The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-03-15
Usury and interests.

tits appropriate that with the return Of
Bourbonism to power in this State an at
tempt should be made to rc'enact the
usury laws. Accordingly we find the
Legislature is considering bill to re-
establish the old law Of Virginia, by
which tho business Of our people was
long oppressed, providing that the taking
OF interest over six per cent forfeits both
interest and principal. 1t is only to those
who take the narrowest views Of cause
and effect in political economy that the
utility and mischief Of such enaCtments
arc not apparent. They not only fall to
compel capitalists to lend money at six
per cent, when 1t Is worth more In the
business market, but by embarrassing the
trade in money they really increase the
interest which the borrower finds himself
Obliged by the natural condition OF the
money market to pay. The operation OF
usury laws wO have never seen more
lucidly or Complementary stated than 1t
is by Mr.. BUCKLE, the emineL historical
philosopher, who writes after the most ex'
haustive research into the history Of such
legislation In all the countries Of Europe
and into the logical causes which render
such legislation nugatory. We quote
from the Introductory volume OF his His
tory of English Civilization. He has been
showing In the most elaborate and conclu.
sive way the vast and continual mischief
done 10 intellectual and material progress
by the interference of government upon
the Elusive idea that 1t was promoting
such progress, when all that was needed
was to let the people entirely alone in
their enterprises, material, moral ind in
tellectuaI, 10 develop in their own way, in
obedience TO the natural causes that arc
always at work he shows that develop.
ment can only take place IN obedience to
those causes, and that all interference by
Government, however well meant, will
only result in embarrassing and retarding
what 1t is intended TO promote. The ker.
mel of his philosophy is indeed embodied
in the maxim that "tho world is governed
too much" And hero are the remarks
referred to in regard to attempts 10 gov
ern the interest Of money by legislation
Exactly in the same way, nearly every
country has taken steps 10 prevent usury
and keep down the interest Of the money;
and the invariable effect has been to in
crease usury and raise the interest oil
money. For, since no prohibition, how
ever stringent, can destroy the national
relation between demand and supply, 1t
has followed that when some men want
10 borrow and other men want to lend,
both parties are sure to find some means
of evadiDg a law which interieres with
their mutual rights. II the two parties
were left TO adjust their own bargain IN
disturbed, the usury would depend on the
circumstances Of the loan, such as the
amount Oi security and the chance Of re-
payment. But this natural arrangement
has been complicated by the interference
Of government. A certain risk being
always incurred by those who disobCy the
law, the usurer, very properly, refuses
10 lend his money unless he is also
compensated for the danger he is in from
the penalty hanging over him. This
compensation can only be made by the
borrower, who Is thus obliged to pay
what in reality Is a double interest; one
interest for the natural risk on tho loan,
and another interest from the extra risk
from the law. Such Is the position in
which every European legislature has
placed ITSELF By enactments against
usury, 1t has increased what it wished TO
destroy; 1t has passed laws which the i'm.
perative necessities oil men compel them
. 10 violate; while, to wind up tho whole,
the penalty for such violation falls on
the borrowers; that Is, on tho very class
in whose favor the legislators intCrfered"