The Washington herald., 1914-06-21

evils from which the needy Of our citisi
suffer. I say this deliberately and moi
because happen to be specializing now
in one particular direction.
'Usury 10 an ancient moral crime
against the poor and helpless. Once. nc
borrowing was done except from neces-
sity. Nowadays loans are made 20 a.
to carry on business. Any interest was
usury In the. time Of Moses. Thou shalt
not lend upon usury to thy brother he
said; 'usuary OF money, usury OF yictuals.
usury OF anything that is lent upon
money But unto a stranger that II. q
lend upon usuyy.' or. in other words, at
interest charge. you see, could be
made outside the Jewish brotherhood but
not in it.
Thou hast taken usury,' we read in
EzekiAl, and increase and thou hast
greediiy gained Of thy neighbors by ex-
tortlon and hast forgotten Me- saith
the Lord God Cato, according to the
writings Of Cicero, being asked what he
thought OF usury, made no other answer
to the question than by asking the per-
son who spoke to him what he thought
of murder.
Debt and Famine Run Together.
The rapacity and brutality OF some
Of the money lenders in this day and In
this country" Mr.. Dyer went on to say.
equal any description. handed down to
us from antiquity. Qrote. In his great
history of Greece. picturing life in that
country, says 1t is worthy OF remark
that the FIRST borrowers must have been
for most part men driven to this neces-
sity by the pressure OF want Debt and
famine, he added. run together In the
Middle Ages usurers threw their vic
tins into slavery. The same thing IL
going on right now in Boston. New
York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and In all
of-eur struggling centers Of population.
ave have mortgaged our lands, vine
yards. and homes the people cried In the
time of Nehmiah; that we might buy
corn because OF the dearth. And 10, we
bring into bondage our sons and our
daughters to be slaves; neither is II In
our power to redeem them for other men
have our lands and vineyards.' There
are many widows at this moment who.
with mortgaged furniture, even down to
the beds on which they sleep, could re-
peat the cry of Nehemiah's ruined farm
with young sons and daugh-
ters in work places and all pinching them
selves to put interest by for the extor-
toners
Some respectable men are in the mon
extending business-church members,
sven. They hand their capital over to
agents and draw immense dividends. |
They never learn Of the heartaches which |
ire back of the dividends. There are |
oaning companies, too, which are de-
,ently conducted. But the business as a |
whole is In the hands OF monsters in hu- |
nan form. the very worst of living men. |
Is believe, inside or outside Of our jails |
md penitentiaries.
Il have known OF persons who were
iriven to suicide by the bounding OF
he money lenders. I have known of /
hefts committed to satisfy the demands /
or usurious interest 'Hounding' Is a
echnical word used by loan sharks and |
hounders' are attached to the Offices OF
most loaning companies.
How Loans Are Made.
"A man. let US suppose, borrovs SIS. He
nay need the money for medicine or for
tome other honest purpose. Or he may
" out Of work. II he has no work, he
lives a mortgage on his household fur
liture. II he has employment. he gives
lis notes and an order on his employer