The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-10-17
ATTICA AS SOLON FOUND IT.
Editor init .Monopotist:


s.According to the ancient law of
ssdebt, the claim of the creditor was
4"transferred from the property to the
Assliberty and person Of the debtor.
A"The debt increased as money became
Issrarer in the land. The unpaid debt
| "swelled under the high rate Us per
"cent.) of interest. Debtors had
/ snOthing left them but to satisfy
"their creditors by relinquishing their
s'landed property to them, and bailed
sit as favor to receive their ancient
"holdings back to work them as
s.farms on the land of the great pro-
"prietors. Thus arose the Ueclemari
| s.because they retained but one-siXth
"of the income of the farms. The
asnumber OF free-holders dwindled to
8..less and less who sank into complete
Independence rs servants Of
5"the rich. "-CUrtiu$ History IF
Greece.
How much like our own hard times
does this read, when we take into &c
count the fact, that these LANDED
proprietorS' were privileged class, -
the nobility. These fellows like our
own bondholderS made the laws, for
these { edmari freeholders) they were
selling out and crushing into slavery.
Every time the Attic law was altered
or amended it turned the screws a
little tighter, until it became unbear-
able. Revolt was the consequence,
which brought to the head of that
country
SOLON TIE GREAT LAW GIvER.
Here Is what CurtiuS says of money
at that time:
Gold and silver coins were brought
first from Asia as an article of com
q merce. Gradually they came into use
as money which was chiefly in the
hands of men of business and mer-
chants. 1t was in their power to Tx
, its value. and they accordingly raised
the rate of interest to rs high rate
as possible. When money had ceased
to be an article of trade like other ar
ticleS coming on the market, and
when even the poorer classes could
not exist without 1t, there resulted Il
great pressure which weighed all the
/ more heavily on the poor. Conse,
Quently usury like u poisonous plant,
absorbed and consumed the strength
of the land. One free homestead
after another had Disappeared; one
farm after another been mortgaged
and ut the boundaries of the fields
were seen erected, in large numbers
the pillars of stone which mentioned
the amount of the debt for which the
fields were mortgaged, and the names
of the creditors
This was very bad state of things
very much like our own times. In
terest is the poisonous plant that Il
now cavsing homesteads to disappear
and farms To he moatgaged.
1t is highly probable that any ons
OF the privileged few could cite t
some poor individual who had WORKED
his way up, and conclude that thu
prevailing distress was the result 0
: over-production &c.
Let us see what Scion did.
"Something had To be done to alte
this state of things. and vigorou
statesman could not permit himsel
to shrink from even such measure
as for the sake OF the common goo,
encroached upon the rights of exist
ing rights. and were not TO be carrie,
through without essentially injarin,
creditors"
He was chance for big howl
The demons. were no doubt called
communists. nihillst. socialists. repu
diatars by the noble EupatridB; bu
to his acts.
LIST. 1.-The right of execution wa
: restricted and might not hencefortl
attach to the person of the debtor an
his family"
81. The rate OF interest was OF.