There are committees on Membership, Legislation, Business Literature, Mercantile Agency Service, Credit Department Methods, Credit Cooperation, Adjustment Bureau, Investigation and Prosecution, Fire Insurance, Bankruptcy Law, Federal Incorporation Laws and Commercial Arbitration.

Campaigns of Education.-Each of these committees has been active in accomplishing the work which it was intended to do. Only a few examples may be cited here. The Bankruptcy Law Bureau has to its credit several administrative reforms. The attitude of the National Association of Credit Men may perhaps be most accurately expressed by quoting from the report of the Bankruptcy Law Committee, through the National Convention of the Association, in 1924, as follows:

It is well, in the opinion of your Bankruptcy Law Committee, to mention at the outset of this report what should already be well known, namely that the enactment and maintenance of a National Bankruptcy Act was one of the Association's first policies, made necessary by the unsettled condition of credits and the uncertainties of creditors' rights under the old system of state insolvency laws. Coincident with the passage of the National Bankruptcy Act was the beginning of our active commercial expansion-an expansion that may be ascribed in large measure to certain fundamental principles of the Act ensuring equality of rights and the stability of credit.

Since 1898, when the Act was passed, your association has never changed its faith in the necessity of a Federal Bankruptcy Law, or its conviction that a reversion of state insolvency systems would result in turmoil and a scramble for priorities. We have considered ourselves the natural sponsors of the law. We have defended it against attacks in and out of Congress, and in two notable instances, in 1903 and 1910, we were largely instrumental in obtaining needed amendments to the law.

The Association, through this Bureau, has recently laid special emphasis upon this law throughout the country, real

izing as it does the necessity for such uniform action in eliminating credit abuses. The Association, through this Bureau, opposes excessive costs in bankruptcy proceedings and is working for more prompt obedience to referees' orders, speedier election of trustees, earlier payments of dividends and the elimination of such other unlawful practices as have arisen. Business men are only beginning to realize that sound fire insurance is at the very foundation of the credit system and that the tremendous annual waste of created resources by fire is burning the nation's commerce. Through the help of the National Association of Credit Men, banks and business men have been able to deal definitely with these problems. The retailer is shown the value of carrying enough sound insurance and is shown how excessive fire losses raise premium rates. The Association urges its members to adopt the plan of having their plants inspected periodically. Not only has the Association talked fire insurance, but it has gone to State Legislatures and urged fire marshal laws. The advertising matter sent out in the form of a leaflet, "Burning Subjects," has been a very effective means of presenting the subject to the public. The Committee on Fire Insurance and Fire Prevention has been instrumental in preventing many fires through fire prevention campaigns, and in emphasizing to the merchants the need of carrying adequate insurance to protect themselves and their creditors.

Service through the Adjustment Bureau of the National Association is given to debtors who are temporarily embarrassed and insolvencies are handled at cost. It is the duty of this Bureau to make investigations where losses appear imminent. Creditors are given the opportunity to take care of their own interests and to watch every detail of the expense of liquidation. By maintaining the support and loyalty of all the membership, the Bureau is able to do very effective work. "Friendly adjustments" is its slogan.

Association Publications. The principal publication of the National Association, and the chief medium through which information of Association activities is conveyed to the members is the Association Magazine, the "Credit Monthly." This monthly carries the news of the activities of various local associations, important programs of the National Association, and articles on timely business topics in which the credit man is interested. Each member receives copies of Association leaflets and a series of sample credit department blanks suggested to encourage uniformity in recording credit information. These printed standard forms and credit inquiry blanks may be obtained from the Association at cost.

Besides the monthly literature, leaflets, and credit forms, the Association issues special literature of great interest to the credit man. These special leaflets cover such topics as:

1. The Strain Imposed by the Abuse of Sales Terms.

2. The Proper Calculation of Profits by the Retailer.

3. The Influence on Your Credit Standing of Promptness Handling Correspondence.

4. The Inventory, the Compass of a Business.

The business men of earlier days were not at all convinced that a national association of credit men would be a desirable thing. It was felt by many that credit information was of such a nature that it could not be passed from hand to hand except through private agencies. It was also felt by the mercantile agencies that such an association might develop into a reporting organization which would possibly displace them and make them less important in the present economic organization. Many retailers thought that such an association would tend to standardize credit in a way that would prevent them from buying goods on the best possible terms. The echoes of these arguments are still faintly heard, but they are gradu

ally dying away with the multiplication of evidence to the constructive value of such an association.

REFERENCES

Hagerty, James Edward. Mercantile Credit, Chap. XIV.

Hallman, J. W. Organizing the Credit Department, Chap. V.

CHAPTER XI

MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The Salesman.-With the development of big business and the extension of the territory served by the individual firm, the salesman becomes more and more important as a source of credit information. In many cases the salesman is the one personal representative of the house; he is the man who knows the customer personally, and whom the customer knows as the house representative. In cases where the credit man is unable to make personal contacts, this duty is devolving upon the salesman. It is easy to see that cooperation between the credit department and the sales department is absolutely essential to the success of a firm.

There is a diversity of opinion as to just how much satisfactory information can be secured from a salesman, but all believe that it is desirable to use the salesman more definitely in credit work.

The salesman can obtain certain kinds of information obtainable in almost no other way. He visits his customer's place of business under almost all circumstances. The general appearance of the store, bookkeeping systems, furniture and fixtures, window displays, the meeting of customers, all reflect the merchant's business ability. The salesman can tell from the stock of goods on the shelves what other firms are doing business with this merchant; what judgment the merchant shows in his buying; whether he drinks, gambles, or speculates; whether he is highly regarded in his community.

Every credit department must secure this information from some source. A salesman who enjoys the proper relations with the credit manager can often serve his house in this very