Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-12-19
VOL. XXXIV.
Concerning SOIvency.

ence there have sprung up thousand
permanent testimonies some of them most
striking and significant; among these the
theme of this essay. For solvency is Il
Latin word, English in its termination
only, and means merely emancipation
The verb S0tUO means to loose, to set free.
A solvent man is, therefore, one who is
either free from debt, or at any rate, one
who has absolutely in possession the means
of freeing himself from debt; and an in
solvent man is one, who, being debtor,
has not ut command the means of releas-
ing himself from his bondage. 1t occurs
TO us that few hints Of very plain and
fundamental character may prove helpfUl
to some who sufficiently covet independ.
ence, but do not see just how to compass
it. AT bottom the conditions of solvency
are the simplest possible, and may not on
ly be learned but mastered by any one
who is in earnest. To 90 in debt is to
borrow, and to borrow is to lay hold of
what is not your own, but another's. There
is kind Of borrowing, and there is also n
measure of borrowing, both of which are
within the limits of that kind of commerce
which is purely advantageous to society.
That ideal which is shaped literally by the
single dogma, 1--WE ants never borrow, we
ants never lend" would isolate the indi-
vidual and undo society at Il stroke. Moth
ING is more certain than that men, women,
and children have been purposely so
created, endowed, and d'circumstanced, that
n thousand inter-dependencics should at
all times be inevitable. Motion can only
be created by the destruction of equipoise; :;
in close analogy society only becomes
possible by the destruction of independ-
ence. Debt, therefore, is not primarily
nor necessarily an evil but becomes an
evil when it falls outside the range of legit-
innate commercial exchanges. The debtor
who is servant, perhaps even slave, is
not the borrower, but the borrower of
more than he can repay; and here we un-
cover the entire philosophy of solvency and
thrift. As a rule, subject only to ordinary
exceptions, no man needs any more than
he can pay for. If it were otherwise the
Creator might justly be blamed for unset
tling the foundations Of life. As it is lie
has merely distributed values in such wise
that if some good which A needs is found
lodged with B, an examination will show
that with A has also been lodged u good
of equal value which b needs, and an ex-
change between these two will enrich both
without cost to either. 1t will further be
found that if the good lodged with B, and
coveted by A cannot be purchased by A,
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n,''Io. no" iiG" 10 1Ii. Iio ,'! 1p'0V w. Uo'c
9Lh,a Nv J'',' ~ .i'7 i'o NV 'i'' nv u
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- ~ ,Ii,''.7 I c o'S ~. 49,, W
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.'l1 i'nV Wv o''O ~ 'i','''o ~ - Sou vi
liov 'pao W pay an" ti''1 "o i'Tsoi''ple e 'I.
pGTUS Wv, r,i"I oaJ ,,.;,,' s,,,''
ni' So" I,-',in -" C w. P.I.a1 nH''l
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oU nsV' ,'' g" c W. =, n," - =. JGu 'i,''5S
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lon'S oo'iDS VI tIs,t tn,,i'sIvut, oro G',,,
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nIt l'o' uIW ieSa no3oj 'o rin I'HoI f"it
lh!gs coEe'eu oI iou GII.v" I i, 1in, ,' rn n",,'
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~ VnaI IL ls 'He'''' "''oo'oI'1'y L V'n y, il,"
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tue means ol S'".S ~? % Suon PiotciI if ~ - =
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you nave ncch soIlC ] ,Io L ,,'' motlG lI'vp