The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-11-23
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THE IDLER
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L lSoO lAA1S AilSASJ cAAOAN SSASNAASS SAAS
other day in some paper or somewhere
else. and it has been going around and
around in my head ever since, and !
just can't get it to quit. Somehow,
there seems to me to be something in
it that is worth passing on, if l can
just get out what has been Sizing in
my brain ever since l read it. l want
every young man especially, who reads
this column, to read this little sentence
over two or three times. There may
not appear to him at first to be any
thing in it, but. there is a whole lot. It
is a--sermon in itself, if you stop to,
think. when a man can borrow money
without collateral, he's the collateral"
Every man who has tried to borrow
money has heard of the word collat-
eral. In fact, as the fellow who wen.
o1~e } the bank to borrow. saiu It
was no trouble to borrow money, but
the thing was to get that thing they
called the collateral. Here's the trou-
bic. We have been training and edu-
eating our people so strongly along the
line of collateral that We have almost
made them forget that the individual
counted for anything at all, and as
result we have trained our people
away from the good old doctrine o.
individual honesty, and the idea that
mans word should be his bond.
believe that if our bankers and 6nan-
ciers and moneyed men generally
would place more stress upon the
character and the honesty and integ-
rity and the honor Of the individual,
and less upon the collateral, that they
would soon develop a higher type OF
citizen. On the contrary, by stress1ng
he collateral it has the tendency to
leave the impression, especially upon
he young. inat all that counts in this
.:orld is collateral And as result
The tendency is to instil the idea that
| enc has only to do what the law makes
him do, rather than &c be impressed
with the idea that honesty and integ-
rity and honor are the things that
| count: And as result We are not de-
veloping the highest type of citizen.
O, know there are those ready to
say, yes, if you adopt any such plan
as that you will soon be penniless. I
do not believe it. l believe that any
man will come nearer doing the right
i:.6 the honest thing, when he realizes
tha. you have trusted him and that
you nave confidence in his integrity
of character, than when he feels that
you are suspecting him of doing wrong,
and that you have inverted the doctrine
that he is innocent until proven guilty.
We go on the doctrine in dealing Wi:b
our fellow man, that every man is
rascal, and he must prove his honesty
before we can trust MIN, and then We
will only trust him when he has the
collateral. l say that is the tendency,
| notice that one of the banks has
bought a fine bull with view of en-
! couraging the raising Of stock and bet
ter cattle, and it is all rignt, and an
other bank man is doing something to
improve the cattle of the county, and
that is all right, too, but what | would
like to see some of these bankers do
is to encourage some of the young men
in the country to stay on the farm by
letting them understand that their
character and integrity was good col
lateral. l mean this: Say to some
half a dozen or dozen or more young
men, now, you stay on the farm and
We will advance you the money, on
your own manhood, to start in the nos
business, or the cattle business, in
small way at first of course, and
We will let you have the money to
start if you will go to work like
man and make man out Of your
self, and we will charge you only
reasonable rental for the money,
and as you make it pay us back,
and we are not going to require you
I to put up any other collateral, and /
believe that they could find plenty
of young men who would prove to
be faithful, and they would encour-
age them to be men. and show them
that there were those who had con-
fdence in them. Not to do it to any
large extent, but try out the propo-
sition. 1t is said of some great man,
1 believe it was Alex Stevens, that