Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1881 — References. [ARTICLE]

References.

The name of a well known Quaker (this was at the end of the last century) was once given as a reference by a young man of good character who was just entering business. The Quaker emphatically recommended credit, but the young man almost at once fell into bad habits, neglected his business, and became insolvent. The injured creditor met the Quaker and complained that he had been deceived by his representations and thereby lost £SOO. The Quaker replied that what he had stated was then true, and he also had been deceived, but as it was on his recommendation that credit had been given he wou|d pay the debt, and then and there dia so by a check on his bankers. Now this is a very pretty little story, and the good Quaker in the then existing state of the law could not have been legally compelled to make good the loss. There is a commercial moral, however, with which all our readers may not be acquainted, and it is this: If in these days a man on being applied to for a reference makes a broad and positive statement in writing, or even verbally, that so-and-so is perfectly solvent, and that credit may be safely given, and on this declaration credit is given, the person or firm who foolishly gave so unqualified a reference is leguliy liable for the resulting loss in case of bankruptcy. Some firms on this account make a rule of refusing, under any circumstances whatever, to lend their names as references—but this seems a somewhat strained, if not cruel, proceeding. The best plan is to state honestly and fairly what is known, the amount of credit—if any—that is being given by the firm applied to, coupled with the intimation that the firm applying must use their own discretion entirely as to whether credit be given at all, as it is against rules to guarantee the commercial status of any one.