seller alike. If
you have basis for CREDIT we are glad to
charge your purchases and send you a
.bill on the first of each month. But, of
course, we expect you to remit promptly
after the statement of items has been re
ceived.
Our permanent and progressive suc
cess depends upon our serving you sin
cerely. Our practical and conservative
methods of store management are not in
tended to appeal to your sense of display.
They are meant to accord with your ideas
of economy. We are exact concerning fig
ures and descriptions. The system that
unites the advertising with the merchan
dise has been reduced to n science. Errors
are almost impossible. Over-statement
has no temptation. TRUTH IS STRONG
ENOUGH. W e can’t formulate sentences
to get the real facts of our offerings fairly
before the public. Confidence is the knot
between you and us. We never misrepre
sent. You never question. No glamour
about our statements. We never buy
trash. Therefore, we never sell trash. The
prices and qualities of our goods make
them desirable. THEREFORE, WE AL
WAYS TAKE BACK ANYTHING
THAT DOES NOT THOROUGHLY
SATISFY, EXCEPT HATS, BEDS,
TOOTH AND HAIR BRUSHES. Our
trade motives are high, our prices are
low, our merchandise is always as good
or better than we say.
We claim your patronage on the fore
going arguments.
You are daily according it liberally.
From personal observation made
without bias, we believe this is the busiest
store in Atlanta. That conviction does
more than merely gratify us. It acts as
a spur to drive our energies. Apprecia
tion of intelligent effort is a prod. The
trade movements that rise here, broaden
and deepen through the power of the hu
man interest they involve.
A two-sided obligation gives impulse
to present activity.
FIRST: We have a contract, implied,
but none the less clear and binding, to
supply the needs of our customers as fast
as they develop, IN SEASON AND OUT
OF SEASON.
SECOND: We have a contract, mor
al, but none the less definite and stringent,
to give employment to hundreds of faith
ful men and women ALL the year round.
PERSISTENCE is a gift. The ro
mance that clusters about many a great
career is often no romance at all. Analyze
it. The beginning was sterile and arid,
- hard and gloomy. There’s nothing fanci
ful in drudgery. You can trace no love
liness in a mill-wheel until AFTER it be
gins to grind the grain. We start in a
' coirimonplace way to “make a living.”
Practical, persevering, lasting energies—
sheer physical and mental endurance—
PERSISTENCE—the long pole that
brought down the highest plum.
Each arching rainbow that gives ra
diant light to man’s imagination yields the
bag of gold, that legend dangles at its
end, TO HIM WHO PERSISTS.
Persistence changes a fair, soft palm
into steel that granite can not resist. It’s
the persistence of the drop of water that
wears away the stone.
It isn’t always easy to hold firm to a
policy that has been formed. Nearly all
our rules were made to protect your in
terest. Some are flexible—have to be;
others, are elastic.
We try to please.
You’ll not accuse us of indelicacy
when we sav that ninety-nine customers
out of a hundred have only praise for us.
The hundredth may hold an indictment
against us.
We art aiming to lift the store up to
a standard so perfect that the charge will
be quashed.
_Wc are doing what we can to hnake
the science of store-keeping less crude. In
CHINA, people take their own scales and
yardsticks with them when they go shop
ping. In JERUSALEM you are almost
sure to be cheated if your attention is di
verted from the clerk for the fraction of a
moment. The stores in the cities of
ASIATIC EUROPE thrive on the cre
dulity of the careless and ignorant. The
successful merchants of the old nations
would be astounded at our standards—
and meet them with a lingual shrug.
There are other changes going on
here—innovations that touch the eeonomio
interest of the public. You are to read
about them.