Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-04-11
fANCASrER, PA. April IL, 1880.
Shelly.

Doylestown has furnished remark.
able type Of the confidence man. Law
yer Shellenberger was leading citizen,
with q lucrative law practice, and a dis
position to borrow money from any one
who wanted to lend, and to spend
1t rs though It was his own. Mr..
Ehellenberger bought everything that
was best, and lived In the most ele-
CANT mansion in the town. Everything
was first class about Mr.. ehellenbergcr,
including his reputation and credit.
He was a me nber of many boards, In.
oluding the board Of public charities
to whose care some of those he left be-
hind him are likely to fall.
For Mr.. Shellenberger has gone. His
glory has departed. He came to the
end of his financial string and has sought
other scenes. The process of bor-
rowing from Peter to pay Paul was ex-
emplified in its fullest extent by his
practice, but the time came, as usual,
when the Peters turned up too slowly
for the Pauls, and the game stopped.
Doylestown was not big enough field
for its perpetual practice. Its population
and cash failed to meet tho needs of
its entcrprising flnancier.
Mr.. Shelienbergcr's career teaches n
lesson which is often taught and which
will forever fail to impress itself upon
the confiding. We once heard a bishop
declaim against the opinion that the
wise man could not trust his fellows
word but the mcrciless way In which
those who incline to such confidence
are shorn by the worlds Shellenberger's
II sufficient caution to the most pious
Of men to have something besides faith
a. the guardian Of their treasure. Cash
is very slippery commodity and needs
to be securely anchored to be found
when wanted. There 10 nothing 90
wholesome as n mortgage or Judgment TO
secure the promise Of borrower; and
1t 10 putting N great strain. upon the
integrity Of man to place him In a
position where his plain note will
command all the cash he wants. Our
good Mennonite farmers, it 10 true, have
long had this practice among them
selves (, and 1t has worked very well In
deed In their community. The bonds
of the society association have proved
a. good as mortgage bonds. But when
borrowers are not held under such sur.
veillance and restraint they need a
large endowment Of integrity to make
them trusty borrowers. 1t 1t not good
for them to be trusted too much. 1t IL
better for them as well as for the lender,
TO make no severe draft upon their integ-
rity but to buttress their notes with
things Of material value.
All Of which experience teaches, II the
churches do not. Sawyer Shellenbcrger
would doubtless still have been a re.
spected citizen Of Doylestown, If such
breaks had been put upon his bor-
rowing propensities as would have suf-
feed to induce: him to live within his
means. Doubtless he did not origin
ally intend to defraud anyone. He
simply had use for moro money
than he had, and borrowed 1t as
he could borrow 1t easily. He was
victim Of the confidence Of his fellow
citizens, rs they were victims of the
same generally happy thing. There
was too much happiness then In the
Shellenberger situation then and too
little now. II would have been better
If 1t had been more spread out.