ale of patent-rights, it is probable they would have avoided
some of the difficulties with which they afterward had to contend. The
prospect of making suddenly an immense fortune by the business of
ginning, where every third pound of cotton (worth at that time from
twenty-five to thirty-three cents) was their own, presented great and
peculiar attractions. Mr. Whitney's return to Georgia was delayed until
the following April. The importunity of Mr. Miller's letters, written
during the preceding period, urging him to come on, evinces how eager
the Georgia planters were to enter the new field of enterprise which the
genius of Whitney had laid open to them. Nor did they at first, _in
general_, contemplate availing themselves of the invention unlawfully.
But the minds of the more honorable class of planters were afterward
deluded by various artifices, set on foot by designing men, with the
view of robbing Mr. Whitney of his just right.

One of the greatest difficulties experienced by men of enterprise, at
the period under review, was the extreme scarcity of money. In order to
carry on the manufacture of cotton-gins, and to make advances in the
purchase of cotton and establishments for ginning, to an extent in any
degree proportioned to their wishes, Miller & Whitney required a much
greater capital than they could command; and the sanguine temperament of
Mr. Miller was constantly prompting him to advance in hazards much
further than the more cautious spirit of Mr. Whitney would follow. But
even the latter found it necessary sometimes to borrow money at an
enormous interest. The first loan (for $2000) was made on terms which
were deemed at that time peculiarly favorable; yet the company were to
pay 5 per cent. premium in addition to the lawful interest. This was in
1794. In consequence of the numerous speculations in new lands into
which so many of our countrymen were deluded, and the want of confidence
created by the very application for a loan, the pressure for money was
continually increasing. In 1796 Mr. Whitney applied to a friend in
Boston to raise money for him on a loan, and received the following
reply: "I applied to one of those vultures called brokers, who are
preying on the purse-strings of the industrious, and was informed that
he can procure the sum you wish at a premium of 20 per cent. on the
following conditions, viz.: You must make over and deposit with him
public securities, such as funded stock, bank stock, o