Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-11-11
CHE RUTLAND HERALD
Equality.

Equality.
Our fathers broke loose from Englsb
tyranny and caste to seek an asylum Of
freedom in the true unbroken forests Of
the "New World choosing privation and
even death to that passive and unequal n
gimen vhioh elevated one class and a.
graded the other. But the learned de-
cendants of those noble advocates Of free
choice and free government, in the mid
die of the nineteenth century, declare BY
overt and illegal acts, that English lord
ship is preferable to freedom and equality
in the legitimate standards of human pro-
gross. The question may here arise, will
you curtail our liberty in stinting our SUR
plus funds for rs much as the market viii
afford2 And is it not as fair for me to
take a high rate of interest as for the
farmer to ask and obtain high price for
the products of his farm
answer, No! for this would be max
ing the enterprising mans necessity, the
misers opportunity, and as necessitated
events in a mans life are not his forum
ate aims, therefore this view of the case
cannot be correct, and directly tends to
inequality. The law presumes that the
money market is even and ample for the
wants of man, but not 80 with the pro-
ducts of the farm; drouth may dimin-
ish the general crop and neceasitate an in
crease of price.
The stringency of the money market is
not caused by the arrest or profusion Of
any law in nature, but by that ever vary
ing and designing law which governs the
finance of our country.
An exploded mine of deception in
Wall street may spread CONSERVATION
with lightning dispatch throughout the
length and breadth of the land, and but
one class hail this event with delight, and
vainly endeavor to assert high "ofiicial
sanction" to it. That class reason like
this: Well, must call in what loose
change have temporarily loaned ont, as
this eventful thing" will create pres
sure, and must be prepared to turn it to
my advantage. There is Mr.. d. who has
q few hundred at six per cent. legal in
tsrest). Isuppose it will be hard for him
70 pay it just now, but then the impor-
lance of the occasion demands, and I
must do better with it. There is Mr.. E.
who will give me ten per cent. in ad-
vance, for he is peculiarly situated just
Low, and must have it; besides, forty
dollars extra" on a thousand is worth
something in these times But what about
Mr.. d. +? He is in ordinary circumstances,
with family of children to clothe and
educate, and, as his farm produces hardly
an average crop this year, it certainly
will DO difficult for him to raise the
money; besides his eldest daughter con-
templates attending school this season at
the academy, whose education has hither-
to been neglected on account of the
Strengthened circumstances of her father,
but the announcement is made that the
money borrowed must be refunded at a
great sacrifice, and Mary must remain at
home with neglected education, all for
that miserable "four per cent. extra"
Now what is the condition of Mr.. d.
family to what it might have been had he
been allowed to retain the money at legal
rates? His income would pay his inter-
est and at the same time allow Mary to
attend school and obtain an education SO
much needed, besides John must remain |
at home to labor, as the "extra four per
cent" has turned away all the hired help,
and Mary and John must grope their way
through this cold world in ignorance, de-
barred from useful s1;., an exampleary
life. And why? Because there was a
time when father was compelled to re-
place money for which he was paying le-
gel rates, with money for which he was
compelled to pay illegal rates, to save his
home for little time from the Sheriff's
hammer.
The moral aspect of this question can
not be very encouraging to the ten per
cent. money lenders, for the Bible explic- !,
lilly declares against it, as in the follow
ing passage of scripture: " If thou iead
money to any of my people that is poor
by thee, thou shalt not be to him az an
usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him
usury." Thus we see the.t more than
four thousand years ago This practice was
forbidden, and the divine law is as de-
clarative to-day as it was then. He who
seeks to build for himself fame and for
tune upon the living sacrifices of the poor
and needy, viii one day. turn away sor-
rowful, for be had illagal Possessions
j. f. NJ.