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Hokitika Guardian, 23 August 1926, Page 2

There has been much controversy of late as to the value of the instalment payment system for general, business purposes. The instalment system has been condemned l>y Mr. Henry Ford, who also expressed himself freely on the world debt to America. Mr Henry Ford, after announcing on June 20th. further reductions in the prices of the products of the Ford Motor Company, referred to the business situation in the United States, and, incidentally, attacked, the practice of sale by instalment, employed bv his competitors, though not by his own organisation. He was optimistic about business, ho said, because people generally knew what was wrong with it. Debt in the United States had become a national industry. The American people no longer bought: they were backed into a corner and were “sold,” and it was had business alike for creditor and debtor. The debtors were paying for dead horse-—a dead horse in No Man’s Land, for the goods were no longer in the possession of the manufacturer, who sells to the denier on credit, and the dealer had lost possession of the fresh goods and the buyers did not yet own them. This debt situation, he believed, would “provide a jolt” which would bring people back to a cash basis, “where they ojreadv knew thev should he.” What the real purchasing power of the people was, whether it was greater than before, he believed

none could tell until tlio people got out of debt.