Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1877-05-31
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! from this shock to her genera ads
.vancement. . &:
California had no laws against us1. :
ry in 1857. At that time the ratessot
interest was thirty six per cent per per
annuIp. and society. and property wes
in a most uncer tain and uneasy colis ;s5t
| alSEPp; sss5fd il r. asSnshfs
/ insthe abolition d. the usury laws, in
1866 our usury laws were repealed,
Just atithe close of a war that de-
stroyed two billions Of property. Its
sad effects upon the prosperity of the
State have been equal if not greater,
than the reconstruction policy pur-
sued by the general government. The
rate Of interest was uniformly at
eighteen per cent. per annum in banks
and by the lenders Of money. The
bankers have borrowed it in New
York, and other commercial centers,
at six and saven per cent. per an
mum, and loaned it to our poor farm
ers and planters at from twenty to
forty per cent, and what has been.
the effect? To bankrupt the entire
State. Nearly all of our friends and
neighbors are groaning under mort
cages over their real and personal
estate at nineteen percent. per an
mum. Where is the truth of the sy-
rem story that the repeal of the usury
law would lower the rate of interest?
1 should like to see the planter, farm
er, laborer, mechanic, white or black
man, Democrat or Radical, that has
ever borrowed dollar at seven per
cent. per annum since the repeal OF
the usury laws.
I am content with such expert
ments. They are sufficient to con-
vince me, and l hope they are enough
to convince you, Senators, of the fal-
lacy OF their arguments.
l shall proceed to consider the
proposition of the advocates of the
adjustment of the usury laws that
repeal of the usury laws would in
CT ase the amount Of capital in our
midst" by the influx Of capital from
other Suites and countries, and there
by increase the capital Of this COM
monwealth. The drawing in Of mon
ey into State, upon rates. of usury,
is not an acquisition to the capital of
TIE State; but, on the contrary, it is
loss of capital, for the original prin-
cipal will eventually revert to the
foreign owner, with the addition of
usurious interest, the State being the
loser, in the end, of tie amount OF
interest charged and collected.
propose to call your attention to
the amount Of banking capital in the
year 1860, which aggregated Sl9,-
100000. g1
The amount of banking capital for
the year 1877, aggregated S5, 100000.
Subtracting the present amount Of
capital from what it was in 1860, it
shows that we have lost $l5,750,000
by effects OF the wal and the repeal
OF the usury laws in 1865. We have
tried the experiment for over ten
years, and the effects have been the
same here as everywhere else.
l will now consider, in conclusion,
.L-a-4n-..:L l--Ii~~t tS,--Sr-~ -~i.S -t'ouI ld"
in this State.
Nearly one-half of the entire i'm
proved real estate is under mortgages
to brokers, factors and commission
merchants, at the ruinous rate OF
eighteen per cent. per annum. Scarce
ly any farmer has sufficient money to
pay his taxes; in fact, bankruptcy is
abroad, and the fangs of the heartless
usurers and soulless bank corpora
tions are buried deep into our best
citizens.
The great English S atesman, Ed
mund Burke, said that in proportion
as you lower the rate OF interest for
the u.s.. of money you thereby IN
crease the public credit and the pros
perity of nation. 1t is popular
fallacy that capitalists seek to loan
their money at high or .psurious rate
of interest. I have been inform d,
since my arrival in this city, by d.
rector of one Of the banks of this
State, that his bank has now $4,000
loaned in the city of New York. at
ninety days, at SIX per cent. interest
per annnm. This bank could readily
have loaned this money at one or one
and a half per cent. per month IN
this State.
The reason why money flows from
this State to New York is because it
is the great centre Of trade; it is to
the financial system what the human
heart is to the human system. They
are the great centres of circulation.
Wherever commerce is mosC actlye,
there capital will flow, for it can be
made most profitable and so long as
Charleston remains second to New
York as centre Of trade, so long
will a bill of exchange on New York
draw a premium, and the tendency
Of her capital will be to flow in the
direction of New York, irrespective
Of the rate of interest. If it was not
SO, why. is it that San Francisco,
where money was worth thirty-six
per cent. per annum, did not draw
off the capital from New York and.
New. Orleans, where the legal rate
of interest is never over eight per
cent. per annum?
z The causes Of the. great changes
and fluctuations in the circulation Of
money are like the ebbing and flow
ing Of the tides. You can, at best
but theorizei and speculate as to its
probable course, since no one can say
for certain why capital flows this
WOW or the other way. for so MANY