St. Paul daily globe., 1891-04-17
RADICAL LEGISLATION.

The New York Evening Post pub
fishes i'll recent issue a letter from
Speaker ELDER. of the late Kansas
house Of representatives, in reply to
some criticisms which that paper had
printed on the farmers theory of legis-
latiOn. The Post had openly charged
that the Kansas legislature had enacted
Il number Of laws which were intended
to wantonly violate the obligations of
private contracts. Mr. ELDER, in il dig
nited and well expressed statement,
dlSpoSes of this Indictment, and shows
with the fullest knowledge of the facts
how completely unjust and untrue such
accusations are. He quotes quite freely
from the laws which have been said to
have this effect, and makes it clear that
no one who has read them can interpret
them fairly in this way.
One of the great troubles with East
ern comment on granger legislation is
that the Eastern critic does not take the
trouble to inform himself on the things
with which lie finds fault. The other
is that he does not understand the real
condition of affairs in the communities
the East the day of borrowing for the
ordinary small dealer Is past. Society
has settled down into definite classes of
capitalists and wage earnerS. The
Shopkeeper does not borrow at the
banks, usually because he cannot, and
because he has no temptation Of large
profits from a small increase of capital
10 allow him. But in the West the bor-
rowing class is very large. The aver
age business man, whether he keeps a
country store or owns a farm, has had
to make his way on the capital of
others. The risk in whatever he un-
dertakeS is great. and the rates OF inter
est he has TO pay are high. This makes
his burden heavy. but he is brave, and
his struggles against adverse circum-
stances, If they come, are heroic and
pathetic in the fullest measure to those
who come in daily contact with him.
But he is false reporter who pictures
such men as animated by any hope of
shirking their honest debts to the people
who have advanced them the means of
attempting what they have, however
disastrous the result 10 them. There is
no spirit of reputation rife in the
Western country. But this fashion of
borrowing has given birth to class of
men who spread over the states like a
plague, tempting men to pledge their
property Tor temporary loan. These
people call themselves brokers or money
loanerS. and they are engaged in the
business because it brings them big re-
turns. They dangle theirwares in the
faces of the inexperienced and needy.
and. taking advantage of some farmers
love for ready cash, induce him to bor-
row when often there is no real necessity
for his doing so. They try to make
their loans as large as possible, because
this will increase their commissions,
and they load up their victims with a
weight under which they sre bound to
sink
1t is against this sort of sharks that
the feeling of the liveliest resentment
exists. and it is for their eXtirpation
that most of the apparently radical
legislation is aimed. The GLOBE recog-
nizes what a terrible evil this state of
affairs is, even in Minnesota, which is
much more favored in such regards
than some of the other states. And
while 1t does not think that our legis-
latures can do much to remedy the evil,
it is not inclined to judge too harshly
their efforts to tins end.