Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-08-13

ETOih Iuub IlIut, WHtn lus luSBlltb
penman traced upon the page of di
vine revelation his denunciation OF
the Insurer to this, civilized nations
and states have found it necessary to
restrain the Insurer: frequently visit
ing his offense with the forfeiture OF
the moray loaned, and often with
imprisonment besides; practical ex
perieHce in free trade in money with
such peoples, effectually disposing of
the specious and gauzy arguments
then and now used by the Insurer and
his supporters; and such laws have
never been repealed or become obso-
lete until money became so plenty as
to reduce the rate of interest perpan
emily below the maximum which the
law had determined the people could
safely and prCfitably afford to pay.
Less than two weeks ago you read
of loan negotiated in Boston OF ~,
600, 900 at two per cent. per annum.
Why does money go begging in the
east for three or four per cent. per
annum, when it could lawfully be
loaned here at 10 to IL per cent
Why Go they not send their money
here? 1t is because they know what
we are doing, and that millions have
been loaned here, and are being loan
ed at rates they consider ruinous, and
they believe that financial ruin must
inevitably come to our people at an
early day, no matter what the wealth
of our soil may be; and they tell us
plainly they dare not trust their mon
ey among such people, and the more
you offer the more earnest their re-
fusal, because they say no people can
prosper and pay their debts who will
borrow at such rates; they know that
men whose business will not pay over
seven per cent, cannot pay ten pen
cent for capital to carry it on with
and that farmers who cannot realize
over five per cent on their labor and
investments, cannot get ont Of debt
by hiring money at ten per cent pei
annum or three To twenty per cent. 1
month.
That for us as poor people to per
nit brood of money sharks to occu
by all our towns and cities, combin
ing with each other to force human
necessity To pay such rates, IS t.
court ruin utter and complete Il
all our borrowing interests. Tel
millions of dollars would probably b,
a low estimate of the money nov
loaned IN this territory at such ruin
ous rates that the borrowers bushes
can never pay it, and he must Dor
row again and again, until the usur
er finally sells him out and turns hin
out apon the world without dollar
I Every person in the commonwealth
is directly or indirectly injured by Tia
loss Of such men TO business and so
i ciety. and no one but the Insurer j
benefited thereby.
When twenty-five years ago bil
: was pending in the Legislature o
1
Wisconsin to reduce the rate OF in
terest and to decree a forfeiture o
both principal and interest il a great
er amount was reserved or taken thai
fixed by law, the army of the money
sharks which they then had there, a
we now have them here, rose up a
one man and prophesied that if tn
bill became law no more easter
capital would come into the state
and business would be ruined. Tn
bill passed, and no business wa
ruined but that of the Insurer; none.
loaning became legitimate business
such as respectable men with con
science were willing to engage IN, am
confidence was restored; eastern cap
italists were no longer afraid OF Wis
consin securities, and money role,
Into her border in abundance. Tn
usurers pulled down their signs an,
moved on TO Iowa and Minnesotf
and re enacted there what they ha'
done in Wisconsin. They aud thei
class were early here; they are quar-
tered upon Us more or less in ever.
city and village, despoiiing the yer.
class of men who most need encour
agement and fair business assistance
and they are to-day doing more 3
Cypress and impoverish our peopl
than all the corporations we justl
talk so much about.
A few words on taxation, and | vii
no longer weary your patience. Prop
erty should be assessed TO the owner
but here it is not. The man who oc
cupies farm worth $1,000, on whicl
there is a mortgage Of $1,000, has bu
a $1,000 interest in that farm, and b
should only be assessed for $1,000
while the man TO whom the mortgag,