The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-07-28
APPEAL TO CLERGY.
AN OPEN LETTER ON lMpoR-
TANT QUESTION.
Inc wen Known Author of the "His~
Tory OF Money Alex Del Mar, Sounds
An Alarm Which Should Awaken the
Church.

tory of Money, Alex De, M.r. Sounds
an Alarm Which shou,d Aval., tb.
Church.
Let the gravity of nv cause be the
apology for this address. Christianity
Is m danger; not only Protestant
y Christianity, but all Christianity; not
uerely formal Christianity, but it's en-
LIRE spirit and essence, that which dis
tlnsufshes it from other religions, its
proae philosophy, its proclamation Of
human freedom and equality before
the law, its restraint of the strong, its
protection of the weak, it's considera-
ZION Tor women and children, it's rever-
ehual aspirations, Its worldwide char
lty, all these and many other insti-
tutes,the fruits grown from fifteen CEN
turles of eious efforts, are threatened
with insecurity Europe, absorbed in
and usury, has forgotten
mat its civilization was not purchased
with a price, hut with endless sacci-
noes. At the present moment it is
rlsking that civilization pom the cast
of a die, upon a reckless financial eX-
pertinent.
The roots of Christianity were
planted in the affections of the poor,
and all through its venerable career
the church has testified its obligations
10 the poor by condemning usury and
opposing the payment of debts in spe-
[if1r ifOHrayr ' WI &r1o,, -. ,o;o ;~% or-
sit supine whilst a devious system Of
finance evades the statutes against
nsury and binds communities to the
payment Of debts in specific coins,
"nlch the creditors are left at liberty
TO render scarce by boarding, export
ing or melting down to plate.
The supineness of the ministry on
these subjects is not due to indiffec-
"ence; it is due to h belief hat usury
and species" have been withdrawn
from the domain OF morals into that of
politics, and. therefore, that the inter
Terence of the church is unwarranted.
But this is a mistake. Usury is i'm
moral, not merely because it is forbid
e Like incest, it is forbidden, and
like incest it is Immoral, because it is
unnatural.
The basis OF interest is profit, the
measure of profit is the average accre-
ton of capital; and the accretien of
capital is fundamentally due to the
natural increase of domestic animals
and plants, when subject to the super
vision of man. These consequences
the the result sef competition, which
tends to. reduce all trades to the same
level of profit, sc that no kind of capt.
tai will increase faster than another;
hence the rate OF the increase of one
becomes a guide to that of all, and as
animals and plants can only increase
at a given rate SO only can the general
means Of subsistence; and these in
clude all other kinds OF capital. 1t
follows that any rate of interest, Or
hire for the loan of capital, which eX-
ceeds these limits (after due allowance
is made for risks and outlay, is q. vio-
lation of nature, ii. is unchristiap, it is
immoral, it is opposed to public policy,
it is ultra wires. Many of the early
Christian writers founded their
charges against usury not merely upon
ahe %Scriptural interdict, but also upon
very moderate rate of interest fo1 the
loan of capital, the agriculturist, the
artisan and the mechanic were justified
in refusing to pay anything. I
If capitalists decline to lend upon
such terms it is the duty of the state
to provide a remedy. If the state fails
in its duty the church is bound to in
terfere; for it is one of the oldest priI-
ciples of law that there shall be no
magistrate from whose action an ap-
peal, cannot be taken. &
The demand for payment in "species'
is a similar act of turpitude. When
the California gold mines were opened
the creditor class, who had lent gold
coins, elamored for payment in silver
ones; when the Nevada silver mines
were opened, they wanted their loans
.of silver species repaid with gold ones.
To secure these ends they resorted to
every form of chicanery and corrup-
tion, and organized misleading propa-
lgandas, they purchased the press, they
bribed or packed the celebrates. and
they secretly tempered with the coin
age laws. The British mint act Of 1916
provided that all payments above 81
should be made with gold coins, but
left it. to the power and discretion of
the Crown to alter, this provision, for
example, to require all payments to be
made In silver species at any time,
without resort to Parliament Such
power and discretion were surrepti-
tiously destroyed in 1870. The Ameri-
can mint vel of 1872 provided that all
payments might be made in either gold
or silver coins, at option Of the debtor.
Such option was destroyed by the