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ttNo Money Downtt

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WANT ADS

It has been well and frequently said and printed of late that Main Street, U.S.A. has become a big, wide, wonderful world that sings continuously and in lusty tones the new theme song-"No Money Down."

A man can buy almost anything on the top side of this earth, without laying down a thin dime.' lfe can buy palatial homes, furniture and home equipment, automobiles, swimming pools, television sets, radios, clothing, travel tickets, and almost anything else that tongue can mention without paying cash.

Buy now and pay later, they say, and their voices keep coming in over the air with such suggestions as buy now and start paying next year, nothing down and only a few pennies a day, etc.

And the latest is not just "no money down," but "and OF COURSE no money down." You just take that for granted.

It should be stated right here that up to now Americans are paying their debts and meeting their obligations very promptly, thus allaying fears that might otherwise arise concerning such a credit situation. The percentage of delinquencies is surprisingly low.

An excellent authority says that Americans owe more than 12 billion dollars on their automobiles, and 82 billions on their homes. Nobody can say where this leads or what is immediately ahead ofj us. Sound economists like Dr. Thomas Nixon Carver are warning that we must slow down our credit spending before "we get caught in the rapids above Niagara."

The situation is well illustrated in a story. Two men met, and one admired the new suit his friend was wearing. Said the other, "This is not only a new suit, but it is the most wonderful suit in the world." The friend wanted to know how he figured that out, and here is his explanation:

"This suit was made out of Australian wool. The Australian who raised the wool, made money on it. He put it on a train and shipped it to a shipping port, and the railroad that hauled it made money on it. The ship that carried it to San Francisco made money on it. The train that carried it from there to the New England territory, made money on it. The New Englander who made the wool into cloth, made money on it. The train that hauled the cloth to New York City, made money on it. The man that made the cloth into this suit, made money on it. The train that hauled the suit to this city, made money on it. The retailer who sold me the suit, made money on it. Everybody who has had anything to do with this suit, made money on it. AND I'VE BEEN WEARING IT FOR THREE MONTHS AND HAVEN'T PAID A DOGGONE CENT ON IT YET."

A Lichty cartoon shows a store in Russia, and a man walking out loaded down with many bundles, because he had visited the United States and had learned that by uttering the magic qre1fls-i'QfIARGE IT"-he can buy anything he wants.

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