DEBTS AT OXFORD.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1940, 24 December 1913, Page 6

DEBTS AT OXFORD.

EASY CREDIT AND THE INEVITABLE

RECKONING,

{BY A Fourth-YEAR MAHJ

A short time agG the authorities of an Oxford colkgo met to consider tllp sudden disappearance of two undergraduato members. It. camo out that both woro heavily in debt to Oxford tradesmen. Oho of them owed wore than £500 and tho other something over £100. They had been in residence only ono academic ysnr. Neither had tho immediate capacity to meet- his pressing liabilities. They had no option but to resort to tho well-known expedient of haras-sod debtors—flight. Noiv there is perhaps no place in England whoro a. youth who has just lett school can obtain so much credit upon so little security as in Oxford. Tho income of tho m-en at tho University varies between £120 ami £1.0,000 per annum. Yet it k possible for any ■undergraduate, when ho first arrives in Oxford, to open accounts with almost every tradesman' in the town. If tho latter do not actually iusist upon ono's opening an account, tliej? at least invito it very heartily. Cash is not welcomed. In the words of a well-known Oxford satirist, tradesmen "Wavo wi'.li a smile tho cr-offcrcd coin, -away, And bluish that such a. 'eeat' ahouM vrwh> to uay," First Year. It is, let us say, tho undergraduate's first year in tho university. In his very first week ho is inundated by a shoal of circulars and advertisements inviting him to buy A's wine, B's flannel trousers, C's excellent cigars. • For seven days, at least, tiio Oxford postal delivery is delayed sui hour owing to these innuffierablo advertisements addressed to unsuspecting Freshmen. They spea-k tho words "credit" and "account." Not- everyone, of course, rises immediately to tho bait, but very many go forth and order indiscriminately largo amounts of tobacco, cigars, books, wine, clothes, costlv stationery, etc. Everything is "put down." Often tho purchaser does not even trouble to inquire tho cost. • I r«uiember ft man in his first term going to an. Oxford tailor's to buy a hat, H© got the hat and succeeded in paying cash for it. The shop assistant was very inviting: would his customer not iiko a now suit, an overcoat, a golfing jacket,? My friend suggested feebly that at present they were a little beyoud his means, Tho shopkeeper laughed outright, "Don't," he said, "let a matter like, that worry you—at least, r,ofc in Oxford." My friend now owes tho tradesman £50. Tho "matter," I should say s worries him considerably. Second Year, It is tho undergraduate's Second year. If ho is a man of fairly moderate tastes ho may owe, at this date, lot us Bay, between £10 a.nd £20, aliko to his tobacconist, to his tailor, his wiiio dorchant, liis' bookseller, his favourite restaurant, and so on. As things aro ho will bo fortunate if ho is only flomo £70 or £80 in debt at tho beginning of his second year'. By this time his creditors aro likely to have found out something of his own and. his family's financial position. If that is not good his credit will bo stopped, and bis choice is cither to retrench and pay cash for everything he buys or clso start ac-' counts with other tradesmen. Very frequently tho latter choice is made. The tragedy of his first year enacls itself all over again. Tho position of tJio hapless young man at tlio end of his second year is twice as bad as it was at the end of his first. The dotu&ol It is tho.third year. Now this is generally tho tiino when a man is, or ought to bo, settling down seriously to work. There is the prospect of schools in tho following Juno. Ho perhaps has no longer any desire for extravaganco or ostentation; and if ha is to do well ill schools it is of. the utmost importance that he should be frco from worries—financial worries above nil. Yet this is just tho period which his creditors select for a campaign of insistent and merciless dunning. His rooms are littered with Urgent demands for immediate payment, or partial payment. These are generally ignored until hints of. tho law's redress arrive. Tlifin ono of three things must happen. Tho man either makes a clean breast of things at home. 'ilia bills penetrate to his people and tlio debts aro paid. Thero is much domestic fury, but tho tradesman gets his money. (Indeed, nearly all debts aro paid, sooner or later. Ono of tho largest of Oxford business men recently told mo that he hardly ever had a bad debt.) Or the. debtor resorts to sorry shift and mean expedient, rash promises, arrangements t 0 pay after tho taking of a degree, and so on. In extreme eases the results is like the episode which 1 related at tlie beginning, of my article. Tragedy of tho Poor Marl. It is tho jroor man, tho scholars, and exhibitioners, and others, who keep; Oxford iiitcllectvmUy alive, upon whom tho system has tlie- worst result. Tho' parents of a scholar or exhibitioner, ivho havo already much ado to supplement; their soil's meagro income from endow-1 nient, may be seriously crippled by tho necessity of paying an additional £100 or so of debts. The; income of tho average man at Oxford would, I suppose, work out at about £300 per annum. Tho parents of these —richer, of course, than those, of the very poor scholar -- havo no difficulty in discharging their sou's debts. Yet tho cash aspect of tire caso is not tho important one. Ifcis in its moral effect that the credit system at Oxford is chiefly to bo condemned. After all tho function of a university is tq inculcate habits of mind, and tho natron has a right to believe that Oxford can give her sous something more than a faultless taste in nort or'ldeas of vulgar extravagance.. Materially, as I havo shown, tlio system's results aro often disastrous in tho cxtremo._ The stories, about Oxford men earning a pound a week in Bonders End or sell, ing newspapers in Piccadilly aro not so mythical as common imagination often mifkes them.—"Daily Mail,"