The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-11-29
! had been withheld from sale under Law ts
|nnayc,aably sacrificed that the owner may

t5s3
live.
S. pebsors and creditor ars finally involved
i'm serious injury, only TO the. advantage O
counsel and auctioncer. Look az 5the pres s'-
emit period. suppose the restraining laws
that stopped collections and sales had not
been passed. and men had como on paying
all they could aud selling their lands for the
purpose. Can any man who YVES IN u lte1E1
and who had lands that were kept from
sale. say now that lie would not have been
better off 10 have sold at the prices that pre-
vailed Just after the WARP We believe not
one. whereas by postponing payment and
the sale OF lands interest has accumulated
and the value Of the lands declined until
whatY Let the unfortunate debtor who
was inyeigled inso much deeper embarrassss-
meut BIZ the restraining laws answer.
In many cases the ultimate unavoidable
sale OF lands has realized barely enough 10
nav some little more than the costs OF sale,
and the unfortunate proprietor, denuded OF
property, is scuffiing as best he may TO keep
aroinc. Oh. the stories that men might tell
Of the troubles that have come from the I'M
timely and unwise interference of State be-
tween debtor and creditor. The interior
epce is the result Of great error, and one
| that is at war with honesty and social order.
The practical operation Of restraining laws
ends in weakening the debtor class ana Oh
minishing their wealth. whilst the creditor
is robbed, and bad state OF feeling is en-
gendered that seriously disturbs domestic
peace and thrift.
We repeat that it proceeds from de-
moraljzation Of the popular mind, which
marches from step to step until the panic
which showed itself in desire to be
shielded from the creditor is developed into
schemes to rob him Of his property.
No wise public man will become party
to measures that are so wrong, so Injurious
to society. Government should not inter-
ere between debtor and creditor further
than to do justice and preserve order. 1t can
not dispense communistic, fanatical mo-
raIity amongst these classes without damage
to them and dangerto society. 1t must leave
that to the parties at issue, and il it does
the settlements between them will be made
In such way as will best promote the well
fare of the parties themselves and the COM
munity.
1t is a falschood to say that creditors are
all hard and avariclous, and that debtors
are all good, innocent, and deserving men.
The truth is creditors are nearly all OF
them likewise debtors. 1t is their interest
in hard times that settlements should be Ia
ciltated by liberality and forbearance, and
that business should so ahead. 1t Is the in
terest OF the whole community that kind
relations should be maintained between all
classes, and that confidence should be thus
cherished as the very life Of business inter-
course. A people thus conditioned can
weather the hardest times in peace and
thrift. @",
But let those going apart to themselves
and calling themselves debtors importune
the state until it grants them restraining
laws that will stop sales, stop settlements,
destroy confidence, excite distrust, and con-
vert community that had been at rest and
had fostered kindliness and charity into one
OF suspicion, selfshness, and iliberality,
and they will soon realize the evil conse-
quences that always flow from measures in
tended to avoid just obligations by unmanly
and doubtful expedieuts:
The whole tribe of expedents to shirk
responsibility in times of hardship is i'm
moral, and they never fail to aflict the State
with trouble and with multitude Of sor-
rows.