George Howard Earle, Jr.

“ In all England but four Knights could be found courageous enough to join with John Hampden in facing the danger of refusing to pay ship-money, although they were saving the principles upon which our liberties still rest; whilst Cromwell had no difficulty in recruiting his invincible Army. Nothing is so terrorizing as the unknown; for, to real danger, are added all the fears that may be conjured by overwrought imagination. ”

“ When it is some other country's money, we all think as clearly as Adam Smith did upon the subject, and wonder at its folly or commiserate its resulting misfortunes. Take the German marks, for example, how successful an indictment would be there if the mercantile system is to be revived! On the low price of marks, a man could be proven to a jury to have made two thousand two hundred and twenty-two and one-third per cent. profit, although he had simply gotten one pound back for another pound. ”

“ And when we come to the Austrian kronen, the man who had simply gotten his pound for pound cycle completed, would certainly go to jail when it was proven that in the intermediate illusory money step he had apparently made a profit of six thousand six hundred and sixty-six and two-thirds per cent.! This is taken only as a single illustration, for all other things in relation to commodities are fluctuating in the same way, though in varying degrees. No man ever has or ever will be able to forecast such situations with even ordinary certainty. ”

“ For the moment, let us leave money out of the question. Could any man justly be indicted, should the result of the transaction be that he had borne all the expenses and risks, and yet, had ended with but one pound of goods to replace his original pound? ”

“ There are many indictments founded upon the Lever Act pending in our Federal Courts, in substance, on the basis that a man who has purchased a commodity at one price and sold it at a much greater, is necessarily a criminal. Suppose he bought at five cents and sold at ten, and the indictment calls the latter price "unjust," "unreasonable" and "excessive." ”

“ Men are pleading guilty, paying enormous fines, in some jurisdictions, whilst, in others, it is constantly decided that identical conduct constitutes no offense.
One even sees those who, having taken great risks most helpful to trade, indignantly deny it, because of the undefined terrors of the Lever Act. ”

“ That this second step is really the determinative one; and that a continuing business is but a continuing repetition of these cycles from commodity back to commodity, which does not chiefly consist of money, but in which money is merely a device for facilitating the barter. ”

“ If it had been the Russian Government, and they had forced him to take their present roubles, he could be convicted of having profiteered to the extent of five thousand one hundred per cent., although all honest men here agree in denouncing them for really stealing his property. ”