The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-04-11
JUBILEE.
SALT LAKE Cry. april 10, 1880

,ity can deslr5 IN reason. 1nOse VINO 81
Jity DOOR aud 10 debt have their iubilC
lille this year, 10 !heir proposed relea
ne from certain Indebtedness, which BIZ
l.,S. pressed down upon some Of them Lib
-1e nightmare for years, until, if the
ity have hoped, it has been hopin
eek against hope, ever to lIquidate the
i'm indebtedness. These two classes, th
lie rich aud the very poor, have thei
eiu jubilee-the former every year, To
on latter this year for once in their hsr
sh lives.
en- Bat there is another class, and tha
lie is composed OF the careful, industrious
no contrivipg people who succeed. the
M scarcely know how, in just payinj
=; their way, as it we're by the skin o
hi their teeth, and without the accept
: ance of any charity by them. From
one years end TO another, they are
on a continual strain 70 make both
ends meet, and they just about
q manage to do it, no thanks par.
tioularly to anybody else. But they
!; have neither surplus of worldly goods
- nor forgiven debts to excite them to
z liubilation. Now the question suggests
Itself. when and where and how does
the iubilation for this worthy middle
= class come in? How are they 10 be
included, SO as to make the jubllaiion
general? This seems to me 10 be
question worthy OF consideration.
Another thing. The ancient Israel
ites, from whom this custom of a
semi centennial jubilee of release has
come, had also another regulation,
which forbade the taking of usuTy or
Interest from a brother Israelite.
Why not adopt this regulation {? Why
be content with half measures ? Why
not abolish the practice CT requiring
interest for means expended In emil
grating the lo1r? Some people Oh
Iject on principle to paying interest,
and some object on principle to pay
ing the principal. The former have
sound scriptural grounds for their OBJ
lection, but the latter haveno
All requiring of interest on loans is
speculation. In requiring interest on
money lent 10 emigrate the poor, the !
emigration company evidently specu /
lstes on tae poverty OF the poor, not |
ior the emolument of tae company, |
but for the benefit OF the poor. Now !
to speculate on tue poor FOR the bene.
fit of the poor is rather paradoxical
policy, the necessity or the wisdom of
which is not obvious to me. There
fore l Should be inclined to look upon
such a policy VITA positive disfavor.
Let US see how this policy works.
Suppose a poor man and wife with
their family OF six children ale emf.
grated from Europe to this city b.
the company. They are indebted to
the company for the amount OF thsir
emigration, say $500. Now, how
long will it be before that poor man
can repay the principal? Year after
year goes by and be finds he cannot
do it. He is advanced in life, and it
is not very easy thing for man
advanced in life TO 60 to q new
country and pick up money fast,
under new and strange ciEcumstan-
ces, especially when be has a large
family on his hands to support. Bat,
as the years roll on ne is re-
minded OF his Indebtedness, and he
finds that attached as an apPendage
to the principal, there is long and
ever frightening tail in the shape of
interest, and that the principal and
interest together amount to 81 1000.
The poor man, still struggling to sup
port his family and psy his expenses,
learns by hard experience that no
words are truer than those which say
that "debt is slavery" He feels en-
shaved, bound in chsips, and the
honester be is the stronger do those
chains appear to him, and the more
homeless his slavery. until, II be does
not feel like cursiug the day he vas
born, he is very likely 10 think that
be would have been freer in his native
land, Ia poverty may be, but not in
exteicably in debt, and happier there
than being a hopeless debtor in this
land of liberty-a hopeless debtor,
because the jubilee of release comes
only once in fifty years, and may
never come in his time. While the
principal remains the same, the in
terest is constantly cumulative. Many
persons indebted to the company
might be able gradually 10 pay the
principal, but it is the ever increasing
interest which throws the cast OF utter
hopeleseness iato the features Of their
case.
1t may be sadi that the children
should help the ''old man" to pay his
debt. Well, so they ought. But,
bless your honest souls, gentlemen,
that is hardly the way things are done
in this part OF the world. Instead OF
helping the old folks, tbs young folks
think they are doing grand things If
they only help themselves, 70. only /
without helping the old folks, bat
without calling on them for help. |
Some young folks not only live With |
and on the old folks, but when the |
young folks go and get married |
they go and take their wives to |
live with the old folks and eat
up any tTifes of surplus viCt1als
that happen to be lying around
and not otherwise ana promptly
appropriated. Thus the old folks at
home have to help the young folks at
home, and often slso have to help
the young folks not at home. SO you
will see, even in this matter, that It
is vanity and vexation Of spirit to
reckon without your host. 1 mean
your host of children.
In looking at these things in this
light, it certainly does seem that the
early and complete sbolishment Of
the custom Of cha. ging interest on
loans by the emigration company
would be very polite, and would give
a fair and fitting finish to the ad
mirable proposition to relieve the
worthy poor from their Indebtedness
in thie year Of jubilee. JUBILEE.
No Advance.