those companies, as a matter of course, come to the legislature and
ask for, and obtain, limited liability. They are commercial companies,
and one cannot trace the reason why they should have limited liability
a bit more than any other company--but it is so.'

Here we have at least a precedent, which is of importance in a country
like this, so truly conservative in the sense of adhering to anything
that is fixed law or matter of traditional business routine. Now, in
these concerns, where there is often so much wild speculation and
mismanagement, no one is responsible beyond the subscribed stock; yet
while we hear enough of the stockholders themselves losing their
property, we seldom, scarcely ever, hear of the creditors who deal
with them, in contracting for their works or otherwise, losing. The
reason is, because the extent to which they can pay is known, and the
people who deal with the company calculate accordingly. Unlimited
liability existing in some indefinite parties, while it too often
ruins these parties themselves, is a bait for that indefinite credit
which produces their ruin, and sometimes leaves the careless creditor
unpaid, even when he has taken the last farthing from the unfortunate
partner.

In the commandite partnerships, however, the restriction of liability
does not apply to all the shareholders, as in the case of our great
joint-stock companies. Full responsibility alights only on those
partners who take it upon them, who have an interest in the profits
measured by their responsibility, and who are known to the world to be
so responsible. With regard to those whose responsibility is said to
be limited, it would be more accurate to say, that they have no
responsibility at all: there is a fixed sum which they have invested
in the concern--they may lose it, but it is there already; and there