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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.