, and for any extent of capital they desire.
Whether a project be to make a railway from one small place to
another, or to provide gas to supply any town, great or small, all
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
is nothing for which they have, properly speaking, to be responsible.
The method adopted in France may be described thus:--There is a
private act or contract, in which are given the names of the partners,
and the sums contributed by them. The names of the _gerants_, or those
who, as ostensible conductors of the business, are to be responsible
to the whole extent of their property, are then published. With regard
to those who put in money wit