We have always heard much of common sense. There are no words more commonly used than these. The world is said to be governed by common sense. Remove this ballast and things would soon go to wreck and ruin.
So, on the surface of things, it appears; but, after all, what is common sense?
Some might suppose it to be a low order of sense or intelligence, narrow in scope and confined to the little routine, stereotyped affairs of life, and that when this little standard is overstepped, there is a departure from common sense. Is this a fair definition? What would be a correct definition of common sense in one community might be wholly incorrect in an adjoining community. That which would seem a true standard in one state of the American Union might be directly the opposite in the adjoining state. What seems like very common sense in New England, does not seem at all so in many western and southern sections of our country. This is especially true in relation to monetary affairs. While there are wide differences of opinion among denizens of the same section, there may be said to be almost a sectional divergence upon the question as to whether gold or silver shall constitute the monetary standard.
