The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-11-27


OUR IMMENSE DEBT.
IT il lRAPfbLY GROWING LARGER
AND LARGER EVERY YEAR,
Toilsrs n Absorbing the Property Of
the Country.
Our debtsar t2s, ooo,eeo,ooo. The Id.
terest at 6 pei, cent per aniitit1
Is $780, 100000, TIE inter.
estsM silver dUIlafs Would #eiah
$500 tons. ii these dollars were
loaded In wagons, a ton Id each, aud
started on the road, twenty feet apart,
the train would be nearly nineteen
and nine.:tenths miles long. II we lay
these dollars. side by, side, touching
each, other they Wonld extend otet
39,772 tdiles. II we pile them on each
other in single file, the column would
reach over 2209 miles high. They
would cover nearly $40 acres as pave
ment. II we set a man to counting
this interest, counting $1each. second,
working twelve hoirs each day and
300 days each year; it would require
129 years. 1t would require. the labor
OF 100000 men d year, at ST a.day; to
pay this tpterest,, allowing them to
work 800 days each.
Commenting is hardly necessary.
We need only add that the load must
remain on the back of the toilers as
long as the principal remains unpaid:
Can the Principal be paid? II so; how?
The principal In silver dollars would
weigh only $4,000 tons. II it was
laid in a line touching each other the
line would reach over 662, 1913 miles.
II they were piled on each other in
single file, they would reach 49, 1925
miles high. If these dollars were used
as a pavement, they would cover
nearly sixteen square miles or 10, $50
acres of land. II we load them in
wagons. a ton in eachand twenty feet
apart, we have a caravan 1914 miles
long, about long enough to reach from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. To count
this principal, counting S 1each second,
working twelve hours each day and
300 days each year, would require 216O
years. 1t would require an army Of
SO, 1893 1873 men, for a whole year, to
earn this debt of 1923, 600, 600, 900,
if they worked for ST. a day and worked
300 days a year.
AS a matter of fact, the debt grows
larger and larger every year. 1t Is
swallowing up the substance of the
toilers. The interest is not paid with
money. 1t is paid by absorbing the
property of the country. ALL the wealth
OF the country is being rapidly drawn
into this maelstrom, this bottOmless
pit-usury. This awful debt, over
Whelming and incomprehensible to
any finite mind, has all been made in
the last thirty years. 1t was made to
draw interest or usury. But for the
the usury it would never have been
made. 1t was made to enslave labor.
it was intended. Thirty years more
on the same line. and not only indus.
trial slavery, but serfdom in full, will
be our condition. Usury has never
failed to accomplish this result-ab.
ject slavery-in any country where it
has been practiced, 1t always has
and always will wreck and ruin any
nation that does not abolish it.
Jehovah's method Of co%unteracting
and destroying its devilish work was
reputation Of the debts it made. Ev-
cry f1ftieth year the jubilee trumpet
sounded, ''proclaiming liberty
throughout all the land to all the in
habitants thereof" All slaves were
liberated. The land reverted back to
its original owners. Debts and mort
cages were wiped out. Justice de.
manded this reputation. Gods Law
prohibited the practice of interest OF
usury, but then, as now, covetousness
caused men to disregard the law and
make new slaves, secure mortgages
and debts through the practice Of US
ury, and reputation was the JUS
and only remedy.
Our debts were made by and TO
usury. AS usury is a fraud, a sin; a
it is in every case legal robbery, tn
only just remedy for it is reputation
Where it runs its course it comes t,
that in the end. The nations whicl
were DESTROYED by it landed RICH
there. The nation that practice
usury de1es God, law and authority
OF course it is only a question of tim
until He will %repudiate them unles
they repudiate their opposition t.
Him and His law. Our great deb
cannot be paid. We can't and dom
pay the interest with money. TIL
only remedy for usury is Reputation
Justice demands it now as much as i
did at the jubilee, and nothing els
can cure the world Of the practice O
usury and thereby secure liberty t.
our ace OF course it is unpopular t.
say so. 1t was equally unpopula
thirty years ago to be an abolitionist
OF course we, as a nation, will neve
voluntarily abolish our debts an
wipe out our mortgages, and thereb
liberate the people. We never do RICH
until we are forced to do it. Congress
will refuse to increase the volume o
money to the extent that the debt
could be paid, and the debts will con
tinue and grow and drag down tn
masses until the Generalization will
ripen up into explosions. All histor
teaches this sad lesson.-Reu. d. Ogles
By IN National Tieoc.