Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1857-12-18


.x;th all her ancient order of things. with
az lons standing and vast amount Of her
An. een,olidated at fixed rate, .conS
.,ol;no the limit of all investments, would
no, yenture so toilet loose the reins to
Insurers. shayers and money changers.
Her capital is so great as to make. money
she rival and competitor Of money, and
yet her policy is marked by usury laws.
Her object is now to raise rather than to
lower the rates of interest. and yet the
principle OF the statute Of Anne is still her
policy. But our policy is to lower and
not TO raise the rate Of interest; to pay.
not 20 consolidate'publicd debt. Our cap.
ttal is not SO great as not to find more
than subjects enough. independent of
public or permanent securities for active
and profitable investment. And our re-
publicanism forbids to capital such pre-
ponderanee as to destroy its just equipoise
with labor. Besides. in England there is
not only vast control in the government
funds but also in the monopoly and the
unity Of The Bank Of England. another
aT.Wheel Of commercial and fiscal machi-
aeTy. regular aud sliding scale of inter-
est, which we cannot have in our complex
system ofState and federal government.
The debt aud Bank of England would
naturally. and necessarily. without statu-
Sorry limits. control usury more etfectually
than our laws can. We have no such
competition Of capital as hers; we have
NO such accumulation Of funded debt, no
such controlling monopoly and no such
moneyed sristocracy as that which there
would FIX the minimum and maximum
rates ofinterest. without usury laws. And
yet, England holds her laws against usu-
~. whilst many would repeal ours. Mo.
ney may fuctuate in value. The thing it
buys may be said to fix its value as much
~ /. 6xes the value Of the thing. But
Still the experience Of centuries has prov>
cd that the use of money has an average
value like everything else, and that aver
age should be the measure of its value. 1t
10 like insurance or anything else it has
its law. The statute don't pretend to af-
fx an intrinsic value !; that is beyond le-
gislation. But it does attempt to as
certain and 6x moral relation of things.
The exercise Of this power too is not found
ed 90 much upon the reason OF protecting
the weak against the strong as upon the
sovereign potuer ofths State to regulate a
currency and to fr a standard for pay.
Eng yevsnue as 1celt as other debts. A rate
Of interest affects the standard OF value,
and she fixing of one is to great extent
the regulation of the other. We have
made gold and silver our only standard
ofyalue, and its assay and coinage and
stamp are not by any means arbitrary
and faetious. II has its law of alloy and
ofWeight And after being made into
coin, its loan or its use has its law of in
forest. The interest is limited by time
and experience. They have shown that
II there be no limit, speculation will sup
plant regular business, and that the max
inum rate which regular business can
bear 10 the average of about 6 per cent.
That to vary with commercial fuctu.
ations is to initiate and expand the more
when initiation and expansion are the evils
Of the times. and is to contract and crush
the more at the very time when the pres.
sure is already bearing too heavy. Such
license to capital might suit where
the rich are rich. and the poor are poor
indeed. where the few have all the money,
and the many nothing but it cannot be
borne by our people. Our many will not
submit to any such legalized dominion OF
money which does not stand on the same
footing with any other species Of property
Money is the very sub ect of sovereignty,
because it is is creature. 1t exchanges
for everything else. 1t is that universal
ly and Unfortunately demanded that which
must be had as the only tender in pay.
ment Of debts it is that which maintains
government itself. 1t is common 10 al
other subjects of value in every way thai
are not common to each other or TO it. i
may and ought 10 be, then, the subject
OF legal regulation where other property
may not be and ought not to be regulated
by law. And to allow persons to bargain
for their own rates is to repeal the usury
laws, and at the same time to throw ar
obstruction in the way of business.
r. trust, therefore. that one good effect o
this money crisis will be TO PREVENT TIL
RAISING OF OUR RATE OF INTEREST, and tc
PREVENT THE REPEAL OF OUR UsuRY LAWS
have refrained to urge the moral consid
erations against their repeal. because
some Of the best Of men are involved il
the error Of this mistake. But the mora
reasons against repeal are incalculable
One Of the most immoral effects of the alb,
clifton Of usury laws would be to depress
all tho investments in State securities al.
ready made at s and per cent. Unlim.
tied usury would raise the rate Of interest
90 high that no one would think of invest.
ing in bonds drawing only s or per cent
interest. The investments already made
would sink so low in the market that the
faith of the State would be broken, as BY
Adishonorable reputation itself. And
NO new bonds could be sold. except al
rates SO high that no people could bear
tho taxation necessary to complete public