Few indeed were those who
had the courage to insist on seeing both sides of the question before
they committed themselves to what was practically a leap in the dark. One
would have thought that caution in this respect was an elementary
principle,--one of the first things that an honourable man would teach
his boy to understand; but in practice it was not so.
I even saw cases in which parents bought the right of presenting to the
office of cashier at one of these banks, with the fixed determination
that some one of their sons (perhaps a mere child) should fill it. There
was the lad himself--growing up with every promise of becoming a good and
honourable man--but utterly without warning concerning the iron shoe
which his natural protector was providing for him. Who could say that
the whole thing would not end in a life-long lie, and vain chafing to
escape? I confess that there were few things in Erewhon which shocked me
more than this.
Yet we do something not so very different from this even in England, and
as regards the dual commercial system, all countries have, and have had,
a law of the land, and also another law, which, though professedly more
sacred, has far less effect on their daily life and actions.
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