366 Civilization and Decay 



portions of the United States always loses if the 

 debtor is loser, or if the debtor is dishonest. Of 

 course there are "sharpers" among bankers, as there 

 are among producers. Moreover, the private, as dis- 

 tinguished from the corporate, debtor borrows for 

 comparatively short periods, so that he is practically 

 not at all affected by an appreciating currency; the 

 rise is much too small to count in the case of the 

 individual, though it may count in the long-term 

 bonds of a nation or corporation. The wage of the 

 workingman rises, while interest, which is the wage 

 of the capitalist, sinks. 



Mr. Adams's study of the rise of the usurer in 

 India and the ruin of the martial races is very in- 

 teresting; but it has not the slightest bearing upon 

 anything which is now happening in Western civ- 

 ilization. The debtor, in America at least, is amply 

 able to take care of his own interests. Our experience 

 shows conclusively that the creditors only prosper 

 when the debtors prosper, and the danger lies less 

 in the accumulation of debts, than in their repudia- 

 tion. Among us the communities which repudiate 

 their debts, which inveigh loudest against their cred- 

 itors, and which offer the poorest field for the oper- 

 ations of the honest banker (whom they likewise 

 always call "money-lender"), are precisely those 

 which are least prosperous and least self-respecting. 

 There are, of course, individuals here and there who 

 are unable to cope with the money-lender, and even 

 sections of the country where this is true; but this 

 only means that a weak or thriftless man can be 



