On the reverse side of this form the local correspondents are asked to add names of dealers in their district not already quoted in the printed list submitted, citing all the particulars relating to their credit standing, including age, marital status, kind of business, antecedents, estimated net worth and of what composed, and other details in regard to their character, business ability, and the like (see Fig. 17).

In large cities reporters are usually assigned definite lines of trade, so as to enable them in time to become experts along their respective lines and thereby inspire confidence in the business men they call upon for more or less confidential information. The reporters are required to serve an apprenticeship in the office, and must be experienced, keen, and conscientious.

2. Traveling Reporters.-Traveling reporters visit every locality several times a year, each covering his particular territory. Merchants are called upon, financial statements secured, and references obtained and verified. Traveling representatives are often called upon to submit reports for the purpose of comparison with those obtained through the local correspondents, as a test of the effectiveness of the latter's work. Traveling reporters are required by the Dun agency to check at least twice per annum on the trade opinions, and to make a complete inquiry as to all points bearing upon the credit standing of each name a similar number of times. In spite of all care exercised in gathering information for the substance of the reports, errors frequently creep in, and it is therefore advisable to supplement the data thus secured with information obtainable from other sources wherever possible.

3. Special Correspondents in County Recorders' Offices.Some person is generally employed in every county recorder's office whose duty it is to keep the agency informed of all deeds, suits, mortgages, and similar instruments filed, which are likely to affect anyone engaged in business, by sending in daily memoranda to that effect. These correspondents are usually clerks regularly employed in these offices, who for an extra compensation render the aforementioned services to the agency.

4. General Reporters.-General reporters are agency representatives circulating among business men, particularly in the financial districts, with a view toward securing information concerning general business conditions, trends and movements,

and searching principally for material for the magazines published by the agency.

FUNCTIONS OF GENERAL AGENCIES

Commercial Rating Books.-One of the two principal functions of general mercantile agencies is to publish rating or reference books. These are rightly regarded by the profession as credit encyclopedias. Rating books are issued quarterly in several volumes or divisions. One agency, for example, publishes nine different books according to the following schedule: No. 1. United States and Canada.

No. 2. United States.

No. 3. Western and Southern States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Canada.

No. 4. Western States, including Alaska and parts of Canada. No. 5. Southern States.

No. 6. Publication discontinued.

No. 7. Pacific Coast, including Alaska, Hawaii, British Columbia, and the Yukon region.

No. 8. New York, New England, and Canada.

No. 9. New England and Canada.

No. 10. Canada.

These books contain ratings of merchants, manufacturers, and traders generally, and are arranged alphabetically by states, cities, and counties, with the names of the merchants in each community arranged alphabetically under each locality. The books are loaned and not sold to subscribers, with the provision that no one outside the subscriber and his employees is entitled to use them.

Pocket editions of any of the states included in the volumes loaned to subscribers are published by the agencies for the convenience of subscribers or their representatives. These editions may be secured only by regular subscribers for an extra charge as per schedule of prices published by the agencies.

Contents of Rating Books.-In addition to the ratings of the various names appearing on the books under the proper geographic units, rating books also give the population of each town and show whether or not it is a banking community, and, if not, the nearest town in which a bank or banker is located is designated by an appropriate mark or symbol. Trades are

classified and alphabetically arranged, Dun's reference books containing as many as 241 different trades. Each trade is designated by a sign, as shown in the accompanying illustration. Decorators, for instance, are designated by an X mark; distillers by; billiards by ; etc. Such a sign indicating the trade either precedes or immediately follows the name rated. At the end of each state is to be found a fairly complete list. of banks and bankers, and also state maps and state collection laws. The appendix usually contains Travelers' Route Maps, and digests of the Negotiable Instruments Law, and the Bankruptcy Act.

Ratings. Ratings consist of symbols used by the agencies to express their conclusions concerning a merchant's credit standing in a condensed form. They consist of two elements, financial strength and general credit. The first of the two signs employed

The broken lines which separate the different grades of credit indicate the ratings (on the left) ordinarily required by credit insurance companies before they will indemnify the insured against losses.

in assigning ratings denotes capital resources and reflects the estimated net worth after appropriate deductions and allowances for shrinkage are made. The second sign denotes the grade of credit and is based upon an investigation as to the manner of payment, business ability, personal habits, and similar factors which are likely to affect the future of the enterprise. The ratings used by the agencies are as indicated in the accompanying schedules. The assumption in assigning ratings is that there exists a close relationship and relative proportion between the capital strength. of a business, as evidenced by the amount of its net worth, and its credit standing. Capital for these purposes is thus considered the foundation for credit, which is merely qualified by character and business capacity. Thus, the first grade of credit opposite