Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/356



ening his  security  to  throw  a  heavier  burden  upon the borrower. Almost all  laws  made  to  protect  bor- rowers of money  react  on  the  borrower,  the  lender having the  advantage. The suspension  of  several banks threw  the  wheels  of  finance  generally  off  the track. Confidence in  other  banking  houses  was  im- paired ; the  solvency  of  merchants  was  suspected. No man felt  that  his  ducats  were  safe  unless  he  had them in  his  own  possession.

Likewise the  effect  upon  the  people  of  the  suspen- sion of the  two  great  express  companies  was  much greater than  that  of  all  the  banks  combined. There was not  a  town  of  any  consequence  in  the  interior  or  on the  coast  from  San  Diego  to  Puget  Sound,  where one, or  most  generally  both  of  these  companies  did not have  offices. There thousands  of  miners  and  labor- ers had deposited  their  little  all,  preparatory  to  remit- ting to their  friends  at  the  east;  they  had  there  laid by a  little  for  a  rainy  day,  a  nest  egg,  passage-money home, in  fact  their  all,  the  result  of  years  of  hard labor — thousands, I  say,  throughout  the  length  and breadth of  the  land,  saw  their  money  and  their  hopes thus suddenly  cast  away.

And if  credits  during  the  flush  times  were  freely given, as  a  rule  debts  were  promptly  paid. Business was done  upon  honor. There was  no  law ;  away from the  larger  towns  there  were  no  pretensions  in the  way  of  tribunals  for  the  collection  of  debts. Had there  been  such  they  would  have  received  little patronage. If the  debtor  was  ill  and  unable  to  work, why molest  him  ? Poverty, there  was  none. When every rivulet  and  ravine  yielded  large  returns  to  the application of  pick  and  pan,  he  who  was  able  to  wield these implements  could  not  be  called  poor. If the debtor was  a  rascal,  and  would  not  pay  when  he could,  a  knife  would  cut  the  difficulty,  or  a  pistol-ball reach the  wrong  quicker  than  the  law.

In the  first  flush  of  business  upon  the  new  Ameri- can high-pressure principle,  after  gold  had  been  dis-