New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-01
THE CRIME or COLLECTING DEBTS.

In the lurid harangue with which MIR. Voor-
hees opened the Indiana campaign, he accused
some unknown "leaders" of having stopped
"their ears with the percentage of vast loans
"on Western farms,n and of aggravating
this crime by "impiously commanding sore
"hearted and outraged people to cease their
"murmurs and be STILL" Why does not Mr..
Voorhees, translate these charges which he makes
with so much vehemence into definite and intelli-
gible termsi Does he mean TO assert that 1t
was a CRIME to lend money to Western people !
Does it make Western people sore-hearted to
secure their creditors against loss by giving
them mortgages on their lands2 Are they
outraged because they are asked to pay inter
est on the money they have borrowed ? Mr.. Voor-
hees knows very well why Western farmers 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
expensive, American energy has been largely
directed to manufacturing and he knows that
thrifty mechanics have deposited the little
products of their industry and prudence in
savings banks and the like, until capital has
accumulated in volumes which can be drawn
upon to aid distant enterprises. He knows
that Western labOIers did not lay by
their little annual gains, because land
was cheap and agriculture profitable, and they
wisely preferred to buy farms and become pro-
pTletors themselves and for the same reason
farmers invested their surplus earnings in
larger farms. He knows that Western farmers
borrowed the savings of other people tOinvest in
buildings, implements and stock, because they
thought that these investments would produce
more than they cost. He knows, too, that if
any Western farmer had seen lit to loan his
savings, he could have done so at the
same rate of interest which Eastern mechanics
and capitalists received, without any deduc-
ton for commission. and that he preferred
70 invest it in his business and to borrow
more because he thought it was TO his adj
vantage. And so it was to the advantage
both of the West and Of the East.
This is about the sum total of the aggra-
waited "outrage" which Eastern capital has
committed against Western industry. The
Indiana farmers to whom Mr. Voorhees,
was preaching his new gospel, possess lands
and houses and barns and stock and ma
chinery, which they have secured by the aid
of this capital, and the same capital has built
and equipped the railroads over which the
products Of these farms are carried to pay
ing market. Eastern capital has made the
West prosperous, and enOw what does Mr..
Voorhees, want to do about it A great
crime has been covered up somewhere in these
transactions which have such benign
and business-like appearance, and Mr..
Voorhees, cries for vengeance on the Fer
petratOrs. And how does Mr.. Voorhees, pro-
pose to punish them Fortunately the threat
ened penalty is more definite than the crime.
Mr.. Voorhees, has actually devised n brand
new discipline in the way of financial
System y which he has determined TO infct
on these evil doors. This vaporing is so out
rageously absurd that It would not be worth
a passing comment if it was not echoed by
all the loud economists Of Mr. Voorhees, school,
1t isn't sound money for which they clamOr ;
it is retaliation for an courage" 1t has al
ways been supposed to be the browning adj
vantage of an equitable and stable financial
system that it protects and profits everybody
borrower and lender, manufacturer and
farmer. But Mr.. Voorhees, and his kind avOw
that they want to protect certain classes and
to plumber others The new financial system
which they proclaim is based solely on the
principle of revenge. 1t is meant to be
disciplinary and punitive. 1t is war
measure Of the most violent type.
This talk by the Indiana Senator means Or
ganized robbery, if 1t means anything; and
therefore it is charitable to hope that perhaps
it does not mean anything. Mr.. Voorhees, has set
out to fire the Western Democratic heart, and he
may think it necessary to talk like "a highway
man, while he would confess under rigid
cross examination, that it might be improper
to steal OF repudiate honest debts. But what
an opinion he must have of his constituents it,
in his public exhibitions of himself, he thinks
it prudent TO pretend that he is more dishonest
than he really is