Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-01
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. AND AN WEDN1sB NOVEMBER TBRA

rHTfH III 81
ishment of the offense by forfeiture Of the
estates of men, gave a deeper shade o.
barbarisn TO those ages; yet Il did not
and could net arrest all loans. The clamor
and persecution raised against the money
lenders obliged them to charge much more
than the natural price, in order to compen-
safe them for the Opprobiitm and plumber
they suffered; and hence the usual rate OF
interest during the whole OF the middie ages
was what we would call exoroitaht ana
seandalous usury. (See Macpherson on Com
merely The first statute IN England ie-
galizing the taking any interest was
passed in 81 Henry VIII, 1,546. II
authorized ten per cent. to be taken. The
statute declared. that the total prohibition
of interest had $50 little force that little or
no punishment had ensued to the offend
ers.n Six years afterwards all interest was
again prohibited. 1t was declared to be a
detestable vice, and contrary to the word OF
God. The rate of interest Immediately rose
to fourteen per cent. in the market and con-
tinued at that until the act of 18th Elizabeth
was passed legalizing ten per cent.
I The act of Elizabeth stated that the
probibitory act of 9th Edward had mot
done so much good as was hoped for, but
that rather the vice Of usury had more ex-
ceedipgly abounded, to the utter undoing
of MANY gentlemen, merchants, occupiers,
and Others. and to the insupportable hurt Of
the commonwealth" 1t was also declared
that the permission to loan was given in OPP
position to the laws of God, in order TO re-
duce the rate of interest. In the latter part
of the last century, in France, money could
be obtained at five per cent. on good securi-
ty; the lawful rate was reduced to 1our per
cent, the market rose to six per cent, one
per cent being put upon the borrower to
indemnify the lender against the consequent
ces of the law. So in Russia, the legal rate
of interest was reduced from six to five per
cent, and the market rate then rose to sew
en- per cent.
The cheapness of money in Holland, and
the entire absence of all usury laws at all
times, together with the increased value OF
money in times of pressure, induced the
British Parliament, in 1918, TO appoint
committee to examine and report on the
subject of the usury laws in Great Britain.
The most able and experienced men In the
kingdom testified that the usury laws had
uniformly increased the rates of money to
men in distress; that it had excluded the
highest class of capitalists from the
regular business of money lending,
and had thrown it into the hands
of men who indemnifed them
selves for violation of law by severe exac-
tions. The committee concurred in these
views, and reported favorably to the total
abolition of the usury laws. Nothing,
however, was done until the year 1888,
when commercial paper, not having over
three months to run, was exempted from
the restriction. This law having given
satisfaction, commercial paper having twelve
months to run, was exempted in 1897, and
all usury laws repealed in 1854. -l.#
When we see the testimony of centuries
thus accumulated, is it not rational and
safe to conclude that it is proper to widen
the range of contracting power from six to
ten per cent. for the use of money. If the
light of all experience be not meteor
blazing but to delude, it must be proper
and safe to make this trade open TO con-
tract, up, at least, to that point where the
region of hard and unconscientious bar.
gains would be supposed, generally, TO be-
gin. Let the prohibition on the trade and
deposits and bills of exchange be also as
free as other trades; let all restraining and
punitory taxes ON all lawful trades be re-
pealed let them be subject alone to equal,
just, and fair taxation, proportional to bust
ness done.
''The most efectual plan,' says Adam
Smith, '.for advancing a people to true
greatness, is to maintain that order of
things which nature points out, by allowing
every man, as long as he ObSe YES the laws
of Justice, to pursue his own interest in his
own way, and to bring his industry and his
capital into the freest competition with
those of his fellow-citizens."
This will give the community the full
benefits of competition. 1t will bring into
the highest activity the disposable capital of
the State, and recall that which has been
driven out by the restrictions, and it will
put the pursuit on the most elevated and
honorable footing, as it should be.