Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-01-02
GREAT SIN OF USURY.
IT OVERTHREW ROME, AND
THREATENS AMERICA.
Money Is Not PrOPerty-It Should and
True Money Does, Bear the Same Re-
latlon to Property RS the Merchants
Scales Do to the Articles Weighed"
rRv Rev. D. oglesby.)

History informs us that old Rome
was 300 years dieing. 1t also tells us
hat usury was the disease that killed
old Rome. The reason why 1t took
Rome so long to die was, 1t took that
long time for usury to rob the wealth.
producers and concentrate the wealth
in few hands. But when old Rome dld
die 1900 men owned about all, we are
informed. Usury works much raster
now. In the last thirty-ive or forty
years, half the wealth Of our country
has drifted into the clutches OF thirty
odd thousand families. The debts on
our country (s35,OOO 100000 thirty-hVe
thousand million Of dollars, equal az
least to half the value Of the properly
In our country. The reason why usury
works so much faster now than IN the
days of old Rome is in consequence OF
labor-saving machinery and perverted
socialism, or monopolies and trusts
About 80 per cent of the labor
Of our country and the world Is
performed by machinery. BY usurlous
methods a class Of men called capital
lsts have accumulated money, and they
own the labor-saving machinery. They
can take a small proportion of the wage
workers, and by the use Of machinery
manufacture all that can be sold in the
markets of the world, and the great
majority Of wage-workers are left IN
idleness to starve, or steal, or ngnt'
The capitalist demands certain per-
centage Of interest, or usury, on MS
capital. This usury must come or the
mill stops. In order to augment the
volume Of interest or usury, capitalists
combine and form trusts and monopo-
lies. By so doing the old rule Oh de-
mand fixing prices is swept away
These combines among capitalists IS
perverted socialism. 1t is socialism
among capitalists. All evil Is perVert-
ed good. Every good can be, and mas
been perverted; and when a good Is
perverted, it becomes a corresponding
evil. If it is a great good when rightly
used, it becomes a great evil when per-
verified. Let us apply these principles to
the methods adopted in our country:
First, labor-saving machinery justly
used, would be the greatest imaginable
blessing. If so or 80 per cent OF the
labor of the world is performed by ma
chinery, it follows as logical sequence
that, il all shared just proportion Oh
its benefits, no one would need to labor
more than from two to four hours q
day. True socialism In society would
nut labor on this basis. But true So
cialism is perverted, and false socialism
prevails. A few get all the benefits OF
the great inventions. Perverted social
ism robs the toiler of the world beyond
computation. Look at it. With true
SOCIALISM, each laborer would have al
/ he produced, while the labor of two
hours a day would yield to him more
than the drudgery Of ten hours does
now,
Second, take the money question
! Civilization requires the exchanging O.
commodities produced by labor. Some
thing is necessary to show the relative
value of articles to be exchanged. Tn,
value commercially of any article con
sists in the amount of labor required t
produce 1t.
Justice demands some method t
show the value in labor Of articles t
be exchanged. We call that something
money. Hence, the true function o
money, and its only function, should b
to express the price value in labor o
articles to be exchanged.
But It's true function is perverted
Money is not property. 1t should, an
true money does, bear the same or
similar relation to property as the mer
chants scales do to the article
weighed. The scales don't make an al
ticle heavier or lighter, but they ez
press its true weight. Money neve
created dimes worth Of property. La
Dor does that. Hence money should e1
press the amount of labor in any art
Gle to be bought or sold. But none
is perverted. 1t is reckoned to be prof.
erty and so used. 1t Is bought and sol'
Usury or interest is the price Of none
H. 4.