South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-05-26
Endorsing.

al am poor" wrote Horace Greeley to q
Western friend last month, "but it is my
oNn fault, because l endorse other folks
notes. One was brought to me to-day, for
$1,000, which / must find a way to pay
within few days. l have fooled away at
least one hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars trying to help others, and it has done
10 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 incurring. 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
acquaintances to become their hackers, at
a time when they are perfectly well aware
that their affairs are in such a precaIious
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 neighbor's purse under the
.guise of friendship. We allude to the in
dividual who deliberately involves an ac-
quaintance with the hope of saving him
self
1t is hard to resist the opportunities of
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 hammer.
1t is therefore 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 a refusal to blindly
endorse. Ten to one the friend who cuts
loose from you, on such grounds, is a
good riddance. 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 1--WE must
carry money in the head, not in the
hearL," applies to Just such occasions as
these, when one is asked to risk his own
pecuniary welfare for that of friend.
Not that we would have individuals be-
come old Scrooges and steel their hearts
against all appeals for aid, but man has
his own family first to think of and pro-
vide for 1t is duty which he owes to
them, to leIve them, if possible, with
competence, should he be called suddenly
away by death. Henry Ward Beecner de.
clared, in recent discourse, that it was
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 to
every man of spirit" We should aim to
possess riches for the good we can achieve
with them; and for the same reason we
should hold on to them when acquired,
instead of "fooling" them away ON other
peoples notes, as Mr. Greeley sadly con-
fesses that he has dene.-Hearth and
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