The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-09-02

The reputation OF its honest debts by a
State or other civil community is one OF
those crimes which are less detestcd than
they ought 10 be because their true charac-
Ger does not sufficiently strike the magma
ton. A responsibility divided among many
h, az il were, dissipated into nothing, and
scattered number of creditors fails to com
mand the respect which would be accorded
70 a single Individual insisting on his rights
IN person. Citizen wha scorn to cheat their
grocers or tailurs or boot makers out of five
dollars, will have no scruplc In withholding
~ taxpayers much smaller amount due
from each one to public creditor. They do
not feel that any particular obligation rests
upon them, nor do they see that any par
ticular injury results from their default
They are sensible, however. OF the load II
taxation, and in choosing between the avoid
Hnce Of this great evil to themselves and the
little evil to each one Of multitude Of UNI
known bOndhulders their conscienccs give
them no trouble They save their own
money, and that present and important
benefit quite eclipses the remote wrong they
passvely conniye at.
There is besides, too prevalent convic-
tion that debt Of any kind is an injury to
the debtor from which he Is justified in using
any means to relieve himself. II is a charge
upon his property and earnings which goes
~ diminish by Just 50 much his enjoyment
Of them. He has bought, say farm Of one
hundred acres, when he had only the money
10 pay for fifty. An accommodating capital
bt lent him enough to enable him to buy the
other fifty acres, taking as security a mort
Hage on the whole hundred. Immediately
this mortgagcc becomes a foe 70 Ice defeated
1t all hazards. The fact that but for his aid
only fifty acres could have been purchased
h forgotten the hundred are in possession
and under cultivation, and an idea OF abso-
lute ownership in them has been establish
ID h. which the mortgage is an ntolcrable
drawback. The longer the debt stands the
worse il seems, until at last the demand OF
bhe nortgagee for even the interest on his
loan is regarded as an cxaction. and his
Slain to be repaid the principal an attempt
~ conilscate what does not belong 10
him. 1t is the same with all other
transactions in which property is purchased
On credit. The borrower gets into ha
hands or under his control, real estate or
machinery or merchandise which the lender
pays for; but, as time rolls on the lenders
rights fade away into an attcnuated abstrac-
kion Ia which il sne,ns uouatrnus IN ,,iva Il
practical reality. Such beln, the nnnereut
hardship where the dnbtor Los received q
nersonal adynut1go from his bnrrnviu,
how much greater does il hocomo whore ms
In th. c.so of n n,hlic dnlt the burden Inns
NOT hn,.n conpnnsotod hv any tangible in-
rronso nf indi ridu,l nnserseinns, Thelor-
.ats ~ canals railroads and otbor Stoto
works those foonndnct. eo,y.rs and NH.
10 eo,,or., -, ,it,, and c,,,t,, IuiIIi,.,s
and oihor in,nr,,.o,nonte ara 40 in,olr,ll.
40 tho mir Th.,r,ti..,ll,, thoir Vain. may,
no ad,,itt.d lint ,,h,,, n o,,,nos T., ,o,,ln., II,
a. .l,,,.o.y t,yo. ,,..., animal i,t.,ro.,
an ,h.ir on., hu,oo,n n.,t,,,,,.l',Is .,.I II
not c.,,t,,ll.I r,iuci,ln ,.y,.,, ,o'.,b,.
mit +, ti,c r,..,.-.,,,. .,,,it,.o
Itist,tl.t. i,,,,.,r.,t o,,,,rooioti,r 80 tho
truo r,loti,,s If dol,tn, and crod,,o. tho, wo
,nnst ,,,t,n.nto thn ,ctin, a. Ni.sis.i,,,j
many ycors opo in rngard IA her state
ho.ds and thn mora rocnnt and nogront dis.
honest of the ueople Of Georgia and Miune.