The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1845-04-21
DEBT AND ITS EVILS.

Several of the States (.tree and enlighten-
edn of course) still authorize one man TO i'm
prison another, because he is unfortunate and
happens to be poor, and one Of them, allows
man to be hanged for stealing horse that is,
they esteem the value of an animal as equal 10
the life of man. These relics of barbarsm
will not Disgrace our statute books many years
longer-inquiry is abroad-the right to take life
under any circumstances, unless in sell-defence,
is boldly questioned. History proves to per-
feet demonstration, that sanguinary laws Tend to
render people ferocious and barbarous; that
50 far from preventing crime, that they increase
it an hundred fold. Let the experiment of mild
er punishments be adopted, and the happiest
results will be produced. Imprison the crimi-
nal, but not the unfortunate do not let us any
longer consider poverty crime. To be sure
we do not, like the Romans, allow the body Of
bankrupt to be cut in pieces by the creditor; or
if this measure was considered too fiend-like in
atrocity subject the poor debtor to chains, stripes,
and hard labor, and sell his wife and children
into slavery. We are told that by the laws of
the Twelve Tables, it was ordained that insol-
rent debtors should be gipen up to their credi-
tors, to be bound in letters and cords and
that they were in actual SLAVERY, and often
treated more harshly than slaves themselves
Although the odous law authorizing lmprison-
ment for Debt has been modified, yet from this
brutal, ay, savage code, is derived the modern
practice of imprisoning a man because he is
ha r,,,.lt of fro,l lie
let him be punished-but not because he is I'M
fortunate. To imprlson an honest debtor with
out trial or conviction, to drag him away from
family depending on his labor for support, is
equally unjust and oppressive; and any law au-
thorzing such cold -booded injustice is an arbi-
trary assumption of power not delegated to the
legislature, and is disgrace to the age in which
we live. No one in contracting debt ever
pledged his body, his liberty, security for its
paymenl-why then is he arrested and barba-
rously incarcerated within the walls of a prison
because the hand of misfortune has laid its
whitening grasp upon his manly brow?
Let this barbarous law be abolished, and with
it would cease our present unsafe and rotten
credit system. An able editor remarks, that it
cannot be doubted that the degree of advantage
TO be derived from credit, either TO the borrower
or to the lender, depends mainly on the charac-
ter, habits, and prospects of the borrower. This
is true of bank loans and loans of any other kind
on interest-unless they be used with prudence
and judgment they are not beneficial either to
the public or TO individuals. The credits given
by shopkeepers, storekeepers, and retailers of
all descriptions, are pernicious to all parties con-
cerned. The competition of such dealers, and
the Incidence of purchasers disinclining them to
pay cash for every thing they buy, combined
with the anxiety of the sellers to obtain custom,
have introduced this species of credit system,
continued IT, and caused it TO be generally
adopted-to such degree does it prevail that
few persons are in the habit of paying cash for
any article Of luxury or necessty-if we except
the provisions sold in market, and even these
are frequently bought on credit. And thus very
many individuals who are not aware of the i'm
portance of close and accurate calculation in
such matters, go ahead of their incomes, and in
the course Of few years or months thew are
involved in a labyrinth of debts and difficulties
from which it is difficult or impossible to extr,
cate themselves. Even in such a situation il
frequently happens that they find storekeepers
and vendors Of every kind of merchandise fire.
quently willing to trust them, by which loss is
occasioned to one party, while the other is in
volved in deep ruin.
The ease with which credit is thus obtained
is great evil. In very few cases it is not of
the smallest advantage to either party, and as
system is certainly detrimental to individuals
and TO the community, Ittempts even prudent
persons to obtain articles which are of no u.. to
them, and which perhaps their circumstance. in
life make it unjust6able in them to purchase;
and hence the system becomes the source of