Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
REVIEW
fflJSIC TIRADE
VOL. L V L N o . 7. Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Feb. 15,1913
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AMONG the many interesting statements made by J. Pierpont Morgan when on the witness stand
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recently in Washington w r as the one stating how he regarded the character of a man as a basis
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for credit.
...
The great financial magnate said that, to him, the character of a'man was a deciding factor in
placing of loans. '
A$ a matter of fact, is it not true that the amount of credit to be given to a man is gauged quite as
much by his character and ability as by his reputed financial worth as reported by the mercantile agencies?
- Of course, good character is a vital essential, but ability must be behind it as well, so really character
and ability seem to be the chief considerations in forming a basis for credit.
In every line of trade men frequently use a character asset as the principal factor upon which to build a
business enterprise. Disaster may come, but a man's character, if he has kept it untarnished, will be a bul-
wark of strength to him in time of trouble.
In this trade there are plenty of men who started in business with very meager financial resources, but
they had good character and that possession enabled them to get what credit they needed. As a result
they have gone on and have accomplished big things.
On the contrary, some men who have had splendid ratings have turned out to be not only incompetent
but also dishonest, and have made false reports simply to gain credit.
Under existing conditions each creditor generally determines the amount of his mercantile risks by no
definite rule or law. At any rate-, his method is not mathematical, for if it were there would be no necessity to
pay high salaries to credit men—a $10 n. week boy could handle the credit department if it were simply a
question of figures.
The policies of the credit insurance companies are based upon a table of averages, but the fact that
large claims are sometimes made under them would indicate that some link is missing.
It is the missing link—the over-expansion of the ^2]/ 2 per cent, and the incompetence of the 20^/2 per
cent.
Discussing recently the matter of credits with a mail order house which deals largely with women,
the manager told me that he credits any woman with $15 worth of merchandise, without any other guar-
antee than the fact that the woman is a resident of the place from which she writes and is known favorably.
A year's business with this house will show a primary loss of 8 per'cent, afterward reduced to 2 per
cent, by the use of legal forms of dunning letters.
Every woman is trusted for exactly the same amount, no more, and a definite, persistent average
is shown. This rule would hardly work out on the same line with men, and that leads up to the question:
Are men in business less honest than women not in business?
[ do not know how to answer the question; but I do know that character cuts a very large figure in
the granting of credits; and because that fact exists young men should feel encouraged to enter the busi-
ness field.
•They know that they have not a large amount of financial backing, yet
if they have a good, clean reputation and possess ability they will have no ., ,
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difficulty in establishing themselves in business enterprises.
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