Lest the reader be misled by the broad title, let it be said that this presentation will limit itself to sources of working capital credit available to small retailers, other than commercial bank sources. Before discussing the various forms of credit, it seems advisable to determine the extent to which retail institutions fall into the class of small business. In recent years, the extensive advertising by chain store organizations, large department stores and mail order houses may have created the impression that these organizations originate the majority of retail sales. An analysis of the most recent Retail Census, that of I939, discloses that at the time the Census was taken, there were 1,770,355 retail stores. Of these, 91 percent, or 1,613,673, were unincorporated businesses actively managed by the proprietor;1 86 percent, or 1,52I,I45, were independently owned single-unit stores with an average sales volume of $I8,024, and handled 65.2 percent of all retail sales.2 After a review of these figures, and making allowances for independently owned department stores and a few other large retail establishments, it seems certain that by the use of any reasonable yardstick for dividing retail businesses into large and small concerns, nine out of ten should be regarded as small. The working capital needs of a retailer center about his inventory requirements, his inventory turnover, his accounts receivable and the rapidity with which they can be liquidated, plus a certain amount of cash for his day-to-day expenditures. In an analysis of 27i retail trade companies, made in 1943 and including retail establishments of all sizes and kinds, the working capital represented 68 percent of all assets, and inventories and receivables in combination represented 44 percent of the total assets, indicating the important role working capital plays in retailing.3 Standards of requirements for working capital have been developed in various lines of retail trade, particularly for department stores, specialty stores and variety chains, but little has been prepared for the small retailer which can be regarded as authori-