The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-03-23
Money--its Rates, and Value.

employs to facilitate the exchanges of
business, is Money.
The amount of gold and silver coin in
our Country on the first Of January 1869,
was not far from $500, 100000.
The amount Of currency at the same
period was S725, 100000. The value
of money consists in its representative
power as conferred upon it by society.
Rates of money as established by legal
rules vary in different states. In Ver-
mont it is six, in others from seven to
ten.
QUESTION RAISED.
Now question of morals is started
and it is well to look il in the face and
examine its claims. 1t is this:
Have corporations or individuals a
moral right to take more than six per
cent for the use Of money in Vermont?
Are they morally bound by law made
for another people, in other days, and
under different circumstances Shall
progressive and higher standard of val
ues attach to everything constituting the
necessaries or luxuries of life, and the use
or rent of money be restricted 10 six per
cent?
Shall men be made to pay three dollars
for bushel of wheat, and so cents
pound for butter, and be pronounced
guilty of an immortality, if they take
rate higher than six per cent fJr the use
of money! This, this, is the question.
UsURY. WHAT Is Tr7
In the ordinary or common use of the
word IT means the taking of more than
legal rates for the use of money.
Once it was considered immoral to
take any interest or compensation for the
use cf money. At length this opinion was
given up and Fixed rates were deemed wise
and proper
Now it is no longer considered immoral
to take interest or reward for the use of
money, but within the past fifty years tie
aupersiitious notions Of men. and the linz
gering taint of Former times have so far
been done away, that now the sentiment
has become widely prevalent, that legal
restrictions should be wholly removed and
the rents or use of money be left entirely
to the parties interested. Nearly all
banking and intelligent business men par
ticipate in this view of the matter. The
opposite opinion is now, entertained only
by dull and monumental people.
1t is not then (as is affirmed by many, J
the taking Of more than legal rates But
is the taking OF any rate, or interest. The
w0rd usury is derived from the Latin
word uS'0d, which means simply use. -
Wherever the word occurs in the Bible,
either in the Old or New Testament, it
means the use or compensation taken for
the thing lent. Il is never used in any
other sense. In Deut. xxxu 10, it is
said, -"Ihou shalt not lend on usury to thy
brother"
'Usury,' says DR.. Adam Clark, means
properly the reward or compensation given
for the use OF a thing, hut is principally
spoken of money,
In Mathew XIV 81, our Saviour
says-Thou oughtest to have put my
money 10 the exchangers and then at m y
coming should have received mine own
with usury i. e. with use or compensation.
In Leviticus XIV SO, il reads-rake no
usury of him or increase -37th-Thou
shalt not lend him thy money upon usnry,
nor lend him thy victuals for increase In
other words, lend and be satisfied with
the principal without compensation or re,
war d,
AUTHORITIES GIVEN.
From the American Encyclopedias, W,
quote AS follows. ''the practice of frequirlne
in repayment of money lent anything
more than the amount lent, was formerly
thought to be great moral wrong, and tn
greater, the more,was taken. But for many
years, this opinion has ceased to exist, or
at least has lost much of its practical am
legal force. 1t is no longer deemed worse
to take pay for the Use of money, than
for the use Of house or horse. or any
other property. But the lingering influence
OF the former opinion, together with the
fact that the nature Of money, makes il
easier for the lender to oppress the borrow
er, has caused nearly all Christian nation.
to fix by law, the rate Of compensation
for the use OF money.
OF late years, however, the opinion that
money should be borrowed and repaid, OF
bought and sold upon whatever terms the
parties should agree to, like any other prop
erty, has gained ground every where"
Lord Bacon says. The word usury comes
from the French word usue, and its prim.
ary and legitimate meaning is simply this,
the practice Of taking interest. Webster
says it is premium paid, or stipulated ic
be paid, for the use of money; it ia inter,
est.
INSTANCES OF A MORE LIBERAL POLICY
The reader Is cited to the significant
fact that the state of Massachusetts,,
which is without rival in its advanced
condition Of civilization, culture, ant
moral progress, has repealed its old statute
law, which affixed a rate Of per cent inter
est, and now leavs the rate, an open ques
ton between borrower and lender and
whatever price is agreed upon, is biniing
: by law between tho parties. This ais,
is tho case in California, in Nevada, il
4. Oregon and Washington territory. In
Michigan, in Wisconsin and some othe
Western states, the laws permit more thai
legal rates to be taken, il specified in tn