The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-08-16
ESSAY ON UsURY.
Read Before the Joint Meeting of the
State Grange and State Agricultu-
raj Fair Association In Ander.'
son, on the 8th OF August,
by Mr. e. L. Roche, OF
Charleston.
The Position of Those who Oppose the
Enactment of Usury Laws Defined.

The laws regulating interest are among
the earliest found in the statute hooks
In Greece, rs far back as five hundred
years before Christ, money lending was a
recognized occupation, and l8 per cent.
was the legal rate but 36 per cent was
charged for mercantile loans. and as
much as l6 per cent. per day was paid by
doubtful borrowers. The Roman law.
called the laws of the Twelve Tables, al.
lowed interest at the rate of l per cent.
per month, or II per cent. per annum :;
but the Roman laws on this subject were
frequently modified and altered to pre-
vent evasi0ns, but apparently without
success. In the year 4O8 the legal rate
of interest was reduced to per cent.
Justinian made further reduction to
per cent, but exempted merchants, who
were allowed to pay and receive s per
cent. The usurers, however, under this
reign are known to have taken as much
as 60 per cent. where the risks of the
loss was great. Stringent laws against
usury were passed in subsequent years by
other rulers of the Roman Empire but
the money.iendcrs continued to evade
and render them nugatory. In the wear
740 the Roman Senate again ratified n
law making II per cent. the legal rate of
interest, and forbade Senators to engage
Ill the business of money-lending
Again, later we find, under the Emperor
Iheodosius, "a per cent. as lawful intcr-
est in Rome. BY the laws of Moses. the
jews were prohibited from taking inter
est from each other; but were expressly
permitted to do so from strangers. The
canonical laws governing the early Chris
tians also forbid the taking of interest
from their brethren. This idea was taken
no doubca from the Jewish laws on this
subject, as we do not find in the New
Testament the practice Of taking nslry
condemned, but rather commended, nota-
bly in the parable of the talents, where
the slothful and Improbable servant who
hid his lords money in the ground and
failed to put it at interest is punished,
but the servant who traded with the tai
ents committed to his care, and gained
ether talents, is rewarded by having
given to him not only what he before
possessed, but also the talent Which the
first had failed to proftably use. Evi-
IDENTIFY the prohibition of the canonical
law of the early Christians was intended
to regulate the intercourse among "the
brethren," that is among those who were
to be the conspicuous leaders, just as the
apostles were sent out without money to
pay board, and the brethren were expec-
ted to provide for them in their Journey
lngs; all their goods were in common.
or course society generally cannot be
regulated upon such basis, and it would
be as absurd to pass laws now against
people. charging board as it is against
their charging hire for the loan of money
After the FALL of the Roman Empire, and
during what is called the dark ages, no
interest was permitted, but system
called rents was practiced whereby bor-
rowed money was returned yeorly in
small sums: AS we approach nearer to
our own times the rates of interest are
found to fluctuate, but still, upon the
whole, becoming steadily lower. During
the reign of Henry VIII in England, 10
per cent. was the lawful rate; under James
l, 8 per cent: under Anne, per cent
William and Mary borrowed ut per
cent. from the Bank of England, fat that
time new institution recently estab-
lished.) Money can now be borrowed in
England ut from 2 to 5 per cent, the
current rate being regulated entirely by
the abundance or scarcity of the article
in the hands Of lenders. From the brief
review of the history of interest laws,
which have given above, one fact is
clearly defined, namely, ttrt no law,
heretofore enacted, has been stringent
enough to prevent what has been desig-
mated rs usury. Nay, even in the laws
themselves we find n recognition of the
adage, Necessity knows no law" and
that al increase or decrease in the inter-
est obtained on loans must be governed
Ivy the individual wants of the parties to
the contract. In one instance merchants
are allowed to pay and receive s per cent.
but borrowers engaged in ether pursuits
pay but under one ruler; 36 per cent.
is named as the legal rate under success
sion of others; the ranges of lawful in
tcrest run all the way from q TO per
cent. This proves that when the people
were prosperous and money plentiful,
and the risk to the lenders reduced to q
minimum, they were willing to accept
small returns for the use of their capital.
But in times of difficulty anu danger,
either from internal discussions or for
cign war, when the tenure by which
property was held became impaired, and
the productive energies of the people
crippled, money, like corn, clothing or
any other valuable thing necessary to the
comfort Or convenience of domestic life,
advanced in price; in fact it was worth
more, and those who had it to lend re-
quired to be paid according to the risk
run and the demand growing out of the
necessities of the situation. The people
of South Carolina are to-day in G posi-
tion similar to this; they are, so to say,
III a transition state, and have been so
for ten long years, nor have they yet
solved the problem or settled what they
will do with it. Trained in the manage
mcnt of one kind of labor, namely, slave
labor, the landed proprietOrs we're, with
ont preparation, called upon to organize
new system, and make the former slave
profitable in his new relations as free
man. What was possible or impossible
i'll this direction no man knew, anu ex-
perience could be the only teacher. The
landowner was driven by the necessities
of his position to accept the situation and
take the risks, be they great or small
i'ut the capitalist, who was called upon
t"Y advance the cash with which the nee
e>Ssary stock, tools fixtures and labor wai
bought, could have no inducement tt
embark in this business but the hope o
gain, nor could he have been expected II
do so for rate of interest of 6 or pei
cent. per annum.
The abnormal political condition o
South Carolina also intensified the diff
culties under which her people labored
and the frightful shrinkagein values, no
only of real estate, but personal propert,
also, operated seriously against the intro
dnction of capital from abroad, and i
was only the high rates OF interest ant
prospective profits thae could indnc'
n l. ~ u. = I