Business Life i 37 



the sale and culture of land being lines of busi- 

 ness which they were ill-qualified to undertake. 

 The land in most cases came under the ham- 

 mer, and was knocked down to the highest bidder 

 at a price equivalent to perhaps one fourth of 

 what the mortgagor had paid for it. This up- 

 heaval of land values paralysed the best brains 

 and energies in the West. Even those who had 

 paid in full for their land, and owed no man any- 

 thing, were terror-struck. An Englishman sud- 

 denly told that the bag of sovereigns he had 

 slowly collected during a life of labour and self- 

 denial was nothing more than a bag of crown 

 pieces would present an analogous case ; and it does 

 not require a vivid imagination to conceive what 

 his feelings would be. It is perfectly true that 

 the fictitious value of most of the lands west of 

 the Eocky Mountains was steadily maintained by 

 those who were unable or unwilling to sell their 

 properties, but none the less it was in the air that 

 we were not upon terra firma at all, but encamped 

 on shifting sands. 



"Honour" amongst business men is a delicate 

 question to discuss, but one germane to this chap- 

 ter. If you talk to capitalists in any of the 

 European cities, they will be certain to impugn 

 the Western sense of honour. These gentlemen 

 draw odorous comparisons between their methods 

 and ours. Judged by their standard, we fall short, 

 — that is certain ; because in an old country it pays 

 to be honest, whereas in a new country the Lord 

 would seem to only help those who help them- 



