Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-02-27
From the Richmond Dispatch.
The ouestioa Of rsury.

Whe have received the following note
and the inclosed extract from one of the
most eminent and estimable divines of
this city,. I'VE present the letter, and
the article from that distinguished re-
l|gious journal the Evangelist. as ap-
posite to the discussion of the interest
bill now pending in the Legislatures:
:, FEBRUAEI,:11, 1873. $.
Editors Of Dispatch: You are un-
questionably right in, your interpreta
ton Of the Bible views Of usurv.
81 inclose sensible article on the
general subject from the N. Y. Evan
gelist, which you nay:noe hayerseen.
"Y ours, respectfully - -"
40 Article from the Evangelist. :;
FREE TRADE In MONEY.
Nearly one hundred years ago Jeremy
Bentham, writing from s'Crithoff in
White Russia addressed to his coun-
tryman in England a series of letters, to
which, in their collected form, he gave
the paradoxical title of "a Defence of
Usmy." This was a bold but powerful
attack upon those legal restrictions OH
the rate of interest which had so long
! prevailed in England. Bentham's book
has commanded the approval of the
ablest minds, and since his day very few
competent teachers of Political Economy
have been found to dispute his positions.
They recognize, with him, the fact that
while money. is measurement stand
| ard-of' value, it is also itself q; COM
modify as truly as anything else that is
offered in the market, and that it is
therefore necessarily subject to varia-
lions in value. Its use may be worth
twice or ten times as much in newly
settled community as in an old one,and
even in the same market it may, from
perfectly legitimate. causes, huctvate
from month to month, or even day to
, day.
This fact in commercial community
is one of great importance. 1t shows
that natural laws, and not legislative
enactments, determine the value of
money and of course of its use, which
we denominatc interest," The idea
that Legislation can take the matter out
of the control Of natural laws is one Of
the venerable traditions of the past. Its
wisdom is on par with that of other
sumptuary laws, as the attempt by
statute to, regulate the price of bread or
grain, the hours OF the, wages of labor
All that is called for IL such legal pro
vision in this matter as gives security
against fraud or extortion, the assign
lnent of normal rate of interest where
there is no special agreement between
parties. 4.. y
In the money market no law of the
State can secure any fixed and unvary-
ing rate If interest, and if it could, it
ought not. 1t would simply paralyze
enterprise and encourage fraud and
secrecy in order to; eyade the hardships
it imposed. TINA be said that the
borrower needs protection, and the
borrowers are ten to one in excess of
lenders. But the same argument would
apply to warrant the Legislature in
putting a fixed price on grain or -four;
for here, too, the consumers might be
said to need protection, as they are
more than ten to one in excess of pro-
ducers. W.
But wise expediency will never
transgress the rules of justice. 1t will
not attempt to fix an unvarying value
on what is itself constantly varying In
doing 50 it violates natural law. TWO
lates the rights of owners. 1t tends
practically to make falsehood current.
These are considerations. which = de-
9serNe the attention of our legislators In
other States they have commanded att
tention and modified legislation. That
they will do so in our own State there
can. be no reason'to doubt. We must
choose between constant evasion of OBJ
noXious laws that other States are
sweeping from their statuie-books and'a
course of policy which has been advo-
Gated by the fairest and ablest thinkers
The mischief that may perhaps follow
in case the latter is chosen, will correct
themselves, and they can scarcely be
compared with those which attend our
present traditional policy. We have no
apprehension that free trade in money
will work any permanent mischief any
more than free trade in wheat or any.
other market commodity. The law
|. that determins values is the law of God
operating through conditions which
Providence has determined, and human
stampering with it is only an attempt to
substitute the fictitious for the real