Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1860-01-10

securities In the State Offices
The safety OF these ought not to be
Jeopardized. The erection of the west
wing OF the capitol will furnish the relief
| refer to, and also provide new, more
healthy and more suitable rooms for the
Senate, Bank Comptroller and Treasurer.
The foundation for such building should
be laid some months before the walls are
erected upon it. | recommend that an
act be passed to authorize the building of
the foundation for the west wing during
.hs coming season. An appropriation of
lew thousand dollars only will be Ie-
CURED for the purpose.
RATES OF INTEREST
must again call attention to the law in
regard to rates of interest. In nv l.st
Annual Message treated npon the sni.;sct
somewhat at length, and endeavorec to
show the pernicious effects of the high
rates of interest allowed by law upon tie
whole business of the country. 1 beg
leave to refer you again to that Message.
and to urge your examination of the sub
Ject with care. The agreement to pay
unusual sums per cent for the use OF
money loaned has ruined multitudes of
the peonle of this State. The newspapers
are loaded down with advertisements of
sheriff's sales of property, sacrificed to pay
interest. There Is no branch of business
that will warrant amy man in paying
twelve per cent. on long time for the use
OF money. The farmer cannot make 10
per cent. over and above his necessary ex-
penses In carrying on his fern, from the
products OF his labor, upon his capital in
vested. So with the mechanic. The mer-
chant cannot hire money at twelve per
cent. with which to carry on mercantile
pursuits. There is no branch of manu-
features wherein twelve per cent. can be
realized over and above the legitimate
expenses involved in the business A large
rate OF interest Is vOraciOus. 1t eats up
the capital of the man who agrees to pay
1t. Men in debt cannot borrow them
selves out by undertaking to pay beyond
what they can realize. Increasing indebt-
edness b. the accumulation of exor-
bItant sums paid, or agreed to be paid,
for the use of money, neither lghtens
obligations or increases ability.
The use OF money is not worth more
than can be realized out of it in some hon
est calling, and as a reward of we'll direct
ed labor, skill or enterprise. No money
that ought to stay here to be loaned, will
ever be driven out of the State, simply be-
cause the rates of interest are reduced to Il
level with those allowed in other States
No man will ever have money to loau, who
begins by borrowing in this way Money
that will not seek investment here from
abroad, unless at twelve per cent, ought
to be discouraged from coming. When it
goes back, it takes with it more than it
has earned, and calls for sacrifices of pro-
perty to make good its demands 1t is
better to grow slowly into competence or
fhop 10 tal> 81, .
to one of success, upon this kind of specu-
lation. 1t is better that men own what
they earn, though the amount or value be
small, than to be temporarily surrounded
by abundance, which must be all swallow
ed up to meet obligations. Free trade in
money, as the experience of the business
world has shown, enriches the spectators
who loan it, and ruins those who borrow
it. In fast age, when so many seek to
live without toll and get money without
paying tor it, but few reach the END of the
journey, either of business or life. unshat-
tered in fortuue.
The active business capital of the coun-
try is only about fifteen per cent. of cash,
while the other eighty-five per cent. is
faith. There is too much credit in bust
ness for safety in business. When credit
Is exhausted, in most cases of pecuniary
distress, in active business, not over fifteen
per cent. is left to fulfill promises 1t is
because too much is constantly paid for
money that the indestructible property of
the country changes hands SO constantly
What is promised cannot be paid, because
too much has been promised. When mon
ey brings twelve per cent.-and it will
always bring that while the law allows it
there is more profit to the lender than to
put his capital into manufactures or farms
SO less substantial wealth is produced, and
more of the avails of labor taken as the
price for its use.
1t the people of this State cannot hire
money at seven per cent, they cannot af-
ford to pay twelve. If agricultural capital
only doubles in about twenty years, and
money at twelve per cent, compounded, |
doubles in little over six, money hes an
accretive power three times greeter than
the producing power of the soil, out of
which substantial wealth and prosperity |
must grow. 1t is useless to speculate, !!
however, upon such subject, when expe- |
rience, the best reasoner and teacher, has |
proved over and over again that those who |
pay largely for the use of money, never |
have any to loan to others, and are always |
seeking new opportunities to borrow. |
w nell lle lb" pSlHiltS SAaCbiouo"itACy WIN
be made. Some relief must be furnished |
the people against the future, either by |
lessening the present rates of interest, or |
by some law, like that of Ohio and some |
other States, fixing limited value to real |
estate, below which it shall not be sold on |
execution or judgment.
The credit of the people of Wisconsin, |
which from a variety of causes had been |
seriously and detrimentally affected, IN /
common with that OF our sister States, OF |
the west, is becoming gradually restored,
and the gathered harvests OF the past sea-
son have brought an earnest OF renewed
prosperity. With these must come re-
newed sense of justice. Payment OF all
legal and equitable foreign debts, with |
out design thought of Reputation,
as fast as the means can be produced, Is
a duty we owe not only to ourselves, but |
TO the reputation OF our young and vigor-
Gus State AS we would expect justice,
so let US do justice.
SLAVERY
New subjects of excitement connected |
with slavery and the slave trade are agi- |
tating the public mind. As a national |
question, that of slavery and slavery e1-
tension is foremost among the people
Slavery existed in the Colonies before the |
law, and before there were any State Con
stitution. 1t was forced into some OF the
States, as in the case of Virginia, against
If aIf