River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-02-16
VARYING VALUES OF MONEY.

Laws Concerning Interest and Usurv In
Different States of the Union.
The wide difference in the laws of
the various states in regard to rates of
interest and penalties for usnry forms
an interesting and curious study. The
lowest legal rate provided by any state
or territory is Ave per cent, and this is
confined to the states OF Illinois and
Louisiana. The six per cent. rate is
the most common and prevails in Ar
kansas. Connecticut, Delaware. District
of Columbia, Indiana. Indian territory.
Iowa. Kansas, Kentucky. Maine, Mary
land. Massachusetts. Michigan. Mime
sofa. Missouri. New Hampshire. New
Jersey. New Mexico, New York. North
Carolina, Ohio. Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island. Tennessee. Texas, Vermont,
Virginia and West Virginia. The
seveu per cent rate Is found in Ari-
IONA, California, Georgia, Nebraska,
Nevada. North Dakota, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, South Dakota and Wis
consin. In Alabama. Colorado, Florida
and Oregon eight per cent. is the rule.
1t is rather odd that no state in the
Union has selected nine or eleven per
cent, though ten per cent. is the law
in Montana, Utah and Washington,
while in Wyoming twelve per cent is
the lawful rate.
No laws exist in the following named
states as to the limit which parties
MAJ agree to respecting the rate to be
paid: Arizona. California, Colorado.
Connecticut Delaware. Maryland.
Massachusetts. Maine, Montana, Ne
vada, Rhode Island, Utah and WASH
ington. In Idaho, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota
not more than twelve per cent may be
agreed to. Not more than ten per cent
may be agreed to in Arkansas, District
of Columbia, Florida, Indian Territory.
Kansas, Minnesota. Mississippi, Ne
braslxa, Oregon, South Carolina and
Wisconsin. The eight per cent. limit
is fixed in Alabama. Georgia, Indiana.
Iowa. Louisiana, Michigan. Missouri.
North Carolina and Ohio. while in Illi-
nois the limit is seven per cent Not to
exceed six per cent may be agreed to
in Kentucky, New York, New Jersey,
New Hampshire. Pennsylvania, Ten
nessee. Vermont. Virginia and West
Virginia.
In Connecticut not more than six per
cent is allowed by the terms of the
law, and yet no penalty is attached for
its violationl In a number of states
there is no law prohibiting usury. In
twelve states the penalty is the for
FIXTURE of all the interest. and in three,
namely, New York. Arkansas and Ore
gon, the penalty is the forfeiture of
both principal and interest. In FIVE
states the contract is forfeited. and in
ten the interest above the legal rate is
null and void. In three states, Nebras-
ka, Iowa and New Jersey. the interest
and costs are forfeited for usury, and
i'm Kansas and New Hampshire respec-
lively the forfeiture is double and thrice
the excess of interest. In Idaho alone
is a usurer liable to arrest for INSIDE
meauor
These examples afford evidence that
the people of the different states enter
tain widely different views concerning
the value of money and the relations
of the borrower and lender. While it
is perhaps natural that rates of inter-
est should be higher in the west than
in the east il is hard to account for the
, differences that exist in states in which
the value of money can not be sup
posed to differ much il at all. The
great variation in respect to usury is
especially curious and interesting. -
Omaha Bee.