Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-06-01

am poor, wrote Horace Greeley to
Western friend last month, "but it IL my
o,en fault, because endorse other folks
notes. One was brought to me to-day, for
$4,000, which must find q way to pay
within few days. have fooled away at
least one hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars trying to help others, and it has done
no good. Now guess my foot is down,
l will not endorse another note. So you
see the stables all get locked after the
horses are stolen" Mr. Greeley's expert
ences as thus related are certainly anything
but agreeable; but they are no worse than
other generously disposed men are con.
stantly mourning. Who is there who can
not call off on his fingers ends friend after
friend, financially crippled, at one time or
another, by endorsing other folks paper
Mankind has been, unjustly perhaps,
divided into two classes, those who make
money and those who are trying TO get it
away from them We would by no means
classify endorser seekers among the latter.
And yet it is too true that many of them
trade upon friendship, and take advantage
of the very confidence reposed in them to
impose upon friends. The instances are
not uncommon Of individuals persuading
acquaintance to become their hackers, at
time when they are perfectly well aware
that their affairs are in such a precarious
condition, as to hazard the fortunes of both
The person who does this is nothing, if
not dishonest He is, if anything, worse
than the professional pilferer, for he makes
way with his neighbours purse under the
guise of friendship. We allude to the in
dividual who deliberately involves an ac-
quafntance with the hope of saving him
self
1t is hard to resist the opportunities of a
friend, one in whose honor and integrity
we place implicit confidence, but it is a
still harder task to regain savings which
may be lost by yielding. 1t is an easy
matter to write ones name across the back
of another's note, but just such strokes OF
the pen have consigned thousands from
competence to poverty, compelling them
to again begin at the foot Of life's ladder
after struggling through long years to the
top. Nine times we may safely endorse
but on the tenth occasion be caught and
brought under the sheriff's hammer.
1t is therefore a good plan for persons
beginning the world, to resolve to rarely
| place themselves in other peoples power
| as endorsers. But some one may argue
life is nothing without friends, and they
are made and retained only by comforting
those favors, good turns and kind offices
which constitute the groundwork of social
| relations To this we would reply, that
no friendship is worth having which will
| not stand the test of q refusal to blindly
endorse Ten to one the friend who cuts
loose from you, on such grounds, is q
good radiance. You are to be congratu
lated that you have separated from him
before he separated you from your pocket
book
Dean Swift's maxim, that Eve must
carry money in the head, not in the
heart" applies to just such occasions al
these, when one is asked to risk his 0wr
pecuniary welfare for that of a friend
| Not that we would have individuals be
come old Scrooges and steel their hearts
against all appeals for aid, but a man hal
his own family first to think Of and pro
vide for. 1t Is duty which he owes tC
them, to leave them, If possible, with ,
competence, should he be called suddenly
away by death. Henry Ward Beecher de
clared, in recent discourse, that it wal
the duty of every one TO strive to accumu
late wealth. Independence" said Fran
els Horner's father to his son on starting
out in the world, "is a grand object Il
every man of spirit" We should aim u
possess riches for the good we can achieve
with them; and for the same reason W,
should hold on to them when acquired
instead of "fooling them away; or othe
peoples notes, as Mr.. Greeley sadly con
fesses that he has gdOne.--HearM an
Hone.s ~ fF