Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 164, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1918 — THE CREDIT SYSTEM A CURSE TO HUMANITY [ARTICLE]

THE CREDIT SYSTEM A CURSE TO HUMANITY

Recently in an adjoining town the sheriff was offering the goods and accounts of a merchant for what he could get. The accounts amounted to $1,600 and were sold for less than $9. Why? Because they belong to that class of people who never pay an honest debt nor expect to pay one if they can help it. The prime cause of this state of things is the credit system. As the cancer i 3 to humanity so is the credit system to the business world. Politicians are quarreling about protection and free trade, but if the system of pay as you go could be impressed upon the people of this country, it would be a vaktly greater benefit than either. The credit system caters to the morbid desire of a glass of people who live beyond their means. It gives them a chance to get everything they want; not what they really want; but what they think they want: Then there is a class of people who lack moral stamina. They never pay a book account, but may pay cash when they can’t get credit. These human parasites are the cause of more real suffering than anything else under our government. The economy of nature, perfect as it is, lacks one thing—a jumping off place for dead beats.