The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-04-25
The Absorbing Power of Usury.

money so far beyond the power of pro-
duction or commerce to earn that it will
quietly but surely absorb what other prop
erty the borrower may possess; in other
words, the uSuriOus interest that would
not only absorb all the gain which would
probably accrue from the active use of
the borrowed money, but the earnings OF
the capital legitimately belonging t" the
borrower, and too often his capital itself,
and the earnings of his skill aud labor in
addition.
Startling computations have from time
to time been made which demonstrate
| the cumulative power Of interest. For
example, we are told that if Captain John
| Smith, on his landing in jamestown 1907,
had loaned one thousand dollars at six per
cent.-the interest being added at the
end of each year-his claim the present
year QS7S) would in round numbers
aggregate 6,S00,000,000 (six thousand
eight hundred millions of dollars), or as
much as the cost-on both sides-of our
late war.
Such figures, and they are unimpeacha
BILE, not only show the impossibiity of
| high rates being coliectible for any great
length of time n~such sums as nations
and even corporations are constantly Dor
rowing, but they show that no one, sepa-
rate, individual dollar ever earned, for
great length Of time even the so-called
moderate rate of six per cent. True, the
loaner may have collected it, but it came
| from other earnings than its own. The
continuous societary exhaustion which
follows from high rates of interest Is
quantity illustrated by Sydney Myers,
who compares the resources of production
and commerce to reservoir of water.
with supply pipe of three inches, and
an exhaust pipe of ten inches, and argues
that its being empted is simply ques-
ton of time.
| This theme has been perhaps more fully
discussed, and through longer periods,
than any other now before the people,
and the true answer to the questions;
what compensation is capital, AS con-
trasted with labor, fairly entitled to re-
ceive, seems as distant and obscure as
ever.
To take one impressive example of an
cient dealing with this question: In the
Hebrew theocracy, when the church was
the state, Moses, as the direct mouthpiece
of the Almighty, most unequivocally pro-
hibited the taking of interest from the
Jews, but especially permitted it to be
taken from all outsiders. This, from a
national standpoint, was shrcwd states
manship, though, mathematically, it was
not as clearly demonstrated then as now
that the lender, whether as an individual
or as Il nation with interest more cumu-
lative than production-was sure to alb
sOrb tie borrower.
Ages after, when the work of recon
struction" of the ruined walls of Jerusa-
lem was in progress, an earnest cry OF dis
tress from the people came to Nehemiah
(see Chapter ". Perhaps their trouble
came from the ravages of war; perhaps
from assessments for improvements;
they certainly had high taxes to pay, and
they complained that they had been
forced to mortgage their homes for food,
or to pay their taxes, then termed 1.-THE
kings tribute" Another class perhaps
those who had no houses or lands com
planned that they had been forced to send
away from home their sons and daughters
to earn the required means, aud the con
dition of things showed no prospect of al
deviation. As these expressions came
from their own fellow citizens, III utter
disregard of the spirit and letter of the
Mosaic teachings, the grand old patriarch
was cXasperated, as he says, Chap. v,
verse &, II was very angry when | heard
their cry and these words. But unlike
many of our present agitators, who would
have simply held mass meetings and
"cursed things generally he went
straight to the rulers and mobiles,
as he called them, and, with scathing sar-
casm acver surpassed, he showed them
the miserable inconsistency ~ freeing
their countrymcn from slavery to the for
eigner, only to reinstitutc the same reia-
ton with their own neighbors by the more
insidious, but not less deadly, means Of
usurious slavery.
And having pointed out TO them the
ridiculous Inconsistency of their practices,
as contrasted with their p:eccpt.-espe-
cially in the eyes of other nations, which
was peculiarly sensitive point with the
Jews, who deem themselves, (as we do
ourseIves) the very pattern of excellence
he waited for response. AS no one 'put
in rejoinder," he concisely put the ques-
ton thus ooh verse;: Il pray you let
us leave off this usury.'
Apparently without a dissenting voice
the motion was carried in the affirmative,
when \ ehemiah eXacted an oath from
! the priests, that the spirit and letter Of
/ the law should be observed. And that no
element of earnestncss and solemnity
should be wanting, the grand old function
l..