He next paid heed to the problem of usury. Money, always seeking the highest bidder, preyed on the industry of the people. The common contract rate was about fifty per cent. In many instances it rose to more than one hundred, and unfortunates even paid two or three times as much.[71] "It seems," Lincoln said, "as though we are never to have an end to this baneful and corroding system, acting almost as prejudicial to the general interests of the community as a direct tax of several thousand dollars annually laid on each county for the benefit of a few individuals only, unless there be a law made fixing the limits of usury. A law for this purpose, I am of the opinion, may be made without materially injuring any class of people. In cases of extreme necessity, there could always be means found to cheat the law; while in other cases it would have its intended effect. I would favor the passage of a law on this subject which might not be easily evaded. Let it be such that the labor and difficulty of evading it could only be justified in cases of greatest necessity."[72] This rather remarkable admission is interesting in view of his subsequent utterances on the sacred enforcement of all laws lest single relaxations prove an inducement for other violation.[73] [71] Lamon, 133. [72] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 3. [73] _Ibid._, 12. A rather becoming modesty pervades the conclusion of his address. He maintained that he might be wrong in regard to any or all the subjects he discussed, declaring that it was better only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong, that he was ready to renounce his opinions as soon as he discovered them to be erroneous.[74] [74] _Ibid._, 4. "Every man," he observed, "is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem."[75] This illumines our limited knowledge of his attitude toward an essential problem of life. Lincoln did not fling away ambition. With patient footstep he restlessly followed the vision of higher place along the road of helpful service to his fellow-men. As he rose in influence, he never forsook his early ideals; that the measure of success was worthiness and not station, that power was only respectable as it was mercifully exercised. He believed that altruistic responsibility expanded with growing opportunities. His good deeds, not his personal wants, grew with his growth. [75] _Ibid._