The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1886-03-25
oNE or BIZ. LAKHABEE's MOTIFS.

oyE or BIZ. LAKAABEE's NOTES.
Mr.. Speaker, hold IN my hand
promissOry note given by o poor
Swedr farmer to q bank il Forest
City. II Is dated Dec. 18th, 1854;
was 10 run ninety days or TO March
18th, 1856, and was paid when due
as shown by the cancellation stamp
ell on the back. The principal Of
the note is $500. On the margin or
the note, in the handwriting OF the
cashier, are the words, "P'd $500"
Figure this up and you will find it
amounts to over 4 per cent month
or 48 per cent per annum. 1t Is
needless to remark here that notes
drawing from per cent to 3 per
cent and ) per cent per month are
no curiosity in the State OF Iowa,
although every such note is in viola
ton Of the State law and also the U.
s. Law. providing they are issued by
national banks. As II mere matter
OF curiosity. Mr.. Speaker, / will state
that ] am Informed that the gentle
man who owns the controlling inter
est in this bank, and who placticai-
" dictates its affairs, has taken IN
active interest for years past in franz
ing aid passing tue laws now on OH
statute books, aud among those laws
is the one fixing the legal rate Of in
terest IN Iowa ut 10 per cent.
In Il pubic document, which each
member Of this house has no doubt
carefully read, will be found the fol-
lowing significant language, regard.
ing the prohibitory law:
1T Is the duty OF all good people
who desire the welfare OF the State,
aud especially is it the duty OF those
who advocated the adoption Of
the law with SO much confidence to
make q faithful and earnest effort to
prove Its efficiency.
"True Americans are law-abiding,
and recognize the right Of the ma
jority to rule, and the duty Of the
minority TO yield obedience. III the
large cities and in communities
where public sentiment Is opposed to
the law. it Is openly aud fiagrantly
violated. The honor OF the State
compels us to vindicatc its majesty.
1T is under such circumstances,
clearly the duty OF the Suite te:come
to the rescue OF the Individual"
Mr., Speake +, it is the duty Ut the
executive 10 enforce every law on
the statute books, and no law In the
State Of Iowa IL so daRrantly violat-
ed ard openly iLsulted, as our law
regulating the rates Of interest.
Intemperance has created enough
want, misery and crime. It has filled
enough homes with sorrow
and desolation. It has clothed
enough families with rags
and driven them shelterless into the
streets, but usury has more than
duplicated the list. The vllest whis-
Ky den on earth cannot equal In its
evil effects 48 per cent usury. Ueury
In all ages and In all countries has
absorbed the wealth Of the people
II has turned the workman ont q
penniless beggar. It has driven the
producer from his farm to seek ref
uge from the creating, but never
satisfied mortgage. It has filled
thousands OF graves with suicides
and sent many Of our best minds t.
asylums.
England, the rnoneyed aristocrat
Of nations, has conquered more PEG.
pie by usury than she has by the
sword. By her accursed bonded
system she has laid Egypt waste, re.
duced her to pauperisln and ther
fastened the yoke OF seIfdom upor
her by imposing bayonet rule. She
has made the Turkish Empire q
financial dependent, and hundred
million East Indians are the finan-
cial serfs of this national autocral
whose task masters wear Britisl
uniforms, and whose dictators art
the manipulators Of British gold ant
the holders OF British bonds.
American independence can onlI
be maintained by preserving to oul
people free and unincEmbered homes
and this cannot be done under oul
present monetary system which ex
acts the enforcement Of usurions con
tracts. FOrry-two thousand tenant
farmers in Iowa to-day IL enough to
alarm every thinking man OF tn.
dangerous breakers ahead,
I am heartily IN favor Of this bill
and think this Legislature will b.
direlect in the duty which they ow,
to the State, II they fail to enac
some law that will protect the PEG
pie from high rates OF interest ant
usuriOus contra cts.