CREDIT AND CRUELTY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 109, 10 May 1870, Page 4

CREDIT AND CRUELTY.

Christmas festivities and rejoicings make a pleasant picture. The family gatherings, the extensive charities, the universal holiday, and sometimes the seasonable weather, all combine to stimulate enjoyment ; and the enjoyment has a double zest for those who can feel, as they sit down under the bright holly to their own plentiful board, that they have made some poor household glad, and are not selfishly feasting alone. But however pleasant the picture, there are always some dark shadows in the back-ground, and there is sometimes a gloomy reverse. The Christmas season brings to many, too many, opportunities for riotous excess, as our policecourts most painfully testify ; to some it has this year brought an awfully violent and sudden death, which overtook them while engaged in the pursuit of pleasure, and turned the entrance of a theatre into the gates of the grave. But there are many more to whom Christmas hrings only unalloyed privation and renewed disappointment —deferred hope, and a heart sick unto death. Seldom has a more melancholy case occurred, than that which was reported last week by the Pall Mall Gazette. On the morning of Christ-mas-day the body of a poor woman was taken out of the h'egent's Canal, and carried to the Marylebone Workhouse to await an inquest. It ranspired that she was a laundress, and had applied at a house in St John's Wood for a sum of between £4 and £5, which was due to her. She failed to obtain it; harassed and weary, possibly suffering privation as well, her mind gave way, and she fled in despair to the refuge of the grave. Her husband waited in vain for her return to their humble home, and on the bright, cold morning of the world's greatest holiday, "peace and goodwill," upon a thousand lips, countless banquets in preparation, and the very paupers in the workhouse cheered and made glad for once, this poor creature lay waiting the verdict which should pronounce that she knew not what she did, but that grief and despair had caused madness and suicide. It is one duty of the press to note such events, and to urge upon the public conscience the sad lesson they teach; a lesson which in this instance is written in letters of blood. There is a great evil pervading society, the cause of untold suffering, and poor Elizabeth Horler is only one of its latest victims. Deferred or neglected payments result from a selfish indifference to the rights of others. Even where there is no dishonest intention, great anxiety and suffering are often entailed by needless delay. It is bad enough in dealings with tradesmen, who usually have some capital, [and are prepared to give credit, which however, is often shamefully abused, and prolonged without reason and without mercy to the great discomfort- and injury of the trading classes. But how much worse does the case become when the wages of ' a poor working man or woman are unduly withheld ! Often they have no' resources to fall back upon, and either must themselves plunge into debt or endure severe and needless privations. A bill of nearly five pounds due to "a poor laundress must represent a considerable amount of unrequited toil. The work of the laundry is hard work at all times, but what must it be when the mercury in the thermometer stands at freezing-point, or even falls below it. Overdue and "doubtful debts must weigh heavy upon the heart in the depth of winter, when such work as that has to be done amid any uncertainty about payment. And it is sometimes the case that money can be found for indulgences, extravagance, and perhaps for dissipation, while honest creditors are unsatisfied, and even poor dependents kept waiting in miserable suspense. We do not envy the Christmas gaities that are purchased at such a price, the festivities and hospitalities provided at the cost of suffering industry. And all honest men will say, " Let me not eat^of " such " danties." If this poor woman's case stood alone it would be sad enough , but there is too much reason to fear that it is but one of a class, an[extreme and startling illustration of the wrongs which are so widely inflicted by carelessness and negligence in money matters. " Evil is wrought, for want of thought, As well as for want of heart." It may be that payment Jis delayed with absolute intention to defraud ; beyond doubt this is often the case ; it may be that the delay arises from pure thoughtlessness; but the delay itself 'is often a cruel wrong. "O, tell her to call again," may be easily said(at a warm fireside, but it may mean a broken heart for the poor woman on the doorstep who turns away to face the pinching cold with an empty pocket. The laundress should have been paid weekly. It is , difficult to believe that any person can be justified in allowing a bill of that kind to run till it amounts to between £4 and £5. It is not wise to suffer household expenses to accumulate and get so far into arrears; it is not kind, and, as this melancholy instance proves, it is not always safe to keep the poor waiting so long for their hard-earned pay. We are forcibly reminded of the^grand old precept in the Mosaic law, " The wages |of him that is hired 'shall not abide with thee all night until the morning At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.'' That wonderful systemof social and political economy, now so often depreciated, and so little understood, is full of provisions which defend the sacred rights of the helpless and the needy. And though no longer absolutely binding, it may often be observed even to the letter, with the utmost advantage, while its spirit can seldom or never be violated without gross and manifest wrong. And when inculcating, as it does abundantty, kind consideration foi the laboring poor, it should be listened to as a voice from heaven. The precepts which command that something shall oe left at harvest time for the gleaners, that a poor man's raiment shall not be detained in pledge, and that the ox which treads out the corn shall not suffer hunger in the midst of plenty, have all deep lessons for our boasted nineteenth century civilisation. And the later revelation speaks in similar language. The man who thinks that he can safely show a con-

temptuous dit-xegard for the older Divine message, should remember that the New Testament admonishes him to " Render unto all tl-eir dues," to "owe no man anything but to love one. another," and that to withhold Jpayments which have been honestly earned is utterly inconsistent with the second great commandment of the law, and a clear proof that he who is guilty of it does not love his neighbor as himself. It is very doubtful whether the benefit occasionally derived from a system of credit is not outweighed many times over by the mischief to which it continually leads. Credit has warm and powerful advocacy, and men are found who will contend that a universal system of cash payments is mi( ossible— an excellent but chimerical and unattainable idea. Be this as it may, the evil results of a general credit system are as manifest and undeniable as they arc deep and extensive. A noble lord has just gone through the Bankruptcy Court with debts amounting to £34,t>00, his income being under £500 a-year; and a poor washerwoman has lost her reason and committed suicide through failing to obtain payment of four or five pounds — to her a very serious sum. From the top to the bottom of the social scale, credit, cruel credit, is working mischief and ruin. He is a true friend to himself, to his family, and to society at large, who, if he cannot do without credit altogether, yet reduces it to a minimum, and dispenses with it by every means in his power.