Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1857-12-19

r counted as merchandise, and bought an
; sold at any price the parties may choose t
stipulate?
| I'd Do the parties in general meet o
equal terms, and are the bargains, in tb
sbseaee Of usury laws, LIS fair as bargain
{ usually are in in relation to merchandise
THE answers to these questions depent
upon the distinctions
''lst. That money is the creation of gov
ernment merchandise OF individual indus
tgy. Itserign is, therefore, different.
ed That the object of government, il
creating money, was as currency for tb,
convenience Of all whereas the object Q
tleenred'et Of individual industry is tn,
advantage Of e;hdls ;daal alone.
I'D, That the title of an individual tt
merchandise, is absolute but that his tit's
to a portion of the currency is qualified lie
having no legal, at least no moral right e
+rervert the object of its creation
a4th That money differs from all rner-
ehandise i'll the power which is inseparable
from it. That this power was conferred
upon it by government, and that il is the
right and duty of tie geTernment 10 see
that power impaired for the general good
siial. net be perverted to the injury of the
public.
18th That this power IS the neeessaf,
consequence Of the character imposed upon
it by government, money being the only
instrument of exchange, and therefore in :
! dispensahle to the business Of all
9th. That money being generally in
the hands of the few, the facilities for erea-
ting an artificial scarcity are much greater
than for creating an Artificial scarcity Of
merchandise, y
That the rate Of Interest Is rel. ID b
! treating money as merchandise, is proved
not only by al experience fairly stated, but
especially by the fact that the usnry law.
do net now prohibit usurers from taking
less than legal rates. On tte contrary, th.
argument of the userers is, that tter are
constantly trying to rise above theui, be-
cause they must be paid for the risk L
with the risk they nov rise above them, {.
what height would they not rise if there wa
no risk, and nothing to rerress them? i
is notorious, that The note shayera nta
combine &c monopolize all the money to !.
loaned b. large helders, who will noi
! themselves violate the law, ia order thai
! they may fix usury at the highest rate It
! the neeesstous, who are not 80 pune.uai IS
themselves in paving debts If such uef
were restrained by no laws, to back tht
moral instincts of humanity and brother
hood among men, what would they not de-
man] of the necessities Of the hound and bur
dened debtor classes in hard fines Il is
utterly fallacious that free trade in mon eg
lower thera of interest. Free trade IN
money VII ,tteFiv destroy free trade u
merchandise Hy!oHen.}g and restraining
the rate of interest on money alone. 1an
regular trade and business be protected -
The desperate SPECTATOR or spendthritt will
pay a rate which the honest, fair, regular
healer GARNET afford. The preamble to the
statute Of Aune, passed more thar 30 wears
ago, attests the truth Of this experience in
England. when TIE usarer says, $50
to day is worth what 500 was worth yes
terday,' the reply is, then So, the inter-
est on $40 to-day, is worth what SO, the
interest on 500 was worth yesterday -
When Inc asn.c- 5c,aauds then that his in
terest shall be doubled, becGrse lie value
If his principal is doubled, it plain that
| his demand is that his interest shall be
4uadrupled, whilst the worth of his princi-
pal is only doubled If you say that be-
cause the value of the principal is doubled,
the rate of interest shall be doubled then
You would multiply his interest f,urtold =
For, if So to-day is worth only 81 yostor
day, and YOU allow him to take So, the
double of SD on $50 to-day, then you allow
him tie worth Of ST. yesterday or four
times 81 And this proves the necessity
for some relative standard-some ,aeas.re
of MONEYS worth, to which prices must re-
late. The standard whether it be yard
stick, 1,,shel, or rate of interest-remains
firm and Fixed, whilst the price Of merehan-
disc huctuates, as It viii cisr' must if trade
remains free. And thus, aud thus en'y
eau relative worth be ne ert,.ined Ire scale
or standard is firm, aud prices slide on, ana
are graduated b. it, But il the price Of
merchandise and the price Of money are
both allowed 70 fuctuate and slide at the ca.
price of bergairers then there will be NJ
standard, prices will be confused. and .e'a
tive worth cannot be asceriained Yor
HiiStt hs htli permit tHc CtoNU vi INC mar
kct house to alter The weights or clange tlle
beam of the balance every hour, Or al til,
whlm OF every hargaiaee, as 10 abolish th,
usury laws. And 10 say that merchands,
is known to rise above the level Of Yalu,
when demand is gFcs. and prices iaiI
and therefore the price of money will ),
in like manner equalized IS utterly falla
| cious, because the demand for money
is always continuously, disproportionately
greater than the demand for anything else
When expansion initiates prices and infiu
itel3 t''a'tiplles dealers, this IN turn make
a greater and greater demand for money
And again the bubble of imitation
bursts every thing falls down to hard dol
lars, and they are exceedingly scarce and i
great demand ; thousands Of sufferers an
grooming under rressure, debts are lare
and numerous, heavy aud bearing dow
hard on them and in THEN agony will pa
any price for money. Thrs. vhetler time
be high or low, the demand for money is ou
of all proportion to the demand fof ever
thing else, and alternate expansion and con
traction do net edualize its worth
Again. II tho .rrao in money is to
left free. is it or is it not to be free TO all :.
Are our banks to be allowed to take an
rate of interest they can got ? lfno,, VII
not? II they are will our people bear it