Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-27

Iaftnlng or MS IL per cent. NOW, Slf, VINO
is he that this monied monarch is ap-
preaching. Is he profigate or a spend
thrift No, sir, it is the respectable, hard
working yeomanry of your State, the bone
and sinew of the land it is the aged and
enfeebled, who before the war was indie
pendent. He owned labor sufficient to
support himself and family; but by its re-
suits their dependence has been ruthlessly
swept away. His manly sons went forth
in defense of the principles they believed
to, be just, and persisted in the conflict.
And since the close of this unfortunate
struggle, everything has been in chaos and
confusion disorganized, and every
thing out of joint-and he, unfortunate
", caught in debt thousand or two, and
though still in possession of his home, he
has been unable to more than make sup
port for himself and dependent family;
and now, sir, under the practical working
of this law, he is called upon to immedi
ately pay up or pay twelve per cent. He
can do neither, and inevitable ruin is the
consequence. You may take even the
middle-aged in vigorous manhood, who
for four long years barred his bosom to
danger in defense of the 'fOst cause" or
in the Federal army, if you please; came
home to find his farm laid waste, his
lenses destroyed, and has scarcely com
menced to pay his original debt; and you
may take the unsuspecting youth just
commencing life, who is in debt for a
home, ext ecting TO pay six per cent. only.
He cannot succeed under it, What farmer
Or s,,aacboD;o oap1 Hour IoY,or vr-;lI r. tal-a
money to double itself at this rate9 In
| six years, sir, it will about double. What
farmer, mechanic or even a trader can
! double his worth in the short period of
| six years Pass this law, and such finan-
cial distress has not been witnessed for
| years. The stroke of the Sheriff's ham
mer will be heard from house TO house,
and the wall as it comes reverberating over
the hills and through thevalleys will make
the member who dares to vote for it
tremble as did Belshazzar of old. Feeble
old age, vigorous manhood and unsuspect-
ing youth, will all be left alike exposed to
the merciless grasp of the mOney-changer
tits cOntraryto the,very principle all laws
were framed to promulgate.
What is law for? Is it not to protect
| the weak against the strong? This gives
the powerful more power, and takes from
the pOwerless the protection he has right
to expect.
In addition to the bad effects produced
by the practical workings of this law, it
is in direct conflict with two plain provi
sions of your State constitution. By con-
sulting the 18th section, LIST article of the
State Constitution, it will be seen that we
can pass no er post fdcto law, and while
it assumes to guard against being con-
strued into such law, yet, in effect, it is
the same as though it was a direct er post
| .fdctO law. The debtor contracting ex-
| pected and had right to expect to pay
only six per cent, and in the absence of
this law, would not be called upon to pay
more, or to pay the original debt There
fore, so far as it bears upon the contract
already made, it is the same. 1t is
de .fdctO a violation of the spirit, if not
the letter of this provision of the constitu-
ton. But it more plainly violates another
provision. The 9th section of article II
reads thus: "The Legislature shall fix
the rate of interest, and the rate so estab-
lished shall be equal and uniform through
out the State. Now, sir, does this allow
the Legislature to make many rates of
interest, varying from s to II per cent,
according to contract? or does it 50 much
as allow two rates-the two extremes, 6
and y per cent? 1t must be uniform.
This is not uniform. 1t may be u in
Davidson and s in Montgomery. 1t
cannot, therefore, be uniform throughout
the State. This law assumes to allow six
different rates and to vary in that many
counties, if so contracted. / am aware
of decision of the Supreme Court on
the old ten per cent law that has been ac-
mOwledged by an eminent lawyer in this
house to be at least doubtful decision,
and there is no good lawyer but viii &C
knowledge, when we have a strong bench,
this decision may be reversed. hope,
sir, Representatives upon this flool
will weigh well their action before voting
| for this hill