COST OF CREDIT, 



91 



raise money by loans, or sell their lands. But selling was 

 merely changing the person of the borrower, for to borrow 

 became sooner or later an inevitable necessity, under the 

 system of absenteeism by which the island was cursed. 

 The lenders were naturally those who traded with the 

 island, the consignees of produce, who would begin by 

 making advances, and end by taking mortgages. They 

 would lend the planters money, upon their stipulating to 

 send all their produce to the lender's house, in London, to 

 be sold, and to buy from them whatever in their particular 

 line of business the estate consumed. These arrangements 

 were generally made, so that the London trader would 

 get whatever commission he chose to take for selling 

 the produce, and whatever price he chose to ask for 

 his own merchandise. The planter's candle, therefore, 

 would thus be burning at both ends, and I must say, in 

 the middle also ; for he produced, sold and bought at a 

 disadvantage. 



Of course, it would not take long, under such finan- 

 ciering, for the proprietor to get a larger load upon his 

 back than he could carry alone. He would soon experi- 

 ence a necessity for more money than could be raised upon 

 his consignments. His consignees, anxious to secure their 

 control over his business, are happy to lend him what he 

 requires, if he will secure the loan by a mortgage upon 

 his estate. He has no other security to give, and consents. 



