The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-07-31

the farm IN less than about seventy years.
But if interest On money b fSsd st seven
per cent, N. EN- Gospel o. 70 give . rent
Tor the farm which viii eosal he priueipal
81 the farm In abost ten years. AZ this rate,
in seventy years o. mast give Nkthe value
Of one hundred and twentv-ssvsn farms %
the legal rent Of one. High rates OF inter
est under any formsof government will GEN.
tralise the wealth Of the nation, and degrade
and inpovsrish its producers. In fixing the
rate of interest, governments determine
what proportion Of their earnings the pro-
ducing classes shall pay for the Use of cap
ital, Lsborers have NO means OF resisting
the overwhelming power OF accumulation
thus given to capital, except by q change
in the monetary system. and the establish
ment Of just rate Of interest. Then the
inequalities of birth and condition will be
greatly diminished, end no class Of laborers
can be kept, for any length Of time, suDser-
Went to capital.
SECTION H.
The rate of Interest Determines the Price Of
Property, and rise Of Interest Increases
the Pos0sr Of Money 70 Command Prop
erty.
The value of money is determined by the
interest that it will accumulate; and the
value of all property is determined BY the
rent that can be obtained for 1t. The market
value, or price OF property must conform to
the legal standard.
If the rent of any property be not suff
cient to accumulate q sum equal to the es-
timated value of the property itself, in as
short period as money loaned, the proper
ty will fall in price until the rent bears the
same proportion TO the value of the prop
erty that the rate of interest bears to the
principal.
1t is perfectly right that the interest on
money should govern BY it's own per centage
the rent of ali property, because money is
the legal representative Of all property, and
the standard by which it's value is estimated.
This interest 10 OF the same quality as the
principal loaned, and each fractional part
is of proportional value and the rents Of
property must conform to this rule. For
example, if the per centage be in the pro-
portion Of one to one hundred, the tenant OF
hundred acres of poorly cultivated land
must pay as rent q sum in money equal to
the value of one acre of improved land for
the use of the improved one hundred. He
pays more value. but no greater per centage
on the value of the land. Money is the
standard if the per centage interest on It
be fixed ut just rate, it will equitably reg
ulate the rent of all property, and also Sc
cure to labor its earnings.
The value of property depreciates in pro-
portion to the increase OF the value of the
dollar that measures il. Whenever the val
ne of money increases by q rise of interest,
there il q corr espOnding decrease in the
value of property. The diminuIion Of the
market value of property, BY a rise OF in
terest may be compared to the moving of
fulerum on the beam Of a scale. As one end
Of the beam is lightened, the other end is
shortened, so that q pound weight, on the
long end, may balance rs many products as
three, four, or I'VE pounds would before the
fulcrum was moved. So, with the rise of
interest on money, property falls In price,
and one dollar, in money, balances two,
three, four, or five times more property than
it did before the rise. Enough property
must be added to make the rent equal to the
interest on money; for NO man will invest
his money in property unless he supposes
that the property will yield as good an in
come as the money be pays for it. There
fore, the price of property must fall when
ever the interest on money increases, that
the incomes from property and from money
may be equal. When the power Of the dol
lar to accumulate is increased, no alteration
is made in It's form, weight, or external ap-
pearance, as when the fulcrum is moved no
alteration is made in the weight, but the
pOtoeT of the weight is increased.
TO BE CONTINUED,