Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-04-16
ENDORSING NOTES.

ENDORSING NOTES.
There is moral in the following we'll
considered remarks from the Philadelphia
Ledger, which should be often pondered
"It was we'll said, by very shrewd OBJ
server, that there are some things which
every man has to learn for himself. 1t
would seem as if the folly of endorsing what
is called accommodation paper was one of
them. Tens of thousands have been ruined
in this way, yet tens of thousands continue
to practice it. Many who endorse paper
with impunity for years discover, at last,
that they also, in spite of their assertions
that they would never be loser by it, are
brought to bankruptcy by it. Sir Walker
Scott, who had gone on from year to year,
adding acre to acre, farm to farm, woke one
morning to find that he was ruined through
his endorsements on Constable's paper; and
the rest of his life-a life shortened by ex-
->...:.>-l~lo--h~a-to- TO der1tcd uot-to-eur-
rying out the favorite dream of his ambition,
but to liquidating the debts thus contracted.
Even Barnum, whose name had become
synonymous with shrewdness, fell before this
delusiye habit. A calm observer is almost
led to believe that there is an infatuation ac-
companying the practice of endorsing notes,
which lulls sagacity to sleep, else how can
we account for the fact that so many able
men have, so to speak, gambled away their
fortunes on this mercantile rouge at noir.-
No man ought ever to endorse an accommo.
dation note. The fnanciering which raises
money in this way is radically wrong. Gen.
orally regarded as the cheapest, it is really
the very dearest method; for the friend who
endorses for you is sure, somtime, to want an
endorsement in return and he who once be-
gins to endorse for another, has put his for
tune at the risk of o hundred casualtise be-
yond his own control. 1t is game of haz-
ard, which once commenced, hardly ever can
be stopped. Money can be got so readily
by endorsing, that the temptation is great to
enter on speculation that would never other
wise be thought of, and hence it requires
the coolest of heads and the most prudent of
operators to resist becoming too extendent
when q habit of exchanging endorsements
has been fallen into Nine men out of ten,
sooner or later, get beyond their depth
Hard times come on, and then insolvency
follows as matter of course. 1t is always
wiser to raise money on bona file securities,
and if these cannot be had, then to curtail
ones business as fast as possible. Where
two men are in the habit of exchanging en-
dorsements they are really in partnership to-
gether; but partnership only of risks, not
of profits; and worse yet, partnership in
which neither can control the other. So far,
we have been speaking of cases in which
there was q mutual consideration between
the parties, an exchange of endorsements !;
but what shall We say of the man who en-
dorses from motives of private friendship,
and not as business affair at all? Hun
dreds of such men there are who endorse
notes for social intimates to whom they
would scarcely sell bill Of goods on credit,
simply because they have not the moral
courage to say no. 1t would be wiser, in
such instances, to give the applicant at once
whatever you can afford to throw away-for
then you know where you are; because if
you endorse for him, he may involve you for
a larger amount than you can pay; and be
sure of one thing--when you pay, as most
likely you will, it will be at time when
the payment is especially inconvenient. No
private friendship, however close, justifes
one man in asking another to endorse for
him. He who takes offence when refused
an endorsement, is unworthy to be your
friend, for he isignorant wherein true friend
ship consists-that relation giving no man a
right to ruin another. Take advice in time,
and don't give or exchange endorsements, if
you would escape sleepless nights or avert
probable insolvency.