Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-03-26

House will not concur in this reports and
whatever may be its fate it will not abate my
anxiety for the passage of the bill TO estab-
lish ga uniform rate OF interest" at per
cent. 1t was my intention to reserve what
remarks might wish to make upon the sub
iect of our usury laws until the per cent.
bill was before the House. But as this is a
measure in which my constituents feel a
deep interest, feel it my duty to present to
the House some reflections upon the princi-
pie Involved in this bill. In the organization
of our system of government, the trainers of
our federal constitution wisely conferred up
on the law making power the right ''to coin
money, regulate the value thereof, and of
foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights
and measures - In doing this they were
bur following the examples ef all nations of
the civilized world. The right to coin mo-
ney and regulate its value is q high legisla-
tive prerogative, and must necessarily be ex-
ereised by government from. the very nature
and use OF money. Unlike merchandise AMI
other productions of industry and private en-
serprise, money is the creature of govern
ment, designed instrument to represent
.her value, as the yard stick is to measure
tape, or the half bushel to measure wheat.
The yard stick measures tape, money deter
mines its value. The half bushel measures
wheat, and money fixes ito value. The
scales ascertain the weight of hay, and mo
ney its value. The standard OF weights and
measures and money are prescribed by the
government. The tape, wheat and hay are
productions of private industry. The pro-
duct,cEs ct industry have an intrinsic value,
they are worn and consumed. Money has
no instrinsic value;oh is neither worn nor
consumed. The one rises and falls; not so
with the other. A dollar Il. dciiar, and its
standard value is not affected by time or dis
tance. All over the world government has
given it, by the stamp it bears, power ana
privilege the bushel Of wheat does not pos
sess. The dollar is worth a dollar to-day,
and will be worth the same to morrow, no
matter what fluctuations may occur in the
markets. Not so with the bushel OF wheat;
it may be worth dollar to-day, and to NOR
row but fifty cents. The one is a lawful ten
der the other is not. The one is borrowed
and loaned, the other is bought and sold.-
These are few of the many distinctions
"
and the productions Of industry. And they
are distinctions that must ever exist. neces-
sariiy, from the character OF money. 1t
would be impracticablc for government to fix
a uniform standard of value for wheat and
corn, pork and beef and all the productions
of the soil, and the wares IF the mechanic
aud manufacturer, ana were it practicable,
no one desires to see those articles made a
lawful tender in payment of debts. Money
therefore being the creature of government,
and under the control Of legisla,ion, | hold
thai it is the duty of government to prescribe,
by law, the premium that it shall be lawful
for the borrower to pay for the use Of mo-
ney.
Such laws have been found necessary from
the early ages of the world. Owing to the
great power of money, and its bunting in
! duence upon the conscience, Moses, the
Jewish lawgiver, prohibited Jew from re-
cei.ing interest upon loans of money to his
fellow Jew. The republic of ancient Athens
guarded The people against the rapacity O.
the Shylock, by the most stringent usury
| laws. And from the days of Moses, down
through all succeeding generations, to John
| Wesley and the present time, the wises
lawgivcrs, the abest jurists, and the pures
/ Christians, have been the frmest supporters
of usrlry laws, guarded with suitable penal
ties and restrictions, TO secure their ubser
vance. And there is no civilized nation OF
/ community upon the globe, at the present
time, without usury laws, except Cafifornit
and Holland. And while Utopian theorists
has advocated the doctrine of free trade il
money, the practical state smen OF every
| nation have BEEN opposed to it in most al
ages of the world. The experiment Of free
| trade in money has been tried in diferen
countries at different times; but the expe
rience of every nation under this policy ha:
been brief and very Satisfactory to the pee pie
1t was tried in England over two hundred
years ago, for period of about nineteef
years and was attended with the mos
disastrous consequences to all the CONNER
cial and business relations of life. And tht
result of that policy was to compel Parliamen
to pass law establishing II per cent, ant
then one enactment after another, reducin!
the rate of interest from II per cent to 10
and from 10 to 8, and fro m to 6, and fl
nally terminating, in the celebrated statut
of queen Anne. fixing the rate of interest o
5 per cent, on the hundred, which has beel
the basis ever since. At more recent pc
riod, and III our own country, and within tn
memory of the members of this House, tn
experiment has been tried in the State c
Indiana; and still more recently in the Stat
of Wisconsin; and the practical effects an
fruits of this policy, were universal distres
and general bankruptcy. This policy ha
been abandoned, and the rate Of interes
now provided by law in the State of Indian
is 6 per cent, on the hundred, and penalt
j of 10 per cent. is imposed upon the usure
3 for the violation of the law; and in Wiscor
: sin the rate is Z per cent, with the privilee
D of contracting for IL per, cent. This pol
5 CIV, whenever and wherever adopted, has RI
? suited sin evil and evil only continually.
: Thus it will be seen, in the light of history
f Mr.. Speaker, that the principle of the bill
n sustained by the legislative experience al
e wisdom of the world.
5 Itis said by the advocates of the free trac
r policy that the capitalist has right to Us
n his money as he pleases, and loan it for wha
S ever rate of interest be pleases, becau:
+ thew say the borrower is free TO take it u
on the terms the capltallst may eXact' OF III
: at his pleasure. Sir, deny this propositio
!, The speculator, grant, who borrows mon
ID for the purpose of speculation, is free to tai
s. il or let it alone, but not so with the debt
s. who borrows money to pay debts. sFor
J. ample, take the case of the village merchan
ID his business has been prosperous, by indr
to try and integrity of character he gains
confidence of community and obtains cre'
to carry on his business. To accommoda
~ his customers he sells them his goods
credit, and unexpectedly a monetary cri
er such as we are now passing through falls
On tl,s countrv. his notes 90 to protest, a