Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-12
THE NOTWITHSTANDING INDUSTRY

ing up of small concerns to engage III
the business of l~oaning money. The
attention of the correspondent has been
attracted by the increase OF these es-
adjustments in Atlanta, but this in
crease is not confined 10 that city: ii
is one Of the features of every center
where there is a pressure and Il de
mand for money.
The facts noted by our correspondent
may he observed by any citizen who
will take the trouble To look around
him. As every effect must have Il
cause. it follows that this marked in
crease in the number of mo~ney-lending
Institutions must be the natural result
of some eXigency or state OF affairs
that makes money lending more profit
| able than any OTHER form of investment.
In this case the cause is not far to
seek. The contraction of the currency
which has been steadily going on has
made money more valuable than any
thing il will buy. A man who has
n few dollars in his possession realizes
that they are worth more than any
thing they will buy beyond the bare
necessaries of life. That is to say. he
can make more by lending his money
than he can by investing it in any form
| of business or in any industry.
The result is thai those who have
been driven out of business by de
creased proiits-wh.ch is only another
way of saving that money became
more valuable than the goods they had
to sell-have been gu ok TO perceive that
it is to their profit To invest such capital
rs they have in the business of lending
money.
They cannot invest il in any mcrcan-
tile business. because in Il period OF
low ard falling prices-which are tie
accompaniments of the increasing
value and purchasing power OF money
the profits that are ordinarily To he
made in mercantile pursuits become too
uncertain To invite or 10 warrant the
investment OF capital. Those who have
capital cannot invest il i'll the various
| enterprises and industries that spring
up in prosperous times without taking
Il risk of losing money.
Thus it happens that in Il period of
monetary stringency. brought about
either 10y Il contraction of the currency
itself or The money in which that cur
| rency is redecmablc. the dollar grows III
value until lis most profitable field OF
investment is narrowed down To gilt
edged securities and the loan market
not the loan market which people seek
when they want money to invest in en-
tcrDriscs. but the little shops ana back
rooms TO which men resort when they
are compelled To borrow money t" pay
their debts.
al these various phenomena are tax
Ing place before the very eyes of the
business men OF the country: and yet
MANY of them permit themselves To be
deceived into indorSing the tremendous
contraction of The currency and money
supply of people by the %spcciouS cry OF
sound" money. All that that cry can
mcan in the present emergency *.
money that is mere valuable than any
thing the people have for sale. or than
anything the people can afford 10 buy
nevond the naccSSarieS of life. MI that
it can mean is low and constantly fall
Ing prices. Il condition of affairs thai Il
fatal to business prosperity. for mer-
chants and traders find their goods
shrinking on their hands. the manu-
f~acturcrs find their markets destroyed.
and those who toll on the farms find
! that the products of their labor have
| become 80 cheap that the surplus they
have for sale will not command enough
money To pay the interest on their
debts. and hardly enough TO pay their
taxes.
The increased value of money has
! closed many OF the in which
the mercy and enterprise Of the coun-
try found prosperity. and has widened
and enlarged the field of the money
lenders. This is why we see SO many
loan shops opened up in the various
| centcrs of trade. This is why We see so
many loan establishments employing
the charters of building and loan assoc
| Citations in order TO escape p~leadingS of
uSury.
Our correspondent, says the C0nSti-
tuition. seems to have u vague idea that
these loan shops and establishments
should be frowncd on. Rather let III
froWn on the cause that has produced
the conditions under which they pros,
per: for. after all. these loan shops and
establishments. springing up here, there
and everywhere. do but represent the
CRYING necessities of the people. The
condition that makes mOney dear gives
new power and prosperity to the money
lenders and increases their numbers
constantly. Civilization has made
money absolutely necessary to the we'll
being of the people, not because it has
intrinsic value. but because it is the
representative of value, and. being eX-
changcablc in all commodities, what
socvcr, commands all.
Thus the demand for money is equal
to the combined demand for all sala-
bic or cXchangeabie articles, goods and
commodities. Consequently, when there
is IA scarcity-when the currency is
contracted-people are compelled to
! sacrifice their prODerty and the pro