Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-08-08
The Crime arCoIIectins Debts,

The Crime OF Collecting Debts.
In the lurid harangue with which
Mr.. voorhees, opened the Indiana
campaign, hesccused some unknown
''ender5" of having 'sstopped "their
ears " ith the percentage of vast loans
"on Western FARMS" and and of ag-
gravaIing this crime by "impiously
co:hmanding sOre-hearted and out
ragged people to cease their "murmurs
and be STILL" Why does not Mr.. VoOr-
heeS translate these charges which he
makes with so much vehemence into
definite and Ineligible terms? Does
he mean to assert that it was crime to
lend money 10 Western people? Does
it make Western people sore-hearted
to secure their creditors against loss by
giving them mortgages on their lands?
Are they outraged because they are
asked to pay interest on the money
they have borrowed? Mr.. VOORHEES,
knows very well why Western farm
ers have borrowed money and how it
happened that the East had money to
lend. He knows that here, where the
land has long been occupied and is eX-
pensive, American energy has been
largely directed to manufacturing; and
he knows that thrifty mechanics have
deposited the little products of their in
dnstry and prudence in savings banks
and like, until capital has accumulated
in volumes which can be drawn upon
to aid distant enterprises, He knows
that Western laborers did not lay by
their little annual giin-, because land
WIS cheap ami a.Si 'uturC profitable,
and they wisely preiy.rred 10 buy farms
and become proprietOrs themselves;
and for the same reason farmers invest-
ed. their surplus earnings in larger
farms. He knows that Western farm
erS borrowed the savings of other
people to Invest in buildings, ilnple-
ments and stock, because they thought
that these investments would produce
more than they cost. He knows, too,
that if any Western fal mer had seen
fit to loan his savings, he could have
done so at the same rate of interest
which Eastern mechanics and capita.
lists received, without any deduction
for commission, and that he preferred
to invest it in his business and to bor-
row plore, because he thought it was tC
mis- advantage. And 80 it Was to the
advantage both of the West and of the
East.
This is about the SUN total of the ag'
gravated "outrage" which Eastern
capital has committed against Western
industry. The Indiana farmers t
whom Mr.. Voorhees, Was preaching
his new gospel, possess lands anu house:
and barns and stock and machinery
which they have secured by the aid o
this capital, and the same capital ha,
built and equipped the railroads over
which the products of these farLnS art
carried to paying market. EisterI
capital has made the West prosperous
and now what does Mr.. Voorhees, wan
to do about it? A great crime has beer
covered up somewhere in these transac
lions which have such benign anC
business-like appearance, and Mr.
i Voorhees, cries Tor vengeance on tht
perpetrators. And how does Mr.. FOor
hees propose TO punish them? For
tunately the threaten d penalty is more
definite than the crime. Mi. .Voorhee,
has actually devised brand new dis
/. cipIineo intthe awayslofa "hnsnGia
system which the determined TO in
hict on these evil doers. Tnis VapOr
ing is SO ioutrageously absurd that i
you'd not be worth passing com men
if it was not echoed by all the lout
economists of Mr.. VoOrhees's school
1t isn't sound money for which they
LII, l. f,at fNr
rage It has always been supposed t
be the crowniug advantage of an equit
liable and stable financial system that /
protects and profits everybody--borrow
er and lender, manufacturer and farm
er. But Mr.. VOORHEES, and his kline
avoW that they want to protect certain
classes and to oplunder Others. The new
financial system which they proclaim
is based solely on the principle OF re
, venge. tits meant to be disciplinary
and punitive. It's a war measure 0
the most violent type.
This talk by the Indiana Senato
means organized robbery, II if means
ahything; and therefore it is charitable
to hope that perhaps 1t does not meal
| anything. Mr.. VOORHEES, has set out t.
fire the Western Democratic heart, anC
he may think it necessary to talR lik'
4 highwayman, while he would con
fess, under rigid cross-examination
that it might be improper to steal o
repudiate homes debts. But What al
, opinion he must have of his cOnsti
tuents if, in his public exhibitions o
himself, he thinks it prudent to pre-
tend that he is more dishonest than b
> really isi-N. Y. Tribune. l' FH