The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-12-17

q deal Of ~vexation and anxiety to debtor and
creditor. A man who buys on credit, or borrows
money with no intention of paying the debt, is as
much a thief and robber as though he stole the
same articles. While he who buys TO pay at his
convenience, without regard to the rights of his
creditor, is hardly less at fault.
There are cases where the giving of credit and
the contracting of debt are a positive good, and
result in a benefit to both creditor and debtor. A
loan may often be the means of bringing into ac-
tive employ the capacities of muscle and mind,
which but for it might lie for a lifetime undevel-
oped, and which but for its aid would never have
been developed. A few hundred or a few thou
sand dollars timely lent to an earnest and intelli-
gent worker, who only needs a s lift'' of that
kind to put into profitable play his mechanical or
inventive genius, which is a capital of itself, and
which only requires, like Archimedes, a fulcrum
in order to make its powers effective, has often
achieved a munifcent fortune for the individual
to whom the sum was advanced, while bestowing
incalculable service and advantage upon the
world. So also in mercantile business, where
credit is kept within safe bounds, its influence is
purely beneficial. In all such credits the char
acter of the party seeking a loan should be con-
sidered.
But it is also certain that there are instances,
every now and then occurring, (Which we need
not i~nstance) in which debts have obviously been
too readily and recklessly contracted, and credits
given with too much acility,-instances which
lead often to the preparation of the meanest
frauds. If more caution was exercised in this
matter ON both sides, and the evils ever liable to
happen were more frequently and attentively con-
.:Jo-o1 xIo oo~l:x:oc cco-o~- -ro.1J
be to some extent ameliorated, and the minds of
thousands saved from the most carking of cares
and the most irritating of annoyances.
Foremost among these evils may be ranked the
bitter and resentful feelings which not unfre-
quently spring up between debtor and creditor.
The debtor, finding difficulty in meeting the de-
mand against him, commences his downward
career by dreading and stunning the sight of the
one he owes. This seldom fails to result in a
want of mutual confidence, and ultimately in
hatred, as soon at least as measures are resorted
to to hasten or compel a settlement. Too fire.
quently, as all may have seen, after avoiding his
creditor and experiencing much ~yexation and per-
plexity, the debtor gives free scope to his revenge
full feelings forgets the justice of the debt in the
unpleasantness of his situation, and schemes and
labors much more how to evade than how to cam
eel the Just claims against him. Too often his i'll
feelings lead him to study not only evasion but
even injury and revenge, rather than payment.
On the other hand, the creditor being disap-
pointed in his expectations, put to a great amount
of trouble, and in danger of losing what is his due,
becomes equally irritated. The worst part of his
nature is drawn out. He loses patience, selfcon-
troll and confidence, and pursues his claims,
not x-sfI ,Io-a ,-l .%.oo 1x IL
element of passion. He INDUCES in the most
rigorous and uncompromising measures the law.
will allow-friends and good neighbors are
changed to enemies and those, whose peace and
happiness were dependent on their mutual good
will and good Offices, are provoked to harm rather
than help each other to the utmost of their
power.
Even when such difficulties are not carried to
these ~extremities, there are minor evils scarcely
less important to the peace and comfort of both
the parties concerned. They become subject to
fears and anxieties which tend to destroy much of
the comfort and happiness of life. and which,
while they sometimes stir up men to make I'M
common efforts, are quite as likely to discourage
or overwhelm them with despair. The dread of
unwelcome and urgent calls for payment, of
losses and sacrifices both of property and reputa-
ton, are far from being favorable either to COM
posure or concentration Of mind. A dark cloud
rests upon and Expresses the faculties and ener-
gies, and care consumes many of the finer feelings
of the heart. If such considerations, together
with the fact that the payment of debts almost
always proves more difficult than was anticipated
at the time of contracting them, were duly
weighed, debts would be contracted less frequently
and less f~oolishly than they too often are.
DIR. johnson said a very wise thing when he
advised his friend TO pay cash for everything he
bought, ready money being a check upon the
imagination. If the retail dealer who is tempted
to buy largely, had always to count out the
s. cash ON delivery his bills at the end of
the year would probably be only hundreds
instead of thousands. And so in all kinds of
business. and among all classes of buyers-abolish
the credit system and you do away with extrava-
gance and the attendant risk of carrying on bust
ness, whether on a small or large scale. 1t is so
easy to run in debt, when one has only to ray
" charge it," that even prudent persons who
mean to be economical, and never go beyond their
ability to pay, are constantly led into the pur-
chase of articles they do not need, and for which
they sometimes find it difficult to pay.
The London Times, in commenting recently on
the failure of two young men in Ireland, who had
gained the confidence of an English linen merchant
to a large amount and swindled him out of nearly
the whole sum, speaks in strong censure of the
present system of indiscriminate and injudicious
credits, and says Mere lads set up in business,
as it is called, with the very ruler and waters in
their Office obtained upon credit. Upon credit.
too, they obtain goods, which they either pledge
or sell at one-half OF one-third Of their value, and
by this little manouvre gain possession of money,
which is soon destined to be dribbled away in
over-ekpenditure or engulfed in speculation. Two
or three years generally suffice to bring their
operations to a conclusion, and then there is
nothing for it, but the bankrupt's disgrace, or
fight more disgraceful."
In the fluctuations of a business based wholly