as a virtue of the same rank with the prudence of Nestor, the constancy of Hector, and the gallantry of Achilles."
Elsewhere, Sir Henry Maine, when dealing with the progress of a society resting upon the just relations established by free contract, remarks that "the many have an almost instinctive reluctance to admitting good faith and trust in our fellows as more widely diffused than of old. . . . From time to time these prepossessions are greatly strengthened by the spectacle of frauds unheard of before the period at which they are observed."
"But," as he most profoundly remarks, "the very character of these frauds shows clearly that, before they became possible, the moral obligations of which they are the breach must have been more than proportionately developed. It is the confidence reposed in and deserved by the many which affords facilities for the bad faith of the few; so that, if colossal examples of dishonesty occur, there is no surer conclusion than that scrupulous honesty is displayed in the average of the transactions which, in the particular case, have supplied the delinquent with his opportunity."
In the observations of nearly half a century of business life the writer has become profoundly impressed with the truth of these observations, and has been almost brought to the conclusion that contracts would be fulfilled, commerce would go on, and debts would be paid as fully in the long-settled and well-established communities now existing in many parts of this country, if all laws for the collection of debts and all acts of legal tender were repealed.
When the quality of the money of a nation is evenly maintained, no act of legal tender is needed to enforce its acceptance by a creditor. If there is any other point of dispute, evidence of an offer of the debtor to fulfill his contract in money might be perpetuated without giving him an option to pay in poorer money than he had promised. It is only when the quality of money has been depreciated that an act of legal tender is cited by a debtor, and in so doing he transfers the fraud from his own shoulders to the Government that has impaired the terms of his contract.
In the free states which have been established by the English speaking people character stands for more than capital in establishing credit; credit rests more upon the high standard of business integrity than upon legal provisions for the collection of debts: under these conditions, freedom on the part of the purchaser and the seller, the employer and the employed, to make just contracts, is the condition of abundant production and equitable distribution, while the very existence of society depends upon the maintenance of personal liberty.
The condition under which man exists is that he shall work. The work may be mental, manual, or mechanical. Some may be
