Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-16

fornia to settle there, with the view, in
part, of lending their money there al
from twenty to thirty per cent.
at is useless to attempt to disguise the
fact that our usury laws are dead letter
on the statute book. They are daily VIC
lated. The banks everywhere evade them.
Business men do the same But few
months since, afriend informed me he was
lending his money in Memphis, on TIE
best of paper, at five per cent. month.
| 1t was at that time of every day occur
! renee. Thousands of transactions take
place every year in the State at from ten
TO twenty per cent. VIII any one pretend
TO say that these high and exorbitant rates
would be either asked or given if money
could be lawfully lent at from ten to twelve
per cent? The lender demands an exor-
bitant rate in order to indemnify himself
against the danger, not of loss by failure,
but of the law. Sir William Blackstone
says, in substance, on this subject, that
bad men will break through the law, and
in order to indemnify themselves against
the penalty, they wiz make their profit
eXoTbitant.
''The only way to break down and pre-
vent these excessive rates is to legalize
higher rate than six per cent. Let the le-
gal rate, in the absence of a contract, be
six or seven per cent, and al
low parties to contract in all
cases, for higher rate, say ten or
twelve per cent. The poor and the op-
pressed would, above all others, be bene-
fitted by such a law. At six per cent,
but few men will leId money to save the
debtors farm from execution sale; none,
except the creditor, will purchase it at the
sale, with the right of redemption attach
ing; and but few will lend to redeem,
after the sale. But at ten per cent, the
neighbors of the execution debtor would,
on the faith of his land, advance money,
and give him time to relieve himself.
Often, this would only postpone the day
of trouble But often, on the other hand,
it would be the means of saving the OPP
pressed mans home for himself and his
family.
Gas have before intimated, money,
when left free, will regulate its own price |
If plentiful, it will be cheap; if scarce,
it will command high price. The Bank |
of England, the great monied Institution |
of the world, has the right to charge nine |
per cent, Gf, indeed, there is any limit |
on it, of which am not certain, and yet |
in October its rate was two per cent 1t
rarely charges more than five per cent. /
The banks in New York can charge seven
per cent, and yet they often lend on call
at five. Why is all this? Because the
abundanceo of money creates active compe-
tition in the loan market, and brings down
the price. On the other hand, money
commanded in Georgia last summer, in
private hands, in some instances, as high
as five per cent. month. or sixty per an
mum. In Tennessee money would readily
command, and could be proftably used,
at from ten to twelve per cent. The
legal rate ought to be raised to seven or
eight per cent. and the conventional
rate might range as high as twelve. The
rate might safely apply to con
tracts of all kinds, whether in reference
to money or property, and TO banks as well |
as to individuals"
While the subject of interest is re-
ceiving good deal of attention in this
State, it may not be amiss TO give the
legal and conventional rate current in the
several States, which is believed to be as
follows: