Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-07-28
APPEAL TO CLERGY.
AN OPEN LETTER ON IMPOR-
,TANT QUESTION.
The Well Known Author of tho "Hls-
tory of Money" Alex Del Mar, SOonds
an Alarm which Should Awaken the
Church.

church.
Let the gravity of my cause be the
apology for this address. Christianity
is in danger; not only Protestant
Christianity, but all Christianity; not
merely formal Christianity, but its en-
tire spirit and essence, that which dis
tinguishes it from other religions, its
broad philosophy, its proclamation of
human freedom and equality before
the law, its restraint Of the strong, its
protection of the weak, its considera-
tion for women and children, its rever-
entail aspirations, its worldwide char
ity, all these and many other insti-
tutes,the fruits grown from fifteen CEN
turtles of pious efforts, are threatened
with insecurity. Europe, absorbed in
commerce and usury, has forgotten
that its civilization was not purchased
with price, but with endless sacri-
fees. At the present moment it is
risking that civilization upon the cast
Of a die, upon 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
to the poor by condemning usury and
opposing the payment Of debts in spe-
cific moneys. Yet today its ministers
sit supine whilst devious system of
finance evades the statutes against
usury and binds communities to the
payment Of debts in specific coins,
which 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 indiffer-
ence; it is due to the belief that usury
and species" have been withdrawn
from the domain Of morals into that OF
politics, and, therefore, that the inter-
ference of the church is unwarranted.
But this is mistake. Usury Is I'M
moral, not merely because it is forbid
den. 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 accretion 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 OF competition, which
tends to reduce all trades to the same
level Of profit so 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 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 a vio-
lation of nature, it is unchristian, it is
it is opposed to public policy,
it is ultra wires. Many of the early
Christian writer's founded their
charges against usury not merely upon
the Scrlptural interdict, but also upon
the conviction that beyond a certain
very moderate rate of interest for the
loan of capital, the agriculturist, the
artisan and the mechanic were justified
in refusing to pay anything.
If capitalists decline to lend upon
such terms it is the duty of the state
to provide 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
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, clamored 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-
ton, and organized misleading propa-
gandas, they purchased the press, they
br1bed or packed the celebrates, and
they secretly tempered with the coin
age laws. The British mint act of 1916.
provided that all payments above G2 |
should be made with gold coins, but
left it to the power and discretion Of
The Crown to alter this provision, for
to require all payments to be |
made in silver species at any time,
without resort to Parliament Such |
power and discretion were surrepti-
iously destroyed in 1870. The Ameri-
IAN mint act of 1892 provided that all
might be made in either gold
II silver coins, at option of the debtor.
such option was destroyed by the
fraudulent substitution of a repeating
clause as to coming silver dollars in
he act Of February, 1878, and by the