Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-09-15
COMMUNICATED.
Cash and Credit.

ton Of the accompanying article from a
New York paper. 1t contains matter fol
serious reflection | was struck, in reading
it, with the thought that, by making our
business transactions rest more upon a
knowledge of the honesty and business ca
pacity and prudence of purchasers, they
would BE- limited to markets nearer home
and would find it less to their interest to run
North to purchase every trihe, passing by
our home dealers, from whom equally good
bargains, if not better, could be obtained
under the cash and character system, than
by going further. c.
There is good deal of talk i'll England
as well as elsewhere, nowadays, about
Law Reform. And many special reforms
have been made there, both in Che substanc,
of the law and in the forms of administer
ing the same. The Lord Chief Baron, Sir
Frederick Pollock, however, has emitted M
obit.r dictum lately, which might wei
strike terror into the heart of shysters and
Tombs lawyers, the bar of the Marine
Court, and the humber sort of the priests Of
Themis generally, who stand on the lower
degrees of her temple, were there any dan
ger of its being adopted in this country
1t was nothing less than suggestion of the
proprety of abolishing the compulsory col
lection of small debts, and thus withdraw
ing whatever encouragement the State
gives, by its process for their recovery. IL
the inconsidcratc giving of credit.
OF course. the practical result Mt which
the notion thus preached by Sir Frederick
Pollock was directed, was not that small
debts would not be paid. but that they
should not be contracted. The whole scheme
of legal policy in England is based on the
theory that, in commercial country, every
facility should be given to Credit, or, in 9TH
er words, to running in debt. Hence grew
up the shameful abuses of Imprisonment for
Debt there, which were copied here, and
which are by no means entirely ut an end
in either country. The State said to the
money.ender or trader If you will lend
money or sell merchandise to persons apply
ing for such accommodation, we Will furnish
YOU with the means not merely of spelling
their goods to the extremity, but also of tor
turing their bodies, and putting them to a
slow and disgraceful death, if they don't
pay YOU. And it was thought that this was
good for trade-to make it easy for sanguine
persons to contract debts, by putting these
terrible powers in the hands Of the creditors
And the attempts to mitigate this system,
on both sides of the Atlantic, have been re.
sisted on the ground that the change would
amount to withdrawal OF the help the
State was bound to give its subjects for the
enforcement of contracts, and q weakening
Of the safeguards of property. 1t may DO
well doubted whether, setting aside the hui
name aspects Of the question, these laws for
the tormenting of debtors into payment,
have not occasioned much more loss than
they have hindered.
The Lord Chief Baron's suggestion only
looked to the leaving Of transactions below
a certain moderate amount to the prudence
of the creditor and the honesty Of the deb
tor. But, if the principle be good for small
sums, there seems to be no logical reason
why it is not equally good for large ones
The lender or the seller is much oftencr 70
blame for his bad debts than the borrower
or the buyer. In the heat Of the competi-
tons Of trade in prosperous times, a custo-
mer is almost run down and compelled to
take goods on bis own terms. Ills case was
almost rs bad, three years ago, as that OF the
unfortunate man in the last days whom
seven women shall seize on ut once and in
sist upon marrying out Of hand. And 1t Is
the idea that there is legal process provided,
by which payment can be compelled. that
helps to blind the eyes of the seller to the
risk he is running. lie hopes that he will
he able to be in advance Of his fellow suffer
crs, and get his claim satisfied, whatever
may become of theirs, and so runs for luck,
thinking anything better than to have his
goods left on his shelves, and his accounts OF
sale less than his neighbours Had nc
known originally that he had nothing to de-
pend upon but the sutlicicncy and the hon
csty of the buyer, he would have had much
less faith in either, without the sight OF
some evidence of one or the other. The
effect of such suggestion rs that OF Sir
Frederick Pollock's, if organized into law,
would BIZ to make cash transactions the rule.
instead of being the exception, as they are
now. Credits would then really deserve tho
name for they would be the result OF we'll
grounded faith, arising from accurate intor-
who asks for moneys worth without money.
They would not be the mere counters OF
desperate gambling game in which the
greatest ndvrnturers must finally rise with
great, if not ruinons losses.
Such a legal revolution would not tend to
destroy credit, but to establish it on It's true
foundation. Credit is rational and we'll
grounded faith in man. and trust in mutual
honesty This derives no help from the
offered arm Of the law What debts are the
surest 10 be paid? Gambling debts, of
course. And why? Because they are debts
of honor" for the recovery Of which no az
ton lies Quack doctors derive great nd
vantage from being put out of the pale Of
the law, which authorizes them to demand
England, neither barristers nor physicians
have any remedy for their fees. These are
regarded rs qonidam honnrarimm not to be
regulated by law, and the consequence is
they are paid in gold at the time the service
is rendered. Honor among thieves. IL
proverbial characteristic, and this turacious
equity rests on the same element OF human
nature which bids man not to dlsappoint
reasonable expectation he has excited, espe
cially when there is no power sufficient TO
compel him. Sir Frederick Pollock theory,
if applied to all debts, excepting those BE-
cured by pledge Of property or the indorse-
ment of responsible parties, would make all
debts debts Of honor and call in this same
principle to protect them that gamblers and
thieves now pui,v There rould he no in IN