Evening star., 1925-02-14

Neither borrower nor a lender
be-"
Those time-worn words of old Pc.
lonius ring yet with true wisdom, re.
plete with something precious tha,
appeals to the divine common sense In
men.
Most Of the old maxims have much
truth in them that IL why they have
lived and won the appr rotation OF
generations, and still strike US as
worth treasuring.
Not they need be wholly true. Po-
lonius saw about saving Is good
instance In point. The old fellow, as
depicted by Shakespeare, made his
remark for specific hearer, who
needed just that advice
He did not mean that a man was
never to borrow bits when he
needed it. or. should refuse to pur-
chase home until he had the entire
purchase price saved up in cash. He
was no such. fool, old Polonius.
He recognized that hard and fas,
rules will never do. So he enunciat.
ed a general principle, which each
person must apply to fit his individ.
ual case. Polonus did not try to fit it
of course. to modern business, to hank
ing or corporations
The remark is for personal, indi-
vidual application. To use the words
OF the immortal w, S. Gilbert, you
have to make the punishment fit the
crime.
If one does not borrow money from
others. IL follows as the night the
day. that he should not lend it to
others. And, if he does not lend
neither should he borrow. This Is one
case Of going around in circle thai
means something
Lend me $40. old man." some one
asked. ..,
TIL make it five," the one hit said
"Why--
x y X y
You lose. FIVE and l lose five"
There is perhaps no policy tha
the average man can adopt that will
repay him better than that of tn,
mo lending. no borrowing" in hi:
personal affairs. ,
For a simon-pure method OF Great
ing Ill feeling and losing friends
borrowing and lending money Is on,
of the very best.
1t Is a sort of vicious sword tha
cuts both ways. We will consider
first the lending of money to others
There are two kinds of borrow er.
liable to hit you for a loan. First
there is the borrower of trifiing sums
He usually wants 80 bits or maybe 81
cents. Why is 1t that most men say
"2 bits" when they borrow rs cents?
l do not know, but. they usual!
do. And the inconvenieht thint
about the proceeding Is that the.
cheerfully forget all about returning
the money.
A good specimen of this small Dor
rover can abstract a quarter here, {
50-cent piece here. maybe Who'll,
dollar there. so that in the end h,
will owe everybody in his Office
Soon the gang gets next to him, how
ever, and he finds IT difficult to picl
up any more free money. Sometime,
the office itself calls him TO task.
After all. this specimen of Dor
rover is small game. for the sun
total OF his borrowings is limited. ant
is not missed very much. being spread
thin over the list of his acquaint
ances. Ats the worst, he is jus
something of a nuisance.
Not so the second type, he wht
borrows on a bigger scale. He nevei
asks for anything less than IS. Of
$40, maybe $25 or more. He alway.
has plenty in the bank-so he say!
but for any one of a number O.
perfectly good reasons-to him-he Il
unable to connect with the precise
amount he needs at this very time
he wants 1T.
So II you will just let him have 1t
old man. he Will return 1t to yo,
tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, sharp
without fail. Your money will b'
safer with him than in the bank. Al
matter of fact, in his pocket Il
will be safer than in your own, fol
you will then be saved the temptation
to spend it!
The trouble-from your viewpoin