The Washington times., 1920-06-13

Lending and Usury.
Hot Gold In HE Throat.
10 Usury Returning2
Warning to Business.
By Arthur BRISBANE.
tCopsrtsht. 1901

sTs exchange anything viii any
one and gain By the exchange 10
not To do . charity, but 70 steal
Every Ssurer is . thief worthy Of
the gibbet l call those usurers
who lend money at : or 8 per cent
Martin Luther.
That statement by Luther. who
}threw his ink-stsnd at the Devil,
may starue the conservative money
{lending brotherhood.
But what Luther says Is the
\teachings of the Bible, and was for
centuries the teaching OF many re-
gions, including the Moham-
nedan, Catholic and Protestant.
This Is q good time TO talk about
psury and money lending In gen
hral.
Onco the business of the world
was strangled. limited to few
hands, because all lending OF
money at interest was forbidden.
1t made the rich sQuander reck-
lessly that which they could not
/. lend out profitsbly. Made II i'm
possible for the poor to obtain
financial help In their troubles.
and drove them deeper into misery.
A great curse resting upon hu-
manity for centuries was the idea
that to lend at interest was a sin.
Now the world Is drifting to the
other extreme. and unless action Is
taken the usurer. who was once
burned alive, or dragged from his
grave and thrown out on the high
way may become the most respect
able figure in our highly respect
able civilization.
The other day the Government
of the United States borrowed
money for its temporary needs at
s per cent. This never happened
before and II Is a crime against
the Government credit, q bad ex-
ample to lenders in general, an
evil sign for money borrowers.
And money borrowers" means all
business men, who build for the
future and thus construct future
prosperity. The lenders will say,
why, the q. 8. A. pays 6 per cent.
For you 10 per cent is reason
able"
You have now in the United
States foreign countries coming to
borrow at usurers' rates of interest.
The government Of Belgium bor-
rows at 7 per cent. 1t sells its
securities to the public below par
(heaven only knows what the
banker-middlemen get in the way
of a rake Off, thus for the first
year Belgian government bonds
pay more than 10 per cent. 1t is
difficult for the ordinary business
man to borrow at 6 per cent, or 2
under those conditions.
That is not all. In addition to
paying more than 10 per cent for
your money the first year, and Z
per cent afterward, the Belgian
loan is . plain lottery scheme.
Every year it has regular draw
ings" amounting to two millions.
And the two millions of securities
thus drawn are redeemed with
rs per cont bonus.
4 Thus money borrowed in this
80, ,0O0, 900 Belgian loan, now all
described, in spite Of risk to the
incipal, pays at least 10 per
ht the first year. If you happen
be included in the drawing"
q get your money back with Is
cent more, making 25 per cent
year. Is it right, safe or just
the business men in America
lat foreign nations should come
hto this country, offer usurious
Interest rates and float lottery
oans, with the inevitable tendency
10 ruin the money market for
business men here, putting usuyy
on q basis of complete respectd-
6lity.
) The prosecuting attorneys Of
the United States should inquire
into this Belgian loan with its
lottery feature and prosecute it
like any other lottery. The Post
master General of the United
States should forbid the selling of
lottery securities, their advertis-
ing, the distribution of their divi-
dends on their lottery drawings"
!, through the mails. If this Gov
ernment intends to allow anybody
to 10 into the lottery business in
the United States, why not Ameri-
cans 70 into it? Don't stamp out
the Louisiana lottery which is a
home industry, and permit the
BELGIAN or Chinese lottery.
The future will tell US what
troubles are to come from usury
made too respectable, but We do
not need to wait for the future to
state this most positively.
Make it legal and possible for
money to earn z, 8, 10 per cent or
more in the way Of interest, and
/you will kill of new enterprise.
Capitalists should build up the
United States, its factories, find
employment for new labor, not
lend their money TO European
governments at 10 per cent or
more q year to save the trouble OF
thinking and careful home in
vestin0.