The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1886-03-25
RoBB ON usURY.
Ills Speccl, IN the House Of Repre-
semtatives OH kusseirs lsill to
Reduce Rates Of interest.
Aud Provide a Penalty for Viola.
ton Of the Usnry Laws.

tlOn Oh the lSury LNWs.
THE House had under consider
alton Russpil's bill reducing the rate
OF interest from 10 fo per cent. and
making the rarty violating the law
BY charging more than this, snilty0 81
Il nisdemeaEor and subject ID II fine
OF not less than twenty five nor more
than fifty dollars.l
MR. ROBB said:
W. SpenIer-One Of the funda-
mental laws given Ivy the Almighty
TO the *. slaves and serf< Of Egypt
as they fed from the land Of tyran-
nv and oppression WAS the com
mand: Thou shalt not lend upon
usury 10 thy brrth rem The pro-
hibition Of usury was the very corn
er-sfone OF the Jewish civilization
rs laid down by the Almighty Him.
SELF
David in the 18th Psalm classes
the usurer with the liar, slanderer,
evil-doer, maligner. i1olator and the
Judge who takes brides against the
innocent.
Ezekiel classes the usurer with the
murderer, idolator and violent OPP
pressor, and condemns all alike as
capital crimes.
The scriptures abound with in
junction against nsury and anthemas
on the men who practice this covert
means of robbing the people. Christ
kicked the money-changers out OF
| the temple ut Jerusalem and said
they were making it den Of thieves.
Mr. Speaker, were Christ on earth
to day he would lind these men oc-
cupying not only the front seats but
owning the synagogues and the
priests, while the victims Of their av
arice were sitting like Lazarus at
the gate, the dogs licking their sores,
after having been kicked from their
homes by the minions OF the law,
who enforce usurious contracts re-
corded on cut-throat mortgages and
sealed by the sighs and sorrows Of
outraged humanity. But few persons
realize the vast accumulatiOns oil
interest; but few persons conceive
the great wrongs perpetrated upon
the people by the legal rates ofinter-
est as they now exist. One dollar
loaued ont at six per cent compound.
ed half yearly will accumulate 10
800 years s1,073,741,624, which IL
more than the assessed value OF the
State OF New York, the richest state
| in the Union. The legal rate OF In
ferest in the State Of New York is Z
per cent. At this rate one dollar
compounded yearly for 300 years
would amount to more than the en-.
tire assessment OF the United States
The London Justice, in speaking
OF the Indebtedness OF the British
Empire says:
1.-The present Indebtedness Of ev-
cry kind in our country Is not less
than 1000 100000. The annual
interest Of this lat 6 per cent? Is 81.
$40, OOO,O 900. The average.receipts Of
the wage laborers OF our country.
including farm hands and skilled
mechanics, Is not to exceed one dol
lar per day, for three hundred days
III each year. Divide the cum OF the
interest paddy there handred-the
average pay Of the wealth producers
and we have the number Of men
whose labor is required to pay the
interest which Is 100000, or con.
siderably more than one third Of the
able boiled men OF the nation. -Four
million four hundred thousand oil
the people working all the time to
paw this interest, means that another
4.4OO, 600 shall divide with them their
own pitiful income Of $500 per year
As $500 will not give to two for 9
year even sufficient clothing and
food, the children must be sent to
the factories to help exc out the in.
come. Year by year the debt In.
creases, and year by year the In
crease In the number OF children
grows In the same proportion"
The statement OF facts Is equally
true in America, and the figures will
apply with equal force to the pres
ent condition OF the United States.
High rates OF interest centralize
/ the wealth Of the nation In the handle
OF q few with . rapidity which but
very few can or do realize.
We take great delight in asserting
that the grand maxim. declared by
our forefathers that all men are cre-
/ ated free and equal; but high rate.
. OF interest and usurinus contracts
are fast making us = nation of slaves,
The child that IL born today. with
our present monetary system In op.
GRAFTON, Is not born free, without he
happens to he the favorite OF fortune
whose parents are money loaners OF
members OF some corporate conspi.
racy to prey upon labor. He Is born
on rented or mortgaged soil. His
parents paying either for rent or a.
interest on the mortgage, rate
double that Of the annual average
increase OF wealth as produced By
labor. He finds vast tracts OF land
owned by foreigners like 6cllly who
now monopolizes 5000 acres o.
American soil: by railroad corpora
lions to whom 1t has given 10000,
600 Of acres of land, the birthright o
American children; also vast tract,
OF laud owned by private specnla
tors and landlords. He fnds Iii
birthright given away and himself ,
treaspAsser on the soil which hi
forefath-rs fertilized with their blOol
Ia order that he might have tht
he ritage.
! But more, he finds that his, gov
ernmept in violation OF the spirit. |
not the letter OF the constitution, hal
delegated the power to 'coin none.
and regulate the value thereof" TO /
syndicate composed Of 1000 banks
which mercilessIy exact for the us,
OF national tool OF trade, a medium
OF exchange; a rate OF interest tina
. swamps the bushes Of the conntr.
on an average once In ten years. NJ
matter whether he borrows none,
o. not, everything is based on thi
exorbitantly high rate OF interest: "a
paws a rental for the root over hi
head based on ten to twelve per cen
interest. II he rents farm the rem
tai ia made to correspond with tn
rate OF interest which the investe
capital would bring OH the marke
II he goes into the mills. the mines
q n. l~A a II