Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-10-11
INTEREST.
THE TERM AT ONE TIME SYNONr
NOUS WITH USURY.
Payment for the Use OF Borrowed Money
Prohibited in Bible Times-How Com
merce Effected Change.
New York Indenendent


Originally the word '.usury'' meant any
return, even the smallest, paid for the use
of money loaned. so that uSury and interest
We're synonymous terms. The distinction
which defines interest rs a lawful and usury
as an unlawful eXaction is modern and
grew out of our changed conditions of
business matters. 1t Is in this sense of in
terest-asy return at all for money-that
usury is denounced in the Old Testament.
The Hebrew laws did not allow the ex-
action of any payment for loans except
from strangers. The history and practice
of the Jews in this matter of payment for
the use of borrowed money is 4 long and
interesting one, admitting at present only q
reference to it.
We lind the same sentiment in the early
church. Anyone who would take pay for .
loau-that is would demand more than thu
exact amount loaned-was considered u
have been false to his Christian profession
In the light of our modern business meth
ods, this seems surprising tenet for the
church to make almost an article of faith
aud yet little study and reflection wiz
show not only that it was founded III rsasos
but that no other principle could then poSss'
bly, have been held b. religious body. Wa
must always remember that commerce and
trade, as we ROW understand those terms,
did rot then exist. There was no par-ner.
ship between capital and labor, in our meaus
ing of these words. during the Old Tesla
nent period, or for the first few Christian
centuries. Loans of money or of goods
were made almost wholly to relieve distress,
and it was against the cruelty of those who
demanded large rewards for moneys loaned
i'll charity that the church raised its voice.
She would have been false to her mission
had she not done so.
If the vine failed in some locality in
any one year, neighboring villages or per
sons might help along the impoverished vine
~.
was the main borrowing originally. But
chances for trading Improved. Roman
ship captain saw profit in the Egyptian
corn-carrying trade; friend loaned him
enough TO purchase 4 ship; should that
friend receive back his money without a
share in the profits. These and similar in
stances perplexed the early theologians
greatly Their only thought of usury had
been that IL was an engine OF possible op-
preston, but manifestly the theory did not
fit the new facts. We moderns, SO familiar
with all this, can scarcely conceive of the
schoOlmaus embarrassment; it seemed as
if the teachings of Scripture We're being
overturned. To the honor of these Christ
ians, it can be said that they met the diff
Guilty bravely and well. They drew line
between the old kind OF interest and the
new, though after the fashion of the day
they invented queer supposititious differ
ences. and to these gave names yet in the
opposition TO new forms of business be-
cause OF old precepts wise and necessary,
but not meant TO apply to dealings not GOV.
cred by their denunciationS. 1t was an,
other instance of the spirit which giveth
life superseding the letter that killeth.
What is here very briefly stated, took al
most a thousand years to work itself out.
Opposition to the giving and taking of in
terest upon money loaned, based on the old
Hebrew laws, lasted in England and on this
Continent down almost to our day. Nor
can it be said that church theologianS and
officers have always read the signs Of ths
times Alright, for fierce disputes on this sub
ject and occasionally unjust decisions, are
to be found scattered throughout the his
tory of the early centuries and of the Mid
die Ages. Partly because of strong think
ing and partly because of the pressure Of
actual affairs, in the main, the church
Judged rightly. Yet the old rulings ag ainst
taking interest stand III the records without
formal repeal They are only held in abey-
ance as ut present inapplicable.
The influence of these old tenets is stu
felt and seen i'll our modern laws regulating
the rate of interest. The idea-a child Of
the old reasoning-iS that payment for
money above a fixed rate is an extortioa
and injustice upon the borrower. This
seems to have come down TO our day from
the Bible precepts about helping the poor
and needy and taking no pay for the char
ity, and the mental fog is practically the
same as that from which Christians for
thousand years struggled hard to free
themselves. As to the charitable the old
rule is still in force; as TO the lender Of
money for business purposes, II has no
force whatever. When money is loaned TO
u merchant or manufacturer, the latter uses
it to increase his trade and enlarge his
profits; according to the eXigencies of his
business, he can afford to pay, say, IL per
Get rather than not have it. On the other
Mahd the investment Is SO good that num-
Der Of capitalists bid for the loan, each Of
fering a lower rate of interest because OF
the good security. The workings OF these
two forces result in rate of interest which
is settled in the same way as price OF q
house or of any article. If civilized COM
munity think that their rate is too high,
the remedy is not to regulate that rate by
Law, because such laws merely result in
keeping loanable funds away from that
community and thus depriving the farmers
and traders of money who really need cap
ital, and whose possible profits (profits in
sight next harry eSD are so legitimaJely high
we will say as to warrant them in paying a
high rate for money. The true remedy lies
in increasing the security of money loaned
and in careful business methods; in short,
the proper thing for a village or state to Go
is to induce other capitalist to bid against
those already there, for the favor of invest
Ing capltai In q community where IL Will De
safe beyond dispute The laws regulating
interest cannot be of any real service in
country like the United States. There are
cases of hardship, such Us loans by
sharks" upon chattel mortgages given by
by poor people because Of temporary losses
which are sometimes repaid threefold be-
fore release; but these are the very cases
which come under the other moral rule, and
whose wrongs it seems most difficult TO
abolish. least of all by declaring what the
rate of interest shall be. As EIatver be-
tween two business men, money can be
safely left to bring what it is worth; we
do not need TO regulate its price any more
than we need to have the state prescribe
the prices Of our bread or meat.