Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-13
THE POWER or I.rTBRBST.

The gradually increasing rate OF intei est
should make people wary of borrowing
money for speculative purposes, and espe-
ciaily of hiring it for the purchase of un-
productive property, or in the expectation
of obtaining permanently high rents. 1t is
the high rate of interest, which, every few
years causes a general breaking up of bust
ness, when property and products fall in
pieces. This also it is which causes wealth
gradually but steadily to concentrate into
the hands of comparatively a few persons
in the community. Take any series of ten,
twenty or thirty years, or more, and the
longer the series the more positive and con-
elusive becomes the fact, and it will be
seen that the most profitable business in all
the world is the lending of money. The
high rate of money, high rents and high
taxes, must in the course of a few years
tend to such a concet. ration of wealth as
cannot fail to be injurious to society, and
will ultimately so straighten the debtor
classes as to necessitate to q very great ex-
tent the process of wiping out old accounts
and beginning anew. A few examples
will be sufficient to illustrate the great pow
err of interest.
A man buys a house for which he pays
$4,000. He leases it and charges the ten
ant seven per cent. upon its cost, clear of
insurance, taxes and repairs. The rent is
ayable quarterly. y rate of interest of
seven per cent per annum, paid quarterly,
Will accumulate a sum equal to the princi-
pal loaned or invested in property in ten
years. In the first period of ten years,
therefore, his rents build him another as
costly house as the first. In twenty years
his rents build him three such houses; in
thirty years seven houses; in forty years
fifteen houses; in fifty years, t%hirty-one
houses; in sixty years, sixty-three houses,
and in seventy years, one hundred and
tw enty-seven houses. In seventy years
all these are built from the accumulated
rem is of one house. These houses arc
worth 3, 270,000, which sum has been paid
for seventy years rent of one house worth
$4,000. If, instead Of being invested in
the house and lot, the $4,000 were loaned
on interest at seven per cent, and the inter-
est collected and reloaned quarterly, the
money would accumulate precisely the
same amount as the property.
Take another illustration of the power of
interest. Two mechanics just come of age,
are good workmen and DESTROYS of becom-
ing rich. Each is able to earn a dollar a
day over and above his expenses. Every
six months they invest the money inns
ca rned, at seven per cent interest the in
terest payable half-yearly. These men
earn an average of a dollar a day besides
their EXPENSES. 200 DAVIS in ooch voar dnr
ing forty voors and Cou, n,o,a -,
earns Inv labor s3Oo nor war Co.. 60
or cor tho wboIo ,o.;e, a,o 700
go, ooo ~ r SA-,i-o- 'oSe'ner
oono LaIr., On U ie'urns'
-. ''"ii9' ioI u Perlou Oh ~ years
, uoupiihe III I per cent, paid
h'i'-searly' III ~ years and
aaaaI =" ~ u eIoi'ooo''o; which,
$50 800 "ilouh' OF sZ4'2oo earned by
- 10 i'''o'o''o-nore than four
'" du"i'er ''hies greater than theamount
w. ""u e"iheu by 'helr labor. Suppose
INK" 10 i'e twenty years and W
~ io"sei-'nat ~ 10 10 the age OF 81
IL non'hs-ahd continue to loan
80 money Durihg this period 1t would
uouo'e Twice. making the total accumula-
m ,, "'' Voio,"O-.-
'o' Inc Two men do not labor during the
last twenty years and two months, and ex-
ponu Oh their income for their living dur
lug INA. period sl5'OO2'SO, leaving to their
"ers s'oo'ooo' In forty years and -four
months they earn by their labor s24,O 600,
ana I'VE twenty years and two months on
'ne'r money without labor. Subtract the
money earned by labor, S24, 200, and the re-
n nna u accumulated by interest is s475,-
ooo' now, not one dollar OF this s475,sOO is
~ ~ NV iaporoi these men i'isthe