Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-02
BORROwING AND LENDING AT A

Legislature, to pass laws which would
tend to restrain, not by prohibition, but
by making it the interest of persons to
refrain from, the conversion of the sur
plus funds of the country into bonds,
instead of applying them to the build
ing Of manufactures and to the i'm
provement Of real estate. We confess
that We felt natural apprehension that
we might be misunderstood, and that
our remarks might be construed into
an argument entirely on behalf of the
money-lender, while we were conscious
of but one purpose, and that was the
interest of the country at large; hence
we were gratifed to learn from our ex-
changes, that our views generally, were
regarded as eminently sound and as
far as they went entirely practical.
In any nation where few men and
a few banks control and loan the great
bulk Of the circulating medium, pocket
ing all the profits arising therefrom,
while the rest of the people are bor-
rowers and!interest-payers. the financial
condition may be what capitalists call
sound" but it is neither healthy nor
prosperous. The best condition-per-
haps it is a halucination to presume
that such a condition will ever more
than pronmately occurs when every
man in the community is in turn a
borrower and a lender; a borrower,
when he is sufficiently enterprising to
undertake a work which requires more
capital than he owns, and is sagacious
enough to carry 1t out; a lender, when
his surplus profits are larger than he
can use judiciously in his legitimate
business. The nearer We approach to
this condition of affairs, the nearer we
Will be to a financial millennium.
There are two mechanics in this city,
one Of whom requires the sum of $500
to perfect his machinery and to enable
him to undertake certain operations
which, he is sure, will render large re-
turns; the other happens to haveexact-
ly that sum lying idle In bank, and he
has no immediate use for it. 1t is a
reasonable presumption that the latter
would lend the money to the former, if
the loan was properly secured; but viii
he do so? Not a bit Of it No kind
Of security that the would. be- borrower
could offer, would tempt him into the
loan as an investment, and the reason
is plain. If, when the loan natures,
the lender should need money, no mat
ter If failing to get it promptly should
bankrupt him, bankrupted he must be,
if the lender, either from inability or
inconvenience, declines to repay the
money, but offers in its place, to his
now importunate creditor, the usual
consolation, that the Las is open to him.
Norman unless he is a fool or a
miser, whoreally enjoys the mere touch
of money, would dream Of retaining a
balance in bank or in his pocket, if he
could put it ont safely at interest, with
a certainty of getting it back when
needed. One might as well suppose
that a manufacturer would consent to
have q portion of his machinery stand
idle, when there is a craving demand
for his. manufactures. The very fact
that the law making power has thrown
such difficulties around the matter, locks
up untold millions in idleness, which
might be in constant employment. 1t
is as if the law should throw restric-
tons about the use Of the water priv
lleges Of the country, to that extent,
that it would be to the interest of mill
owners to prefer to see the valuable
power pass by unused forever, and use
less except for the watering of cattle,
rather than to comply with the almost
impossible conditions placed around
aud governing it.
We are not mOney-lenders; indeed, it |
is proverbial that men who put their |
means into newspaper enterprises are
rarely capitalists, but wespeak feeling
ly on the subject. Our gains come not !
from capitalists, but, on small amounts, |
from the bone and sinew of the people, |
the workers and borrowers, and it is
mainly in their interest that we write, |
although We are satisfied that We can
not aid the borrower without benefit |
ting, in a reflex manner, the lender. |
We hold ourselves ready to advocate |
any law which looks to creating conf |
lence in the people, not in banks, but
IN themselves, and which will promote |
5he ready circulation of money. There
s nothing which we can more cheer
July see wear out by constant use, than
and if a man is satisfied |
hat his money will come back to him,
With accrued interest, when heneeds it,
he will never permit it to wear out in
lis pocket.
A merchant, mechanic or a farmer
,annot raise money upon his real es-
ate now; at least he cannot find any
nan who viii lend money to him on
uch security, as a mere business trans
Iction. He may find some personal
riend who VIII oblige him, but with
ear and trembling. Should he be IN
ortunate and unable to repay his loan
rs personal friend becomes, 60 fdct0, a
PERSONAL enemy, and pUrsues HIM Wig
rously through the courts, finally sell
NJ him up at a great sacrifice. Should
he laws be more just, so as to promote
cans as profitable business transactions
o the lender, we can imagine that
7hen A borrows from B, and is not
bic to pay the money at maturity, and
is not able to grant an extension, A