New-York tribune., 1883-12-13
90 HHEEKU Is H1P[T4L.

tJfEEh" 40 C1f1I-fL.
The political economists exercise their wits
strenuously upon definitions of capital. 1t is
the surplus earnings of labor they say. 1t is
this, that and the other. But they invariably
omit from their reasoning that important factor
which has been aptly termed the personal
equation" For the Professors of the Dismal
Science it is perhaps necessary to postulate abb
sOlute uniformity of effects but if this is inds-
pensable to the formulation of consistent
theory of wealth and its distribution, it none the
less prevents political economy from account
ing for or even taking due cOgnizancc Of some
of the most striking and remarkable facts. AS
an example of this defect in the alleged science,
take the late failure of the spcculator, Morris
Ranger. Here was a man who succeeded in
amassing liabilities to the amount of $1,000
900, yet whose assets were only $4,000. Now
it is perfectly evident that the capital of Morris
Ranger did not consist OF his surplus earnings;
did not represent the results of labor in any
form; was not the Increment OF land value; IN
fact cannot be put in any of the orthodox eco
nomc catcSoricS What, then, did the great
spectators capital consist in To put it
cmtly and clearly, if somewhat Vugarly, his
capital consisted in cheek His confidence in
himself in effect may be said TO have been
represented by his four millions of debts. The
confidence of others in him is represented, on
the other hand, by his forty-iiyc thousand
dollars of assets. 1t is said sometimes, snccr-
ingy, that if we could buy such-anone at the
public valuation of him, and sell him at his own
valuation, there would be much profit in the
transaction Just 50 with Morris Ranger. And
tli, ease is only typical. The extent to which
"chcck' operates IA capital is scarcely sus-
pcctcd. probably. "Chcckn is TO credit what
credit is to ordinary commercial transactions.
Its use involves a refinement of the process
through which checks have in these days super
scdcd the exchange of actual money in bust
ness There are plenty of Rangers all over the
world. They utilize their nerve, their expert
cncc their audacity. They create what is for
most purposes rs good aS capital in this way.
Very often they are successful, and then they
are able to supply n basis of real capital to their
operations. But the bOldcst of such spectators
at times are tempted or driven into taking dcs-
pcratc chances At such times they are like
generals who separate themselves nom their
base of communication rs Sherman did, and
who proceed in the air" as the French strate-
gists say. They are then operating, not upon
capital. but upon "chcck,' and should they
make mistakes they are liable to such failure as
has bcfallcn Morris Ranger The men who
make these dangerous ventures are, however
invariably natural gamblers. Their operations
do not resemble those of the men who have ac-
qured great capital by slow, successive work
They take a pleasure in the very risk of the
operations, distinct from their interest In the
results. They delight in the fertility OF their
own resources, and in the coolncSs which en-
ablcs them to put at stake hundreds OF thou
sands, or millions, which they do not possess,
Such coolness, indeed may easily be tactitious,
for he who merely stakes other peoples money
needs more absence of scruplo than presence of
mind
As to the honesty of this kind of speculation
there is no room for doubt 1t is only the mag
nitudc of the operation that miSlcadS the pub
lie. If poor clerk or mechanic tried the same
game and failed, every body would say ana see
that he was unprnciplcd. But when man
fails for four millions upon capital OF forty
five thousand dollars, there is disposition to
admire his audacity, and rather to defer to HIM
as genius. The spcculator who trades on
cheek is in fact one in whom those ten
denotes are developed which lead to crime.
There is want of balance, 4 greed without
restraint, a contempt for ethical principles, such
as may be looked for among professional Grim
inals Yet it is certain that the employment OF
check as capital in-thc Morris Ranger way is
quite common, and that economists ought to
devise some method of taking this class of cases
into account Of course a large proportion of
the values created by such spectators is iicti-
tious, but men may be ruined by tampering even
with fictitious values, and in all such cases the
one who has least to lose is the bold spcculator
whose capital is in his mind"
I'm the present state of public morals there
seems no cllcctual way of protecting society
against the Morris Rangers. No doubt in the
long run they come to grief but meantime
many innocent persons come to grief also
through them. A time may come when crmi-
nality will be less relative and comparative than
now, but until such milcnnal period arrives
the world will probably have no better protec-
ton against these advcnturors than its own
judgment constitutes.
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CHINESE TRUTHFULNESS
The Herald, speaking of recent Chinese ru-