St. Paul daily globe., 1886-08-10
UsuRERs AND EXToRTIoNERs

@E1nneSota and DakOtA.
USURERS AND DEXTORTIONERS.
The society for the relief of the poor has
several times called public attention through
the GLOBE to gross form of imposition
that is being practiced on poor people by
class of money lenders, who. under the
guise of commissions and other devices, are
eXacting usurious rates of interest. The
society now announces its purpose to prose-
cute the usurerS, and asks that all persons
who have knowledge of such transactions
give information to the officers of the
society, who will at once proceed to take
the necessary legal steps to abate the ex
tortion. a correspondent who fails
to agree with the views of Mr..
MOVES and Gov. DAVIS. as pub
Gshed in our yesterdays issue,
asks the GLOBE to define usury
and asks from us an expression of opinion
whether or not the law does not look upon
:money as species of property, and if so
why is it not subject to the same conditions
Jas other property. Originally usury meant
amy taking of money tor the use of money.
Therefore any person who loaned money
and required in payment anything more
than was lent was regarded as usurer
81 was looked upon as great moral wrong
and is one of the sins interdicted by the
: Mosaic law. AS civilization progressed
mems opinions concerning the value and
conditions Of money changed, until now it
Is deemed no more wrong to take pay for
the use of money than it is Ito take pay
fnr Of
horse. or any other species of
property. 1t is not to be denied that the
lingering influence of former opinion still
remains, and that the usurer to-day is re-
garded with the same adherence that the
Insurer was in the elden time. The differ
ence is in the distinction between what
constituted usury then and what constitutes
1t now. The usurer of to-day is the indi-
yidual who exacts more for the use of
law recognizes money as property, still,
ihe fact that the nature of money
makes it easier for the owner of it to prac-
tice extortion than can be done with
lny other species of property,
has caused nearly every Chris
han nation to fix by law the rate of COM
pensatioh for the use of money. If COM
Sensation be taken within the limit of the
law it is called interest; but if more be
6aken than the law allows, this, in the
present meaning of the word is usury.
AS an ethical proposition usury does not
occupy the same position in the popu-
lar judgment that it once did. The opin-
lon is rapidly gaining ground that money
should be borrowed and repaid, Oh bought
and sold, upon whatever terms the
parties should agree to, like any
other property. Thus in some of the
states the usury laws provide that the legal
rate shall only take effect in the absence of
any agreement between the lender and the
borrower, and there is no limit to the rate
when it is fixed by contract. At the same
time, where rate is fixed by law, the courts
are very strict in enforcing the law There
are so many ways in which usury laws may
be evaded that the courts have found it
necessary to watch contracts liable to this
abuse with great strictness. There have
been great many judicial decisions relat-
Ing to the different forms of attempted
evasions of usury laws, but the bulk of
adjudications boiled down contain this one
principle OF universal application, that no
matter what may be the form of the con-
tract, if there be usuriOus intent it is
Illegal. So it really makes no prac-
tical difference whether it be in the
nature of sale of money or
under the guise of commissions or what
else, If the intention of the lender is to re-
quire greater compensation for the use of
his money than the law allows, it is usury,
and he is liable to all the penalties that the
law imposes.
1t Is not the usur5r who is to-day so much
the object of adherence as it is the extor-
TONER. Money lending is Legitimate busi-
ness and respectable one. 1t sometimes
occurs that man will find an opportunity
to sell house or piece of land for more
han it's actual value. 1t is not considered
disreputable to avail himself of the oppor-
tunity. So the money lender may now and
then find an opportunity to loan his money
for more than it is really worth. Beyond
the fact that he becomes violator OF the
law and invokes its penalties, the transac-
tion is not regarded disreputabIe unless he is
actuated by spirit of meanness. AS, for
example, if he takes advantage of the necessi-
ties of some poor unfortunate person to
compel him to pay an illegal interest, then
he becomes an extortioner In the same
sense the owner of real estate may be an
cxtortioner. If he finds man in search of
home and it so happens that he is the
owner of the only house in the town OF
city that is for rent and takes advantage of
this fact to compel his tenant to pay an un-
reasonable rent he is just as mean man as
the money-lender who EFFORTS usurious in
terest from the borrower. 1t is not the act
itself which constitutes the meanness of il
as much as it is the principle, or lack of
principle, involved in it. Money lending
conducted on fair business principles is an
honorable business. But the professional
extortioner is the meanest and very lowest
type OF human character and the welfare
of society demands his extinction.