Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-11-29
Duty OF Debtors I'm Hard Times.

A little common sense in common affairs
is always i'm order. But so fond are people
Of all persuasions and professions and pur-
suits, of going according to the received
maxims and precedents Of business, that
they set man down rs an ignorant pre-
tender who offers advice against the tradi-
tons of the craft. This very wise remark
has its application to the prevalent habitof
honest and able men who neglect to pay
their debts when the times are hard.
The business community, where the
credit system is the rule. is often and aptly
compared to row of bricks on an end
when one falls it knocks over the rest. so
it goes till all are down. 1t is not likely
that society will ever again get into the
way of obeying the best of all business
rules, ''pay as you go;" and there are
men having some reputation as financiers,
and statesmen, who think the 6 cash" sys-
tenn is incompatible with enterprise, pro-
gress, and great success. We are not of
| that school. We believe the safest course
| for individuals and communities is to bring
their business as nearly as possible within
| the bounds of their present ability to pay
| for what they get to consume or to sell.
We have lived through four or five
great panics, times of commercial distress,
times of many failures, suspensions ol
banks and other companies; and we have
noticed this one thing as the type and fea-
ture of them all, that they had heir I'M
mediate cause in the violation of the mosi
obvious moral laws, that ought to govern
the dealings of man with man. Good mel
contract debts which cannot be justifiedby
the rules of Christian prudence and mo-
ralty. They make engagements to pay
and, for their ability to do so, depend upor
others over whose action they have M
control, and when their obligation be
comes due, the means are not in hand, ant
they fail. That is the word; suspend l
: a milder word, but means the same thing
| They fail to pay their debts. They fail Z
keep their word. They are professedl.
) Christian men, but they stand before tn
world as having failed to abide by thei
promises.
: 1t is very true that they have the justif
7. cation or apology that their debtors faile
: to pay them. This is sufficient in the eye
Z of the world, and it is to be confessed tn;
! the time has gone by when merchants an
e bankers die of modification when the
: name is among the bankrupts. But II
q duty of Christian is to do business Q
r those principles only which will bear II
IA scrutiny of the divine mind and Will, an
|
will not approve when man makes CO.
: tracts to paw. without having securiti
that will enable him to meet his engag
ments. despite the vicissitudes of the time
If he promises to pay he must be sure tn
- he will pay. Anything short of it WI
= partake, as stock speculation largely doc
y y of the nature of gambling, and the in
= morality of that is too obvious to need G.
! posure. =
:, We are i'm the habit of supposing tn
: savings banks lend their money only {
!. good security, such as mortgages or Go
= ernment bonds. But in the late sad rev
: lations in Rhode Island, it appears tn
one savings bank had lent million Of dc
- lars to business firm engaged in manufa
!, lures. and in the crash of last week II
=, firm failed. BY what principle ofmorali
y ! is savings bank justified in thus hazar
10 ing the money of the poor confided to
= keeping? The bank promised to pay y
:. tepositor his money on demand, and VIII
90 the money is demanded, the bank dirt
- tors-goOd men doubtless-can only 50
d ave lent the money to Sprague a q
- and they have failed; we cannot fulfill
v promise to pay you what we owe you
., This is wrong. 1t Is breach OF trust, u
p common morality refuses to sanction it.
~ ~ But not less wrong is the neglect or {
GO refusal ofany other man to pay his deb
e. To contract a debt without the reasonal
~ prospect of ability to pay, is obviously
-, honest. and to neglect or refuse to pa,
ha debt is equally or more dishonest. A
nd lust here Is the root of all the finant
90 ~ troubles of these times or any other tim
~ The whole difficulty lies in the disreg,
,at of those principles of common moral
od on which is based all sound politi
re economy. No speculation mania, like
' aa tulip of Holland, the South Sea bubble
oe os London. the morus multicaulis of
sct country, or any of the more recent fey
tic of speculation, had any other than a
@ esS titious, that is false basis, and the N
'1ss who promoted them did what is mors
,ps ~ wrong. 1t is always wrong to do b
b ina ness on a fictitious basis, and that pril
% ne pie condemns half the speculafions OF
or own times.
sn aar Pay as you go. you would be I
on man, and keep name unspotted from
r ,n world, keep clear of engagements to =
III unless the ability is assured. And II .
ns , are now in debt, you will hasten to I
do because it is your duty to do so. and y
gs @ creditor may be in danger Of failing,
r5tb suffering, because you are not true
an your word.
~ The want of our times is honesty. C
n,,s mon honesty, that old-fashioned vir
lii which has now become SO Obscured
LII new names in the vocabulary of tr
ing % that it is scarcely recognized as the vi
that requires man to pay his deDfs.-
| Y OIse,reg.