CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 496 



Island and Massachusetts than in any oiht-r part of the TJnion, and therefore 

 more steadiness in the rate of interest and in the value of property, with less 

 necessity for usury laws, and consequently a more rapid advance in prosperity. 

 Those who would desire to he as prosperous should coninicnce by a determina- 

 tion to be as free, and not seek to ohtani tlie same object by means diametric- 

 ally the reverse of those which are there empkjycd, as is done in Pennsylvania, 

 where freedom of trade is held by those who call themselves Free-Traders, to 

 consist in not perniitiin<j men to determine for themselves the terms upon which 

 they will associate with each other, for the purpose of trading with the public, 

 even where that public is left eniircly at liberty to judge for itself of the terms, 

 and to determine whether it will trade with them or not. 



A comparison of the systems of those two States with that of Pennsjlvania 

 will serve to exhibit the process by which capital is driven from the country 

 to the cities, even where its owners would prefer to retain it at home under 

 their own management, if permitted by legislators to determine for themselves 

 the mode in which it should be employed. 



In no part of the world is the doctrine of equal rights so well understood as 

 in New-England, and in no part of JVew-England better than in Rhode Island 

 and Massachusetts. What A. and B. can do, all the rest of the alphabet can 

 do, and therelbre monopolies have no existence. Every set of men that desires 

 to associate for the purpose of tradinir, on the footing of a corporation, can have 

 themselves recorded as such by the Legislature, unless there exist good reason 

 to apprehend fraud. Such is the case, among others, with those who desire to 

 associate for the purpose of opening places for trading in money, to which those 

 who have a surplus can bring it to be exchanged for securities, and at which 

 those who have securities can apply l"ur the purpose of converting them into 

 money : money-shops, or banks — places quite as important for those who desire 

 to have securities and money fitted to each other, as shoe-shops to those who 

 desire to have shoes fitted to feet, and feet fitted to shoes — a)id <j7iitc as harm- 

 less. Such being deemed to be the case, it is not thought necessary to subject 

 the parties associating for the purpose to any liabilities, or penalties, that need 

 prevent prudent and cautious men from taking part in their formation and man- 

 agement. The consequence is that there are distributed throughout those two 

 States nearly 200 money-shops, constantly engaged in the collection and distri- 

 bution of capital, owned by the people of the neighborhood, who themselves 

 manage their own property, and are not compelled to transmit it to Boston, 

 to be managed by others of whom they know but little ; the general result of 

 which is, that the trade in money is attended by less loss to those who deal 

 with banks, and more uniform, steady and moderate proht to those who own 

 them, than in any other part of the world. Throughout both States, every man 

 is within reach of a money-shop ; and the industrious and prudent farmer, shop- 

 keeper or mechanic can at any time command small loans to aid him in his 

 business. In no part of the world does capital distribute itself so equally — fall- 

 ing almost like the dew, and fertilizing where it falls; in none is there a cur- 

 rency so inexpensive, and in none is the quantity of currency so little liable to 

 fluctuation. The system is almost perfect, because almost perfectly free ; and 

 it would be difficult to suggest an improvement, unless it were the passage of a 

 general law that should relieve the Legislature from all necessity for interference 

 in any way, while sweeping away the few remaining regulations, some of which 

 seem to indicate a personal lialjility that has no real existence, and thus to make 

 it as free in appearance as it is in reality. 



Pennsylvania, on the contrary, is the land of monopolies. Equality of rights 

 is unknown. A. B. and C. are perpetually obtaining the;)rif/7ege of doing things 

 which to the rest of the alphabet are forbidden. Large associations obtain grants 

 of charters which to small ones are denied. On one day a bank of live or thirty- 

 five millions is organized in the city, and on the next the citizens of a large ag- 

 ricultural district, suffering for want of a little money-shop, are denied the exercise 

 of the right of making one, unless they will assume enormous liabilities. Of late 

 years, association, the great characteristic of the ase, and of civilization, has come 

 to be ce^sicI,lreJ^ anli-deraocralic, and the perfection of democracy is thought to bs 

 reahzed in the form of wealthy private bankers and manufacturers, deemed highly 

 preferable to unions of little capitalists, employers and workmen, such as are seca 



(loi:.) 



