The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1886-01-26
The Lien Law.

And there /, no thing under the sun"
Fec. L. 3.
EDITOR CLARION: To illustrate the
foregoing quotation from the Book of
Ecclesiastes, and as pertinent to dis
cussion of the lien lava subject now
agitating the minds of our legislators
let me make use Of another portion of
the Bible-Nehemiah, V, 1-5-which is
as follows: "And there was great cry
of the people and of their wives against
their brethren the Jews. For there were
that said, We, our sons, and our daughters,
are many: therefore iCe take up corn for
them, that tCe may eat, and ice Some also
there were that said, We hare mortgaqed
our lands, vineyards, and houses, that nv
might buy corn, because Of the ded.th.'
There were also that said We hare Dor.
rOlOed money for the Kings tribute, [taxesl
and that upon our lands and vineyards.
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh Of our
brethren, our children as their children:
and, 10, aoe bring into bondage our. sons and
our daughters to be servants, and some of
our daughters are brought into bondage
already; neither is ii in our power 10 re-
deem them; FOR OTHER MEN HAVE OUR
LANDS AND. VINEYARDS
And these words were penned over two
thousand three hundred years ago and
after war had swept over Judah and
Jerusalem; and after strenuous efforts
had been made to regain lost property
Does not the description fit our own
Slater Has not the lien law worked for
us the same evils it worked tor the peo-
pie of Judea? Has any good ever re.
suited to anybody except to those en-
gagged in the supply or advancing bust
ness? And how many of them have
reaped any permanent advantage from
their chattel mortgages? Has the num-
Der exceeded one in thousand? And
has not this resulted from the fact that
the system is.evil, and only evil, and that
continually? Is it not now akin to that
abomination known as tae Louisiana
Lottery, into whose capacious nav so
many of the hard earned dollars of the
laboring poor have gomez Look at the
pertaining to it that pertain to gambling
in its worst forms-notwithstanding all
the good you can say about it. The
EVILS ARE TOO GREAT 10 BE CoMPAT-
IBLE WITH GOOD MORALS. The mer.
chant sees the evils and is compelled to
add rs, 80 or 100 per cent. to the ordi.
nary cash prices of the goods sold to his
good customers, to cover losses on goods
sold to his doubtful and unreliable Gus
toners. He EFFORTS from honest men
money to pay for what he sells on a
credit to dishonest men. Is that morally
right' Then a man, formerly honest,
but whose nature is human nature, and
human nature Only,) who has "taken up
corn" for his numerous family, finds
that after every possible effort he is not
going to be able to meet the account for
supplies bought at the enormous credit
prices he agreed to pay, begins to plan
for saving some of his mortgaged crop
from the clutch of the merchant whom
he now looks upon as too exacting. "The
bread and meat are gone, and there il
nothing to show for it," and why should
all the crop go to the merchant? Elk
cuses, if not reasons, are easily found,
and the farmer soon finds some plausible
excuse for running his mortgaged proper
ty in another direction, and thus defraud
his merchant. This, ace know, is morally as
1ceH as legally acrong. But the tenpta-
tion is great. 70 is an eva inhe eat in the
lien lGic. The merchant and the farmer
have been gambling under color of law,
and this gambling results-as all gam
bling usually results-in The financial and
moral ruin Of those engaged in IL
Then again: 1t needs not the wisdom
of Solomon, or Nehemiah, to see that
the destruction Of the ralue Of farming lands
in Mississippi is largely. oloing the lien lIw,
which gives the insolvent tenant an OPP
pareutly better basis of credit than the
landlord who owns the acres which the
impro7ident tenant is running. 1t re-
verses the laws of political economy ap-
plicable to such cases, and effectually
puts "the bottom rail on top" and keeps
him there. Prevent the incumberipg of
"crops growing or to be grown and