White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1872-02-01

Tho Lawrence Tribune has an able article ON
ene rsPeal Of the usury law. Several papers In
sne osate have discussed the question and ad-
that the law should be repealed is gaining ground
II notorious that law is farce, and that it 10
eVsded every day. In these stringent times for
money none can be obtained without breaking
the law. We believe in free trade" in money
matters. Protection may be sud probably il .
good thing in soiDe eases, but it isn't applicable
70 kaneas when It wants money. Let us throw
open our doors to all capitalists and allow money
70 dow in here and seek its own level, like any
other commerciat commodity. We hope our next
Legislature, which viii lbecomposrd Of many of the
ablest men Of the State, will thoroughly consider
the question Of repeating the usury law. and do
what it can to relieve the financial distresses of
the people. Here is the closing portion Of the
1ii6snes Article:
an interference of the state with the essential
rights Of the individual. A man has just As good
right to free exercise of his Judgment in hiring
money as hiring horse. And one man has Just
as good right to loan bis money for what it will
bring as another has to sell his wheat for what it
will bring. And if it be replied that mnny loan
ing IS so important matter that the State must
interfere and regulate it, it may be replied that
It is nothing like vital to the distressed as the
the sale OF bread and the renting of houses, mat
ters which the law never thinks of controlling in
this county.
"Then, too, this law operates directly against
the man who is distressed for money. For while
money IS as scarce as the laws cause it to be,
the business man who deposits with the banks
will receive all the loans the banks have to make,
And savings banks, which loan for long time on
real estate security, will scarcely have exis-
tence this ten years in the State if the laws re-
main as they are. So what money farmers, and
many of our business men too, can succeed in
borrowing they get at ruinous rate of interest;
while in every instance the borrower must pro-
bably be better man, both as to his word and
his real estate security, thant the borrower from
the banks at legal rates. For the law makes the
lOaner loan ut risk, and Of course he will only
run the risk with the best kind of men. So that
the law initiates against the man it was iuten-
ded to help.
Sand still further. The law enables the vigi-
liant ShylOck to get hold of the necessitOus aud
fleece them severely by raising barrier up to
which money loaning is legitimate and beyond
which reasonable money loaners cannot go, and
where the whole field which is now an immense
one occupied by the Shylocks.
"And lastly, as to what We have now the space
to say, the law which prOclaims that the money
lOaner in Kansas is entitled to one per cent.
month prOclaims to the large money loaners in
Kansas is a very risky business. If it were a
certain business money would only he recognized
Of twelve per cent. as the legitimate limit for the
rate of money loaning is but proclaiming that the
state has laws that render the loaner insecure, |
and that large bonus must be offered to induce |
him to take all the risks.
"Let the usury law be abolished as one of the |
three steps necessary to make money in Kansas |
d plenty as its farms and other property are |
valuable. 1t will then be worth what it is in the
States of New York and Massachusetts.