... any, of their stocks of goods on hand, except a lawyer's fee; thus realizing Martin Burke's saying that many a clever fellow had been ruined by paying his debts. The merchants and business-men of San Francisco did not intend to be ruined by such a course. I raised the rate of exchange from three to three and a half, while others kept on at the old rate; and I labored hard to collect old debts, and strove...