The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-08-19


always invest 1t in Government bonds, or in
mortgages on city properly, or other per-
fectly safe security. The great mass of the
capital which circulates through the cham
nels of business and gives vitality to indus
try, consists Of the savings of poor men, The
capital of the class of men not rich, prnba-
bly, exceeds in the aggregate in every coun-
try the capital of its millionaires. But its
utility depends less ON its mass than on the
rapidity Of Its flow from hand to hand;
kept in motion by punctuality.it keeps alive
credit and enterprise, and every obstacle to
its natural and proper current, produced by
the want of punctuality, simply takes so
much from its usefulness. a
These are general considerations. To
come to those more particular: If it be
sometimes hardship for debtor to pay,
it is sometimes also hardship for creditor
to want. He may have parted with the
money for certain time in the confidence of
it's punctual repayment, and his ruin may be
the result of failure to receive it. It may
not be a surplus that he has leaned out, but
a temporary sparing from his necessities
All savings arc the result of economy; most
unpunctuality is the result of sclfindulgencc
and extravaganza. Is it in the interest of
virtue.to favor selfindulgence at the ex-
pense'of self denial2 III -sae
81 The feeling we are combating, if car
ried'to Its legitimate result, defeats itself by
destroying all credit Fortunately for soci-
ETY.. there is in every country class of men
with an instinct TO save money they have
not the enterprise and self-confdence to
embark themselves in undertakings which,
xul,ilo thor, hau al~
a risk of loss they prefer lending their &C.
QUESTIONS to others at moderate rate Of in
terest, and with certainty of its safety, if
such can be found; if not, they will hoard it
up; safety Is the first consideration, profit
only, the second. These men, whether their
possessions he counted by dollars or by thou
sands. are the capitalists of the country; it
is their money, and not that. OF the Astors
and Stewards, that builds railroads, starts
factories, and supplies the thousand arteries
of trade with its life-blood, and if they fail
of its return in due season, the body polite
is affected, as the physical body would he,
should the heart fail to receive back from
the veins the blood which it gushes forth to
the arteries, credit dies.
EVIDENCE.
In the whole range of the administration
of the law there is NO subject more impor-
tant than evidence. 1t can scarcely be ex-
pected that the truth Can lie attained in any
case, if witnesses who best know it are
excluded ON purely artificial and unreasona-
bile grounds, or if witnesses who have every
indictment to pervcrt it, and who can do so
without correction, are admitted. For many
years the law of North Carolina, while 1t
gave no effect to the strongest feelings of
human nature. in excluding witness, yet
rigidly excluded every one who had pecu-
mary interest, to the smallest amount, in the
result of the suit. The evidence of one
party could indeed he got hy the other; but
it was only through suit in equity, called
bill of discovery, the expense and delay of
which etfectually precluded it from general
use. The writer of this, about twenty years
ago mot being member of the legisature)
procured friend to introduce bill drawn
with much care, providing that one party to
suit might examine the other upon the
trial at law. 1t SO happened that a
learned Judge became informed of the
bill by the accident of being IN the
House when it was read. The proposed
innovation struck him with horror, and he
exerted himself to defeat it with success
The law remained in its antique and cum
brous state until 1867. Then the pendulum
swung the other way, clear beyond the linn
Its of considerate change; all restrictions of
interest were removed, and parties were al
Whatever The gene ahfT pfi1hHaps that par
ties to suit may swear for themselves may
he correct, but obviously it has limit. 1t
can only be safely allowed when both par
ties can swear. In such case it may be
well enough to trust the jury with their adj
verse statements, and let them judge of the
credihility of each. But when there can be
no mutually, when one party has died or
become insane since the transaction in con-
troversy, and SO cannot he heard, to allow
the survivor to give his account of the af-
fair without the possibility of contradiction,
as the Act of 1866-'67 did, is to encourage
perjury and legalize the pillage of the dead
and the unfortunate. The provisions of the
Code will be found to admit the parties to
testify except in such cases. See sections
327 to 1886.
We here conclude our remarks, somewhat
fearful that their unforeseen extent may have
exhausted the small stock of interest in our
readers, upon which we presumed in the be-
ginning. If that be so, and should any one
of them want recuperative. book for idle
reading under the dog star, or for rafting
rail road review, or for gift to his lady love,
light, airy and exhiarating. we recommend
him no. to choose "The Code of Civil Pro-
cedure." r