YOU PAY!

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 140, 22 September 1910, Page 4

YOU PAY!

The quaint notion that because a man's salary is, in his opinion, insufficient for his needs that he may use all and sundry as a. convenience is often exemplified'. At a meeting of creditors held locally a young man, to whom creditors had been weakly accommodating, showed that for his needs it was necessary to borrow money during the month. In fact, how could a young man, without any obligations, live on a mere £2 10s a week? And why should he not mortgage the whoje of it—and more? There is no doubt that the principle is common enough and dangerous enough. Tradesmen who are trusting to the extent shown' during the examination of this particular case axe not without Wame, for if people with a weakness for display, gambling, and' for living beyond their incomes find it so easily to obtain victims, bankruptcies of the kind must be common. Tradesmen have all sorts of associations for their protection and in order that customers willing to pay may not receive goods at too low a figure, but the frequency with which cases of the kind mentioned occur demonstrates that, tradesmen must ultimately become suspicious of everybody. The system that induces young men in the most matter of fact way to ask themselves how they can possibly live within their incomes is a poor system. Seeing it is necessary for people with responsibilities to pay out for irresponsible youths it follows that the avenues, for such irresponsibility should be narrowed. Ability to speno. money is not necessarily evidence of earning power, and appearances are deceptive. The desire, to "ruffle it" like a millionaire is not special to any country, but it crops out with amazing frequency in this Dominion. Nearly always as a basis of the troubles of youthful irresponsibles is the desire to "make something out of nothing." The utter futility of trying to pay a bill by borrowing money to put on a horse is patent to almost anybody, except the one who backs the horse. You can't cure this state of things by preaching to the irresponsibles, but you can cure it by giving the irresponsibles no chance of living like millionaires on somebody else. Most business men are shrewd enough in their diurnal transactions, and in the, matter of driving bargains they seem clever enough, but so very few of them are adamant to the tender tale that is poured into their ears that it is surprising that more people do not take advantage of their unsuspected trustfulness. Ability to obtain something for nothing has in some cases led to practices that are downright dishonest, and in such cases creditors so frequently do not avail themselves of their full powers that little is done to stem the evil habit of living ahead of income.