1 William Leach, Land of Desire (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993), p. 3.

2 Martha L. Olney, Buy Now Pay Later (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), p. 1.

3 W.F. Crick, The Economics of Instalment Trading and Hire- Purchase (London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1929), p. 7.

4 E.R.A. Seligman, The Economics of Instalment Selling (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1927), p. 48.

5 Rolf Nugent, Consumer Credit and Economic Stability (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1939), pp. 54-5 and Seligman, p. 2.

6 Olney, p. 6.

7 Thomas F. Juster, Household Capital Formation and Financing: 1897-1962, 1966 as reprinted in Martha L. Olney, Buy Now Pay Later (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), p. 7.

8 Olney, p. 8.

9 Although the exact origin of this practice is unknown, E. R. A. Seligman suggest that Cowperthwaite & Sons received the idea from a lady who had just returned from Paris, where it had been a popular selling technique at some upper class establishments. Seligman, p. 14.

10 Evans Clark, Financing the Consumer (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1933), p. 19, Nugent, p. 54 and Seligman, pp.14-16.

11 Clark, p. 19, Nugent p. 55, and Seligman pp. 16- 17.

12 Clark, p. 19, Nugent, p. 55, and Seligman, pp. 17- 18.

13 Nugent, pp. 55-6 and Seligman, pp. 18-19.

14 Nugent, pp. 67-8 and Seligman, pp. 19-22.

15 Nugent, p. 96.

16 Harold Emerson Wright, The Financing of Automobile Installment Sales (Chicage: A.W. Shaw Company, 1927), pp. 14-5, Lawrence H. Seltzer, A Financial History of the American Automobile Industry (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1928), pp. 53-4, Seligman, pp. 29-32 and Olney, pp. 119-126.

17 Seligman, p. 28 and Olney, p. 105.

18 Olney, p. 96.

19 Seligman, p. 23.

20 Nugent, p. 96.

21 Olney, p. 3.

22 Olney, p. 48. Disposable income is the amount of money a household has available for spending or saving after taxes have been removed.

23 Milan V. Ayres, Instalment Selling and Its Financing, May 1926 as reprinted in Martha L. Olney, Buy Now Pay Later (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), pp. 130-131.

24 Charles O. Hardy, ed., Consumer Credit and Its Uses, 1938 as reprinted in Marth L. Olney, Buy Now Pay Later (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), p. 131.

25 Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), pp. 157-8.

26 Olney, pp. 180-181.

27 Olney, p. 135.

28 Crick, p. 4.

29 Wilbur C. Plummer and Ralph A. Young, Sales Finance Companies and Their Credit Practices (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1940), p. 75.

30 Data was collected from the Richmond Times- Dispatch for the years 1915 to 1929 from the first Sunday issues in the month of April. The dates of these issues are April 4, 1915, April 2, 1916, April 1, 1917, April 7, 1918, April 6, 1919, April 4, 1920, April 3, 1921, April 2, 1922, April 1, 1923, April 6, 1924, April 5, 1925, April 4, 1926, April 3, 1927, April 1, 1928 and April 7, 1929. The data collected can be found in the appendix. This data was used to create all graphs cited in this study. Most automobile sales occurred between the months of March and October. April was therefore picked as a period early in this peak season when advertisements for automobiles would probably be most prevalent. See Olney, pp. 121-24 for more information on this trend in sales.

31 In his book on instalment selling, E.R.A. Seligman listed numerous terms which were used by businesses or consumers to indicate the availability of an instalment plan. These terms include credit merchandising, deferred payments, times sales, instalment buying, partial payments, hire- purchase, payments out of income, contract selling, easy payments, credit buying, part payments, instalment purchase and ten-payment plan. See Seligman, p.1.

32 Seligman, p. 51.

33 Although the data from the Richmond Times- Dispatch supports the conclusion that the automobile industry rarely used the availability of instalment plans as a marketing tool, this study could not find any reason for this phenomenon. It is possible that the automobile industry did not realize the sales potential of selling on instalments as quickly as other industries did, and it is also possible that the automobile industry consciously avoided trying to attract customers in this manner. This particular question, however, is beyond the scope of this study.

34 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 4, 1920, p.3, sec, I.

35 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 4, 1920, p. 5, sec. III.

36 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 7, 1918, p. 13, sec. I, April 3, 1927, p. 4, sec. II, April 1, 1928, p. 4, sec. I, and April 7, 1929, p. 12, sec. I.

37 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 6, 1924, p. 2, sec. I, April 2, 1916, p. 13, sec. I, April 6, 1924, p. 5, sec. III, April 1, 1923, p. 12, sec. I, April 6, 1919, p. 7, sec. III, April 4, 1926, p. 18, sec. I, April 5, 1925, p. 2, sec. III, and April 5, 1925, p. 2, sec. I.

38 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 1, 1928, p. 6, sec. II, April 6, 1924, p. 10, sec. II, April 1, 1923, p. 5, sec. III, April 2, 1922, p. 18, sec. I, and April 2, 1922, p. 3, sec. III.

39 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 1, 1923, p. 12, sec. II, April 4, 1915, p. 7, sec. IV, and April 7, 1918, p. 10, sec. I.

40 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 6, 1924, p. 12, sec. IV.

41 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 7, 1929, p. 11, sec. II.

42 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 7, 1929, p. 10, sec. I.

43 Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 3, 1927, p. 11, sec. I.

44 The issues of Time included April 14, 21, 28, 1923, December 17, 24, 31, 1923, December 8, 15, 22, 29, 1924, April 6, 13, 20, 27, 1925, December 7, 14, 28, 1925, April 5, 12, 19, 26, 1926, December 13, 20, 27, 1926, April 4, 11, 18, 25, 1927, December 5, 12, 19, 26, 1927, April 2, 9, 16, 23, 1928, December 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 1928, and April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 1929. The issues of Good Housekeeping included April 1919, December 1919, April 1920, December 1920, April 1921, December 1921, April 1922, December 1922, April 1923, December 1923, April 1924, December 1924, April 1925, December 1925, April 1926, December 1926, April 1927, December 1927, April 1928, December 1928, and April 1929. The issues of The American Magazine included April 1919, December 1919, April 1920, December 1920, April 1921, December 1921, April 1922, December 1922, and April 1929.

45 Nugent, p. 96.

46 Quotes were taken in order of appearance from Richmond Times- Dispatch, April 6, 1919, p. 6, sec. III, The American Magazine, April 1920, p. 136, Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 7, 1918, p. 2, sec. I, and The American Magazine, April 1919, p. 160.

47 Nugent, p. 96.

48 Time, April 12, 1926, p. 1.

49 Time, December 28, 1925, p. 4.

50 Good Housekeeping, December 1925, p. 142, Time, December 8, 1924, inside cover, and Good Housekeeping, December 1925, p. 97.

51 Time, April 6, 1925, p. 27.

52 Good Housekeeping, April 1929, p. 173, Time, April 11, 1927, p. 7, and Good Housekeeping, April 1929, p. 121.

53 Good Housekeeping, April 1928, p. 154.

54 Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's, 1931 as reprinted in Martha L. Olney, Buy Now Pay Later (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), p. 131.