The true Democrat., 1857-05-05
Endorsing Notes.

1 LHuot>ihS NOteSs
 There is moral in the following we'll con- Sidered remarks from the Philadel phia Ledger, winch should often be pondered Wives read them to your husbands:
 It was well said, by a very shrewd observer. ] that there are some things which every man has to learn for himself. It would seem as if the folly of endorsing what is called accommo dation paper is one of them Tens of thou sands have been ruined in this way, vet tens of thousands continue to practice it. Many who endorse paper with impunity foryears discover. at last, that they also, in spite of their asser- tons that they would never be loser by it, are broughtto to bankruptcy by it. Sir Walter Scott, who had gone on from year to year, adding acre to acre, farm to farm, woke one morning to hhd that he was ruined through his endorse. menIs on ConstabIes paper; and the rest of his l IIfe-a llfe shortened by excessive labor--had to De devoted, not to carrying ont the favorite dream of hlS ambition, but to liquidating the debts thus contracted. Even Barnum. whose name has become synonymous with shrewdness, fell before this delusive habit. A calm ob- server IS almost led to believe that there is an lh'atuauon accompanying the practice of en- dorslng notes which lulls sagaciv to sleep. else now can we account for the fact that so many able men, so to speak, have gambed away their fortunes on this mercantile y0yqe et nor. No man ought ever to endorse an accommodation note. The hnaEcering which raises money in thls way Is radically wrong Generally regard ed as the cheaE est, it is really the very dearest method for the friend who endorses for vou is sure, sometime to want an endorsement in re- turn; and he who once begins to endorse for another has put his fortune at the risk of a hundred casualties beyond his own control. It Is game of hazard which, once commenced, hardly ever can be stopped. Money can be got 50 readily by endorsing that the temptation is great to enter on Speculations that would never otherwise be thought of and hence it requires the coolest heads and the most prudent of ope- rators to resist becoming too extended when a habit ot exchanging endorsements has been lalen into. Nine meE out of ten sooner or later, get beyond their depth Hard times come on, and then insolvency follows as a matter of course. It Is always wiser to raise money on bona file securities; and if these cannot be had. then to curlail ones business as fast as possi ble. When two men are in the habit of ex- changing endorsements they are really in part nersn1p together; but partnership only of risk not o proht; and worse yet, a partnership in winch neither can control the other So far we have been speaking of cases in which there were mutual considerations between the parties -an exchange of endorsements; but what shall We say of the man who endorses from motives of private friendship, and not as business af- lar at all! Hundreds of such men there are who endorse notes for social intmates, to whom they would scarcely sell a bill of goods on credit, simply because they have not the moral courage to say mo- It would Dc wiser, in such Instances, to give the applicant at once what you can afford to throw away-for then you know where you are; because if you endorse for him. he may involve you for d larger amount than you can pay; and be sure of one thiug-when you pay, as most likely you will, it will be at tune when the payment is especially inconve nieut. No private friendship, however close, Jnstlhes one man iu asking another to endorse for h'm. He who takes ofense when refused ausendorsemeht, Is unworthy to be your friend, for he Is ignorant wherein true friendship con- Siats-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 sleepleos nights avert probable insol- VeLCy.'