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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Usury, by Calvin Elliott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Usury
+       A Scriptural, Ethical and Economic View
+
+Author: Calvin Elliott
+
+Release Date: May 27, 2007 [EBook #21623]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USURY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Irma Spehar, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file made using scans of public domain works at the
+University of Georgia.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved.                                           |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this  |
+    | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this     |
+    | document.                                                 |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+USURY
+
+A Scriptural, Ethical and
+Economic View
+
+BY
+
+CALVIN ELLIOTT
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+THE ANTI-USURY LEAGUE
+MILLERSBURG, OHIO
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHTED 1902
+BY
+CALVIN ELLIOTT.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                            Page.
+Chapter I--Definition                                           7
+
+Chapter II--The Law by Moses                                   11
+
+Chapter III--Usury and "The Stranger"                          18
+
+Chapter IV--David and Solomon                                  26
+
+Chapter V--Denunciation of Jeremiah and Ezekiel                30
+
+Chapter VI--Financial Reform by Nehemiah                       36
+
+Chapter VII--Teachings of the Master                           42
+
+Chapter VIII--Parables of the Talents and the Pounds           52
+
+Chapter IX--Practice of the disciples                          58
+
+Chapter X--Church history                                      69
+
+Chapter XI--Calvin's letter on usury                           73
+
+Chapter XII--Permanency of the prohibition                     79
+
+Chapter XIII--Our changed conditions                           81
+
+Chapter XIV--The American Revision                             87
+
+Chapter XV--Duty learned from two sources                      93
+
+Chapter XVI--Rights of man over things                         97
+
+Chapter XVII--Equal rights of men                             102
+
+Chapter XVIII--A false basal principle                        108
+
+Chapter XIX--The true ethical principle                       115
+
+Chapter XX--Wealth is barren                                  121
+
+Chapter XXI--Wealth decays                                    132
+
+Chapter XXII--The debt habit                                  138
+
+Chapter XXIII--The borrower is servant to the lender          144
+
+Chapter XXIV--Usury enslaves the borrower                     146
+
+Chapter XXV--Usury oppresses the poor                         154
+
+Chapter XXVI--Usury oppresses the poor--continued             160
+
+Chapter XXVII--Usury oppresses the poor--continued            168
+
+Chapter XXVIII--Usury oppresses the poor--concluded           174
+
+Chapter XXIX--Usury centralizes wealth                        180
+
+Chapter XXX--Mammon dominates the nations                     189
+
+Chapter XXXI--Effect on character                             206
+
+Chapter XXXII--Ax at the root of the tree                     219
+
+Chapter XXXIII--Per contra; Christian Apologists              233
+
+Chapter XXXIV--Per contra; Land Rentals                       243
+
+Chapter XXXV--Per contra; Political Economists                253
+
+Chapter XXXVI--Usury in History                               258
+
+Chapter XXXVII--Francis Bacon                                 266
+
+Chapter XXXVIII--Why this truth was neglected                 272
+
+Chapter XXXIX--Crushed truth will rise again                  281
+
+Index                                                         293
+
+
+
+
+TO MY READERS.
+
+
+I beg the sincere and thoughtful consideration of this book by all its
+readers. Please follow the argument in the order in which it is
+presented. This is the way it developed in my own mind and led me,
+step by step, irresistibly to its conclusions. Do not read the closing
+chapters first, but begin with the "_Definition_." I believe every
+candid reader doing this, and having a logical mind, will fully and
+heartily concur in the condemnation of usury.
+
+I hope these arguments will be fairly treated and justly weighed even
+by those whose interests seem in conflict. I have simply sought the
+truth, believing that "the truth shall make you free." It cannot be
+that this or any truth is in real conflict with the highest welfare of
+any man.
+
+If any sincere friends of this truth are grieved that the argument is
+so crudely and roughly stated, I can only say in excuse, that, so far
+as I know or can learn from the great librarians I have consulted,
+this is the first attempt ever made to fully present the anti-usury
+argument, and I sincerely hope that others, profiting by my effort,
+may be able to make it more effective.
+
+                                                      THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+DEFINITION.
+
+
+In the evolution of the English language, since the making of our King
+James version of the Bible, many new words have been introduced, and
+many old ones have changed their meanings.
+
+In the nearly three hundred years the Saxon word "let," to hinder, has
+become obsolete. It was in common use and well understood when the
+version was made, but is now misleading. Thus we have in Isaiah 43:13:
+"I will work and who will let (hinder) it?" Paul declared that he
+purposed to go to Rome, "but was let (hindered) hitherto." Rom. 1:13.
+Again we have in II Thess. 2:7: "Only he who now letteth (hindereth)
+will let (hinder), until he be taken out of the way."
+
+"Wot," to know, has become obsolete. Gen. 21:26: "I wot (know) not who
+hath done this thing." Ex. 32:1: "As for this Moses, we wot (know) not
+what hath become of him." Acts 3:17: "I wot (know) that through
+ignorance ye did it."
+
+"Prevent," from its derivation and use, meant, "to go before;" now it
+means to hinder. Ps. 59:10: "The God of my mercies shall prevent (go
+before) me." Ps. 92:2: "Let us prevent (go before) his face with
+thanksgiving." I Thess. 4:15: "We who are alive shall not prevent (go
+before) them who are asleep."
+
+Charity, which now means liberality to the poor, and a disposition to
+judge others kindly and favorably, was at that time a synonym of love,
+and used interchangeably with love in the translations of the Greek.
+This is especially noted in the panegyric of love, in the thirteenth
+chapter of First Corinthians, and faithfully corrected in the Revised
+Version, though some have felt that the beauty and especially the
+euphony of the familiar passage has been marred. But the word charity
+is no longer equivalent to love, in our language, and could not be
+retained without perverting the sense.
+
+Usury, when the version was made, meant any premium for a loan of
+money, or increase taken for a loan of any kind of property.
+
+Theological Dictionary: "Usury, the gain taken for a loan of money or
+wares." "The gain of anything above the principal, or that which was
+lent, exacted only in consideration of the loan, whether it be in
+money, corn, wares or the like."
+
+Bible Encyclopedia: "Usury, a premium received for a sum of money over
+and above the principal."
+
+Schaff-Herzog: "Usury, originally, any increase on any loan."
+
+This was the usage of the word usury by the great masters of the
+English language, like Shakespeare and Bacon, in their day, and is
+still given as the first definition by the lexicographers of the
+present.
+
+Webster, 1890 edition: "Usury, 1. A premium or increase paid or
+stipulated to be paid for a loan, as for money; interest. 2. The
+practice of taking interest. 3. Law. Interest in excess of a legal
+rate charged to a borrower for the use of money."
+
+Interest is comparatively a new word in the language meaning also a
+premium for a loan of money. It first appeared in the fourteenth
+century, as a substitute for usury, in the first law ever enacted by a
+Christian nation that permitted the taking of a premium for any loan.
+The word usury was very odious to the Christian mind and conscience.
+
+Interest was at the first a legal term, used in law only, and it has
+always been applied to that premium or measure of increase that is
+permitted or made legal by civil law.
+
+In modern usage usury is limited in its meaning to that measure of
+increase prohibited by the civil law. Thus the two words interest and
+usury now express what was formerly expressed by the one word usury
+alone. Interest covers that measure of increase that is authorized in
+different countries, while usury, with all the odium that has been
+attached to it for ages, is limited to that measure of increase that
+for public welfare is forbidden by the laws of a state.
+
+The distinction is wholly civic and legal. That may be usury in one
+state which is only interest in another. The legal rates greatly vary
+and are changed from time to time in the states themselves. If a
+state should forbid the taking of any increase on loans, then all
+increase would be usury, and there could be no interest; or if a state
+should repeal all laws limiting the exactions of increase, then there
+would be no usury in that state. Usury is increase forbidden by civil
+law. Separated from the enacted statutes of a state the distinction
+disappears. There is no moral nor is there an economic difference.
+
+Blackstone says: "When money is lent on a contract to receive not only
+the principal sum again, but also an increase by way of compensation
+for the use, the increase is called interest by those who think it
+lawful, and usury by those who do not."
+
+The moral nature of an act does not depend on the enacted statutes of
+human legislators, and the laws of economics are eternal. We must not
+permit our views of divine and economic truth to be perverted by this
+modern division of increase into legal and illegal. In order that the
+whole truth may be now expressed in our language we must combine with
+the old word usury the new word interest; then only will we have the
+full force of the revealed truth. "Wherefore then gavest not thou my
+money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own
+with usury or interest?" It is rendered interest in the Revised
+Version.
+
+Throughout this discussion usury is used in its full old classical
+meaning for any increase of a loan, great or small, whether authorized
+or forbidden by the civil state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE LAW BY MOSES.
+
+
+God determined to deliver his enslaved people from the bondage in
+Egypt, and to lead them out to the land he had promised to their
+fathers. They had been strangers in Egypt; now they should have a land
+of their own. To them liberty was but a tradition; they should now be
+freemen. They had been a tribe; they should now be a nation.
+
+God raised up Moses to be his special servant and the mouthpiece to
+declare his will. He ordered his marvelous deliverance from the river,
+and his training in court as a freeman. He then gave him direction to
+lead his people out of their slavery, and also divine authority to
+announce to his people the code of laws by which they were to be
+governed in their free state. Some of these laws were ceremonial, to
+conserve their religion, that they might not forget their God. Some
+were civil and politic, to promote the moral, intellectual and
+material welfare. All were in accord with the moral and religious
+nature of man, and with sound economic principles. All were suited to
+promote their highest good, and to secure them forever in their
+freedom and national independence.
+
+The great basal principles of law are found in concrete form.
+
+Human life is sacred as we find from the explicit laws for its
+protection. The owner of an ox was made responsible for the life taken
+by "an ox that was known to push with its horns."
+
+A battlement or balustrade was required on the houses, very like our
+laws requiring fire escapes. The principle is the same.
+
+The laws forbidding marriage within certain degrees of kinship have
+been copied into the laws of every civilized people. The laws for the
+preservation of social purity have never been surpassed.
+
+The rights of property were sacred. Each had a right to his own. Theft
+was severely punished. "If a thief be found breaking up, and be
+smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him."
+
+Each must assist in the protection of the property of others; even the
+enemy's property must be protected. "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or
+his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again."
+
+The laws for the relief of the poor were kinder and more encouraging
+to self-help and self-reliance than our modern poorhouses. Deut.
+15:7-11: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren
+within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth
+thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
+poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt
+surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
+Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The
+seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil
+against thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught, and he cry unto
+the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give
+him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him:
+because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all
+thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor
+shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying,
+Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to
+thy needy, in thy land."
+
+These divinely given laws never wrought injustice. They protected
+life, purity and property, and required mutual helpfulness. They were
+given by the divine mind, in infinite love, to promote the highest
+good of this chosen people.
+
+These laws of God, given by Moses, positively forbade usury or
+interest, and this prohibition was so repeated that there was no
+mistaking the meaning. Ex. 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my
+people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer,
+neither shalt thou lay upon him usury."
+
+This law is more fully presented in Lev. 25:35, 36, 37: "And if thy
+brother be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then thou
+shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that
+he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase; but
+fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give
+him thy money upon usury, or lend him thy victuals for increase."
+
+Prof. George Bush makes the following note upon this passage: "The
+original term '_Neshek_' comes from the verb '_Nashak_' (to bite),
+mostly applied to the bite of a serpent; and probably signifies biting
+usury, so called perhaps because it resembled the bite of a serpent;
+for as this is often so small as to be scarcely perceptible at first,
+yet the venom soon spreads and diffuses itself till it reaches the
+vitals, so the increase of usury, which at first is not perceived, at
+length grows so much as to devour a man's substance."
+
+An effort is sometimes made to limit the application of these laws by
+placing special emphasis on the poverty of the borrowers and to
+confine the prohibition of usury to loans to the poor to meet the
+necessaries of life; and it is claimed that the laws are not intended
+to prohibit usury on a loan which the borrower secures as capital for
+a business.
+
+In reply it can be said:
+
+1. There may be more benevolence in a loan to enable a brother to go
+into business than in a loan to supply his present needs. It may be
+less benevolent and less kind to lend a dollar to buy flour for
+present use than to lend a dollar to buy a hoe with which to go into
+business and earn the flour. The highest philanthropy supplies the
+means and opportunities for self-help.
+
+2. A desire for capital to promote a business to gain more than is
+necessary to nourish the physical and mental manhood is not justified
+nor encouraged anywhere in the Word. There is just a sufficiency of
+food necessary to the highest physical condition. There is just a
+sufficiency of material wealth necessary to the development of the
+noblest manhood. More decreases physical and mental vigor and degrades
+the whole man. To seek more is of the nature of that "covetousness
+which is idolatry." Prov. 23:4: "Labor not to be rich." Prov. 28:20:
+"He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."
+
+Riches are a gift of God and a reward of righteousness.
+
+Prov. 22:4: "The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are
+riches and honor and life." Psalm 112:1, 3: "Blessed is the man that
+feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. * * *
+Wealth and riches shall be in his house."
+
+"In the fourth petition of the Lord's prayer (which is: Give us this
+day our daily bread) we pray, That of God's free gift, we may receive
+a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy his
+blessing with them."
+
+3. If the prohibition is applicable only when the borrower is poor it
+would be difficult to properly apply it by drawing the line between
+the rich and the poor. Many who are rich feel that they are poor and
+there are many high spirited poor who will not admit their poverty.
+Many rich live in conditions that some poor would call poverty. The
+line must be vague and indefinite and always offensive. If any one
+should endeavor to clearly mark and emphasize such a division in any
+modern community he would receive the contempt of all right thinking
+people.
+
+4. The laws of the Hebrews did not discriminate classes except in
+their ceremonial and forms of worship. There was but one law and that
+applicable to all alike. Even the stranger was included in the
+uniformity of the law. Num. 15:15, 16: "One ordinance shall be both
+for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth
+with you, * * * one law and one manner shall be for you and for the
+stranger that sojourneth with you."
+
+5. In the Hebrew community the man of independent resources did not
+compromise his freedom by becoming indebted to another. Debt was a
+sure indication of some embarrassment or strait. The mention of the
+poverty of the possible debtor is not to limit the application of the
+law but describes the borrower. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to the
+poor unfortunate fellow who is compelled to ask a loan.
+
+6. The laws of the Hebrew state were for the promotion of equity
+between man and man and also for the protection of the weak and the
+helpless. With these objects all good governments must be in harmony.
+They can only be secured by general laws. It would be very imperfect
+protection to the helpless poor if it was permitted to charge usury to
+the covetous, greedy fellow who having much, yet desired to gain more
+and was bidding urgently for the very loan the unfortunate brother
+needed. Also even equity between the borrower and the lender would
+work a hardness in the conditions of the poor man. Full protection
+requires a law of general application.
+
+7. Independence, self-reliance, self-support, was the condition aimed
+at and encouraged in the Hebrew state. Borrowing was only in time of
+sore need. The man who went a-borrowing was second only to the man who
+went a-begging. The brother who, through misfortune became dependent,
+was able the sooner to repay his loan and return to independence and
+to self support.
+
+8. In the repetition of the law in Deut. 23:19, 20, there is no
+reference to the poverty of the borrower and it cannot by fair
+interpretation be limited to the poor. "Thou shalt not lend upon usury
+to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything
+that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury;
+but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy
+God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to do in the
+land whither thou goest to possess it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+USURY AND "THE STRANGER."
+
+
+Deut. 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury
+of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon
+usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy
+brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy God may
+bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither
+thou goest to possess it."
+
+While there is no reference to poverty in this passage and the
+prohibition cannot fairly be limited to loans to the poor, a shadow of
+permission to exact usury is found in the clause: "unto a stranger
+thou mayest lend upon usury."
+
+Hebrews, who have been anxious to obey the letter of the Mosaic law,
+while indifferent to its true spirit, have construed this into a
+permission to exact usury of all Gentiles. Christian apologists for
+usury, who have not utterly discarded all laws given by Moses as
+effete and no longer binding, have tried hard to show that this clause
+authorizes the general taking of interest. To do this it is wrested
+from its natural connection, and the true historic reference is
+ignored.
+
+Three classes of persons, that were called strangers, may be noted for
+the purpose of presenting the true import of this passage.
+
+1. Those were called strangers who were not of Hebrew blood, but were
+proselytes to the Hebrew faith and had cast their lot with them. They
+were mostly poor, for not belonging to any of the families of Jacob,
+they had no landed inheritance. The gleanings of the field and the
+stray sheaf were left for the fatherless, the poor, and these
+proselyted strangers. But they were to be received in love, and
+treated in all respects as those born of their own blood. Ex. 12:48,
+49: "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the
+passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcized, and then let
+him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the
+land: for no uncircumcized person shall eat thereof. One law shall be
+to him that is home born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among
+you."
+
+Lev. 24:22: "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the
+stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God."
+
+Num. 9:14: "And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep
+the passover unto the Lord; according to the ordinance of the
+passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye
+shall have one ordinance both for the stranger, and for him that was
+born in the land."
+
+Num. 15:15, 16: "One ordinance shall be both for you of the
+congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an
+ordinance forever in your congregations: as ye are, so shall the
+stranger be before the Lord. One law and one manner shall be for you,
+and for the stranger that sojourneth with you."
+
+Of these strangers it is explicitly said they are to be treated
+precisely as brethren of their own blood.
+
+Lev. 25:35, 36: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay
+with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a
+_stranger_, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no
+usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live
+with thee."
+
+2. There was also another class of strangers, including all the
+nations that were not of Hebrew blood, by which they were surrounded.
+These traded with them and often sojourned for a more or less extended
+period among them for merely secular purposes, but never accepted
+their faith. For this reason they were often called sojourners. With
+us, in law, the former strangers would be known as "naturalized
+citizens," these as "denizens," residents in a foreign land for
+secular purposes. These denizens were to be dealt with justly, to be
+treated kindly and even with affection, remembering their long sojourn
+as strangers in Egypt. Ex. 22:21: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger,
+nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
+
+Ex. 23:9: "Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the
+heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
+
+They were "denizens," but not citizens of Egypt four hundred years.
+
+Lev. 19:33, 34: "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye
+shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be
+unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself;
+for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
+
+This class of denizens or sojourners was also to be treated with the
+same kindness as their own blood.
+
+Lev. 25:35, 36: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay
+with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger,
+or a _sojourner_; that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of
+him, or increase: but fear thy God: that thy brother may live with
+thee."
+
+The sojourner or denizen is here distinguished from the stranger who
+had been naturalized, adopting their faith.
+
+3. There was another class called strangers. This class was limited to
+the inhabitants of their promised land.
+
+Robinson's Bible Encyclopedia says, on this clause: "'Unto a stranger
+thou mayest lend upon usury.' In this place God seems to tolerate
+usury toward strangers: that is the Canaanites and other people
+devoted to subjection, but not toward such strangers against whom the
+Hebrews had no quarrel. To exact usury is here, according to Ambrose,
+an act of hostility. It was a kind of waging war with the Canaanites
+and ruining them by means of usury."
+
+God withheld his chosen people from taking possession of the promised
+land until "their iniquity was full" and the divine sentence of
+condemnation had been pronounced against them. They were to be rooted
+out of the land and utterly destroyed for their sins, and their land
+given to the chosen people. God declared that he would execute his
+sentence, driving them out before them, as his people should increase
+and be able to occupy the land. Ex. 23:23, 28-32: "For mine angel
+shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the
+Jebusite, and I will cut them off. And I will send hornets before
+thee, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanite, and the
+Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee
+in one year; lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field
+multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from
+before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. And I will
+set my bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines,
+and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants
+of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
+Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods."
+
+Ex. 34:10-12: "And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy
+people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth,
+nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see
+the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with
+thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive
+out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and
+the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself,
+lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither
+thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee."
+
+They were in no way to covenant with this people and interfere with
+the execution of divine judgment. They were commanded, willing or
+unwilling, to be in a measure the executioners of those under
+sentence. These people of Canaan were deprived of all rights by the
+divine sentence and the Israelites were not to grant any. To do so was
+direct disobedience, and yet most of the tribes failed to obey the
+command, permitting many of the inhabitants to remain.
+
+When the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and secured a pledge, the pledge
+of their lives was kept, but they were made slaves, doomed to drudgery
+forever, "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Josh. 9:23.
+
+This compromise was contrary to the divine command for their utter
+destruction. To condone the guilt of these people, or to interfere
+with their execution, was as flagrant a violation of law as that of a
+modern community that seeks to protect criminals, or that interferes
+with the execution of those convicted of capital crimes.
+
+This class of strangers had no rights that Hebrews were permitted to
+respect. They were not to be given any privileges. They were to be
+treated as Hindoo widows are treated, "accursed of the gods and hated
+of men." Debts were not to be forgiven them. The year of Jubilee did
+not affect them. They remained enslaved forever. The Sabbath's rest
+was only incidental, that there might be a complete cessation of all
+activities.
+
+In the fourth commandment Deut. 5:14, "thy stranger" is mentioned
+after the ox, ass, and cattle, and was given rest for the same reason
+the beasts are permitted to rest: "That thy man-servant and
+maid-servant may rest as well as thou." They had not the rights of a
+common servant or slave. The carcass of the animal that died of itself
+could be given them to eat, and they could be charged usury.
+
+Yet this clause has been seized upon by avaricious Jews as permission
+to exact usury of all the nations not of Hebrew blood, ignoring the
+fact that when given it was limited to those peoples under the curse
+of God for their iniquities. It can not justly be made to mean that
+the Hebrews have a right to treat other nations with less
+righteousness than they treat their own people.
+
+It is an unwarranted broadening to make it a permission to exact usury
+from all the human race except from Hebrews.
+
+It was chiefly the acting upon this false interpretation, classing
+all Gentiles with these strangers, accursed of God, that had no rights
+they were permitted to respect, that set every Gentile Christian's
+hand against the Jews for fifteen hundred years.
+
+Nothing more clearly marked the line between Christian and Hebrew
+during fifteen centuries than this one thing, that the Hebrews exacted
+usury or interest of the Gentiles while the Christians were unanimous
+in its denunciation, and forbade its practice.
+
+Gentile Christian apologists for the taking of usury or interest, to
+overcome the force of this prohibition, are compelled to grant that
+Christians may be less brotherly than Hebrews: that the borrowers
+whether Christian or not are "strangers" to those who make them loans
+upon increase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DAVID AND SOLOMON.
+
+
+Devout Hebrews during the period of the Judges obeyed the Mosaic
+prohibition of usury or interest. It was also recognized as binding
+and obeyed during the reigns of David and Solomon. This was a greatly
+prosperous period when commerce flourished and trade was extended to
+the ends of the earth.
+
+David was weak before certain temptations and his falls were grievous,
+but his repentance was deep and his returns to God were sincere. He
+never failed to regard God as supreme over him and the bestower of all
+his blessings. He is called the man after God's own heart, and it is
+also said that his heart was perfect before God. His spirit of devout
+worship has never been surpassed. His Psalms, in all the ages, have
+been accepted as expressing the true yearning after righteousness and
+a longing for closer communion with God.
+
+David, in the fifteenth Psalm, expresses the thought of the earnest
+and reverent worshippers of his time. This Psalm declares the
+necessity of moral purity in those who would be citizens of Zion and
+dwellers in the holy hill.
+
+"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy
+hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
+speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
+tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
+against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he
+honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and
+changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh
+reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be
+moved."
+
+The description, "He that putteth not out his money to usury," is
+direct and unqualified. There could be no mistaking its meaning. Those
+who were guilty could not claim to be citizens of Zion. There is no
+qualifying clause behind which the usurer could take refuge and escape
+condemnation.
+
+This Psalm, prepared by the king, was chanted in the great
+congregation, and was a prick to the consciences of the sinners and a
+public reproof of all the sins mentioned. He that putteth out his
+money to increase received thus a public reproof in the great
+worshipping assembly.
+
+Solomon, endowed with unequaled wisdom and able so clearly to discern
+the right, places among his proverbs a direct denunciation of this
+sin.
+
+Prov. 28:8: "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his
+substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor."
+
+In this proverb the gain of usury is classed with unjust gain that
+shall not bless the gatherer. This is in entire harmony with other
+proverbs in which those who practice injustice and oppression are
+declared to be wanting in true wisdom and receive no benefit
+themselves.
+
+"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but
+transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."
+
+"As righteousness tendeth to life; so he that pursueth evil pursueth
+it to his own death."
+
+"Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall
+fall himself into his own pit; but the upright shall have good things
+in possession."
+
+"Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted
+in the gate: for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul
+of those that spoiled them."
+
+Usury and unjust gain are joined by Solomon as sins of the same
+nature. It is also implied that they are necessarily connected with
+want of sympathy and helpfulness toward the poor. They are presented
+as an oppression that shall not bless the oppressor.
+
+This proverb does not confine the evil to the borrower like the
+proverb, "The borrower is servant to the lender." The wrong is not
+confined to those of the poor to whom loans may be made. The
+oppression of usury is upon all the poor though they are not
+borrowers. They are the ultimate sufferers though the loan may be
+made by one rich man to another to enable him to engage in some
+business for profit. Usury is so bound up with injustice that its
+practice cannot fail to result in increasing the hard conditions of
+all the poor.
+
+Solomon's reign was brilliant, and the ships of his commerce entered
+every port in the known world, yet usury was not necessary and was not
+practiced in that prosperous age.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DENUNCIATION OF JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL.
+
+
+The Hebrew nation reached its summit of power and glory during the
+reign of King Solomon, but corruption crept in and disintegration
+followed, and a series of conflicts between portions of the kingdom.
+The laws given by Moses were neglected, and a long period of gross
+sinning followed. They were warned by the faithful yet hopeful prophet
+Isaiah that the overthrow of their nation was certain, and that their
+people would be carried captive to a strange land unless they forsook
+utterly their sins and turned to righteousness. They did not heed and
+the predicted calamities came upon them.
+
+In the midst of these calamities the contemporary prophets Jeremiah
+and Ezekiel ministered. They differed greatly in their dispositions.
+
+Jeremiah was a complainer. Always bemoaning his own and his people's
+hard lot. The Lamentations are recognized as the best extant
+expression of unmitigated grief. He lamented his birth because he was
+treated as a usurer and oppressor, when he had never exacted usury,
+nor had business with usurers. Jer. 15:10: "Woe, is me, my brother,
+that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the
+whole earth. I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on
+usury; yet every one of them doth curse me."
+
+Ezekiel was always patient, faithfully proclaiming his messages, and
+suffering in silence. The completeness of his self-control and patient
+suffering is shown in the short but pathetic description of the death
+of his beloved wife, yet at the divine command he repressed his grief
+and delivered his message the following morning. Ezekiel 24:15-18:
+"Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I
+take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet
+neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
+Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thy
+head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover up thy
+lips, and eat not the bread of men. So I spake of people in the
+morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was
+commanded."
+
+These prophets were familiar with the same scenes. They met the same
+sins. Some have thought they exchanged messages, sending them
+respectively to Jerusalem and Chaldea for encouragement and
+confirmation. This was the opinion of Jerome.
+
+In a catalogue of the sins prevailing in Jerusalem, for which the
+judgment of God came upon them, this prophet places "Usury and
+increase." Ezekiel 22: 7-12: "In thee have they set light by father
+and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with
+the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
+Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. In
+thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon
+the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. In thee have
+they discovered their father's nakedness: in thee have they humbled
+her that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed
+abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled
+his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his
+father's daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou
+hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy
+neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God."
+
+It would not be easy to give a list of more gross and flagrant sins
+than those associated with usury in this passage. They are all, always
+and everywhere, sinful. In no condition can they be lawful and right.
+
+One of the answers familiar to both Jeremiah and Ezekiel when the
+people were reproved for their sins and exhorted to forsake them, that
+the divine judgments might be removed, was this, that their sufferings
+were not on their own account, but for the sins of their fathers. They
+thus met the charge of personal sins and claimed their sufferings were
+inherited and unavoidable. Their fathers had indulged in sin and they
+must reap the consequences. They complained that this was hardness in
+God. They expressed this murmur by a proverb. Jer. 31:29: "The
+fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on
+edge."
+
+The answer of the prophet Jeremiah briefly is, that every one shall
+answer for his own sin. Jer. 31:30: "But every one shall die for his
+own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be
+set on edge."
+
+This same proverb was repeatedly given to Ezekiel, as an excuse for
+continuing in sins, even when the judgments of God were upon them. The
+word of the Lord came more fully and explicitly to him.
+
+Ezekiel declares that the sins of the fathers were visited on the
+children only when they continued in their father's iniquity. That
+those who forsook the sins of their fathers and were righteous, were
+free from the punishment of the unrighteous parents.
+
+Ezekiel 18:1-17: "The word of God came unto me again, saying, What
+mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel,
+saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
+are set on edge.
+
+As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion to use this
+proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the
+father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it
+shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and
+right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up
+his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his
+neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
+(_i.e._ neither hath committed a rape,) and hath not oppressed any,
+but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by
+violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the
+naked with a garment. He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither
+hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity,
+hath executed true judgment between man and man. Hath walked in my
+statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he
+shall surely live, saith the Lord God."
+
+"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
+doeth the like to any one of these things; and that doeth not any of
+those duties but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his
+neighbor's wife, hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by
+violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted his eyes to
+the idols, hath committed abomination, hath given forth upon usury,
+and hath taken increase: Shall he then live? He shall not live: he
+hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall
+be upon him. Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's
+sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like:
+that hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his
+eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his
+neighbor's wife, neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the
+pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to
+the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, that hath taken
+off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury or increase,
+hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not
+die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live."
+
+It will be noticed that usury or increase is here mentioned among the
+grossest and foulest sins of which that people were guilty. They are
+placed by the prophet in the worst possible company. He classifies
+them among those things that can never be right. There is no
+qualification of "increase" great or small, nor of "usury" whether the
+loan be domestic or commercial, whether for personal need, or to go
+into business, whether the borrower be poor or rich.
+
+Usury is mentioned as "_malum per se_." "Usury and increase" are
+treated as sinful in themselves, just as fraud, violence, impurity,
+and idolatry are sinful, and can never be innocent unless their very
+natures are reversed. When there is fraud without dishonesty, and
+violence without injury, and adultery without impurity, and idolatry
+without false worship, then may there be "usury and increase" without
+injustice and oppression. "Some sins in themselves and by reason of
+several aggravations are more heinous in the sight of God than
+others," the prophet Ezekiel places "usury or increase" in the list of
+"abominations."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FINANCIAL REFORM BY NEHEMIAH.[1]
+
+
+After seventy years of captivity of the Hebrews in Chaldea an edict
+was issued by Cyrus the king permitting their return to Judea. The
+most earnest and devout had been restless and homesick in the strange
+land. The restoration was led by Zerubbabel who accompanied by about
+five thousand of the most devout men from the various families, made
+their way over the long return to their former home. This was only
+about one-sixth of the captive population. Many preferred to remain in
+the land they had now adopted, and where some had been prospered, and
+some were perhaps less fervent in their religious zeal. This fraction
+of the people, however, determined to re-erect their temple and to
+cultivate the fields again that were given to their fathers and to
+rebuild the nation, the tradition of whose glory never failed to stir
+their hearts.
+
+Eighty years later another company under the priest and scholar, Ezra,
+authorized by Artaxerxes, joined the first colony that had returned to
+re-occupy their own land.
+
+A few years later another company was led by the patriot, Nehemiah.
+Nehemiah was in an honorable and lucrative position in the first court
+upon earth, yet he grieved over the misfortunes of his own people,
+and especially over the reported distress of the returned exiles. He
+sought leave of absence and a commission to return and co-work with
+his brethren for their complete re-establishment at Jerusalem.
+
+The leave of absence was cheerfully granted and a broad commission
+given to take with him any who wished to return. The revenues of the
+king were placed at his disposal and the governors of the provinces
+were ordered to assist and further his work. A large company of the
+earnest and devout returned with him, confident of his protection and
+in sympathy with his mission. He deliberately reviewed the work to be
+done, made careful plans and was greatly successful.
+
+The people were obedient. They cheerfully endured the privations and
+dangers in their devotion to their country, and in the hope of
+retrieving the fortunes of their depressed people.
+
+Enemies appeared, who threatened to estop their work, but some worked
+while others watched, with arms in hand, ready to defend. Some wrought
+with one hand and held a weapon for ready defence in the other.
+Nehemiah and his aides, and many of the people, did not take off their
+clothes, but were on duty constantly--so devoted were they to the
+cause in which they were engaged, regaining their homes and
+re-establishing the worship of their fathers and rebuilding the
+nation.
+
+But there was a strange interruption in this patriotic work. A sordid
+covetousness possessed their nobles and rulers. While the people were
+absorbed in their patriotic service, these persons were planning
+successfully to despoil them.
+
+A cry of distress came to the ears of Nehemiah. The people found, now
+that they had made the sacrifice and suffered deprivations and
+cheerfully given their labors for the common good, they were deprived
+of their blessings and enslaved.
+
+This enslavement was not to foreign rulers, but to those of their own
+blood. A division had grown up among their own kindred. Some had grown
+rich and become their masters. Others were in hopeless poverty. The
+distinctions came gradually or grew up among them, possibly
+unobserved: the rich becoming richer and the poor poorer, until the
+nobles held their lands and were selling their sons and daughters as
+chattels.
+
+This condition was hopeless, after all their struggles for nearly a
+hundred years to re-establish their institutions. Neither they nor
+their children could, under those conditions, enjoy the fruit of all
+their efforts. This was no fault of theirs. There had been times of
+dearth and harvest failure, when some with large families were in
+need. The king's tribute, too, was heavy upon them and some were not
+able to pay and they were compelled to borrow, but had to give
+mortgages upon their land as security. Now lands, homes and all, had
+passed to the creditors and they were despondent and helpless.
+
+This cry caused Nehemiah great distress, but Nehemiah was not like
+Ezra, a devout and learned priest, but without executive power, who in
+a like position gave way to unmitigated grief. Nehemiah was equally
+patriotic and conscientious, but he was also a strong leader and an
+independent commander. He did not call together the nobles and rulers
+charged with oppression and ask them what he should do. He had none of
+their counsel. He took counsel with himself, his own conscience, his
+own judgment, and worked out an independent, individual policy which
+he should pursue.
+
+His sympathy was with the suffering people, and he determined to
+espouse their cause and to correct their wrongs. He then called the
+nobles and rulers and charged them to their face with oppression. He
+laid "the ax at the root of the tree" and charged the fault to their
+covetousness, to the exacting of usury or interest. It was this, he
+declared, that had brought them to wealth, but driven others to
+poverty. He demanded reparation. When they were slow to yield, he
+called a convocation of the people and aroused them to a due sense of
+the wrong they had been enduring, and laid bare the sins of the rulers
+and nobles. He showed the oppression by comparing their sordid and
+greedy conduct with the unselfish, self-sacrifice of himself and
+others for the common good. While he and the patriotic people were
+busy with hand and brain in rebuilding the nation and fighting the
+enemies, these usurers were busy getting in their work of ruin,
+gathering the property into their own hands and enslaving the
+patriots.
+
+The usurers were not able to withstand this onslaught of the chief
+commander and the aroused people, and they made no reply. Their
+conduct had so evidently been contrary both to the letter and spirit
+of their own law, they were compelled to yield and to say meekly, "We
+will do as you have said."
+
+Then he stated the terms and conditions of the reform he would
+institute.
+
+1. They must return the pledges they had taken for debts, without
+reserve. The people must not be deprived of their land, tools, or
+instruments of production. The foreclosure of mortgages must be set
+aside and the people again given possession of their lands.
+
+2. Interest must be returned or credited upon the debts. If the
+interest equaled the debt, then the debt was fully discharged. If more
+than the principal had been paid, then it must be returned in money or
+in the product of lands taken in foreclosure, the wine or oil or
+fruits and grains must be returned. Thus only could the wrongs be
+corrected and righteous adjustment be made.
+
+There then followed a general restoration of pledges and a cancelling
+of debts that had been paid once in interest, and a repaying of any
+surplus.
+
+3. They must take a solemn vow that this sin shall henceforth be
+unknown among them. The law against usury or interest must henceforth
+be carefully obeyed. These distinctions that had grown up among them
+must disappear forever, and the cause of the poverty of the many and
+the wealth of the few must be shunned.
+
+To these conditions the usurers assented, made ashamed by the conduct
+of the noble patriot in contrast with their own selfishness, though
+they had not yielded until awed and compelled by the indignation of
+the people, which Nehemiah had enkindled against them.
+
+This positive enforcement of the law against the taking of increase on
+any loan, makes unmistakably clear the interpretation of the law by
+the devout, earnest, sincere, God-fearing Hebrews, down to the close
+of the Old Testament Canon.
+
+[1] References: Ezra, Nehemiah, Bible Dictionaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER.
+
+
+Psalmist and prophets had sung of the exalted character of the coming
+Messiah. "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured
+into thy lips." "And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
+The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
+
+At his coming he lifted to a higher plane, by his precepts and
+example, the ideal of a true, noble and worthy human life. By his
+teachings and by his life of utter unselfishness he revealed clearly
+the exalted character and conduct that conformed to the Divine will.
+
+1. Our Lord's character forbids that we should think of him for a
+moment as devoted to the gathering of worldly wealth. He came to
+minister unto, not to serve himself. Self-seeking was foreign to his
+nature. A great truth was spoken by the scoffers. "He saved others,
+himself he cannot save."
+
+He who strives to follow in his footsteps cannot serve himself.
+
+The whole drift of a great unselfish Christ-like soul must be for
+others. The whole current of his thought and effort during his life
+must be, to be helpful to others. Studying and striving to help
+others, he cannot seek wealth. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
+
+It is out of harmony with the whole life and all the teachings of the
+Master that he should encourage or permit a means of increasing wealth
+forbidden by the laws given by Moses and classed among the vilest of
+sins by the prophets.
+
+2. Again: He did not undo the teachings of the prophets, but enlarged
+their scope. He showed by word and example how the true spirit of the
+teachings of the old dispensation led to self-sacrifice for the
+welfare of others. Matt. 5:17: "Think not that I am come to destroy
+the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill."
+
+Fulfill, here, is more than to obey. It is in antithesis with destroy,
+and means to perfect and complete.
+
+The old ceremonial forms of religious worship, pointed to the advent
+of one who should be a perfect sacrifice for sin, typified by the
+daily sacrifice of bulls and rams. The sacrifice typified, was
+completed in Him.
+
+The moral enactments were not set aside, but they were given a
+completed meaning; that is they were made to reach beyond the external
+to the hidden desires and affections of the heart. He taught that mere
+external compliance was not sufficient in the All Seeing Eye. The
+affections and desires of the soul must be in agreement.
+
+Thus we have the explanation of the law of chastity, completed,
+requiring purity of the soul. So murder is not merely the external
+act, but the law for murder, completed, forbids enmity or hatred
+hidden in the heart.
+
+The requirements for mutual helpfulness were also perfected or
+completed.
+
+The old law required the helping of a brother in need.
+
+Deut. 15:7, 8: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy
+brethren within any of thy gates in the land which the Lord thy God
+giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine hand from
+thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and
+shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he
+wanteth."
+
+This was completed so as to extend the help to all sufferers, though
+not kindred nor friendly, and though they may not be able nor willing
+to repay. Luke 6:35: "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend,
+hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall
+be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful,
+and to the evil."
+
+The old law permitted the lender to take a pledge to secure the return
+of "as much again," that is, the loan without interest. The Master
+enjoins being helpful though the principal should never be repaid. To
+take a pledge or mortgage and add the interest would greatly harden
+the conditions for the borrower. It would be a step backward and not
+forward in the way of helpfulness to others.
+
+Again, the year of Jubilee was a kind of legal time limit to debts.
+All obligations were then cancelled. No debt could be collected. The
+selfish Hebrew feared to make a loan shortly before Jubilee lest it
+should not be repaid promptly and his claim would become worthless.
+Deut. 15:9: "Beware that there be no thought in thy wicked heart,
+saying, The seventh year, the year of release is at hand; and thine
+eye be evil toward thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught; and
+he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee." In his
+heart the old Hebrew might have a desire to press his claim but the
+law protected the debtor. This law for the release of the debtor from
+the payment of principal without interest is completed so as to
+require sincere and hearty forgiveness.
+
+Our Lord taught his disciples to ask for forgiveness of God only as
+they forgave their debtors, Matt. 6:12: "And forgive us our debts, as
+we forgive our debtors." The commercial terms here used show this to
+be the completion of the law as touching the creditor and his released
+debtor.
+
+3. Again, he broke down the artificial barriers, the distinction of
+Hebrew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, bond and free.
+
+The love and sympathy and helpfulness among men was no longer to be
+limited to such narrow bounds, but must be wide as the race. "Who is
+my neighbor?" is so answered that every man must be neighbor to every
+other man, and the object of his care and help. All are of one blood,
+and all God's children. He gave one law for all classes and conditions
+in all times. He so expounded the old commandments and so condensed
+them, that they became the one law of love. Whosoever is governed by
+supreme love to God, and loves his neighbor as himself, has fulfilled
+the law. He would thus bind all men together, and all to the throne of
+God, by the one bond of love.
+
+But he further intensified the obligations of love, by his own special
+command. John 15:12: "This is my commandment, that ye love one
+another, as I have loved you." And he adds it to the decalogue, John
+13:34: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as
+I have loved you that ye also love one another." This new command
+requires that men shall love their brethren above themselves and be
+ready to sacrifice for their welfare. As he gave his life, so also he
+commanded that men should sacrifice for their fellows.
+
+Those who hear his voice and have the spirit of obedience go to the
+ends of the earth, and make any sacrifice that may be required for the
+uplifting of fallen men.
+
+The law forbidding the Hebrews exacting usury of their brethren, of
+the stranger who had accepted their faith and kept the passover, of
+the stranger, sojourner who dwelt among them, of everybody except the
+Canaanite who was under the condemnation of God, could not have been
+annulled or suspended by the divine Master who thus draws together and
+embraces as one family the whole race. The ties of Christian
+brotherhood are not less strong than the ties of Hebrew blood. The
+converts from heathen to Christian faith are not less dear to the
+missionary than the proselytes to the Hebrew faith were to the
+Pharisees. The foreigner who comes into a Christian community must not
+be treated with less justice and kindness than the wandering Arab who
+strolled into Jerusalem for a trade. It cannot be that the relation
+between Christians is like that between the Hebrew and the criminal
+Canaanites who were convicted of capital crimes and under sentence of
+death. As usury was repugnant to that spirit of justice and brotherly
+love that obtained in the Hebrew State, much more is it repugnant to
+that closer brotherhood into which we are drawn by the divine Lord.
+
+4. Again, He was a friend of the poor and lowly. This was foretold by
+the song of the virgin, when assured that she should be the mother of
+the Savior. Luke 51:52, 53: "He hath put down the mighty from their
+seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
+good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away."
+
+The prophets foretold that He should be the friend of the poor. He
+pointed John to the fulfilment of these prophecies in proof of his
+Messiahship.
+
+In his first address in the explanation of the new dispensation he
+began by saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The literal
+rendering would be, "Blessed are the poor, to the Spirit." This is the
+dative singular with the definite article. He is speaking of external
+conditions as contrasted with spiritual blessings, and those
+conditions thought wretched in the world were especially favorable for
+the development of grace. The poor, humble, mourning, suffering, and
+persecuted were especially blessed in his kingdom.
+
+The word rendered poor does not mean pauper. There is a great
+difference. The poor may be industrious, self-reliant and
+self-supporting. There is no hint of dependence.
+
+In Luke he says, "Blessed are ye poor." When at the rich man's table,
+he told his host that he would be more blessed if he should make the
+next feast to the poor and defective, that could make him no return.
+
+He was uncompromising in his denunciation of the rich. Luke 6:24: "But
+woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation." He
+showed the danger of riches in the parable of the sower. Matt. 13:22:
+"He also that received seed among thorns is he that heareth the word;
+and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the
+word, and it becometh unfruitful."
+
+Where grace is to be cultivated and flourish, the "greed of gain" must
+not enter. The young man who came to him, whom he loved for his sweet
+disposition and excellent character, he turned away by the answer that
+his wealth was incompatible with his salvation. He must part from his
+riches. When the disciples were surprised, he made it more emphatic,
+Matt. 19:24: "And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go
+through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
+of God." And when they felt that this made salvation impossible, he
+declared it could only be possible by the exercise of omnipotent,
+divine grace.
+
+Zaccheus, the one rich man whose conversion is recorded, surrendered
+his ill-gotten gain fourfold and gave away half of the remainder
+before salvation came to his house. The temptation to trust and lean
+upon riches is irresistible.
+
+Our Lord did not make wealth more dangerous than under the Mosaic
+dispensation by removing the restraint that was there put upon it. As
+a friend to the poor he did not give wealth an advantage it did not
+have before.
+
+5. The whole drift of his teachings limited and restrained
+accumulation of wealth. The parable of the rich fool is a forcible
+presentation of its human folly on the earthly side.
+
+"Whose shall these things be?"
+
+"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
+doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up
+for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
+corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: For where
+your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
+
+The result is irresistible; when engaged in storing earthly treasure,
+the heart will be earthly; or if laying up treasures in heaven, the
+heart will reach heavenward. He who labors for a heavenly reward, will
+be heavenly minded.
+
+Treasures are stored for eternity, when used for the bringing out of
+that which shall survive the grave; for the bringing out the highest
+divine type of manhood and womanhood, in ourselves, in our children,
+and in all the children of men.
+
+Treasures expended in the development of immortals shall be found when
+the earthly and temporal scenes have passed away. That which is
+expended in the uplifting of the race shall be our eternal reward.
+
+Giving, giving, not hoarding is commended. Productive industry he
+enforced by his example, the carpenter that wrought for his daily
+bread. He chose workmen to be his followers. He taught economy in the
+command to take up the fragments of the food miraculously created
+"that nothing be lost," yet unreserved giving was the lesson he
+inculcated and illustrated in his life. To follow his example, we must
+produce and produce much, yet what we gain is to be expended, so as
+to promote the highest welfare of all mankind. We must not store the
+fruits of our labor, but expend, not as a spendthrift who wastes, but
+judiciously and wisely for God and man. Our giving is only limited by
+the ability and facility to produce. Our Lord did not greatly add to
+the temptation to hoard by delivering the earthly treasures from the
+decay by "moth and rust" and instead permitting their increase. Our
+hoarding of earthly treasures must be limited, because of our
+disposition to trust in them. We must always be so dependent that we
+shall pray truly with the spirit of dependence, "Give us this day our
+daily bread." "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food
+convenient for me."
+
+Thrift does not require that we shall hoard an amount that will
+support us through life, much less that we shall lay up a fortune,
+that shall free our children from the necessity of productive labor.
+The spirit of the Master's teachings is, that each age shall produce
+and spend its product for its own advancement, then each succeeding
+age shall be better fitted to produce and care for itself and so
+advance the coming generations. "Go work today in my vineyard." Now is
+the time to give and do for the generation yet unborn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+PARABLES OF THE TALENTS AND THE POUNDS.
+
+
+Our Lord mentions usury by name only in the parables of the talents
+and pounds. Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27. Usury is mentioned in these
+passages incidentally to meet the excuses of worthless servants, but
+in both as the unjust and oppressive act of a hard and dishonest man.
+These references to usury are in entire harmony with the expressions
+of David and Solomon, and of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
+
+These servants in the parables were slaves, who owed their service to
+their master and for whom he was responsible.
+
+The lesson in both parables is the necessity of faithfulness. The
+faithful servants are rewarded and the unfaithful punished in both.
+Yet there is a special lesson in each.
+
+The parable of the talents shows that an equal reward shall be given
+all who are equally faithful, though the means and opportunities
+afforded one may far exceed those granted another. One was given five
+talents and another but two; one gained five and the other two, yet
+both equally faithful, are directed to enter into the joy of their
+lord.
+
+The unfaithful servant brings his talent with an excuse, which is a
+charge against the character of his master, "I knew thee that thou
+art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where
+thou hast not strewed," "so there thou hast which is thine."
+
+The master in reply showed the inconsistency of the excuse by assuming
+that he bore the hard character charged upon him by his slave, "Thou
+wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
+not, and gather where I have not strewed: Thou oughtest therefore to
+have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should
+have received mine own with usury." It is "interest" in the Revised
+Version.
+
+This interview may be paraphrased as follows:
+
+The unfaithful servant said: "I know the kind of a man you are. You
+are dishonest. You take what does not belong to you. You reap what
+other people sow, and you take up what others earn. I was afraid of
+you: Here is all that you gave me and all that belongs to you."
+
+The master said: "You are merely excusing yourself. You are a lazy
+faithless slave. If I am the hard man you say I am, taking what does
+not belong to me and gathering the sowings and earnings of others, you
+could have met that condition without trouble to yourself, by giving
+my money to the usurers and then at my coming I could have received my
+unjust gain. Your excuse is inconsistent, you condemn yourself. You
+are an indolent and worthless slave. Begone to your punishment."
+
+It is clearly implied that unearned increase, reaping and gathering
+without sowing, could be gained through the exchangers. If this was
+what was demanded, the servant could have secured this with no effort
+on his part. His charge against the master was a mere pretence to
+excuse his own want of personal faithfulness, and the master's reply
+was fitted to this pretense.
+
+This is in entire harmony with the opinion our Lord expressed of the
+exchangers when he called them thieves and drove them out of the
+temple. It would be wholly inconsistent for him to advise an honest
+and faithful servant to place any portion of the property in their
+hands. His advice can only come from the standpoint of a dishonest
+master such as his servant called him.
+
+The parable of the pounds shows the degrees of faithfulness in those
+who have equal opportunities. With the same opportunities one may far
+surpass another, because more faithful to his trust, his reward is
+proportionately greater.
+
+In this parable each servant received the same, but the gains and
+rewards differ. By diligence one gained ten pounds and is commended
+and given authority over ten cities. Another gained five pounds. He is
+also commended and given authority over five cities.
+
+Another, who had given no service, came with his pound but without
+increase. This was a proof of his unfaithfulness. He endeavors to
+shield himself like the servant with the talent, by charging injustice
+and oppression on his master. "I feared thee because thou art an
+austere man: thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest
+that thou didst not sow."
+
+His master turned on him because his own reason was inconsistent with
+his conduct and a mere shield for his indolence and worthlessness.
+"Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou
+knowest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and
+reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore gavest thou not my money into
+the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with
+usury."
+
+This interview may also be paraphrased.
+
+The unfaithful slave came and said: "Lord I have carefully kept all
+that thou gavest me. I knew that thou wast an exacting master, taking
+what did not belong to you and gathering what others sow."
+
+The master says: "Now stop right there and I will judge you by your
+own excuse out of your own mouth. You say you knew me to be exacting
+and dishonest, taking more than belonged to me. Now, knowing this, why
+did you not serve me by giving my money to the bank, and then at my
+coming you could have brought me my money with my unjust gain and that
+would have pleased a hard man like me, without effort on your part.
+You are only giving this as an excuse for your own unfaithfulness. You
+are a wicked slave."
+
+The master admits that he would be a hard man, if he reaped what
+another sowed, or took up what belonged to another, but assuming that
+this was his character, even this could have been met without trouble
+to the slave through the bank. This is a clear recognition of usury as
+unjust gain.
+
+Exchangers were little more than the pawn-brokers of today and a bank
+was a pawn-shop where pledges were stored. The money loaned upon any
+pawn was much less than its full value. The increase of the loan soon
+made it more than the value of the pledge which was then forfeited,
+and the pawn was sold by the broker.
+
+These parables are here dwelt upon, for they are so frequently
+misunderstood and misapplied. In a large volume on "Banking," the
+writer found the words of the master quoted, "Wherefore then gavest
+not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have
+required my own with usury." And they were quoted as a solemn
+direction of the divine Master to deposit money in the bank.
+
+To quote from these parables in the defense of usury is as flagrant a
+perversion of the truth as the famous quotation to prove that Paul
+encouraged theft. "Let him that stole, steal."
+
+The lessons of these parables are in entire harmony with the law of
+Moses and the teachings of the prophets and Nehemiah. In these
+parables the usurer is presented as a hard man, exacting that which he
+has not earned and to which he has no right.
+
+The teachings of the Master did not permit what had been forbidden in
+all the ages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+PRACTICE OF THE DISCIPLES.
+
+
+The conditions in the very early church were not such as to make
+prominent the sin of usury. Many of the disciples were very poor and
+from the humblest walks of life. I Cor. 1:27-28: "But God hath chosen
+the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
+chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
+mighty; and the base things of the world, and things which are
+despised, hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring
+to nought things that are."
+
+The practice of the disciples was, however, in entire harmony with the
+teachings of Moses and the Master, and in accord with the prohibition
+of usury. Later, in the time of the apostolic fathers when the church
+came face to face with this sin, there was but one voice and that in
+the denunciation, for the fathers were unanimous in its condemnation.
+
+(1) The first disciples did not loan, but gave to their needy
+brethren. The early converts held their property so subject to a
+general call that some have thought they had a community of goods.
+
+Acts 2:44, 45: "And all that believed were together, and had all
+things common; * * * and sold their possessions and goods, and parted
+them to all men, as every man had need."
+
+It is evident they did not assist their brethren with "loans," but
+with gifts; much less did they take the opportunity to secure increase
+on loans.
+
+The suffering poor were their especial care. They gave of their
+poverty for the relief of the suffering. Many called by the Spirit
+were in want, and many came to want through the severe persecutions to
+which they were subjected. This was especially true of the converts in
+Jerusalem. For these large collections were received from the churches
+in Macedonia and in Corinth.
+
+They were commanded to care for the needy of their own house. I Tim.
+5:8: "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of
+his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an
+infidel." Paul, in giving directions to Timothy, as to the care of
+their poor, requires aid to be given to "widows indeed," those who
+have no children; but those who have children or nephews are to look
+to them and be supported by them, and if any person refuses to care
+for his widowed mother or grandmother or dependent aunt, "he hath
+denied the faith and is worse than an infidel."
+
+(2) They were diligent in business. They provided things honest in the
+sight of all men.
+
+Paul set the example during his itinerate ministry by working at his
+trade to secure his support and his dictum has been accepted as both
+divine and human wisdom ever since. "If any will not work neither
+shall he eat."
+
+Diligence was enjoined for self-support, and that others might be
+helped. Eph. 4:28: "Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let
+him labor, working with his hands, the things which is good, that he
+may have to give to him that needeth." The effort was first by labor
+to be independent and then also to come to the relief of the feeble,
+the sick, the poor, and the needy. That a man could honestly secure a
+livelihood without productive labor was foreign to their way of
+thinking. If any did not work he did not deserve a living, nor was he
+an honest man. No one was at liberty to be idle. Productive effort
+must not be relaxed. There was no retiring for the enjoyment of a
+competency.
+
+There was no thought of such a provision to free them from the effort
+for the daily bread. The surplus product was given for the aid of
+others, to those who had claims of kinship first, then to all who had
+need.
+
+The instant a man failed to produce he began to consume. There is no
+hint anywhere that it entered any of their minds that they could stop
+production and live in ease from the increase of what they had
+produced and the supply grow no less; that the meal and oil should not
+fail, but be handed down unimpaired to their children.
+
+(3) Covetousness was hated and denounced and classed with the most
+flagrant violations of the moral law.
+
+Covetousness is an inordinate regard for wealth of any kind. This may
+be shown in the greed of seeking it, without proper regard for the
+rights of others; or in parsimony or stinginess in holding it, when
+there are rightful claims upon it.
+
+James 5:1-6: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries
+that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
+are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them
+shall be witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were
+fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.
+
+"Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
+which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
+which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
+
+"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have
+nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and
+killed the just, and he doth not resist you."
+
+Covetousness may also be shown in undue respect for wealth when in the
+hands of others. This is reproved in James 2:1-7. "My brethren, have
+not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
+respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a
+gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile
+raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing,
+and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor
+man, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then
+partial in yourselves, and become the judges of evil thoughts?
+Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this
+world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised
+them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men
+oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they
+blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?"
+
+Covetousness was a secret sin often indulged when the outward forms of
+righteousness were observed. Usurers were the open representatives of
+flagrant covetousness in all the ages. Usury was not named among them
+as becometh saints.
+
+(4) The early disciples kept out of debt. The early Christians were
+not borrowers. In both dispensations borrowing was only resorted to in
+hard necessity. The borrower was second to the beggar. The borrowing
+was but for a short time, and the loan was returned as soon as
+absolute wants were supplied.
+
+The doctrine and practice of the early church was to owe no man
+anything. Rom. 13:8: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:
+for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
+
+Indebtedness was to be avoided as compromising the faith in the eyes
+of others and detrimental to the development of grace in the
+disciples.
+
+This was the direct command of Paul. This commandment required the
+payment of all honest obligations. The Christian then as now who
+failed to acknowledge his obligations and meet them in full as he was
+able was wanting in the spirit of righteousness and unfaithful to his
+own convictions of right and duty.
+
+The payment of a debt was the return in full of the loan received.
+
+Any Christian conscience at that time would have been satisfied with
+the settlement approved and commanded by Nehemiah. The debt was fully
+discharged when payments equaled the loan by whatever name those
+payments were called.
+
+This text also required that they keep out of debt. By no distortion
+of the text can it be made to mean less. Chalmers on this passage
+comments as follows: "But though to press the duty of our text in the
+extreme and rigorous sense of it--yet I would fain aspire towards the
+full and practical establishment of it, so that the habit might become
+at length universal, not only paying all debts, but even by making
+conscience never to contract, and therefore never to owe any. For
+although this might never be reached, it is well it should be looked
+at, nay moved forward to, as a sort of optimism, every approximation
+to which were a distinct step in advance, both for the moral and
+economic good of society. For, first, in the world of trade, one can
+not be insensible to the dire mischief that ensues from the spirit
+often so rampant, of an excessive and unwarrantable speculation--so as
+to make it the most desirable of all consummations that the system of
+credit should at length give way, and what has been termed the
+ready-money system, the system of immediate payments in every
+commercial transaction, should be substituted in its place. The
+adventurer who, in the walks of merchandise, trades beyond his means
+is often actuated by a passion as intense, and we fear too, as
+criminal, as is the gamester, who in the haunts of fashionable
+dissipation, stakes beyond his fortune. But it is not the injury
+alone, which the ambition that precipitates him into such deep and
+desperate hazards, brings upon his own character, neither is it the
+ruin that the splendid bankruptcy in which it terminates brings upon
+his own family.
+
+These are not the only evils which we deprecate--for over and above
+these there is a far heavier disaster, a consequence in the train of
+such proceedings, of greatly wider and more malignant operation still,
+on the habit and condition of the working classes, gathered in
+hundreds around the mushroom establishment, and then thrown adrift
+among the other wrecks of its overthrow, in utter helplessness and
+destitution on society. This frenzy of men hasting to be rich, like
+fever in the body natural, is a truly sore distemper in the body
+politic. No doubt they are also sufferers themselves, piercing their
+own hearts through with many sorrows; but it is the contemplation of
+this suffering in masses, which the sons and daughters of industry in
+humble life so often earn at their hands, that has ever led me to rank
+them among the chief pests and disturbers of a commonwealth."
+
+To this may be added an extract from "Short Instructions for Early
+Masses by the Paulist Fathers." "The fact of the matter is, dear
+brethren, that there is too much laxity of conscience among our people
+on this question of contracting debts, of borrowing money, of running
+up bills with little or no hope of ever paying them. We have all of us
+no doubt come across people who consider themselves quite religious
+who owe money to their neighbors for years, and never make an effort
+to pay what they owe or even to offer an excuse for their negligence
+in such important matters.
+
+There are some professional debtors who think the world owes them a
+living, and who spend a good part of their time figuring out how much
+they can get out of the land and from those who dwell thereon. To have
+to pay rent is their greatest grievance, and after being trusted for a
+few months, they find it much cheaper to move to other quarters than
+to pay what they owe.
+
+Then there are others who must dress extravagantly, no matter what it
+costs, and in consequence have nothing left to pay for the things
+they eat or drink. Do they on this account deny themselves any of the
+good things of this life? Not at all; on the contrary, every business
+man will tell you the same story--these people want the best and are
+the most exacting in their demands.
+
+Now, I repeat, there is too much laxity about contracting debts and
+too little conscience about the necessity of paying for what we use.
+St. Paul's warning should ring in the ears of every debtor: "Owe no
+man anything." It will not do for such people to come to confession
+and say they contracted debts and are not able to pay what they owe.
+Confession will not relieve them of their obligation, and they must
+begin at once and make an effort to lessen the debts they owe in the
+past and learn a lesson in economy and strive against contracting new
+burdens. This will help us to clear off the old ones.
+
+It is not edifying, nor is it conducive to good fellowship, nor does
+it help to make our religion better known and better loved, to find
+people, dressed in the finest, coming Sunday after Sunday to mass
+while they are heavily in debt to their grocer or butcher or landlord,
+who may be in the very same pew with them. This is certain, it
+convinces such men in business that the debtor's religion is not very
+sincere.
+
+In a word, brethren, it is far better to live in less pretentious
+dwellings, dress more soberly and eat more sparingly than to owe any
+man anything. Pay what thou owest, and then you may walk honestly
+among all men."
+
+Freedom from debt is necessary to the independence of the man who does
+right and answers only to God. Struggle as he may the man is not free
+who is under obligations to others. He is hindered in his conduct; he
+is not always conscious of it, but nevertheless there is a real
+binding or fettering of his actions. It influences his gifts, for what
+he holds is not his own and the owner may criticize his benevolence.
+
+An easy conscience and sound sleep is the portion of the man who is
+under no obligations to another. He looks the whole world in the face,
+who owes no man a cent.
+
+He is free from distracting business relations with his brethren and
+brotherly love may abound. The exhortation of Paul is in connection
+with brotherly love, and of all external relations, debt hinders the
+free flow of sympathy among brethren.
+
+The early disciples endeavored to avoid all debt. Much less did they
+pay a premium for the privilege. They only borrowed in hard necessity;
+but borrowing on usury to make a profit by it was as repellant to the
+Christian conscience then as complicity with theft or fraud. It marked
+a man as anxious to share in unrighteous gain. His own conscience
+placed him among those who are discontented with their lawful estate
+and guilty of that covetousness which is idolatry. I Tim. 6:6-11:
+"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
+into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And
+having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that
+will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
+and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For
+the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted
+after, they have erred in the faith, and pierced themselves through
+with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and
+follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
+meekness."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+CHURCH HISTORY.
+
+
+The Church, from the time of the apostles, was emphatic in its
+denunciation of usury.
+
+Schaff-Herzog says: "All the apostolic fathers condemned the taking of
+usury." The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge declares the same.
+
+Chrysostom said: "Nothing is baser in this world than usury, nothing
+more cruel."
+
+Basil describes a scene so real that we can scarcely realize that he
+wrote over fifteen hundred years ago. After stating the usurer's
+protestations of having no money, to the victim, who seeks a loan
+without interest, he says: "Then the suppliant mentions interest and
+utters the word security. All is changed. The frown is relaxed; with a
+genial smile he recounts old family connections. Now it is 'My friend,
+I will see if I have any money by me. Yes, there is that very sum
+which a man, I know, has left in my hands in deposit for profit. He
+named a very heavy interest. However, I will certainly take something
+off and give it to you on better terms.' With pretenses like this he
+fawns on the wretched victim and induces him to swallow the barb."
+
+Of the man who has borrowed on interest, he says: "At first he is
+bright and joyous and shines with another's splendor * * * now night
+brings no rest, no sun is bright. He hates the days that are hurrying
+on, for time as it runs adds the interest to its tale."
+
+The fathers unanimously condemned the taking of interest, Tertullian,
+Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome can be quoted against it. The
+popes followed the teachings of the fathers and forbade it under
+severe penalties. The priests guilty of this sin were degraded from
+their orders. The laymen found guilty were excommunicated. Interest
+paid could be reclaimed, not only from the usurer but from his heirs.
+A bargain, though confirmed by an oath never to claim back the
+interest paid, was declared not binding. This action of the popes was
+confirmed by councils.
+
+Charlemagne, in France, forbid the taking of usury either by priests
+or laity.
+
+A council at Westminster (1126) approved the degradation of all
+clergy, who were guilty of this practice.
+
+Archbishop Sands said: "This canker (usury) hath corrupted all
+England."
+
+A council in Vienna (1311) reaffirmed the denunciations of previous
+popes and councils, and then adds: "If any shall obstinately persist
+in the error of presuming to affirm that the taking of usury is not a
+sin, we decree that he shall be punished as a heretic."
+
+There is no record of the repeal of any of these edicts.
+
+The leaders of the Protestant reformation also denounced usury.
+
+Luther was violent in his opposition, using the strongest language he
+could command. "Whoever eats up, robs and steals the nourishment of
+another, commits as great a murder, as he who carves a man or utterly
+undoes him. Such does a usurer, and he sits the while on his stool,
+when he ought rather to be hanging from the gallows."
+
+Melancthon, Beza and others are accounted against usury.
+
+The decisions of Ecclesiastical Councils were numerous and emphatic
+until the seventeenth century. Since that time interest taking has
+become common, all but universal, but there is no record found
+anywhere of its direct approval by any ecclesiastical body. The Church
+has come to tolerate it but has never given it official approval.
+
+Usury has not been included in any creed or confession of faith, nor
+has it been directly approved by any council or general assembly.
+
+The truth has not been left in any age without its witness. There have
+always been those more or less prominent in the Church who contended
+that it was unjust and oppressive. Some of them have been of
+world-wide distinction. The writer has a letter written him by John
+Clark Ridpath, the historian, expressing his agreement with the views
+presented in these pages. Another of these is brilliant John Ruskin,
+recently deceased. Quotations from him will close this review.
+
+"I have not so perverted my soul nor palsied my brain as to expect to
+be advantaged by that adhesion (usury). I do not expect that because I
+have gathered much to find Nature or man gathering more for me; to
+find eighteen pence in my box in the morning instead of the shilling
+as a reward of my continence, or to make an income of my Koran by
+lending it to poor scholars. If I think he can read it and will
+carefully turn the leaves by the outside, he is welcome to read it for
+nothing."
+
+"Thus in all other possible or conceivable cases, the moment our
+capital is increased by having lent it, be it but the estimation of a
+hair, that hair-breadth of increase is usury, just as much as stealing
+a farthing is theft no less than stealing a million."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CALVIN'S LETTER ON USURY.
+
+
+A mere hint of encouragement to the usurer came from Calvin. In a
+letter, to a friend, he hesitatingly expressed opinions that have ever
+since been quoted in defense of the practice. He alone of all the
+reformers took a doubtful stand. He has often been referred to and
+given great credit for his opinion, even by those who utterly reject
+all the doctrines he most earnestly advocated. The fear that he
+expressed near the opening, that some word might be seized to take
+more license than he would allow had reason, for this letter has been
+the basis for all the apologies for usury that have ever been
+attempted. In these last days all who have tried to present fully the
+moral law as comprehended in the ten commandments have felt called
+upon to make some apology for the prevailing practice of usury in
+connection with the eighth command. They all refer to this letter.
+Sometimes there is a brief quotation, given in Latin and left
+untranslated, to convince the ignorant, for Calvin wrote in Latin.
+
+Letter of Calvin: _De Usuris Responsum_.
+
+"I have not yet essayed what could fitly be answered to the question
+put to me; but I have learned by the example of others with how great
+danger this matter is attended. For if all usury is condemned tighter
+fetters are imposed on the conscience than the Lord himself would
+wish. Or if you yield in the least, with that pretext, very many will
+at once seize upon unlicensed freedom, which can then be restrained by
+no moderation or restriction. Were I writing to you alone I would fear
+this the less; for I know your good sense and moderation, but as you
+ask counsel in the name of another, I fear, lest he may allow himself
+far more than I wish by seizing upon some word, yet confident that you
+will look closely into his character and from the matter that is here
+treated judge what is expedient, and to what extent, I shall open my
+thoughts to you.
+
+"And first, I am certain that by no testimony of Scripture is usury
+wholly condemned. For the sense of that saying of Christ, 'Lend,
+hoping for nothing again' (Luke 6:35), has up to this time been
+perverted; the same as another passage when speaking of splendid
+feasts and the desire of the rich to be received in turn, he commands
+them rather to summon to these feasts, the blind, the lame, and other
+needy men, who lie at the cross-roads and have not the power to make a
+like return. Christ wished to restrain men's abuse of lending,
+commands them to lend to those from whom there is no hope of receiving
+or regaining anything; and his words ought to be interpreted, that
+while he would command loans to the poor without expectation of
+repayment or the receipt of interest, he did not mean at the same
+time to forbid loans to the rich with interest, any more than the
+injunction to invite the poor to our feasts did not imply that the
+mutual invitation of friends to feasts is in consequence prohibited.
+Again the law of Moses was political and should not influence us
+beyond what justice and philanthropy will bear.
+
+"It could be wished that all usury and the name itself were first
+banished from the earth. But as this cannot be accomplished it should
+be seen what can be done for the public good. Certain passages of
+Scripture remain in the Prophets and Psalms in which the Holy Spirit
+inveighs against usury. Thus a city is described as wicked because
+usury is practiced in the forum and streets, but as the Hebrew word
+means frauds in general, this cannot be interpreted so strictly. But
+if we concede that the prophet there mentions usury by name, it is not
+a matter of wonder that among the great evils which existed, he should
+attack usury. For wherever gains are farmed out, there are generally
+added, as inseparable, cruelty, and numberless other frauds and
+deceits.
+
+"On the other hand it is said in praise of a pious and holy man 'that
+he putteth not out his money to usury.' Indeed it is very rare for a
+man to be honest and yet a usurer.
+
+"Ezekiel goes even further (Ezek. 22:12). Enumerating the crimes which
+inflamed the wrath of the Lord against the Jews, he uses two words,
+one of which means usury, and is derived from a root meaning to
+consume; the other word means increase or addition, doubtless because
+one devoted to his private gain takes or rather extorts it from the
+loss of his neighbor. It is clear that the prophets spake even more
+harshly of usury because it was forbidden by name among the Jews, and
+when therefore it was practiced against the express command of God, it
+merited even heavier censure.
+
+"But when it is said, that as the cause of our state is the same, the
+same prohibition of usury should be retained, I answer that there is
+some difference in what pertains to the civil state. Because the
+surroundings of the place in which the Lord placed the Jews, as well
+as other circumstances, tended to this, that it might be easy for them
+to deal among themselves without usury, while our state today is very
+different in many respects. Therefore usury is not wholly forbidden
+among us unless it be repugnant both to Justice and to Charity.
+
+"It is said, 'Money does not beget money.' What does the sea beget?
+What does a house from the letting of which I receive a rent? Is money
+born from roofs and walls? But on the other hand both the earth
+produces and something is brought from the sea which afterward
+produces money, and the convenience of a house can be bought and sold
+for money. If therefore more profit can be derived from trading
+through the employment of money than from the produce of a farm, the
+purpose of which is subsistence, should one who lets some barren farm
+to a farmer, receiving in return a price or part of the produce, be
+approved, and one who loans money to be used for profit be condemned?
+And when one buys a farm for money does not that farm produce other
+money yearly? And whence is derived the profit of the merchant? You
+will say from his diligence and his industry. Who doubts that idle
+money is wholly useless? Who asks a loan of me does not intend to keep
+what he receives idle by him. Therefore the profit does not arise from
+the money, but from the product that results from its use or
+employment. I therefore conclude that usury must be judged, not by a
+particular passage of Scripture, but simply by the rules of equity.
+This will be made clearer by an example. Let us imagine a rich man
+with large possessions in farms and rents, but with little money.
+Another man not so rich, nor with such large possessions as the first,
+but has more ready money. The latter being about to buy a farm with
+his own money, is asked by the wealthier for a loan. He who makes the
+loan may stipulate for a rent or interest for his money and further
+that the farm may be mortgaged to him until the principal is paid, but
+until it is paid, he will be content with the interest or usury on the
+loan. Why then shall this contract with a mortgage, but only for the
+profit of the money, be condemned, when a much harsher, it may be, of
+leasing or renting a farm at large annual rent, is approved?
+
+"And what else is it than to treat God like a child, when we judge of
+objects by mere words and not from their nature, as if virtue can be
+distinguished from vice by a form of words.
+
+"It is not my intention to fully examine the matter here. I wished
+only to show what you should consider more carefully. You should
+remember this, that the importance of the question lies not in the
+words but in the thing itself."
+
+Those acquainted with Calvin's "Institutes" will not fail to notice
+the timid manner in which he treats the subject, as if uncertain of
+his ground and endeavoring to excuse usury to please his friend. This
+letter is wanting in that positive air of assured certainty that
+breathes inspired authority and lends a charm to his "Institutes." He
+is nearest himself when he bursts out, "It could be wished that all
+usury and the name itself were banished from the earth."
+
+The letter is here given in full because often more force is carried
+by the reference to a great name than by the study of his argument. A
+careful reading of this letter does not reveal a positive approval of
+usury. He merely excuses it by suggesting other evils that he thinks
+worse; for instance, that land rentals may be worse than the usury of
+money. He does not mention the necessary oppression of the poor
+tenants by the loan upon a mortgage.
+
+It is proof of the weakness of the case when this letter is the most
+favorable that can be presented from any ecclesiastic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+PERMANENCY OF THE PROHIBITION.
+
+
+It is sometimes urged that the law of Moses with regard to usury was
+not intended to be permanent but was only a wise and beneficent
+regulation for that people in their peculiar condition; that as the
+ceremonial was done away by the incoming of the New Testament
+dispensation, so this prohibition was annulled and should be reckoned
+among the effete laws of the ancient Hebrews.
+
+In answer to this contention it may be replied:
+
+(1) This prohibition is not ceremonial. It has no connection with the
+rites and forms of their religion. It touches their character and
+conduct but has no place in their forms of worship.
+
+(2) Nothing can be presented from the Mosaic laws to prove that this
+prohibition was only of a temporary character. It is in entire harmony
+with the spirit of helpfulness and especially the protection of the
+weak, that is so characteristic of the Mosaic order.
+
+No induction from any of the Old Testament writers can be fairly made
+to limit its application. The prophets place usury in the catalogue of
+sins that are always and everywhere offensive to God. Nehemiah
+condemns it as destructive to personal and civic freedom.
+
+(3) There is no hint of its discontinuance in the new dispensation.
+The Master gave a spiritual completeness to this law as he did to all
+enactments requiring external moral character. He classed the usurers,
+in his parables, among the dishonest, who took up what they had not
+laid down.
+
+The disciples, in their poverty and persecutions, were not specially
+tempted by this sin, and it is not therefore prominent in their
+history. But there is nothing in their teachings or practice that is
+not in entire harmony with the binding continuance of the Mosaic
+prohibition, and their practice and teaching are just such as we
+should expect from Christian people in their condition and
+circumstances who recognized the prohibition as permanent.
+
+(4) The apostolic fathers, as the church grew and came into contact
+with the world and was beginning to share in the business of the
+world, to a man, regarded the prohibition as in full force and its
+observance as one of the marked characteristics of the Christian,
+distinguishing him from the worldling and the Jew. Conditions in the
+apostolic age did not make this prominent but when the conditions were
+changed and the church came in conflict with this sin, it is clearly
+seen that the law was in a continuous binding force through the whole
+period.
+
+The later fathers were of the opinion, unanimously, that it was in
+full force, not temporary or provincial, but binding for all time and
+upon all people. That it is suspended is a modern idea, a suggestion
+of the world to the church within the last few hundred years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OUR CHANGED CONDITIONS.
+
+
+The changed conditions of the race in these last years are urged as a
+sufficient reason for annulling this law. It is admitted that it was
+righteous and beneficent in ages long past but with the new light and
+new conditions of the present it is effete, inapplicable and unjust.
+They call attention to the vast extension of commerce, to the
+marvelously increased facilities for travel, transportation and
+intercommunication; to the innumerable and wonderful inventions that
+in their application have brightened our civilization. They exalt
+present conditions and they belittle the long past conditions and
+thought.
+
+The prohibition of usury belonged to the past, the practice of usury
+is all but universal in the present, therefore they argue that usury
+is a part and a necessary part of our civilization and to revive the
+old prohibition would turn the world's civilization backward and be as
+absurd as to now dispense with steam or electricity.
+
+In reply it may be said that the changes are not universal, that there
+are some things that abide, that the changes are trifling when
+compared with those things that remain and are permanent.
+
+1. Human nature remains the same. Man, in body and mind, in
+physiology and psychology, has not changed in these thousands of
+years. That which in ages past promoted the health and vigor of his
+body, will secure its best development now. That discipline, culture
+and mental exercise that secured the highest intellectual strength in
+ages past will do the most for its best development now. Many things
+that now give splendor to our civilization do not promote either the
+best physical or mental manhood.
+
+2. Family ties remain. The relation of husband and wife, of parents
+and children, and the duties of their several positions in the home
+have not changed. The family remains the social unit as it has been in
+all ages. Sociology, the science of social and political organization,
+is a permanent science. It does not change with the shifting temporal
+conditions of the people. Those things which made for the general
+welfare of ages ago are for the public weal now, and those things that
+endangered the state then are to be avoided now.
+
+3. The moral law remains unchanged and unchangeable, with all the
+brilliant present there is no amendment to the ten commandments. The
+ethical nature remains and the voice of conscience, approving the same
+right and condemning the same wrong, is identical with the voice of
+conscience in the time of Moses.
+
+4. The laws of nature have not changed. The relation between a cause
+and its sequence remains. Like causes produce like effects.
+
+No living thing has changed its nature. A lion now is of the same
+nature that it was in the time of Samson. So with every savage beast
+that roams the jungle. Even the domesticated animals, with all the
+effort and skill of intelligent man, have only been smoothed or
+speeded a little. The horse, cow, sheep, or dog have held their old
+forms and dispositions.
+
+Seed time and harvest come and go and we are dependent for the same
+shower and sunshine that gave Adam his first harvest.
+
+We know some things they did not know and we have bettered our tools,
+but the natural world has shown no signs of change.
+
+5. The relation of things to each other have not changed. Plants must
+have soil to grow in, animals must have vegetation to feed upon. Fish
+must have water. And so with the thousands of relations of climate,
+elements, soils, plants, animals, fishes, birds and insects, they are
+the identical relations sustained ages and ages ago.
+
+6. The nature of money has not changed. Its material and form and
+denominations have been modified but the functions of money as a
+storage of values and as a measure of values and as a medium of
+exchange remain the same. Our gold and silver and paper money may be
+more convenient and more exact, but its functions are just the same
+as the Indians' wampum.
+
+The law of supply and demand and the equity in commercial
+transactions, great or small, are unchanged. Money could always be
+used to make or gather more money in business. It is no more true now
+than in the times of David or Nehemiah. If this had not then been
+possible; if there had not been tempting opportunities, there would
+have been no sin of usury for them to reprove.
+
+Man's changed conditions are but trifling and incidental, relating to
+himself. They do not affect a single natural or moral or economic law.
+
+The changed conditions, which are urged as a reason that the
+prohibition of usury is no longer binding, are only the conditions
+brought about by the violation of that law.
+
+The prohibition of usury is systematically violated. The neighbor in
+the smallest transaction with his neighbor exacts usury, though it be
+but a few cents. The credit system has become universal. It is the
+rare exception now to "own what you have" and to "pay as you go."
+Interest bearing bonds are issued by the smallest manufacturing plant,
+by the great corporation and by the empire. These conditions do not
+prove usury right. They only show how far true business, commercial,
+and political principles have been perverted by this practice.
+
+If violating a law annuls it, then any law can be pushed aside. Let
+the claims of the Sabbath day be ignored. Let the houses of worship
+remain closed upon that day. Let work be planned for seven days of the
+week. Let the hum of the mills and the roar of commerce go on. Take no
+note of the Sabbath day, either in business or recreation or worship,
+and conditions will soon be upon us, such that we may urge as
+plausibly, that the Sabbath is effete, possible to our slow going
+fathers but inconsistent with the necessary rush of our day.
+
+If the systematic violation of a law annuls it then we can quiet the
+conscience and be dishonest while dealing with a Turk in
+Constantinople and we may lie while dickering with a Chinese merchant
+in Canton.
+
+If violating a law annuls it, even the seventh commandment, the
+violation of which is so offensive to decency and its observance so
+necessary to the purity of the home, may in this way be ruled out as a
+binding obligation. Let polygamy be the order, supported by the
+example of Jacob and David and Solomon, and the families be
+constituted along that line, then enforced monogamy would seem to be a
+sundering of tender ties and hardness toward the cast off Hagars that
+is inconsistent with the Christian spirit. An earnest, Godly man, a
+missionary friend of the writer, under whose ministry a heathen chief
+was converted, was misled by the plausibility. The chief had a number
+of wives; he had children by them; he was much attached to his wives
+and was fond of his children, and they all seemed to love him and
+clung to him. The missionary in the kindness of his heart did not
+interfere with the family, permitting the chief to keep his wives and
+placed his name on the church roll of the Mission. For this act he was
+reproved by the ecclesiastical authorities above him. Let polygamy
+become as universal as usury and even the seventh commandment in its
+strictness will seem impracticable and unkind if not positively cruel.
+
+It will not do to claim freedom from the prohibition of usury because
+we have organized commerce and the state and all society in violation
+of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+AMERICAN REVISION.
+
+
+The Revision by the American Committee is the latest effort of
+scholarship to bring King James' Version up to date by eliminating
+effete terms and using words in their modern sense.
+
+The references to usury are here collated so as to give a general view
+of the question from the translations of the passages in this the
+latest Revision. The reader will notice that the modern word
+"interest" is substituted for "usury" in nearly every passage.
+
+Exodus 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that
+is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay
+upon him interest."
+
+Leviticus 25:35-37: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his hand
+fail with thee, then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a
+sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him or
+increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou
+shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals
+for increase."
+
+Deuteronomy 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy
+brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything
+that is lent upon interest: unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon
+interest, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest,
+that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand
+unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it."
+
+Nehemiah 5:7-10: "Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the
+nobles and rulers and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his
+brother. And I held a great assembly against them. And I said unto
+them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews that
+were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and
+should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace and found
+never a word. Also I said, The thing ye do is not good: ought ye not
+to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the
+nations, our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do
+lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury."
+
+The interest exacted by the princes and nobles was no doubt so
+extortionate that it could be called usury in the modern legal sense.
+
+Psalm 15:
+
+    "Jehovah, Who shall sojourn in thy tabernacles?
+    Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
+    He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness,
+    And speaketh the truth in his heart;
+    He that slandereth not with his tongue,
+    Nor doeth evil to his friend,
+    Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor;
+    In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
+    But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah;
+    He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not;
+    He that putteth not out his money to interest,
+    Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
+    He that doeth these things shall never be moved."
+
+Proverbs 28:8: "He that augmenteth his substance by interest and
+increase, gathereth it for him that hath pity on the poor."
+
+Jeremiah 15:10: "I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet
+every one of them doth curse me."
+
+King James reads: "I have neither lent upon usury, nor have men lent
+to me upon usury." As Jeremiah was protesting his innocence of any
+wrongdoing the early translators inserted what was evidently implied
+while these latest revisors have omitted what was not in the original
+text.
+
+Ezekiel 18:1-18: "The word of Jehovah came again unto me saying, What
+mean ye that ye use this proverb, concerning the land of Israel,
+saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
+are set on edge? As I live saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall not have
+occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are
+mine, as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine:
+the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just and do that
+which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains,
+neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
+neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a
+woman in her impurity, and hath not wronged any, but hath restored to
+the debtor his pledge, hath taken naught by robbery, hath given his
+bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment: he
+hath not given forth upon interest, neither hath taken any increase,
+that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true justice
+between man and man, hath walked in my statutes and hath kept my
+ordinances, to deal truly: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the
+Lord Jehovah.
+
+"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
+doeth any one of these things, and that doeth not any of those duties,
+but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and denied his neighbor's
+wife, hath wronged the poor and needy, hath taken by robbery, hath not
+restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath
+committed abomination, hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken
+increase; shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all
+these abominations: he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
+
+"Now, lo, if he beget a son which seeth all his father's sins which he
+hath done, and feareth and doeth not such like; that hath not eaten
+upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of
+the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbor's wife, neither
+hath wronged any, hath not taken aught to pledge, neither hath taken
+by robbery, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered
+the naked with a garment; that hath not withdrawn his hand from the
+poor, that hath not received interest nor increase, hath executed my
+ordinances, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the
+iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As for his father,
+because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which
+is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity."
+
+Ezekiel 22:6-12: "Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according
+to his power have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they set
+light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by
+oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they wronged the
+fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things and hast
+profaned my sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood;
+and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee
+they have committed lewdness. In thee have they uncovered their
+fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in
+her impurity. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor's
+wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another
+in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have
+they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and
+increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression
+and hast forgotten me saith the Lord Jehovah."
+
+Matthew 25:26-27: "But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou
+wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
+not and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to
+have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have
+received back mine own with interest."
+
+Luke 19:22, 23: "He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I
+judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I am an austere man
+taking up that I laid not down and reaping that I did not sow; then
+wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank, and I at my coming
+should have required it with usury."
+
+Luke 16:13-15: "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will
+hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and
+despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees
+who were lovers of money heard all these things and they scoffed at
+him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the
+sight of men but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted
+among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
+
+It is not easy to understand how an honest, godly man, who has even
+medium intelligence, unclouded by prejudice, and who has confidence in
+the highest scholarship of the age, can deny that the revealed Word of
+God, in both Testaments, condemns usury or interest. It is just as
+difficult to explain how any one, not glaringly inconsistent, can
+claim that interest taking is not a sin, who bows to the divine
+authority of the revealed Word and who defines sin as "Any want of
+conformity unto or transgression of the law of God."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+DUTY LEARNED FROM TWO SOURCES.
+
+
+In this discussion we learn our duty from two sources. Two authorities
+are recognized. One is the revelation of God in his written Word. The
+other is the book of nature; this includes the ethical nature of man,
+his social relations, and the laws that govern material things.
+
+The author of the Bible is the God of nature. They are but two volumes
+from the same mind and hand. They must speak in harmony when both are
+understood. Truth found in the inspired Word cannot be contradicted in
+nature; and no facts in the works of God can be found in conflict with
+the Word He has spoken. A truth found in either is always consistent
+with the truths made plain in the other.
+
+Familiarity with one prepares us to better understand the other. The
+devout student of the Word has his mind aroused, and his
+susceptibility so quickened that he is able to read more clearly the
+lessons in the volumes of nature open before him. The student of
+nature, who has searched its mysteries and taken in its beauty and
+designs of infinite wisdom everywhere appearing, must be the more
+ready and competent to appreciate the revealed love and grace.
+
+The Bible is not a treatise on natural science, nor does natural
+science teach revealed religion, yet they do not conflict. The special
+student of either may have perfect confidence that whatever he has
+found true in his chosen field will be found consistent with truth in
+other fields of special study.
+
+Chemistry, biology and all studies of nature, are found only to give a
+higher conception of the God of all grace. The same wisdom and power
+shine out in His works that are revealed in His Word.
+
+Again, the laws of God, whether fixed in nature or revealed in His
+Word, are for the highest interest of the physical, mental and
+spiritual man. Every truth in the Word works for the welfare of man's
+body and soul. The laws of nature, physical and psychological, obeyed,
+promote man's bodily and mental vigor. Strict obedience to the laws of
+God, as revealed in both Word and nature, produces the completest
+physical and mental manhood.
+
+God had the highest welfare of every man at heart when He prepared the
+earth for his abode and gave him dominion over it. And He yearned for
+his deliverance from a fallen estate when He gave him a revelation of
+His infinite redeeming love. The eye of God is upon each individual of
+the race, as upon every sparrow. He has in thought, in word and in
+works, not the favoring of one of an hundred, while the ninety and
+nine are crushed or neglected, but the happiness and highest good of
+every one of the hundred.
+
+The ethics of the Bible and the ethics of nature, as wrought out by
+the earnest heathen philosophers, mainly agree. It is an astonishment
+to some that there is so much agreement in the systems of heathen
+morals and the revealed moral law. The moral law is written on men's
+hearts, and can be read there by the diligent and careful student; but
+the consciences of men, enlightened and quickened by the revealed
+Word, produce the highest ethical types the world knows.
+
+The Bible is not a work on political economy, yet there is nothing out
+of harmony with the most perfect political institutions. When we find
+political principles clearly revealed, we shall find the same truths
+when we study the most orderly relations of men in their social
+organization.
+
+The Bible is not a work on economics, yet it advances no economic
+principles that work a hardness or injustice to any. When we find
+economic principles clearly stated, we shall surely find the same
+truths confirmed in a careful study of the nature of things.
+
+As the written Word forbids usury or interest, it can be presumed that
+the nature of things and man's highest good also forbids it; that it
+is not an arbitrary prohibition, but is given in love because it is in
+its very nature a ruinous evil. As we find a positive prohibition of
+taking usury or interest in the old dispensation and the confirmation
+of it in the new, both by the words of the Master and the
+understanding and practice of the disciples and fathers, we may
+confidently expect that it will be confirmed by a correct and careful
+study of ethics and of the relation of man to things.
+
+We may learn duty from either or both sources. To some men the Bible
+comes with the greatest clearness and the utmost force of authority.
+Others find in nature their highest conception of the Infinite, and
+their best directions for a correct life. If usury or interest is
+found to be a sin from the Word, there is no need for those to enter
+into the economic proof who have no taste for this character of study
+or reasoning. If it is found to be "_malum per se_" from the nature of
+things, even those who reject the divine revelation must array
+themselves against it. If it is shown to be evil by both revelation
+and economic law, then all peoples, Christian and heathen, should
+combine against it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+RIGHTS OF MAN OVER THINGS.
+
+
+Man was the last and the crowning work of the Creator. God made man in
+his own image and gave him dominion over all creatures.
+
+"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast
+crowned him with glory and honor.
+
+"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou
+hast put all things under his feet:
+
+"All the sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
+
+"The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
+through the paths of the seas."
+
+This high position is in entire harmony with man's innate
+consciousness of his superior powers, and of his nobler spiritual
+nature, and of his rightful dominion over all the other material
+creations. Man is a person, a thinking intelligent being, and is
+conscious of his personality, and from his lofty height he calls all
+else the lower and the inferior creatures. Wherever man is found over
+the whole earth, of whatever faith or grade of civilization, he claims
+this universal dominion.
+
+Man was commanded to subdue the earth and bring it into subjection as
+his servant and he is conscious of his right to use all things to
+promote his comfort, convenience and welfare. Anything he can make of
+service to himself he has a right to appropriate.
+
+A tree is a thing which he may prepare for his own purposes, for fuel,
+for tools, or for a dwelling, as he pleases.
+
+Isaiah ridiculed the idolater in his time, who made an idol of wood
+and worshiped it, while with another part of the same tree he built a
+fire and warmed himself. A part he served and a part served him. The
+whole tree was subject to him; in itself it had no rights.
+
+Rights belong to persons, and not to things, and personality cannot be
+transferred to a thing. If there is no personal owner the question of
+rights is never raised. The tree, or any thing whatever, has no rights
+in the matter. Rights belong to the owner, the person, not to the
+thing he owns.
+
+The game in the mountain forests and the fish in the rivers are things
+with no owner and whosoever will may take and use them.
+
+Land is a thing, and any person may make it into a farm or garden and
+build upon it his home. The land has no rights and makes no protest.
+The whole earth is subject to man and is to be subdued by him. If no
+owner appears his rights are not disputed. Our fathers found an
+unowned continent, with all its rich resources of soil and forests and
+mines. It was to them free, and with the labor of a few generations
+they transformed it into farms and plantations and built it over with
+magnificent cities.
+
+Even that which formerly was the property of another has no rights.
+The deserted hunter's hut in the mountains can be appropriated. The
+abandoned farm does not resist a new tenant. A derelict vessel, still
+afloat but driven before the winds, whose officers, crew and owners
+are at the bottom of the sea, can be appropriated, for there is no one
+to dispute the claim.
+
+Even force or labor in the abstract is but a thing and has no rights.
+The wind is unowned and any one who will may harness it to do his
+work. The electric forces of nature are unowned, whoever will may
+gather and direct them to do his purpose. The waterfall may be made to
+do man's work and will not resist. The animals have no rights against
+man. The broncho, horse, ox, mule, or animal of any kind, may be
+turned to man's service. All the forces of nature were made for man.
+They have no rights to be regarded, when his interests can be served.
+
+It is man's high privilege to stand above all things, to call them to
+his feet and to compel their service. It is the reversion of the order
+for him to take the subordinate place and serve the inferior creation.
+Things subdued, such as wealth secured, is to minister to his highest
+good and to promote his noblest manhood. The order is reversed when
+this wealth commands his service and sacrifice. The miser both
+reverses the divine order and violates common sense by giving the love
+and service of his shriveling soul to a thing.
+
+The usurer and the borrower on usury, both, reverse the true order by
+assuming that a thing can claim man's service. Both grant that a thing
+has rights to be respected. The usurer takes the service as due to the
+thing he owns. It is his property that is exalted, and for which he
+claims the service must be rendered, and if the borrower will think
+closely, he will find that in paying usury he is serving a thing.
+
+A man reverses the divine order and degrades himself, and becomes a
+gross idolater, when he serves things unowned instead of commanding
+their service, "stocks and stones." He reverses the true order when he
+becomes a miser and serves that which is his own, "which his own
+fingers have made," instead of compelling it to serve him. He is not
+less degraded when he exalts over himself a thing owned by another and
+serves it. The ownership of another does not change the nature of the
+thing. One can serve his neighbor's idol as truly as he can his own.
+
+There is nothing above man but God. His fellow man is by his side, his
+equal, and all other material creations are beneath his feet, and he
+is not to permit his fellow man to lift up the inferior thing and
+place it above him. If he does he must step down from the pinnacle on
+which he was placed by his God and which his own consciousness demands
+he shall occupy.
+
+"Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall
+the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod
+should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff
+should lift up itself, as if it were no wood." Isaiah 10:15.
+
+If he serves the borrowed ax and saw for the claim that the ax and saw
+have against him, he admits his debt to things and Isaiah's ridicule
+of an idolater can be turned against him and he steps down from the
+position of conscious inborn dignified lordship and becomes a servant
+of the inferior things.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+EQUAL RIGHTS OF MEN.
+
+
+All men have sacred rights that must be regarded. That these rights
+are equal is so familiar and stale an expression that it hardly need
+be spoken. "All men are created equal," each having rights, that are
+inalienable, and each having the right to resist the encroachment on
+his rights by another. To protect these rights governments are
+instituted.
+
+The vital energy of a man is his own and his right to it must be
+regarded. Since the abolition of chattel slavery this has been
+indefeasible except for crime.
+
+He has a right to his own vital energy and to all that his own vital
+force produces. He has a right to his property inherited, earned, or
+however secured, except by fraud. He has no claim against the vital
+energy of his fellow man, nor has he any claim whatever against the
+property of another.
+
+The working man needs capital. His vital energy must waste unless
+there is material upon which it may be expended. There must be the
+tree, land or material in some form, upon which he can work. But give
+him the world raw and unsubdued and he can transform it again as he
+has. He can build again everything on land and sea, the farms, towns,
+and cities, and the floating palaces. He can again dig out the mines
+and refine the silver and gold, mould the clay, smelt the ore and
+shape the iron. His needs and his power, however, give him no claim to
+the property of another.
+
+The man of property is dependent upon the laborer. He may be the owner
+of farms, forests and mines, of horses, flocks and herds, of railroads
+and oil wells, yet these will not minister to him nor serve him
+without the laborer. His coffers may be filled with gold, and his
+barns bursting with grain and his stalls filled with fatlings, yet all
+this wealth is useless and lost, unless touched with the vital energy
+of an intelligent laborer. But his dependence and losses give him no
+right to the labor of another.
+
+He has no right, no just claim, to the services of another man, his
+equal. All his wealth cannot confer the right. Wealth is but a thing,
+in itself without rights, and can therefore add nothing to the rights
+of its owner.
+
+He may however use his wealth to command service by might, but not by
+right. A club is but a thing having no will and no rights, yet in the
+hands of a savage it adds greatly to his power and may be used by him
+to oppress another of his tribe. A ruffian with his gun meeting a
+defenseless man may so command him, that he is ready for the most
+abject obedience. An armed highwayman may compel a brave man "to stand
+and deliver." So a man may use his property to secure the service of
+another but it gives him no right to that service.
+
+The usurer, who has himself no rights against his fellows, uses a
+thing, his property, as an instrument or weapon to command service.
+
+He may place his hand upon every material thing another must have, and
+withhold it, and the other is shut up and compelled, he has no
+alternative. He must yield to the demands or suffer. Many men are
+driven to the last extremity before they will borrow.
+
+But if the borrower is very willing and urgent for the loan, this does
+not change the nature of the act. The game may be shot upon the wing
+as it is endeavoring to escape, or it may be snared in a trap by a
+tempting bait. The wild broncho may be captured in chase, or beguiled
+into the corral.
+
+The voluntary sacrifice of others to the usurer does not make his
+gains just. The foolish ones are now willing to invest in lottery
+tickets, yet that does not make the lottery lawful. Slot machines are
+being put out of the cities, because so many are ready to part with
+their nickels. If there were none ensnared by them, they could stand
+harmless.
+
+The borrower may be greatly elated with the hope of gain, but the
+injustice is the same, whether the services be secured by compelling
+force, or by guile, or by the folly of the victim.
+
+If we admit the supremacy of man over the material creation, all
+subordinate to him, and no right to be, except to serve him, and also
+admit the equal rights of all men, there is no escape from the
+conclusion that the usurer can have no rightful claims to any portion
+of the labor of the borrower, without surrendering to him some portion
+of his property as compensation for the services received. He must
+have less property when the service is rendered and the borrower must
+have more property if the rights of both are regarded.
+
+A false impression prevails, that the lender in some way gives the
+loan to the borrower; that the borrower becomes somewhat the owner of
+the property. The borrower is encouraged in this illusion and it
+becomes a plausible basis for the claim upon his services.
+
+When a loan is made to a bank it is called a "deposit" and rightly,
+for it is only placed in the banker's hands and does not in any part
+become his. This is true of any amount, great or small, whether the
+deposit draws interest or not. The lender never loses his sense of
+ownership of the whole amount, nor does the banker encourage the
+fiction that he has become part owner.
+
+Every loan is but a "deposit." The ownership of no part passes to the
+borrower. It is seldom that the loan or "deposit" is not safer in the
+keeping of the borrower than in the hands of the owner himself, when
+secured by mortgages or personal sureties. The usurer gains the
+earnings of the borrower but parts with no property. He receives the
+service but gives nothing.
+
+Two usurers, A and B, are neighbors. A has a garden he wishes dug. He
+has an ax but no hoe. B has wood that he wishes cut. He has a hoe but
+no ax. The laborer appears and wishes to do their work. Usurer A
+agrees to lend him his ax to cut B's wood on the condition that he
+shall return it unimpaired and work his garden for its use.
+
+He cuts the wood, but has no hoe to dig A's garden for the use of the
+ax. Usurer B now lends the laborer his hoe to dig the garden, but
+takes the cutting of the wood for the use of the hoe. The confused
+borrower knows he is defrauded of his work, though each seems to have
+a plausible claim upon him.
+
+A does not give the hoe to the laborer. He retains the full ownership
+but deposits it in the workman's hands to be returned unimpaired. B
+does not give away his ax, he only places it in the laborer's hands
+also to be returned unimpaired. The full hoe and full ax is returned
+and they have taken the services without compensation.
+
+The result is just the same as if A and B had traded tools and A had
+given the laborer a hoe to dig the garden, "the tool and the material
+with which to work," and B had given him an ax to cut his wood, "the
+tool and the material with which to work," without a pretence of a
+payment for his labor.
+
+Taking only a part of the borrower's or laborer's services does not
+relieve it of injustice. The nature of the oppression is the same,
+only less heinous and flagrant. He who took a penny belonging to
+another is a thief as truly as the man who took a pound. Petit larceny
+and grand larceny differ only in the amount stolen. The man who takes
+three per cent. of the labor of another wrongfully defrauds as the man
+who takes fifty per cent. The nature of the wrong is the same; they
+only differ in degree.
+
+It is a well known fact, however, often repeated, that ninety-five out
+of every hundred who go into business with borrowed capital, that is,
+who pay interest on "their material and tools," do give the vigor of
+their lives to the service of usurers and at the end have nothing.
+
+The element of time is only a figment that clouds the question of
+right and deceives the borrower. In order that the labor of another
+may be appropriated it is necessary to give him time to work. The
+laborer may dig in A's garden a day or all summer and he may chop wood
+for B a day or all winter. The result is the same. It is necessary
+that the borrower be given time to earn something before it is or can
+be appropriated. The question is, how rapidly can he earn, and how
+soon can his earnings be collected? Long time loans with the frequent
+payments of the earnings of the victim are the ideal conditions of the
+usurer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A FALSE BASAL PRINCIPLE.
+
+
+That usury or interest must be held under the restraints of law is
+recognized in nearly all countries. It is treated as a necessary evil
+that cannot be abolished, and therefore must be controlled. Bacon
+said, "It is permitted on account of the hardness of men's hearts."
+
+The laws differ in the various states. The rate of interest authorized
+by a particular state is not invariably fixed, but is changed as the
+condition of the people seems to demand.
+
+That which determines the rate, of any particular people, at any
+particular time, is the productive ability of the borrower. The rate
+now in England is about three per cent. The conditions being such that
+the productive power of the borrower is very limited. In the United
+States, where the natural resources are not all occupied, and the
+avenues for successful effort more numerous, the average is seven per
+cent. In the western states of the United States the rates are higher
+than in the eastern, for the material resources lie so open and
+undeveloped that the productive power of the borrower is far greater
+than in the older eastern states.
+
+The basal for the rate of interest is the benefit or the advantage of
+the loan to the borrower. What can the borrower do or make with this
+capital? How great a benefit can he gain by it? The rate is based on
+the earnings of the borrower.
+
+The transfer from R. R. station to R. R. station across this city is
+twenty-five cents. That I may make my train and meet my appointment,
+that prompt and rapid transfer is of greater value to me, but that
+does not give the hackman the right to an increased charge.
+
+The fare to the distant city is ten dollars, but to me, with important
+business waiting and suffering, it is worth an hundred. The conductor
+does not ask me what my profits are to be from this trip. He collects
+the same fare of all for the same service, whatever their interests
+may be in the passage.
+
+The letter which is freighted with a proposition that affects my
+future life is two cents. Because of great value to me the postal
+service is no more than a letter of idle gossip.
+
+Railroad freight rates are at times arbitrarily fixed on the basis of
+the benefit to the patron. The rates of freight from a coal mine are
+sometimes made by a railroad on the basis of the profits of operating
+the mine. The rates to a quartz mine in the mountains are often so
+regulated. A contractor, dependent on a transportation company, must
+often share his profits. Such rates are regarded as unjust and
+oppressive and efforts are made to correct the evil by law.
+
+A is crossing the city and can without inconvenience carry a note to a
+party for B. That accommodation without sacrifice or inconvenience on
+the part of A is no basis for a charge upon B, though the delivery of
+the message was of value to B, but if A discovers that in delivering
+that note he can make it a matter of business gain to himself, that
+would not justify B in claiming a part of the profits A secured for
+himself. While A served his own business he also favored B. It would
+be unreasonable and unjust for B to forget the favor and make a charge
+against A, because in the delivery of the note A managed to gain a
+profit.
+
+Two farmers are without barns. It will require the labor of a number
+of years to secure the requisite amount of lumber and other material
+to enable them to erect their barns. One of the farmers undertakes to
+shelter and protect from decay the lumber of both, until the requisite
+amount can be secured. This is a real favor to the other and is
+accepted readily. He even offers to pay him for the care and
+liability. But he discovers afterward that his neighbor, by wise,
+careful and skillful piling, has made from this lumber a shelter for
+his stock and grain. That he has so managed as to gain for himself a
+benefit. Then, with the false principle of usury he makes a charge for
+the keeping of the very thing for which he was willing to pay a
+price.
+
+A gentleman not wanting his coach for a time, but wishing it to be
+kept in perfect repair, and his team fed and exercised, to be kept
+sleek and strong, leaves it in his coachman's care. The coachman
+agrees to keep from decay, and to replace should one die, and at the
+end of the term, return the coach in perfect condition, no mar or
+wear, and the team sleek and strong from good care, feed and daily
+exercise. But the coachman discovers that in the daily exercise of the
+team he can carry a party of business men to and from their offices,
+and secure for himself a gain. He, at the end of the term, returns the
+carriage and equipage complete as he received it. The owner has had
+his property perfectly cared for during the term he could not use it.
+But the owner learning of the benefit to the keeper, which would not
+have been possible without his equipage, demands a portion of the
+benefit which cost him nothing, nor in the least diminished his
+property.
+
+A gentleman has a warm, rich and beautiful robe, but is about to
+travel a number of years among the countries of Cuba, Porto Rico, and
+the Philippines, where he will not need it, and afterward visit
+Siberia, where he will need and use it. Another undertakes to relieve
+him of all care of it during these years and deliver it to the
+Siberian home ready for his use. He protects it from the moths in
+summer, and guards it against all touch or taint, and delivers it in
+the perfect condition in which it was received. In justice he
+deserves a reward from the owner, and if he received no benefit, would
+receive it, but it is found that he needed it for his comfort by the
+way, and that without it he should have perished. Then the owner
+demands a reward for the benefit the carrier received. The owner did
+no service. He received a positive benefit, but the porter, who
+carried the burden all the way, must pay interest or rental because he
+was kept from perishing by it.
+
+The surprise or discovery feature is introduced into the above
+illustrations to emphasize the false basis upon which the rates of
+interest rest. In the actual practice of usury the lender may have
+full information as to the use of the loan and its advantages to the
+borrower. If we eliminate this feature the basis still remains
+untenable. By no tortion of ethics can I demand that he, who does me a
+favor, shall pay me for the privilege.
+
+A man has one thousand dollars of money he is not using. He gives it
+to another to keep or place in a drawer in his vault. To care for this
+and be responsible for it, a commission is allowed, for it is no
+benefit to the keeper. Even an amount is asked for the drawer in the
+vault, without responsibility. To care for this a term of years is
+deserving of a reward. But now keeping the property equally safe, and
+returning every dollar when the owner calls for it, is not
+satisfactory to the usurer. If this money has in any way proved a
+benefit to the keeper, through his wisdom and energy and skill, he
+demands an increase. What is this loan worth to you? is the question
+of the usurer to the borrower.
+
+The basis of legal interest rates is the amount of benefit the
+borrower gains by the loan. If his opportunities in a state are
+favorable, and he may by diligence make a large gain, the rates are
+high. If in another state his opportunities are so limited that,
+strive as he may, he can make little gain, the legal rates will be
+low.
+
+The basis is so absurd that many have urged the repeal of all laws
+regulating the rates of interest. "Why should the laws presume to
+level the rates for a whole state? The possibilities and opportunities
+of gain are infinitely varied. Every borrower knows his own conditions
+and the amount of advantage the loan is to him and he should be
+permitted to pay for money whatever he is willing to pay."
+
+One writer thus expresses it, "No man of ripe years and of sound mind,
+acting freely, and with his eyes open, ought to be hindered, with a
+view to his advantage, from making such bargains in the way of
+obtaining money, as he thinks fit; nor anybody hindered from supplying
+him upon any terms he thinks proper to accede to."
+
+Jeremy Bentham is often quoted to prove the absurdity of all laws
+regulating the rates of interest, and yet all his elaborate arguments
+are based on this false principle.
+
+If usury is wrong only when the borrower can make no profit, and is
+right whenever the borrower can make a gain by it, and the rate of
+interest is to be measured by that gain, then all laws are illogical
+that limit the rate, and may be classed among those restraining
+trade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE TRUE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE.
+
+
+The true ethical principle that should govern the relation between the
+owner of property and the person holding that property as a loan, does
+not differ from the principle that is recognized as prevailing in all
+the other relations of life. The party to whom the service is rendered
+is under obligation. The party served is the one who must pay for the
+service. The party served must pay in proportion to the amount of
+service rendered him. If that service is great, then the payment must
+be large. If the service is slight, then the payment is small, and
+when there is no service then no payment can be claimed.
+
+This principle is recognized in all worthy and upright transactions.
+It is the service rendered that is rewarded in a court of justice. An
+employe recovers his wages from his employer for his services
+rendered. The condition of the employer's business does not enter into
+the count. It may have been unprofitable or a great success but that
+cannot affect the claim either way.
+
+A physician charges for the services given a patient. The recovery or
+death of the patient can neither increase nor diminish them.
+
+In service we always surrender something of ourselves or of our own,
+and each knows the sacrifice or effort he has made; he cannot know the
+value of this to the other, and he need not know. Full compensation is
+due from the party served but no compensation is due when no service
+is given nor property surrendered.
+
+The usurer's whole claim is for the service of his property. But he
+does not surrender a particle of his wealth. He does not become poorer
+in making his loan. He holds all his wealth as fully as before,
+whether it be a loan of money or grains or tools. There has been no
+outgo of property for which, in any other relation, he could claim a
+reward or compensation from his fellow. He simply deposits his
+property with his fellow and takes security for its safe keeping. It
+must be preserved perfectly and restored fully.
+
+When we consider the true principle, that compensation is due always
+for services rendered, the obligation is upon the lender for the care
+and preservation of his property. The borrower in any and every case
+gives a real and valuable service in preservation and restoration at
+the end of the term, while the lender renders no personal service nor
+does he part with a particle of his wealth.
+
+There is always a service rendered in caring for and preserving the
+property of another. It may be very great or it may be very small. It
+may be so great that no one would undertake it though the property
+should be freely given him.
+
+In 1800 the "Faithful Steward" was wrecked in Delaware bay near the
+shore. It had on board a large number of passengers, emigrants, who
+nearly all perished. Few lives were saved and all the property was
+lost. One young man, of the kin of the writer, swam ashore through the
+breakers. Before he left the vessel an old man offered him a stocking
+full of gold if he cared to try and save it. Though young and vigorous
+he would not undertake to try to save it for it. This was an extreme
+case of risk and danger.
+
+In another extreme case the service may be very small, reduced to the
+minimum, for instance, caring for the gold of another by locking it up
+in a fire and burglar-proof safe. For this simple service a
+comparatively small charge is made. But caring for the property of
+another is always some service that earns a reward great or small.
+
+The nature of the service is not changed and the principle still holds
+when the deposit is made with a person who gives ample pledges for its
+full return; the principle still holds when the deposit is made in a
+farm and secured there by mortgage, making it safer than in the iron
+vault.
+
+The true ethical principle, equity between man and man, requires that
+the holder of the property of another shall be compensated by the
+owner of the property for his services in caring for and preserving
+it. The amount of compensation depends on the difficult or favorable
+conditions attending its care. These conditions greatly vary, perhaps
+in no two cases are exactly alike, and so there can be no fixed price
+or rate at which one will receive and care for the property of
+another. The extreme limit of liberality permitted is that he may care
+for the property of another for nothing. He is not permitted to pay a
+price for the privilege. The revealed divine law, true ethics and
+equity and duty of self preservation forbid him. Perfect preservation
+of any amount, large or small, for any time, long or short, whatever
+the incidental advantages to the borrower, is the highest compensation
+a borrower is permitted to give for any loan. The demand for more than
+this by the owner is to be resisted as unjust and oppressive.
+
+An express company receives a package of money for which it receipts
+and becomes responsible and agrees to deliver to the owner at some
+distant point. For this service it receives compensation in accordance
+with the amount of service. If the conditions are dangerous and the
+distance great the charge is large. If the conditions are very
+favorable and safe the charges are small.
+
+If the amount of service is reduced to the minimum, in rare cases, no
+charge may be made. But that a price should be paid for the privilege
+of caring for and conveying it, is inconsistent with the management
+of an honest business. The purpose would be either to rob the owner of
+his wealth or to rob the employes of their services.
+
+An insurance company undertakes to protect a property for a term of
+years, to a distant date. A rate is given for protection from a single
+element, as fire. If all destructive agents are included the rate is
+higher. The rate is higher for a long than a short period. All the
+business world recognize the value of this service and nearly every
+kind of property may now be insured. The premium is cheerfully paid by
+the owner of the property for the service rendered him. It is a real
+and valuable service to have his property protected, preserved, or
+restored, so that it cannot be lost before the distant date. It is
+conceivable that a property might be so indestructible that the risk
+would be practically nothing and a policy might be issued without a
+premium, but that a price should be paid for the privilege of
+protecting any property is utterly inconsistent with rational
+insurance.
+
+Now usury presumes to reverse this ethical order and requires that the
+insurance company shall pay the owner of the property for the
+privilege of protecting it. Under usury the property given into the
+care of another, and called a loan, must be perfectly protected and
+preserved by the borrower, restored if lost, and returned in full to
+the owner at the agreed distant date, and a price paid for the
+privilege of performing the service.
+
+The true ethical principle and equity in the relations between the
+owner of a property and the one who holds, protects and preserves it,
+require that the owner shall render to the holder a just compensation.
+This will vary in different conditions, it may be very small, it may
+in rare cases be entirely eliminated; but they also utterly forbid
+that the party rendering the service shall pay for the privilege of
+serving.
+
+One may submit to an injustice in order to gain an advantage. He can
+do better for himself by submitting than by resisting. His employer
+may be hard and oppressive but this is the best job he can get and he
+holds on, but that does not justify the oppressions of the employer up
+to the breaking point. It may be to the advantage of a borrower to
+submit to the exactions of usury, that is, he may gain more wealth by
+borrowing upon interest than not, but that does not relieve usury of
+its oppression up to the breaking point when it can no longer be
+endured. There is no better ethical basis for low interest than high
+interest. Low rates of interest are oppressions that may be suffered
+or endured for a possible gain, but high rates are intolerable. The
+principle is the same whatever the rate of interest, whether it be low
+or high. They only differ in the degrees of their severity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+WEALTH IS BARREN.
+
+
+That wealth can produce wealth is the assumption of Shylock.
+
+Shylock--"When Jacob grazed his Uncle Laban's sheep--
+          This Jacob from our holy Abraham was
+          The third possessor; ay, he was the third."
+
+Antonio--"And what of him? Did he take interest?"
+
+Shylock--"No, not take interest; not as you would say,
+          Directly interest. Mark what Jacob did." * * *
+
+Antonio--"This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;
+          A thing not in his power to bring to pass--
+          But swayed and fashioned by the hand of Heaven.
+          Was this inserted to make interest good?
+          Or is your gold and silver, ewes and rams?"
+
+Shylock--"I can not tell; I make them breed as fast."
+
+                           --_Merchant of Venice._
+
+It is only intelligent energy that can produce wealth. Even the
+natural resources must be subdued and shaped by intelligent energy to
+be of service to man. Trees do not betake themselves into the form of
+houses. Land does not transform itself into farms and gardens. Coal
+does not come to our fires without hands. Ore is not iron, nor is clay
+pottery. They must be carefully manipulated by the intelligent
+laborer.
+
+Nothing man can make has the power of self propagation. All wealth is
+as barren as silver and gold, though Shylock claimed he could make
+them breed like ewes and rams. Life alone is productive, and the
+secrets of life man has not touched.
+
+A tree or animal grows by the life that is in it, but the accretions
+of wealth are from the efforts of intelligent energy outside of
+itself. Wealth is an effect, a result. The vital energy of a person,
+of "a willing intelligent being" produces wealth, but it does not
+follow that it has the qualities of its cause. It has no intelligence,
+nor has it self-determining power, nor is it vital, nor has it energy,
+it has not in itself the force to overcome its inertia, the energy
+must be applied. It has no power to increase or grow. A fortune is
+built, as a building is built, brick after brick is added by
+intelligent hands.
+
+All wealth must have the living hands applied to cause it to increase
+even the smallest amount. There is no such thing as "productive"
+capital. It is so called when it is used to gather and appropriate the
+earnings of others, but wealth in none of its forms has the quality or
+power of producing.
+
+Money, the most familiar form, is barren. A bag of dollars stored for
+ages will not have increased a single coin. No one holds or handles
+money on the assumption that it will increase in his hands. Money is a
+care, and the broker who holds or handles it relies for his
+compensation, not on the increase of the dollars in his hands, but on
+the increase from some producer to whom he lends it. If there is no
+borrower he takes a direct commission from the amount itself, as
+trustee or administrator or custodian.
+
+Money is readily exchanged for any other property. Money has a number
+of functions but in exchange it is a medium by which the value of
+articles is conveyed. It takes the place of the bags which conveyed
+the wheat, of the crates which contained the potatoes, of the baskets
+which carried the peaches, and the wrapping which held the cotton or
+the wool.
+
+Col. Irish, who was chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at
+Washington, when he died, and under whose administration the present
+building was erected, at one time sent to the wife of the writer a ten
+dollar bill, wrapped up so that it looked like a picture, cabinet
+size; this was accompanied by a note, to be opened first. In this note
+he said he took pleasure in sending her an excellent likeness of our
+late lamented president, which he would be pleased to have her accept.
+If she should prefer it in some other form, it was a peculiarity of
+this likeness that it would change instantly at the will of the holder
+into any form desired; that this was the peculiarity that troubled
+him, as he had been unable to decide what would please her best, and
+had finally decided to send it in this form, and let her change it
+into any other she might like better.
+
+Money is a peculiar medium which will hold and carry the value of
+anything. You pour in your wheat and take it to the merchant, who
+empties your wheat and fills it with clothes, he carries it to the
+dealer in any article needed and the vessel is instantly emptied and
+refilled.
+
+The values of the products of laborers in the various occupations of
+life or the products of the various climates are thus readily
+exchanged by money, but the gain is not in the money. The art in trade
+is to study and know the products and needs of the laborers of one
+class or country, and the varied products and needs of the producers
+of another class or local community. The skill in trade is in
+supplying the needs of one from the products of the other.
+
+The profit in trade is the gain from securing for an article a greater
+portion of the product of those whose needs are supplied, than was
+given to those who produced it. The harvester cost the manufacturer
+twenty days' work. The farmer, who needs and purchases it, pays forty
+days' work for it. The farmer may produce one hundred bushels of wheat
+with twenty-five days' work, but the mechanics in the city, who need
+it for bread, may give twice that amount of labor for that quantity of
+wheat. There is a wide field for skill and profit in trade, when the
+products and needs of all classes and all lands are considered. But
+money does not add to wealth in trade. There is nothing produced by it
+in trade. It is but the tool by which values are conveyed, and no more
+productive than baskets or crates or sacks. Intelligent energy
+produces all the profits that are secured by trading.
+
+Modern apologists for usury, knowing that money is unproductive
+itself, call it a tool for production, and as it can be readily
+transformed into any tool, they try to avoid the logical conclusion
+that the taking of interest on money is unjust and oppressive to the
+producer.
+
+But no tool is productive. All tools are but the reaching out of man
+for the better control and mastery of material things.
+
+The tool is but dead matter; the productive efficiency is in the vital
+energy of the intelligent laborer. The most complicated and ingenious
+tool ever made is useless without the operator. It is as helpless as
+the wire without the electric current; as helpless as the body without
+its life, for the body is but man's tool, preserved, and kept
+efficient, and made productive, by the living energy alone.
+
+Tools are but the reaching out of the vital energy beyond the body.
+Tools are but the means, invented and constructed, by which the man
+can overcome his physical limitations and accomplish wonders, the
+impossible to a creature wanting in his intelligence.
+
+These glasses enable dim eyes to see clearly. There is no ability in
+the glasses to see; they would be of no use on blind eyes. I see,
+these spectacles cannot see. Enlarge and so place these lenses that I
+can see bacteria, or the mountains of the moon, yet this microscope or
+this telescope has no more life nor sight than this single lens. I,
+with it, see the minute creation or examine the distant planet. It is
+but the extension of my eye.
+
+This pen and paper and this book are but the means by which I reach
+and reason with my fellow-men. They are but my tools to convey my
+thought. I am reasoning with you, not this paper and ink.
+
+My hand is the natural tool with which I labor. I may work in the
+garden and plant the seed and destroy the weeds with my hand alone,
+and there is no dispute but that I do the work. I take a small weeder
+in my hand and greatly increase my efficiency. I take a hoe and reach
+out further and greatly add to my efficiency. I am the efficient
+agent. There is no power in the weeder or the hoe. I take my plow, as
+my tool, and I tear up the soil and prepare it for my harvest. I take
+the complicated harvester and gather it into my barn. In every part of
+that process the tool is but the reaching out of my energy beyond my
+body. There is no place where that tool becomes vitalized and
+productive.
+
+I am a porter, I carry packages in my hands. To increase my efficiency
+I build me a cart, and smooth a roadway, by which I am able to carry
+more and heavier packages with ease. I construct a roadway across the
+continent, and with the power which I employ I carry the commerce of
+the nation. I build ships and direct them from continent to continent
+and handle the commerce of the world. Now there is no place from this
+simple carriage in the hand, to the complicated and stupendous system
+of transportation, where the tool is not wholly dependent on the vital
+intelligent energy.
+
+When the vital principle leaves this body, then hands, eyes and the
+whole body is helpless. Withdraw the vital energy from these means by
+which man extends his power beyond the body, and all the implements of
+agriculture will not produce a harvest, and the wheels of commerce on
+land and sea would instantly stop.
+
+There is no place in the most complicated machine where it begins to
+produce. The machine may show the greatest ingenuity in its invention
+and the perfection of skill in its construction, and the intelligence
+necessary to its operation may be reduced to the minimum, yet no where
+and at no time can it produce of itself.
+
+When a criminal is arraigned in court the responsibility is placed
+upon the person, the intelligent energy, always. It matters not by
+what tools the burglary or other criminal act was committed. The man
+who handled the tools is held accountable for the results. His tools
+may show the greatest ingenuity and the highest skill in their
+construction but they do not share his guilt. He is the efficient and
+responsible cause. If this were not so justice could be so perverted
+that the preservation of the order and the security of society would
+be impossible.
+
+Every tool is itself produced, and its maker must be rewarded or paid
+once, but there the claim for the tool ends. The laborer who
+constructs the machine cannot demand repayment over and over. The
+skilled mechanic who produced this pair of lenses must be paid, but he
+has no claim for second payment. To secure repayment he must make
+another pair. The maker of this pen and this paper must be paid, but
+that ends his claim. The maker of the hoe or cart or engine must have
+the reward he has earned, but can prefer no second claim.
+
+There is no question when the laborer makes and owns his own tool. The
+labor of constructing the tool must be rewarded as well as the laborer
+in its operation.
+
+When the tools are complicated and require the skill of many, the
+makers of the machine are usually different persons from the laborers
+who operate it. In this case the payment of all must come from the
+finished product. Those who constructed the machine and those who
+operate it must be paid by the consumers.
+
+If the shoe plant is built and operated, then from the shoes produced
+must come the payment for all. The workmen who built the plant and the
+engines and machinery for the manufacture of the different parts of
+the shoe, must be paid by the consumer of shoes. The workmen who built
+the plant must be as fully compensated as those who operate it, but
+being compensated, they have no claim for recompensation for the same
+work. To be paid again they must build a new plant. The operators must
+be compensated for every shoe they make, but they can not reclaim
+payment over and over again. To receive more pay they must make more
+shoes.
+
+Both classes of laborers have a right to full compensation for all the
+labor performed. Neither party has a right to demand a second payment
+for the same labor.
+
+It would be manifestly as unjust for the constructors of the plant to
+compel the operators to pay them over and over again, as it would be
+for the operators of the machine, having supplied the community with
+shoes, to demand payment over and over without making another shoe.
+The shoes will wear out, so will the machines. It is as unreasonable
+for the first class of laborers to compel the operators of their
+machinery to keep the same in repair, as for the operators to compel
+their customers to keep their shoes in perfect condition. For the
+first laborers to receive a new payment they must build a new plant,
+and for the operators to receive a new payment they must make new
+shoes.
+
+The confusion of ideas comes in when there intervenes a third party
+between these two classes of laborers. This third party meets the
+demands of the class of laborers who build the plant and machines,
+from hoarded wealth, and then exacts payment from those who operate
+it. This is then called productive capital, but it is no more
+productive than the money in the bank vault. The producing, so called,
+is but the exacting of a part of that which the operators produce. It
+is the exacting of payment that never pays. The operators are
+compelled to be forever buying, yet the plant is never bought. The
+capitalist is forever selling, yet the plant is never sold.
+
+Usually, the usurer is a fourth party that stands yet behind the third
+party, taking no risks, demanding complete security for his loan and
+also an increase out of the products of the operators. The third party
+assumes all care and guarantees against all losses and depends for his
+compensation on a portion of the product after the demands of the
+fourth party are satisfied. This third party may be an active
+producer. All that he receives may be fully earned in care, oversight
+and management of the business of the plant.
+
+But the fourth party can have no claim for his services, he has no
+part in the production. The absurdity, the figment that his capital is
+productive, is introduced to cover the evident fraud of appropriating,
+without compensation, a portion of the products of the operators. He
+has no more claim to an increase of his capital year by year and a
+doubling in a term of years, than the laborers who built it have to
+the same plant, perfect and unworn at the end of a term, and in
+addition, another plant equal in every respect. They built but one,
+they have no claim upon a second. For the usurer, who takes their
+place, to double his wealth, and yet the debt be undischarged, is a
+flagrant fraud.
+
+The underlying falsehood is that wealth changes its nature when put in
+the hands of a live man and becomes productive. It is acknowledged
+that wealth lying in the vault is barren and at the same time it is
+claimed that it produces in the hands of an intelligent agent. But it
+is the same dead, helpless, barren thing wherever it may be found and
+whatever form it may be made to take. The dollar taken from the vault
+and exchanged for a hoe does not receive this new quality. The hoe is
+as dead as the dollar. When this hoe is in the hands of the workman it
+is the same barren thing is was before he picked it up. These glasses
+are precisely the same when astride my nose as when lying on the
+table. It is not true that wealth in any form, though it be that of a
+useful tool, takes on this new quality or attribute when in the hands
+of a live man.
+
+A man's labor is more productive with suitable tools than without
+them. The same energy will secure far greater returns. If it were not
+so he would not trouble to make tools or use them. But to call tools
+productive agents and so reward them is to rob intelligent energy,
+skill and inventive genius of that which they alone can produce. This
+degrades the man to the level of the tool or exalts the tool to the
+height of its maker.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+WEALTH DECAYS.
+
+
+All man-made wealth is subject to inevitable decay. Aristotle said,
+"Labor produces all wealth," but the product has no sooner left the
+laborer's hands than it begins to perish. The vital energy that
+produced it must follow to preserve it from the ravages of time.
+
+Take the life, the vital part, from the body, and corruption begins.
+So with all that has been produced, withdraw the vital force and ruin
+immediately follows. The vital energy must ever be present and active
+to preserve it.
+
+Fruits and grains and provisions of all kinds for human food rapidly
+perish. The laborer must be continually active, producing and
+preserving, or the race would be starving in a fortnight. Even the
+miraculously bestowed manna became corrupt in a night. It had to be
+gathered day by day.
+
+Flocks and herds need the shepherd's care. They are subject to disease
+and natural enemies and are short lived, so that however large and
+strong, and healthy the herd of cattle, or the flock of sheep, it
+would be soon scattered and lost to the owner without watchful care.
+
+Tools and instruments of production, great or small, if used, soon
+need to be renewed, or if unused perish even sooner. Neglected they
+speedily decay. The locomotive left unattended on the track would soon
+be utterly useless from the destructive elements of rain and heat,
+frosts and sunshine.
+
+The palace, that floats on the ocean, would be a prey to barnacles, to
+winds and waves, to shoals and rocks, and would soon disappear,
+without the constant hand of intelligent vital energy to direct and
+preserve it. Houses untenanted and uncared for soon decay. Leaks
+unstopped, broken windows unrepaired, and vermin unrestrained, soon
+make them unfit for habitation. Farms and plantations go back speedily
+to weeds and wilderness when uncultivated. Great cities like Babylon
+and Nineveh are soon so covered with dust that we have to dig to find
+their ruins.
+
+Decay is written over every form of man-made wealth. There is needed
+constantly the touch of the laborer for its preservation.
+
+Gold, silver and precious stones are the least subject to decay. They
+are not, however, made, but found, and simply refined and polished.
+The indestructibility of silver and gold have made them the money
+metals of the world, quite as much as their rarity, their beauty and
+malleability. In them wealth could be stored and moth and rust would
+not corrupt.
+
+But even gold and silver will disappear. The thief will break through
+and steal. They must be, therefore, carefully guarded. The tax or levy
+of the government for its part in the protection must be met, so that
+even gold and silver must also gradually slip away.
+
+Decay is upon all wealth and the hand of the laborer must be ever
+present for its preservation.
+
+This law is universal. Even the Divine Creator must continue to uphold
+his creation. His sustaining hand cannot be withdrawn. He must
+preserve by his power and ever guide and direct, or disorder and chaos
+will ensue.
+
+Usury or interest presumes to ignore this order of nature and demands
+not only that the borrower shall resist this tendency of capital to
+decay, but shall also pay a price for the privilege.
+
+That any one should undertake to care for and preserve the property of
+another without compensation is unreasonable, but that any one should
+voluntarily pay a premium for the privilege can only be explained by
+misguided judgment or a perverted moral sense.
+
+No one would be responsible for, and care for and pay tax upon the
+money of another and himself get from it no return. Trustees and
+administrators receive, and feel they earn, a commission for this
+caring for the property of others.
+
+When this wealth is in the form of a tool, or manufacturing plant, the
+responsibility is greater. The owner asks that it be preserved
+perfectly. There must be no decline in value, from new improved
+machinery, and all accidents must be made good; if destroyed by fire,
+it must be rebuilt. To take this for a year or term of years, is a
+responsibility no one would feel justified in assuming in justice to
+himself. He would be using his own vital force to preserve the
+perishable property of another.
+
+A man has a farm, fertile and well improved, and well stocked. He is
+to be absent for a time. He asks as a favor that another watch it with
+care, preserve the stock in condition, if any die, replace them, and
+in short, so preserve that he shall have the farm at his return, just
+as fertile, the stock just as young and valuable, the implements
+unworn and no signs of decay on the buildings; if any burn, rebuild
+them. This would be a favor only the kindest and weakest of neighbors
+or friends would undertake, and what no man would be justified in
+asking of another. This is loaning without interest and this is the
+borrower, who pays only the principal and no increase.
+
+The usurer says, Care for my property and pay me for the opportunity.
+Keep it intact. Make good every loss and return to me an increase
+which you by your energy and effort may produce.
+
+The rates of interest greatly vary. The average in the United States
+is about seven per cent., by statistics of the government only
+recently issued. At seven per cent., interest paid annually or added
+to debt for ten years, the debt is doubled.
+
+The usurer or interest taker says, You take this hundred dollars and
+care for it for me for ten years and then bring me two hundred
+dollars. Take this wheat and this corn and in ten years bring me back
+just twice the amount. Take these horses and these sheep and cattle
+and care for them for ten years and return them just as good as they
+are now, and other horses, cattle and sheep in equal number, which you
+have produced in these ten years.
+
+Take this shop with all its tools and implements and care for it so
+that in ten years you can return it to me in as perfect order as now,
+and also build me with your labor and energy another shop, just like
+it, and equip it in every way just as complete as this, and on my
+return give both to me. Take this farm, fertile as it is, with its
+buildings and animals and implements, and preserve them perfectly, not
+a thing shall decay or decline in value; make good every loss, and at
+the end of ten years return it to me and also another farm which you
+have earned during these ten years, of equal acreage and fertility,
+equally improved with live stock and implements.
+
+The usurer gains the preservation of his own perishable property, and
+he gains also the product of the vital force of his victim.
+
+This law of decay is a natural limitation to the accumulation of any
+producer. As decay begins at once, a part of the vital energy must be
+expended in the preservation of that already produced. As the
+accumulations increase, more energy is required for its preservation,
+and less remains for active production. Time does not relax his work
+of ruin, and the resisting energy must be constant. The tendency to
+decay is such that soon the energy required to preserve that already
+gained leaves none to produce, and the accumulations must cease.
+
+To this point the rich fool in the parable had come. He had abundance
+accumulated and the problem was to preserve it, until he could consume
+it. "This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and
+there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my
+soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine
+ease, eat, drink, and be merry."
+
+The usurer hands his goods to another to build the barns and keep for
+him, while he is free from its care; and, more, he requires of his
+victim not only that he shall preserve, resisting all decay, but that
+he shall actually pay him for the privilege.
+
+Had the rich fool not lived in his day, when usury was a crime, but in
+this age of folly, he would have apportioned his goods among his
+foolisher neighbors upon interest, to keep for him, and then not only
+he, for "many years," but his posterity forever, could be at ease,
+eating, drinking, and making merry. The silly borrowers would supply
+all the needs of his endowed family, for the privilege of caring for
+the goods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE DEBT HABIT.
+
+
+The debt habit of mind is the disposition or tendency to look to
+things we have not as necessary to our success: To yearn for other
+opportunities and other means than those we have in our hands: To feel
+helpless without them and willing to incur debt to secure them. The
+independent, self-reliant disposition takes account of its own powers
+and opportunities and means, and plans with these to accomplish the
+very most. This old self-reliant, independent spirit, that scorned
+debt, has largely passed away. To incur debt is now the common habit
+and has become respectable.
+
+All evil-doers encourage and stimulate the particular fashion or habit
+or appetite or passion on which they thrive. Usury thrives on debt. If
+no one was in debt then usurers would be harmless. It is this debt
+habit that gives them the large field for their operations and secures
+to them their harvest.
+
+The agreement to pay interest preserves for a time the feeling of
+independence that would be wounded by receiving a loan as a favor.
+There is usually a feeling of joy and elation in the borrower that
+confidence in him is so great, and his credit is so high, that he can
+be entrusted with a loan.
+
+By incurring a debt there seems to promise the opening up of
+opportunities that have been denied, and a possible field for the
+successful exertion of his pent up energies.
+
+The present intended use of the loan, too, seems so attractive and
+profitable, and the buoyant, hopeful spirit does not doubt that the
+loan can be easily and promptly repaid.
+
+The temptations to debt do not come to the vicious and idle and
+worthless, but to the most worthy, industrious, talented, reliable and
+enterprising, those who will be the most productive in their fields of
+effort. Its very approach is flattering and therefore so hard to
+resist.
+
+A bright, intelligent, noble young man with high aims and worthy
+purposes yearns for an education, but the opportunities seem to be
+denied him; but there is a fund at low interest at his service.
+
+A lively, energetic young man, with industrious and economical habits,
+is anxious to engage in business; his youth, character and energy
+bring the loan to his feet.
+
+The young man with pure yearning for domestic life and a home, with a
+reputation that is above reproach and of commendable energy and
+thrift, has a home pressed upon him, to be paid for in long-time
+payments. He can fill it with furniture "on the installment plan."
+With intellectual taste, he can fill his library with just the books
+he desires "on the installment plan." Is he musical in his taste, he
+can fill his parlor with musical instruments "on the installment
+plan." His needs and tastes can all be gratified at once by incurring
+debt. To avoid debt there must be a determined and unremitted effort
+to resist. Few have been able to escape. The aggregate of private
+indebtedness can not be told.
+
+Few manufacturing plants are free from debt. They are usually carrying
+all the load their credit enables them to secure. Railroads and other
+corporations are under bonded debts that tax their trade to the utmost
+to sustain.
+
+Counties and municipalities have caught the contagious habit. Bonds
+are issued to build school houses, town halls, viaducts, water-works,
+and pave streets.
+
+There lies on this table a list of all the cities in this great land,
+the United States, with their number of inhabitants and their bonded
+debts. There are but six small cities in the long list without debt.
+In some the amount is enormous, the city debt in cases running up to
+one hundred and one hundred and fifty, and two hundred dollars per
+inhabitant. That is, there is a city debt on each man, woman and child
+of two hundred dollars. On this amount interest must be paid, twelve
+dollars per year, one dollar per month for every man, woman and
+child.
+
+There lies also on the table a report of the financial condition of
+the nearest great city. It is rendered in a cheerful mood and declares
+the city's credit "tip top." The indebtedness is eight millions, but
+the assessed valuation of the city is so high that two million more
+bonds can be issued before the limit of indebtedness is reached as
+established by the general law. This is regarded as a most favorable
+showing and the assurance is given that all the contemplated public
+improvements can be pushed without interruption. There is no thought
+of stopping until the extreme limit is reached.
+
+This habit extends to the churches and benevolent enterprises. There
+is scarcely a church that is not paying interest on some debt. Local
+societies are often greatly hindered in their work. A benevolent
+agency of one of the largest and richest denominations issued a
+piteous appeal to their constituents for help, declaring that the
+interest on their debts amounted to one thousand dollars per week.
+
+The debt habit has seized the nations and the most enlightened. This
+is so true that debts are, in pleasantry, spoken of as a sign of a
+nation's progress. These aggregate billions are rapidly increasing.
+
+The Chancellor of the Exchequer says the debt of England was reduced
+five hundred millions in twenty years. To the astonishment of all the
+world, the United States began to pay her debt, eighteen hundred
+million, in thirty years. But these stand alone among the nations.
+The national debts do not grow less, but are rapidly increasing. Both
+the United States and England are now increasing their indebtedness
+each year.
+
+The world has gone debt mad. It has become a great harvest field, ripe
+for the usurers.
+
+Debts may at times be unavoidable. They may at times be positively
+beneficial. There may be times when the system is in such a condition
+that it is necessary to take arsenic in small doses, but arsenic has
+no place in the menu of a healthy man. So debts may be necessary to
+those who have fallen into decay or have been unfortunate, but they
+should find no place in the normally healthy financial conditions of
+an individual or incorporation or nation.
+
+Debts make no man the richer. A man is no richer when he has secured a
+loan, than he was before. Paying debts makes no man poorer. He but
+relieves himself of the property of another.
+
+Paying a national debt destroys no wealth. If owed at home, it is but
+a transfer from one hand or pocket to another.
+
+Adjusting the world's debts, private, corporate, municipal, or
+national, the world would remain as rich and productive. Not a
+material thing would perish. No man would suffer the loss of any right
+or of any property, but it would be the destruction of the device by
+which the usurers appropriate to themselves the productions of
+others.
+
+Freed from this debt habit of mind, and the independent, self-reliant
+disposition replaced, this anomalous condition would disappear; the
+producer would receive again his full earnings and the great army of
+parasites, that has grown up, and that feed so richly on the labors of
+others, would be compelled to turn producers or perish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE BORROWER IS SERVANT TO THE LENDER.
+
+
+Solomon's declaration that, "The borrower is servant to the lender,"
+was spoken without reference to usury. Loaning upon increase was not
+lawful in his day, and was condemned by him in his proverb, "He that
+by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it
+for him that will have pity on the poor."
+
+A loan binds the borrower to the lender though he pay no increase.
+There comes a sense of subserviency and subordination that can not be
+thrown off.
+
+He becomes steward of another's goods, and frees the owner of their
+care, but they remain subject to the owner's order. The preservation
+of goods hinder any great accumulation by any single producer, but if
+he can be freed from its care, then all his energies can be used to
+continue production. Many find it as hard to keep property as it is to
+earn it.
+
+The hunter or fisherman takes with him his lackey to carry his game.
+If game is plentiful and the hunter successful, he would, otherwise,
+soon be compelled to discontinue his hunt from the burden of fish and
+game. But, freed from that care and burden, he can continue his hunt
+indefinitely. So, the borrower, even when he pays no interest, as a
+lackey, without wages, cares for the earnings of the lender, leaving
+him free to continue his earning unhindered.
+
+A valet cares for the clothes of his master until he calls for them.
+The borrower, without interest, as a valet, without pay, cares for the
+goods of the lender until he needs them.
+
+The independent spirit of the borrower is not immediately lost. The
+servile spirit and conscious sense of bondage may not be felt at once.
+Likely the first sensation on receiving a loan is an elation bordering
+on ecstasy.
+
+The poor man who is offered a loan is usually greatly delighted. There
+is hope of relief from the limitations and restraints that have been
+as a wall round about him. The loan seems to throw down these walls
+and give him an opportunity to secure greater results and achieve
+success. But the delight is transient and the sense of greater liberty
+is brief. The prison walls are down, but the debt holds him like a
+ball and chain. He has only exchanged one restraint for another worse;
+he has leaped from the pan into the fire. The spirit loses its
+hopefulness and independence and becomes servile and cringing.
+
+Milton represents our first parents, after their first sin, as
+intoxicated in delight, but the consciousness of their degradation and
+shame soon followed. So the first sensation from a loan is of relief
+and hope; the future looks bright, but the sense of subjection to the
+lender is sure to follow.
+
+He forfeits the free, independent, self-reliant spirit that scorns
+dependence upon any man. He only looks the whole world in the face,
+who owes no man a cent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+USURY ENSLAVES THE BORROWER.
+
+
+Timon of Athens said, "No usurer, but has a fool for a slave."
+
+The borrower without usury loses his free and independent spirit and
+becomes cringing and servile, but when interest is paid it increases
+the severity of the servile service.
+
+The lackey must not only care for the game taken, but he must add to
+the bag from his own hunting. He not only cares for the fish his
+master caught but must add to the basket from his own catching. The
+valet must not only perfectly preserve the clothes of his master, but
+must add to his wardrobe.
+
+The borrower of the usurer must protect and preserve every farthing in
+value of the property or goods, and must also increase the amount.
+
+The estimate put upon the mental condition of the person who will
+submit to such an imposition, by "Timon of Athens," must be admitted
+as fairly just, for a heathen. From the almost universal practice of
+usury, and the vast numbers enslaved, we must also admit that Solomon,
+the wisest man that ever lived, knew what he was saying, when he slyly
+called us all fools in his proverb, "A wise man's heart is at his
+right hand but a fool's heart is at his left."
+
+The object of the usurer in making a loan is to secure the service of
+the borrower; it may be called a favor, an opportunity, an
+accommodation, but that is its purpose and its effect. It may be
+called capital or a tool for production, but the appropriation of the
+service of the borrower is the result sought and secured.
+
+To secure the service of a horse, there must be an outgo of wealth in
+its purchase price and in its harness and the vehicle. The service
+received is the return, the compensation for the payment made. That is
+money invested and repaid in service. The price was in accordance with
+the service the animal would be able to render. For more and better
+service a higher price must be paid.
+
+There must be an expenditure to secure the service of a chattel slave.
+The purchase price must be paid and the tools and material or
+plantation must be supplied before his services are available. The
+price paid is in accordance with a reasonable estimate of the service
+the slave will be able to render during life. The outlay is made in
+consideration of an equivalent in service.
+
+A loan is made for the same purpose and secures the same result. The
+price of the horse or slave must be paid before the service can be
+claimed. The loan must be made before there can be a pretext of a
+claim upon the services of the borrower.
+
+There is this difference, however, that the purchaser pays for the
+services he expects to receive; he makes a real outlay for what is to
+be given him. The usurer pays nothing, he does not give a farthing; he
+makes no outlay; he merely changes the deposit from the bank vault, or
+his strong box, to his victim, and requires from him such an ample
+security that it is as safe in his hands as remaining in the vault.
+That he has bought the service of the borrower as another bought the
+service of the horse or chattel slave is untrue. He has given no
+equivalent. He retains every farthing of his wealth safely deposited
+with his victim. The service he receives does not diminish the value
+of his property nor discharge any portion of his claim.
+
+The usurer, like all those who appropriate the labors of their slaves,
+claims that he is a real benefit to his borrower. He has given him an
+opportunity of advancement that he could not otherwise have had. He
+points to him possibly with some degree of pride, especially if he
+seems greatly prospered. The owner of colored slaves pointed to his
+well-fed and well-clothed and happy people, merry in their cabins, and
+made a claim that was equally plausible; that these people are far
+better off and far happier than they could be in freedom.
+
+Their well-kept, happy, care-free condition did not make them freemen.
+They were slaves, though they may have been happy. They were slaves,
+though they preferred bondage to being their own masters. The
+usurer's prosperous victim is not therefore a freeman. Though he
+should prefer debt to independence, that does not make him free.
+
+No one prefers to be in debt. Debts are chosen as the least of the
+evils. The natural resources are occupied and the opportunities of
+life are denied. Lands and all tools of production are withheld and
+the horns of the dilemma are debt or privation. The independent spirit
+shrinks from debt until the struggle of life becomes desperate, when
+he turns to the other evil and is enslaved.
+
+This is not a temptation that comes to the idle and vicious. They
+could not secure a loan though they tried. An indolent, dissipated and
+vicious chattel slave would not find a purchaser in the market.
+
+It is the industrious, virtuous and economical young man that is of
+value to the usurer, and the better his character, the greater his
+worth. For this reason their virtues are cried up to the usurers, as
+the favorable qualities of the chattel were presented in the slave
+marts. To secure a loan is an evidence of confidence in his business
+ability, and an evidence of the appreciation of his character. It is a
+flattering compliment, and promising relief to a condition that seems
+hopeless, he permits the yoke of bondage to be fastened upon him.
+
+The usurer's slave is cheaper than the chattel. It requires less
+wealth to secure an equal amount of service. A loan of five thousand
+dollars at the prevailing rate of seven per cent. will bring to the
+usurer more than one dollar, clear gain, for every working day. That
+is as much as any one man, not professional or specially skilled, can
+hope to produce with that amount of capital, after caring for himself
+and his home. The borrower secures the lender from all loss, he
+largely relieves him from oversight, he directs his own labors,
+supports himself wholly; if sick, he supplies a substitute that the
+service does not stop, and when from the infirmities of age he is no
+longer able to give the required amount of service, one dollar per
+day, he returns the loan in full, which may be bound upon another
+victim, and thus continued forever.
+
+In the days of chattel slavery labor was not so cheap. The price of a
+strong, faithful young colored slave, and the value of the tools for
+him to use, and the proportionate part of the plantation necessary for
+him to work, was about equal to the above loan. Then he must be
+clothed and fed; his work must be directed; if sick his labor was
+lost, and he must receive medical and other care; all risks of harvest
+from drouth or flood must be incurred by the owner, and the slave's
+term of service was limited by his death, when his purchase cost was
+lost, and there must be an outlay by a new purchase. One chattel slave
+could not bring his master such enormous returns.
+
+Not only does financial slavery exact more labor for the amount
+invested, but it is more heartless than chattel bondage. The master
+had a personal interest in the slave he bought. His health and
+strength was an object of his care and his death a great loss. There
+was also often a mutual affection developed, as is sometimes found
+between a man and his horse or affectionate dog. There was sometimes
+real unfeigned mutual love. The master had a tender care over his
+slaves in their sicknesses and in their decrepit age, and sorrowed at
+their graves. The slaves were inconsolable in their grief at the death
+of their master.
+
+The usurer has no personal interest in his slave. He has no care for
+his health or his life; they are of no interest to him. He may live in
+a distant state and has no anxiety about those who serve him. Their
+personal ills give him no concern. When they die, there is no loss nor
+any additional outlay required; the bonds are simply transferred to
+others, and the service is not interrupted.
+
+Many faithful, industrial and honest borrowers are unable to return
+the loan. It is as difficult to retain property as it is to earn it.
+New inventions, new processes, new methods, new legislation and the
+changing fashions and customs, often sweep property from the shrewd
+and careful. "Riches make themselves wings; they fly away." If for any
+cause the borrower fails there is scant sympathy from the usurer. He
+charges him with being deficient in business management and
+thriftless. If the yoke of bondage galls and becomes so painful that
+in his distress the debtor turns from the struggle in one direction to
+struggle in another in hope of relief, he calls him fickle; and if at
+last, after a long and hard service, he is unable to return the loan
+in full, he calls him dishonest. His ear is deaf to the voice, "Is not
+this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to
+undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free."
+
+There are those in debt yet struggling against hope to be free. They
+are slaving at work, but making no progress toward relief. The crisis
+must come. In the race with biting usury that knows no rest, night nor
+day, year in and year out, that knows no sickness nor delay, that
+keeps step with time, there is but one possible result. There can be
+but one final result, though the debtor may have a start far in
+advance, but if in the race it has become neck and neck, the end is
+near. Usury will sweep on with full wind, and unslacking pace, when
+the debtor falls exhausted. There is comfort, however, though the race
+be lost, for the distress of poverty is less than the agony of
+hopeless debt.
+
+The old and ruined, who have lived honorable and industrious lives,
+who have endeavored to do their part in all the relations of life, yet
+have been in the slavery of debt all their days, and when their powers
+began to fail were stripped of the earnings of years, and besides, are
+compelled to bear the name of dishonorable debtors, are the most
+worthy of sympathy of any the world knows. The decrepit old chattel
+slave had hope of a home until the end, and a decent burial, but the
+debtor has nothing, not even an honorable name.
+
+The young, who are yet free from personal debt, should be warned, and
+should not permit themselves to be beguiled by any of the allurements
+held out, nor by flatteries. As one prizes his independent spirit and
+freedom from the dictation of others, as he desires a successful life
+and a peaceful old age, he should avoid debt. As a Christian, who
+desires unrestrained Christian fellowship, whose benevolence will be
+from the kindness and love of his own heart, as one who wishes to
+bless all he meets, and to leave a name associated only with hallowed
+memories, he should avoid debt.
+
+"Owe no man anything, but love one another."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR.
+
+
+Moses, Solomon and the prophets connect usury with the oppression of
+the poor. For this reason many have thought the divine prohibition of
+usury applied only to loans to the poor. By careful attention we will
+find that its evils are not confined to the immediate participants in
+the transaction. In the natural operation of economic laws the
+ultimate burden rests upon the poor. It is clear that when each member
+of a community contributes his portion to the common welfare the
+burdens are equally distributed. When any one fails to contribute his
+proportion the burdens are made heavier for the other members, and the
+burdens increase as the number increases of those who for any cause
+fail to contribute their part.
+
+This is true in the family home life. When every member of the
+household is able, and with cheerful willingness does his full part
+for the family support and comfort, the burden is equally distributed.
+Let one member of the family be in any way disabled and his duties
+must be performed by others. If several are disabled the burdens upon
+the others may be greatly increased. If any are indolent the burdens
+are made heavy upon those who are industrious.
+
+The same is true in the larger family, the community and the state,
+for political economy is but enlarged home economy. The burdens are
+lightest when every one contributes his full share to the general
+welfare. When any are idle the duties become heavier upon those who
+are faithful.
+
+Usury makes it possible for many to live upon incomes from their
+property. They are not classed, nor do they class themselves, among
+those who are personally productive. This makes it necessary for the
+poor, those who have no property, to produce more in order to house
+and clothe and feed the community.
+
+But those non-productive persons are consumers and are the most active
+consumers. They make heavy drafts upon the energies of others. They
+become extravagant in their habits and the spendthrifts of the world;
+while in proportion to their extravagant habits there must be severity
+and simplicity in the habits of the industrious and productive, on
+whom the support of the community rests.
+
+The world does not grow richer nor are the conditions of life for one
+class eased by the extravagance of another class.
+
+It is sometimes said that the idleness and the wasteful habits of some
+are for the benefit of others because they make a demand for more
+work. It would give the lumberman and nail-cutter and carpenter and
+glazier and plasterer and painter more work to call back the fire
+department and let the house burn, but that is not the way to house
+the houseless. Extravagance is wasteful destruction of property.
+
+"It is insisted upon both moral and economic grounds that no public
+benefit of any kind arises from the existence of a rich idle class.
+Their incomes must be paid, though inconsistent with the public good.
+To illustrate, the London and Southwestern railroad contemplated a
+reduction of fares in cars of the third-class. It was defeated because
+it might reduce the dividends. The poor could not be relieved lest it
+should reduce the incomes of the idle."--Ruskin.
+
+That family is happy and prosperous in which every member contributes
+personally his portion to its support and comfort. That condition
+affords the highest measure of relief for all. It is unfortunate if
+there should be an idler in the home who, as a parasite, feeds on the
+industry of the others; it is a double misfortune if that idler proves
+a spendthrift to waste the thrifty gatherings of the diligent. The
+same economic principles make it necessary for the highest good of
+every individual in the community that each shall contribute his
+personal part. "If any will not work neither shall he eat." If any
+insist upon eating and yet will not work, it imposes an oppressive
+burden on others to compel them to supply his table.
+
+Again: The limiting of production is a hardness to the poor. Their
+welfare requires the largest possible product along every line of
+human needs. Over-production is a term of the trade and means only
+that the supply has become so great that it cannot be sold at prices
+satisfactory to the trade. But as the prices fall the market broadens.
+Consumption increases with the increasing abundance, and that which it
+was not possible for certain classes to enjoy now comes within their
+reach and may become possible to even the poorest. There never can be
+an over-supply of fruits and vegetables and grains and meats and shoes
+and clothes and salt and oil and fuel and houses until the wants of
+the poorest are supplied. Their welfare requires that there shall be
+no restraining of the supply until they come out of their huts into
+houses; until they can shed their rags and dress in clothes both
+comfortable and attractive; until their tables are supplied with
+nutritious food; until they have the means of discovering and
+cultivating their æsthetic nature by shaking off the repellant
+conditions in which they are mostly compelled to live.
+
+The practice of usury restrains the supply by freeing so large a part
+of the people from the necessity of active productive effort by the
+incomes from their properties. Many born to wealth have never felt the
+necessity, and have never made an effort nor turned a thought along
+productive lines. The world has lost all that they might have added to
+the world's supply for human needs. Many, who have been successful in
+accumulation early in life, retire from active work while yet in full
+vigor, because they are relieved of the necessity by the income of
+usury or increase, and the most valuable portion of their lives is
+lost to the world.
+
+Production is further limited by the demand that it shall yield an
+increase on the property employed. The shop is shut down when the
+goods cannot be sold at such a price as to pay a satisfactory profit
+on the investment. The shop stands idle until the stock is depleted
+and the demand raises the price of the goods and then the shop is
+again opened. The workmen could go on with their work, supplying the
+world with their goods, bringing the price down until within the reach
+of the poorest, but it is the owner of the shop that holds the key and
+demands that the supply shall be so far restrained that the price
+shall yield a satisfactory increase on the property.
+
+Inventions and improved tools are a blessing to the poor when they
+make labor so productive that they can enjoy results of labor that
+could not be enjoyed by them before. They are not a blessing when used
+to gain an increase on wealth by employing less labor. Their proper
+use is to make labor more productive; their perverted use is to make
+property more profitable.
+
+There is a natural restraint by the law of supply and demand when all
+needs are so supplied that there is no longer a sufficient
+compensation to the producer; but it is a perverted and unrighteous
+restraint to place property between productive labor and human needs
+and demand a reward for it before these human needs shall be
+satisfied. There is an utter want of pity for the poor in permitting
+them to go unhoused, unfed and unclothed, unless there shall be a
+profit by increase in supplying their wants. True benevolence requires
+that labor shall be made so effective as to fill every human need, but
+pure selfishness uses property to supply the need for a gain. This
+restraint for an increase on property is oppression of the poor for a
+price.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Continued.
+
+
+The influence of any act is not limited to the person acting. The
+righteous act of a righteous man blesses himself and his generation
+and generations yet unborn. So the influence of a wrong act is not
+limited to the wrong-doer, but extends to others and is harmful to
+those who had no voluntary part in the act. Though the wrong be a
+personal habit and the sinner be himself the greatest sufferer, yet it
+is impossible to avoid causing distress to others who are themselves
+innocent.
+
+Equity between those who participate in a wrong does not make a wrong
+act righteous. Thieves may be just among themselves, in the division
+of the spoils secured from others, but that does not make them upright
+men, nor does it make their business honest. If it were possible to
+preserve equity between the borrower and the lender upon usury, yet
+that would not justify the act nor remove the evil. The collection of
+their profits, which they divide equitably among themselves, imposes a
+burden upon others who have no part in the transaction. Their
+satisfactory agreement does not make the transaction less detrimental
+to the general good. It may the rather partake of the nature of a
+conspiracy against the public welfare.
+
+The promoter of an enterprise on borrowed capital is practically but
+the agent of the lender. He may be the director and manager but he so
+conducts his undertaking as to gather the usury from others. When the
+opportunities for profitable investments become rare, and money
+accumulates and is lying idle, such promoters with their schemes are
+encouraged in order to gain a profit on the investment, though others
+suffer by it.
+
+There lies upon this table a booklet, written in 1841, which charges
+and proves complicity between the bankers and brokers of New York at
+that time. The bankers loaned the brokers the money which they
+reloaned at very high rates. The banks refused accommodations to those
+in pressing need, compelling them to go to the brokers and to submit
+to their extortionate demands.
+
+Though there may be an equitable arrangement between the owner of
+property and his broker and between the broker and his promoter, yet
+in the last analysis it will be found that this equitable arrangement,
+in its ultimate result, is of the nature of a conspiracy to compel the
+innocent poor to pay the profits of both; their consent is not first
+secured nor do they gain a single advantage and they are helpless to
+resist.
+
+Though the transaction may have been between the rich, a rich lender
+and a rich borrower, yet the final result is that the interest is paid
+by the poor. In Calvin's letter of apology he supposes a case of
+equity between a rich land owner who is in need of ready money and the
+man who has money to buy a farm, but instead lends to his rich
+landlord and takes a mortgage. In this case the tenants of the
+borrower must pay the interest and finally the principal also. This
+increases the hardness of their hard lot. Though Calvin seems to
+appreciate the severe conditions of the ordinary tenant in his day,
+yet he fails to recognize that the very illustration he gives would
+result in greater oppression.
+
+When one entrusts his money to a broker for investment he does not
+come in contact with those who earn the interest. It may pass through
+a number of agents and the source from which the interest is drawn is
+not regarded. When one entrusts his money to the "Security Co." in
+their great building, surrounded by all appearances of unlimited
+wealth, it is not realized that the interest returned is wrung from
+the poor. Money does not lie in the vaults. It is loaned to others who
+as agents do collect or gather from the poor. A loan is made to a
+milling company and the interest is gathered from all who buy their
+flour. A loan is made to a landlord and he collects the usury from his
+tenants. A loan is made to a street car company and increase is
+collected from the employes and from every rider. A loan is made to a
+merchant and he collects from his customers.
+
+It is easy to see who pay the interest when we make a common
+pawnbroker our agent and see in his dingy rooms the evident distress
+and needs of his callers. Many shrink from his oppressions who are
+deceived by the splendid surroundings of the "Security Co." But the
+interest is exacted from the same class as truly by one as by the
+other.
+
+Usury oppresses the poor by raising the price of all that he consumes.
+Without being consulted and without the power of resistance he must
+pay tribute to property for the very necessities of life.
+
+He lives in a rented house. The owner has placed a mortgage on this
+house and the tenant must pay the interest and more in his rental or
+be ejected. The bread he must have is from wheat raised on mortgaged
+land and the interest must be met in the price of wheat. The mill is
+mortgaged in which it is ground and the interest must be paid in the
+increased price of flour. The railroad is bonded and the interest on
+the bonds must be paid in the price of its transportation, and the
+merchant has a loan to enable him to do business and the interest on
+this loan must be met in the increase of the profits on flour and all
+other goods he handles. By usury a tribute is levied on his bread from
+the wheat in the field until it reaches his tables.
+
+In the same way he pays interest in the price of his meat, which is
+raised on a mortgaged farm, transported over a bonded railroad,
+dressed in a mortgaged abattoir and sold by a dealer doing business
+on borrowed capital.
+
+The same is true of his clothes; a first tribute must be paid to
+property by the raw cotton or wool, then the transportation and the
+factory and the merchant, in addition to the compensation for their
+services, must meet also the interest upon their loans, and the whole
+is summed up in the price the poor man must pay. He has no option in
+the matter; he has no alternative, no method by which he can escape.
+The same is true with regard to his fuel and his light.
+
+The same is true with regard to car fares. In every ride he pays an
+enormous tribute to invested wealth. The writer made a careful
+estimate of the accounts of a car line in a small city where the
+number of riders bore small comparison with the crowded cars of any
+metropolis. When the cost of maintenance of the plant, including the
+wear and tear and all repairs, and the cost of operation, covering all
+current expenses, including taxes, were compared with the receipts
+from the patrons of the road, it was found that less than two cents
+per passenger was necessary to pay these charges and that three cents
+had gone to pay the interest on the enormous bonded indebtedness and
+dividends on the inflated stock.
+
+The wage-earner, the pensioner and every person living upon an annuity
+or fixed income from any source, must thus pay usury or interest on
+obligations they never incurred. A large portion of their living is
+thus taken from them, and under a system of general usury they have no
+way of avoiding it. They must pay an enormous tribute to property in
+providing the common necessaries of life.
+
+Usury lowers the poor man's wages. The owners of property forbid its
+use until such a concession is made by the laborer as they may demand
+for the material and tools of production. Those who will use them and
+give the owner the highest return for their use secure the work,
+_i.e._, those who will bid the labor the lowest, who will use the
+tools and work up the material the cheapest.
+
+The demand of capital has come to absorb a large portion of the
+produce of labor. In 1890 the wage-earners created a value of
+$3,579,168,172 and received out of it wages amounting to
+$1,981,228,321, leaving in the hands of the employers $1,687,939,851.
+Labor thus received a little less than 53 per cent. of its product. In
+1900 the wage-earners created a value of $4,640,784,931 and received
+out of it wages amounting to $2,323,407,257, leaving in the hands of
+employers $2,317,377,674. The employers and employes divided labor's
+product so evenly that the difference does not amount to one-eighth of
+one per cent.
+
+The decade 1890 to 1900 has been of unprecedented prosperity to
+capital, but the advantages to labor have not appeared. When the
+number of laborers at the beginning and the close of the decade are
+considered the annual income of the wage-earner at the close of the
+decade is actually $7 per year less than ten years ago.
+
+The tribute to property must first be gained, the wages are secondary.
+If the tribute is not paid the enterprise is regarded as not
+successful and the industry closes.
+
+There is no protection for the laborer except the selfishness of
+capitalists themselves in competition to secure the services of labor.
+But the selfish strife has rather resulted in the combination of their
+capital to dispense with labor or to cause the same labor to produce
+more by the employment of more capital. The effect is to give
+employment to capital rather than to labor. If labor can be dispensed
+with by borrowing more capital, then a loan is secured and the laborer
+is dismissed. Thus capital is made to crowd out the laborer and gains
+for itself his reward. This diminishes the call for labor and
+increases the number of the unemployed and they become competitors for
+the privilege of working. The opportunities for labor becoming fewer,
+the strife for work becomes fiercer. The laborer is helpless to
+resist, as his wants do not stop; his family must be fed and clothed
+and housed. The struggle is unequal between "flesh and blood" and a
+material thing that, by a false economy, is given not only the power
+of self-support but also continuous increase. For this reason
+combinations of laborers never have been and never can be successful
+in a conflict with capital. So long as the false principle is
+admitted, all efforts must fail. So long as it is granted that
+property has earning power, the effort will be made by the owners of
+property, and always successfully made, to have property receive the
+larger portion of the reward. The true order will be reversed; the
+laborer will be given a mere subsistence while the increase will be
+claimed for the capital; the very opposite of the true order, the mere
+preservation or subsistence of the capital, while all the increase
+belongs to the laborers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Continued.
+
+
+Usury makes it possible to impose on the poor the principal burden of
+taxation. Though taxes are levied upon property it is a delusion to
+think that those who own no property pay no taxes. By usury the taxes
+are easily slipped upon the poor.
+
+If the tax levy is one per cent. on property then in a year the one
+hundred dollars has been decreased by one dollar and is but
+ninety-nine, unless that dollar has been supplied from other earnings
+of the owner. Thus vacant lots, jewels and hoarded stores are a burden
+to their owner. But when the property can add to itself an increase,
+then there need be no diminution of the amount, and no sacrifice is
+necessary on the part of the owner. If the wealth is placed in the
+form of a loan on mortgage on a house, the tenant in his rental pays
+the interest on that mortgage, which meets the tax and also yields a
+revenue to the owner, and leaves the wealth undiminished. The tenant
+earned the tax, and both property and owner are relieved. The mortgage
+may be upon a manufacturing plant, when the operatives pay the tax
+from their earnings.
+
+The bonded debt of a city or state, in the ultimate result, is
+collected from the productive labor. To pay the interest and
+principal of the bonded debt of a city the tax levy is increased, and
+a greater proportionate amount of labor is appropriated. Laboring
+people without property are often amazed at the indifference of
+property holders when a great bonded debt is incurred, as both
+interest and principal are to be paid by a tax upon property. Those
+who make the loan to the city, and all who hold mortgages and dividend
+paying properties, are complacent because the taxes of a hundred years
+would never diminish their property a dollar, though the tax levy
+should be doubled. It would raise the interest on money, diminish the
+price of labor and raise the price of goods, but those who profit by
+the gain of usury are untouched by it.
+
+Recently complaints were made by the tenants of one of the poor
+districts of London because their rentals had been greatly increased.
+The reply of the landlord was direct and clear: "You have voted for
+public improvements and now you must pay for them."
+
+The same is true of the interest and principal of the national debt.
+The revenue is raised from a levy upon importations, as, for example,
+tea, the tax on which is ten cents per pound. The tax is collected
+from the importer and by him attached to the price for which it is
+sold to the wholesale dealer and by him attached to the price he
+charges the retail dealer and by him the amount is collected from the
+consumer. Sufficient notice is usually given that the importer and
+the dealers may dispose of all their goods before the tariff is
+removed. A public announcement of such a purpose was recently made in
+reference to the tax upon tea.
+
+The tax collected from the consumer is far heavier than the mere levy
+of the government. The importer demands a profit on the amount of
+revenue tax he has paid as well as on the amount he pays for the
+goods. This results in greatly increasing the burdens of the poor. The
+revenue tax recently imposed by Great Britain of three pence per cwt.
+on wheat and five pence per cwt. on flour resulted immediately in the
+addition of one penny to the price of the four-pound loaf to the
+consumers.
+
+Again: This attributing to property the quality of self-perpetuation
+and increase has led to its incorporation and in a manner separation
+from those who own it. Property must always have an owner.
+
+Personality must always come in else there are no rights to be
+considered. Labor apart from a person laboring and property apart from
+a person owning are impersonal and no ethical or moral laws can be
+applied to them. They are only physical forces and material things.
+The wind may push against a tree and overcome its resistance and the
+tree falls. That is merely an abstract force against a material thing.
+But when my energy is exerted against your tree and destroys it, then
+personal responsibility and personal rights must be considered. A
+righteous adjustment between labor and capital can never be arrived at
+without the consideration of the personal elements on both sides. The
+moral and ethical laws must be applied as well as the physical and
+economic.
+
+Incorporated property, however, has eliminated from it the ethical and
+moral responsibility of personality and is regarded as possessed only
+of economic and physical qualities and restrained only by legal
+statutes.
+
+Incorporated properties are not generally managed by those who own
+them. The managers are employed by the owners, who are ready to pay
+large compensation to those who have the tact and brain and nerve
+power and peculiar quality of conscience to gain for them a
+satisfactory increase. It is their work to press this irresponsible
+material body up against "flesh and blood."
+
+The incorporation employs the laborer when his labor earns a
+satisfactory dividend on the capital, and lays him off or discharges
+him whenever it seems most to the advantage of the investment. A plant
+is built and operated for a time and then the plant is closed, or the
+location is changed without the slightest regard to the sacrifices of
+the poor laborers who have gathered around and are left stranded.
+
+Laborers everywhere throughout Christendom need and beg for a Sabbath
+of rest, but neither physical needs nor conscientious scruples are
+regarded when a greater dividend can be gained in seven days than in
+six.
+
+On the part of the workman, resistance is useless. He can do nothing
+but yield to the economic and physical force managed by those in whom
+human sympathy and pity for the suffering and helpless are not
+permitted. The dividend must be gained though it be necessary to grind
+the poor.
+
+The owner of this steel plant is in a distant city. All employes, from
+the manager down to the porter, must so serve that he shall receive
+the dividend. This mercantile house is owned by a woman on a pleasure
+trip round the world. All who are connected with this business must so
+serve and sacrifice that she shall receive her income regularly. This
+railroad is owned by those who have gone a-yachting in southern seas.
+It must be so managed that the revenues shall not fail whatever the
+sacrifice required of others.
+
+The writer once heard an American statesman, who afterward became
+President of the United States, deliver an elaborate and carefully
+prepared oration on a great occasion, in which he discussed the
+growing power and controlling influence in state and national affairs
+of incorporations. He did not formulate a remedy but said, "The
+problem to be solved by the next generation is, how shall the people
+be protected against the encroachments of incorporated wealth?" It
+need scarcely be said that there was no discussion of that question
+during the campaign which closed with his election to the presidency.
+
+Usury is both the basis of the incorporation and the instrument of its
+oppression. Incorporated wealth must not be permitted to claim
+personal rights and yet escape personal responsibility. It must be
+held to the same ethical and moral laws as the individual. Personal
+responsibility must not be eliminated from property. It must not be
+divested of personal responsibility and then pressed as a mere
+material thing up against "flesh and blood."
+
+No instrument of oppression ever surpassed in severity the usury of
+incorporated wealth and retained the pretense of respectability. It is
+sucking the blood of the poor every hour, yet they cherish and pet the
+vampire, not realizing that it is their blood upon which it feeds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Concluded.
+
+
+Usury increases its burdens in proportion to the poverty. It is the
+most oppressive upon the poorest. Property in any measure is a relief.
+However small the amount may be, to that degree it assists in bearing
+the burden. Those who have a home are relieved of the burden of usury
+by rent. Those who own their shops or farms on which they can employ
+their labor are relieved of the usury of tools and material. From the
+conditions now prevailing the burden of usury rests on all those, the
+half of whose income is the product of their own labor. The one who
+receives one-half his income from the interest on property and
+one-half from his own labor has no advantage from usury. The income of
+his labor would bring him as many of the comforts of life as his labor
+now does, plus the income from his property. There is no advantage
+until a greater part of the income is derived from property. A small
+savings account, adding a few dollars annually to the income, is a
+very small offset to the constant drain from usury in all that we buy
+and upon all our earnings. The full burden however is upon those who
+have nothing but their own productive energy; who receive only wages
+and must buy in the market. As the relief afforded by property
+decreases, the oppressive burden of usury in present conditions
+increases.
+
+It is a fair estimate that usury is oppressive until relieved by the
+income from property to the amount of one-half of the entire income
+received. When less, the oppression begins and leans its full weight
+and without pity upon the poorest and most helpless.
+
+He that has no property is dependent upon others for employment and in
+his wages must give a part of his product as tribute to the capital he
+uses. This, in the case of the average wage earner in this country, is
+not less than one-third, that is, he who earns one dollar and a half
+will receive as wages one dollar, the other half dollar is retained by
+the employer as due for the capital invested. Then having no home he
+must pay tribute to property in shelter for himself and family. The
+rent will be higher in proportion to the poverty of the apartments.
+The poorest tenement returns the highest rate of interest to the
+landlord.
+
+His decreased wages do not make the necessities of life
+proportionately cheap to him. He pays usury in the price of the fuel
+which he burns, of the oil, gas or electric light in his home. In the
+price of vegetables, bread and clothes and shoes. There is an
+increased outgo at every turn which he cannot avoid. He is helpless to
+resist.
+
+He can but struggle staggering along while work is given and his
+health and strength remain. When these fail he falls and must become
+entangled in debt, from which there is no hope of being able to
+extricate himself.
+
+The state recognizes the hopelessness of the poor man who is in debt
+and has provided a relief by bankruptcy, by which he may again arise
+and struggle on. This discharge in bankruptcy is an act of mercy but
+the relief from the oppressions of usury would be an act of justice.
+Grinding the helpless poor between low wages and high prices and then
+relieving them by the act of bankruptcy is only pulling them out of
+the mill to throw them into the hopper again, for the wage earner who
+has no protection from any property is between these upper and nether
+mill stones.
+
+Those who defend the fraud of usury always take to cover behind the
+widow and the fatherless. They plausibly pretend to be zealous for
+their protection while endeavoring to hide their own greed. Their
+pleas are often touchingly pathetic. "A thrifty loving father was
+taken away by death from a dear wife and sweet little ones. They had
+always leaned on his strong arms. He was their joy, their protector
+and their support. This widow and her fatherless children are left
+with nothing to support them except the saved hard earnings of this
+husband's life. As these earnings are their only support they are
+deposited with care with the 'Security Co.' for safety and that the
+regular interest dues may be received without fail. If there should be
+one failure they would suffer. The 'Security Co.' loan their deposits
+as opportunity offers. They take some local mortgages and also some
+mortgages on western lands. They buy some bonds of a milling trust and
+also of a railroad and street car line and some national bonds and
+loan on personal security to local merchants and traders. From all
+these sources the interest is regularly collected and regularly paid
+to this widowed mother, without which she and her little fatherless
+dear ones must suffer. 'Certainly,' they say 'usury is not oppressive
+to the widow and the fatherless. Usury comes to the help of the
+helpless.'"
+
+Another faithful industrious father was taken away from his wife and
+his little ones. He had been their stay and support. He was sober and
+thrifty but sickness and untoward conditions made accumulations
+impossible. When he, the head of the home, was taken away there was
+nothing for the support of these helpless little ones and their
+widowed mother but her own arms and head and heart. There was no time
+for sentiment and tears. These little ones must be sheltered and their
+hungry mouths must be fed. Restraining her grief, she bravely
+undertakes the heavy task.
+
+She rents a room but the rental is high, for the interest must be paid
+on a mortgage held by the Security Co. She finally finds a shop where
+she secures employment but the wages are low, for the shop is heavily
+mortgaged to the Security Co. and the interest must be paid or the
+shop will be closed and even this opportunity for scant wages will be
+lost. The distance requires that she shall ride to her work but the
+round trip costs two nickels and one of them goes to the Security Co.
+for interest on their bonds and stock. She buys a loaf of bread but
+the wheat was raised on a western farm mortgaged to the Security Co.
+and the interest was charged up against the wheat. The wheat was
+floured in a trust mill and the interest on the Security Co. bonds
+were charged up against the flour. It was transported by a railroad
+that charged up against it the interest on the bonds held by the
+Security Co. It was baked in a mortgaged oven and handled by a local
+dealer doing business on capital he had borrowed of the Security Co.
+How much of her bread money went for interests is an intricate
+problem. She only notices that her loaf is small.
+
+The same oppressive tribute must be paid on all that she buys to feed
+and clothe herself and her little ones.
+
+The first widow does not live upon the earnings of her husband. They
+are untouched at the end of a year nor diminished as the years pass.
+By the operation of usury she has lived upon the hard earnings of this
+poor widow. The laborers on the western farms contributed to her
+support in decreases of wages; the operatives of the railways, the
+workmen in the mill, the baker and merchant all contribute a portion,
+but it cannot be denied that the heaviest burden comes upon the
+poorest. The rich widow has fed her children with the bread which the
+poor widow earned.
+
+The flaunting sympathy for the poor of those who themselves feed upon
+them, is rank hypocracy. Nor can those who have grown fat by the
+practice of usury, condone the crime by tossing back to them a portion
+of the unjust gain.
+
+"Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his
+soul?... Is not this the fast that I have chosen?... To undo the heavy
+burdens and to let the oppressed go free?... Is it not to deal thy
+bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to
+thy house?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+USURY CENTRALIZES WEALTH.
+
+
+The dictum of Bacon that "Usury gathers the wealth of the realm into
+few hands" is readily proven and fully verified in the experience of
+these times. The tendency to centralization under a system of usury or
+interest-taking is so strong, and the modern result so apparent that
+the statement only is necessary.
+
+Usury not only enslaves the borrower and oppresses the poor who are
+innocent of all debt, but it also affects the rich by gathering the
+wealth of the wealthy into fewer and fewer hands. There is a
+centralizing draft that threatens and then finally absorbs the smaller
+fortunes into one colossal financial power. It is as futile to resist
+this as to resist fate. Wealth cannot be so fortified and guarded as
+to successfully resist the attack of superior wealth when the practice
+of usury is permitted. The smaller and weaker fortune, using the same
+weapon as the larger and stronger, must inevitably be defeated and
+overcome, and ultimately absorbed.
+
+Rates of interest do not affect the ultimate result. Under a high rate
+the gathering is rapid, under a low rate the accretions are slower,
+but the gathering into few hands is none the less sure. Rates of
+interest only place the convergent center at a nearer or more remote
+period.
+
+If any interest is right, compound interest is right. When simple
+interest is due and paid, it may be loaned to another party, and thus
+the usurer secures interest upon his interest, though not from the
+same debtor. When the interest is to be paid annually, it is to be
+assumed, if not paid, that the debtor takes it as a loan in addition
+to the face of the note of his obligation. This saves the care of
+receiving and re-loaning to another. The custom of usurers, however,
+is to renew the note, adding the interest to the face, if unpaid. The
+mass of bank paper is renewed each ninety days: Compounded four times
+a year, whether to the same or to another debtor, the result in
+accretion is the same.
+
+Few realize the rapidity at which a loan increases, accelerating in
+geometrical progression as time passes. Any loan will double itself at
+three per cent. in twenty-three and a half years; at seven per cent.
+in ten and a fourth years, and at ten per cent. in seven and a third
+years. One dollar loaned for one hundred years, at three per cent.,
+would amount to nineteen dollars; at seven per cent. one thousand
+dollars, and at ten per cent. thirteen thousand.
+
+The island upon which New York stands was bought from the Indians for
+the value of twenty-four dollars by Peter Minuits in 1626. Yet, if the
+purchaser had put his twenty-four dollars at interest, where he could
+have added it to the principal at the rate of seven per cent., the
+accumulation would now exceed the total value of the entire city and
+county of New York.
+
+M. Jennet quotes the elaborate calculation of an ingenious author to
+show that 100 francs ($20) accumulating at five per cent. compound
+interest for seven centuries, would be sufficient to buy the whole
+surface of the globe, both land and water, at the rate of 1,000,000
+francs ($200,000) per hectare (nearly four square miles). From this we
+can gather that $20 at five per cent. compound interest for 700 years,
+would buy all the earth, mountains, and swamp lands, and water, at $80
+per acre.
+
+Another mathematical genius says, had one cent been loaned on the first
+day of January A.D. 1, interest being allowed at the rate of six per
+cent. compounded yearly, then 1895 years later--that is on January 1,
+1895--the amount due would be $8,497,840,000,000,000,000,000,000,
+000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (8,497,840,000 decillions). If it were
+desired to pay this in gold, 23.2 grains to the dollar, then taking
+spheres of pure gold the size of the earth, it would take
+610,070,000,000,000,000 to pay for that cent. Placing these spheres in a
+straight row, their combined length would be 4,826,870,000,000,000,000
+miles, a distance which it would take light (going at the rate of
+186,330 miles per second) 820,890,000 years to travel.
+
+The planets and stars of the entire solar and stellar universe, as
+seen by the great Lick telescope, if they were all in solid gold,
+would not nearly pay the amount. A single sphere to pay the whole
+amount, if placed with its centre at the sun, would have its surface
+extending 563,580,000 miles beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune,
+the farthest in our system.
+
+It may be added that if the earth had contained a population of ten
+billions, each one making a million dollars a second, then to pay for
+that cent it would have required their combined earnings for
+26,938,500,000,000,000,000,000 years.
+
+Anyone can figure on this and see if it be correct.
+
+Had Peter only thought to put one cent at interest, there would be no
+call now for Peter's pence.
+
+With any accretion allowed, the concentration of wealth is
+irresistible. However small the amount of capital, if permitted to
+grow at any rate of increase it will ultimately absorb everything. Any
+finite quantity permitted any finite rate of increase, will, in finite
+time, gather all that is less than infinite.
+
+The only difficulty in this accretion is to secure debtors that will
+not die. We inherit the property of our fathers, but fortunately we do
+not inherit their personal debts. This difficulty is being overcome by
+bonds of corporations and nations that live on, though the individuals
+composing them may, age after age, pass away. This makes the increase
+perpetual. Generations may come and go, but the concentration of
+wealth goes uninterruptedly on.
+
+This is not visionary theory, but is shown in the practical results
+everywhere apparent.
+
+The usurers of England, a little over two hundred years ago, secured a
+charter for a bank on the condition that they loan the crown or
+government 1,200,000 pounds sterling, about six million dollars.
+
+This was a perpetual loan, never to be repaid, but annual interest at
+eight per cent. was to be paid by the government forever. This
+constant annual interest paid to this bank has made it such a
+financial power that it reaches and draws to itself of the resources
+of all lands. The aggregated wealth of the institution, if the
+accretions were continuous, would now be $25,165,824,000,000. The
+wealth of the United Kingdom is estimated at fifty billions, and all
+Europe two hundred billions, the United States seventy billions, and
+the whole world's wealth at five hundred billions.
+
+Were the accretions of the bank at eight per cent. undisturbed and
+unconsumed, it would now take fifty worlds as rich as ours to pay that
+debt. It is sometimes wondered how there can be such an accumulation
+of wealth in one institution as to control the finances of the world.
+
+It is often attributed to superior wisdom or some profound, occult
+manipulation. It is but the natural operation of the principle of
+interest--accretion from age to age.
+
+The managers may be stupid dolts, only so they do not interfere with
+the usurious principle in its eternal pull on the resources of
+mankind.
+
+The interest bearing debt of the United States, at this date, is about
+one thousand millions. This in one hundred years at six per cent.
+would amount to $340,000,000,000; five times the whole present wealth
+of the nation.
+
+The smallest national bank organized, by the deposit of $25,000 of
+bonds yielding two per cent. interest, and permitted to re-loan the
+same funds to its private customers at eight per cent., could gather
+to itself in one hundred years, $345,225,000.
+
+The wealth of an individual or of a family may also grow with the
+years as they pass. The property may be in public bonds or that of
+incorporations, requiring no care or effort on their part, yet it may
+be continually increasing. A usurer in any community in one life comes
+to absorb the wealth of that community, though the amount loaned at
+the beginning was small.
+
+The accretions are the irresistible result of the principle of usury.
+
+The wealth is more and more centralized as the years pass. Great trees
+in the forest shadow the smaller, and rob them of the sunshine and
+moisture until they perish. Great fish in the crowded pond feed upon
+the smaller. Individual manufacturers are absorbed by the great
+combinations called trusts. The stockholders of a railroad are
+absorbed by those who have large and controlling interest. But the
+railroad is itself absorbed by another yet greater corporation, and
+this again by a great combine that eliminates the influence of all but
+the chief control, and tends to a complete centralization of all the
+systems.
+
+There is no escaping from this centralizing draft upon all resources,
+when the system of interest-taking is as general as now. Freedom from
+personal debt does not deliver us. The farmer, the most independent of
+men, in his own home, free from personal debt, yet must contribute to
+this centralizing by paying interest on bonds in every shipment of
+produce, and every mile of railroad travel. He pays tribute also in
+all the tools that he buys, in the food that he eats and the clothes
+that he wears.
+
+This centralizing draft is constant, though not always equally
+apparent. Certain favorable conditions may hold in check, for a time,
+the adverse influence and cause a temporary distribution of wealth to
+the producers. Its force is not, however, destroyed, but only
+restrained for a time, and then draws with accumulated power.
+
+Times of industrial depression and commercial disasters are occurring
+over and over again. Some economists attribute them to the peculiar
+industrial and monetary conditions of the periods in which they
+occur; but they have seldom agreed as to the causes of any particular
+panic. They are so regular in their recurrence that some economists
+have thought they must be produced by some constant cause; like the
+moon causing the tides of the ocean. Both are true. There is a general
+and there is also a secondary or superficial cause.
+
+The times of greatest commercial disasters in this country were in the
+years 1809, 1818, 1837, 1873, 1893.
+
+The political economists can assign as reasons some peculiar
+conditions prevailing in each of these periods, but the wisest have
+never gone deep enough to discover the general cause; this constant
+centralizing draft of usury.
+
+In these periods of commercial disaster there is no destruction of
+property. There is only a general shake up and redistribution. All the
+wealth of the country remains, but after the disaster wealth is always
+found to be in fewer hands. Some have become rich, many who were
+thought to be wealthy are ruined, and the number of the poor has been
+multiplied.
+
+A patient may be afflicted with some deep-seated, chronic disease that
+makes him very easily affected by a change of the weather, by a change
+of his diet or of his bed, and these may be assigned as the causes of
+his frequent relapses, and they are the immediate or secondary
+causes, but the real cause is the deep-seated, chronic disease. Cure
+that disease and the changes in conditions, now so serious, would not
+be noticed by the healthy man.
+
+The real and constant cause of our recurring financial disasters is
+this centralizing usury that directly opposes the distribution of
+wealth that is natural, when the producers of wealth are permitted to
+receive and enjoy it. Root out this evil, and then the trifling
+differences in our harvests, changes in our tariff laws, currency
+legislation, and the score of other things that now affect us, would
+be unfelt by the healthy body politic.
+
+If this centralizing power is destroyed then the natural distribution
+would be undisturbed, and these, so-called, panics would be unknown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+MAMMON DOMINATES THE NATIONS.
+
+
+The debt habit has been diligently cultivated and encouraged, until
+the nations are enslaved. Public bonds imply bondsmen, and the nations
+are no longer free. There is a mortgage upon the inventive genius,
+industry and productive energy of the world.
+
+Usurers greatly prefer an organized government as a debtor. The
+individual may die, but a nation's debts bind from age to age, are
+bequeathed by the fathers to the children, and thus descend from
+generation to generation. The bonds of no corporation, however great
+and rich, can be so secure. They embrace special industries, while
+national debts are a claim upon every industry and a mortgage upon
+every foot of soil, and every dollar of present personal property, and
+of all that may be produced in the whole realm.
+
+If we express the world's indebtedness, the national debts, in the
+terms of our currency, as nearly as we can reduce the currency of
+other nations to such an expression, we find the national debts as
+follows, in 1890:
+
+  Denmark                           $   33,004,722
+  Great Britain                      3,848,460,000
+  United States                        915,962,112
+  Germany                            1,956,217,017
+  Austria-Hungary                   $2,666,339,539
+  France                             4,446,793,398
+  Russia                             3,491,016,074
+  Italy                              2,324,826,329
+  Spain                              1,251,433,096
+  Netherlands                          430,539,653
+  Belgium                              360,504,099
+  Sweden                                64,220,807
+  Norway                                13,973,752
+  Portugal                             490,493,599
+  Greece                               107,306,518
+  Turkey                               821,000,000
+  Switzerland                           10,912,925
+                                   ---------------
+    These debts aggregate          $22,955,386,008
+
+Hundreds of millions have been added to these national debts in the
+last ten years. Nearly every nation has increased its indebtedness,
+possibly no nation has decreased it, and others, like China, with its
+recent great loan, and little Korea, with its twelve millions, must be
+added to the list. The debts of the nations of Europe have been
+increased until they now amount in the aggregate to twenty-three
+billions. The debts of the nations of all the world have increased
+one-half since 1890, and now aggregate thirty-three billions.
+
+These great national debts are practically perpetual, and though they
+may be at so low a rate of interest as three per cent., they absorb
+the energies of the people, and, like a glacier grinding over the
+earth, crush all beneath them.
+
+Public debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the burden
+of present duty. Debts place the whole burden on producers of the
+future. They relieve those who hold the wealth now, but are a draft
+upon those who make the wealth that is to be.
+
+An individual incurring debt places a mortgage upon his productions;
+by a pledge of future production he relieves himself of the strain of
+the present.
+
+A family incurs debt; a part of the members of the house are strong
+and capable of productive labor, and a part are not; the whole burden
+of the payment comes upon the productive members of the home. The weak
+and helpless and the indolent, though strong, bear no part of the
+burden. This family has a home, and a mortgage is placed upon it to
+secure the present needs. The burden of paying the interest on this
+mortgage, and the final payment of the principal, is wholly on the
+capable and industrious members of the family.
+
+National debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the
+burden of present government calls and obligations, and to roll it
+upon those who shall produce wealth in the future. So the debt of a
+city, state, or nation is a present relief to property holders, by
+placing the producers under future obligations.
+
+A street in a city is to be paved; no additional tax is levied; but
+bonds are issued running twenty years.
+
+This relieves the present wealth of the burden, placing it upon those
+who shall produce the wealth that shall be in twenty years.
+
+The expenses of a great war must be met. Present taxes may be slightly
+increased, but to meet the burden consols or public bonds are issued
+to be paid at a distant date. This relieves the present wealth, but
+binds it upon those who shall be the producers of wealth in the
+generations to come. Hume says, "The practice of contracting debts
+will almost invariably be abused by every government. It would
+scarcely be more imprudent to give a prodigal son a credit with every
+banker, than to empower statesmen to draw bills in this manner on
+posterity."
+
+These public bonds are the golden opportunity of the usurers. Not only
+is their wealth relieved of all burden, but it affords an opportunity
+of profitable investment with the best possible debtor. They can pose
+as enterprising citizens, and urge great public improvements, and at
+the same time gain a most sure and profitable investment. They can
+pose as patriots in time of war, and urge that it be pressed with
+energy at whatever cost of treasure and blood. It is not their blood
+that is shed, nor their wealth that is wasted. It gives them the
+opportunity of binding their burdens on the nation for the producers
+of the coming generations to carry.
+
+Usurers never wish public debts paid. They wish them issued for as
+long time as possible, and then reissued, or the time extended before
+they are due. This is done by the figment called refunding, as if it
+were a concession and favor to a poor debtor. It is but a device to
+keep the burden on the public back. It is not a financial feat and
+triumph for the chancellor of the exchequer to refund a public debt.
+He but yields himself as a tool to the usurers to continue their
+loans. They resist the payment when due, but when an officer is found
+willing to extend them before they are due all trouble is avoided and
+the accretions of interest are not interrupted for a day.
+
+Those who hold the bonds of a nation direct its destinies. The nation
+borrowing is servant to the lender, just as an individual. The nation
+compromises its freedom and becomes the slave of its bond-holders. The
+usurers use their power for the advancement of their own material
+interests, and hold all other purposes of government as inferior to
+their own ends. This subordination of a people, to the creditors, is
+fatal to republican and constitutional governments; the form may be
+preserved for a time, but the substance of free government has
+departed.
+
+The concentration of wealth carries with it the concentration of
+power, and is inimical to republican institutions. A proper
+distribution of wealth and power must be preserved or popular
+government is put in jeopardy.
+
+The first bank of deposit and discount was the Bank of Venice, in the
+republic of Venetia. It continued its existence for six hundred years,
+until the government that gave it life itself perished. From its long
+continuous business, and its success as a bank, it has been spoken of
+in every work on banking as a model. It began its association with the
+republic in 1171, and dominated it, sapping its life, and assuming
+its functions, until the bank practically ruled the state, and when
+one fell both perished in 1797. The usurers received their hold on the
+state in a time of the greatest need. The republic had been
+impoverished by the crusades, and was in dire financial straits.
+Advantage was taken of this by the usurers to so bind the bank and
+state together that when one lived the other must, or both must die
+together. Stock in the bank was a loan to the state at four per cent.
+annual interest. The union seemed to promise great prosperity for a
+time, but really absorbed all the republic's vitality during the last
+hundred years of their life.
+
+Venetia was at the first a pure democracy. The Doge was elected by the
+people and administered the government, himself being the responsible
+head. He, later, chose advisers, or a cabinet, to be associated in the
+responsible duties. After this, and about the time of the association
+with the bank, a representative council was elected by the people, and
+the government was administered by the Doge and this council. This was
+gradually transformed from a government of the people to an oligarchy;
+and as the years passed there were no steps taken toward a return, but
+the authority and power was more and more centralized. The ruling
+class was, in a hundred years, limited to those families enrolled in
+the "Golden Book." In another hundred years the government was in
+control of the "Council of Ten." Later the secret tribunal of three
+was the terror of the people and the instrument of their oppression.
+The republic was only such in name, the people were deprived of all
+voice in the government, and the Doge became a puppet to obey the
+ruling cabal.
+
+Shakespeare went to Venice to find his typical usurer in Shylock the
+Jew. He found there also his typical Christian, Antonio. Antonio was a
+benevolent great soul, who loved his friends, supported all
+benevolences, and hated the usurers. Shylock hated him because he
+would lend without interest, and was constantly reproving him for his
+usurious practice.
+
+The contest between the usurers and the people of the Venetian
+republic was a struggle for the life, but the usurers never relaxed
+their hold. They dominated until the end.
+
+Another great triumph of the usurers was in England at the time of
+great need. William and Mary had been placed upon the throne by the
+Protestants, but were in need of money to carry on the struggle for
+its complete establishment. This was the usurers' opportunity. Former
+kings, in like straits, had confiscated the wealth of the usurious
+Jews, Lombards and Goldsmiths, and appropriated their property as a
+penalty for their unchristian practice, but William and Mary entered
+into a contract with them to gain their assistance, giving them
+special privileges to secure a permanent loan. They were to loan the
+crown 1,200,000 pounds sterling. This was never to be repaid, but
+interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum was to be paid
+forever. This loan was a marvel of success. There was a great rush of
+usurers to place their money with the crown as a perpetual loan at
+that rate of increase. Their usuries, which had hitherto been counted
+dishonest gain, were henceforth to be honorable, and they esteemed as
+patriots.
+
+Thus, the first Protestant power in the world was established in the
+hands of usurers, and bound to continue associated with them forever.
+The story, by Macauley, of the establishment of the Bank of England,
+is familiar to all students of English history.
+
+This bank is a great corporation; the Board of Directors is composed
+of twenty-six members, who elect their own successors, and thus it is
+entirely independent. It makes laws for its own direction in the name
+of the people or defies their control. In 1797 it secured an order
+from the privy council ordering itself to suspend specie payment. It
+obeyed its own order promptly, and at the same time announced their
+strength and that the order would be temporary; but for one excuse and
+another it was continued for twenty-five years.
+
+Sir Robert Peel, in 1844, having become convinced of the dangerous and
+disastrous influence, expanding and contracting its loans, secured the
+enactment of a law to regulate and limit its circulation. This law
+was distasteful to the bank, and was, upon its enactment, defied by
+open disobedience. It has not only dictated the laws for its own
+regulation, but directed both the domestic and the foreign policy of
+the government. It has subordinated the public weal to financial
+profit. This corporation of usurers manage all the finances of the
+kingdom, and has more influence than Crown and Parliament combined. As
+a great uncrowned king it dictates the diplomatic policies of the
+United Kingdom. Its influence has not been extended to promote
+Protestant Christian faith, Jews are not zealous for any Christian
+sect; nor for the purpose of lifting up the degraded and enlightening
+them; nor in the east has it exercised its power to relieve human
+suffering, but its diplomatic policy has been mercenary greed always.
+
+It should be noted that the enlightened Christian people of the United
+Kingdom are not the English government. There has been, for two
+hundred years, a power behind the Throne, behind Parliament, behind
+the people, essentially selfish and commercial. This has controlled
+India for profit, while the benevolent people were anxious to
+christianize and uplift. It has befriended the Turk while England wept
+over the Turkish barbarities. It forced opium upon China while the
+Christian people sent missionaries. The people of England love
+freedom, yet the government has endeavored to crush it in the American
+colonies and everywhere throughout the world, when in conflict with a
+selfish commercial policy. The English people cry out against human
+slavery, yet in the struggle in the United States, when slavery was in
+the balance, the English government earnestly espoused the cause of
+those who upheld slavery. The English people rejoiced that the slave
+trade in Africa was abolished, yet the government enacted the hut tax,
+and compels now the service of the young and vigorous blacks in the
+mines, sending them back to their people when their strength declines.
+
+In the establishment of the republic of the United States there was a
+strong resistance to any debt or subordination to usurers. The history
+of banks in the United States shows a struggle at the birth of the
+nation between the usurers, who demanded the management of the
+finances, and the people who resisted. This struggle continued for
+half a century, when the people triumphed, and for thirty years there
+was no hint of a purpose to overthrow what was regarded as the settled
+policy of the nation.
+
+The first bank was incorporated in 1791. Its establishment was
+strongly resisted, but being urged by the Secretary of the Treasury, a
+charter was granted for twenty years. When that charter expired by
+limitation in 1811, there was a struggle by the usurers to secure its
+renewal, but they were defeated. They did not, however, abandon their
+effort. In 1816 they secured the charter of the second bank of the
+United States. This charter was also limited to twenty years,
+expiring in 1836. There was a tremendous struggle for its renewal, but
+the chief executive, backed by a strong political party, so completely
+defeated it that the usurers for the time yielded, and for thirty
+years the settled policy of the government forbade the alliance with
+usurers and the making of any public debt. Many of the leading
+statesmen of that period were very pronounced in their opposition.
+
+"The banking system concentrates and places the power in the hands of
+those who control it.
+
+"Never was an engine invented better calculated to place the destines
+of the many in the hands of the few, or less favorable to that
+equality and independence which lies at the bottom of our free
+institutions."--J.C. Calhoun.
+
+"I object to the continuance of this bank because its tendencies are
+dangerous and pernicious to the government and the people. It tends to
+aggravate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer, and the
+poor poorer; to multiply nabobs and paupers, and to deepen and widen
+the gulf that separates Dives from Lazarus."--Thomas H. Benton.
+
+"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous
+than standing armies. I am not among those who fear the people. They
+and not the rich are our dependence for continued freedom. And to
+preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with
+perpetual debts."--Thomas Jefferson.
+
+"Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
+people, that the mischief and dangers which flow from a national bank
+far overbalance all its advantages."--Andrew Jackson.
+
+The usurers were compelled to remain under public condemnation during
+thirty years, as sentiment was strongly against them and conditions
+were not in their favor, but they did not relax their watchful effort
+nor abandon hope of ultimate success. When the nation was struggling
+to prevent its dissolution in 1861-5, and unusual war measures seemed
+necessary to meet the great emergency, the usurers saw their
+opportunity and came forward, as they did in Venice and England; they
+would loan the government the funds necessary to carry on the war, if
+the government would comply with their conditions and grant them the
+privileges demanded. They asked that their loan be perpetual, like the
+English loan; that they should be freed from the burdens of the
+government; that their loan should be free from taxation; that they
+should receive their interest semi-annually, and not in the common
+legal tender, but in coin; that they be permitted to issue their own
+notes as currency to be loaned to their customers; that the government
+discredit its own issues and endorse theirs; and that they be given a
+monopoly by taxing out of existence all opposition.
+
+These were great demands, and were regarded as extortionate and
+oppressive. The struggle was severe, but the enemy in the field was
+threatening the life of the nation, while the usurers were urgent and
+posing as patriots, that they might accomplish their ends. True
+patriots, anxious to defeat the enemy in arms, regarded these usurers
+at home as equally the enemies of freedom. They were in a strait
+betwixt two foes.
+
+Secretary McCullough said, "Hostility to the government has been as
+decidedly manifested in the efforts that have been made in the
+commercial metropolis of the nation to depreciate the currency as has
+been by the enemy."
+
+The opposition to the usurers was very strong and bitter, but the
+conditions were in their favor and they gained a decided advantage. In
+the Senate the vote stood twenty-three yeas to twenty-one nays. It was
+carried only as a war measure. There was an effort to limit the
+usurers' privileges to the war and one year after its close. This was
+not successful, but their loan was confined to the war debt, and their
+time to its payment, limited to twenty years.
+
+This action caused great distress and dark forebodings of evil to many
+of the thoughtful. It was setting aside the policy of the nation,
+which had been generally acquiesced in as wise and judicious and safe
+for many years. The old patriot Thadeus Stevens, in the opening of a
+speech in a preliminary skirmish between patriotism and usurers,
+said: "I approach the subject with more depression of spirits than I
+ever before approached any question. No personal motive or feeling
+influences me. I hope not, at least. I have a melancholy foreboding
+that we are about to consummate a cunningly devised scheme, which will
+carry great injury and great loss to all classes of people throughout
+the Union, except one." Later he said, in excuse of the action, "We
+had to yield, we did not yield until we found that the country must be
+lost or the banks gratified, and we have sought to save the country in
+spite of the cupidity of its wealthier classes."
+
+The usurers have never relaxed the hold they secured by this victory,
+and have since been continually increasing their power. They obtained
+an extension or "refunding" of the war debt, and a renewal of their
+charters by the general laws, so their hold is indefinitely extended.
+Bonds are no longer limited to the covering of war expenses, but are
+issued freely in times of peace. The traditions of the fathers have
+been cast to the winds, and their fears derided and their policy
+changed. The usurers have been firmly in the saddle for many years,
+and have defeated every effort that has been made to unseat them.
+
+The great debts of the nations have brought all mankind into
+subjection to the usurers. Those who hold the bonds have the destinies
+of the race in their hands. They pervert the ends of government; the
+protection of life, liberty and the highest good of all the people;
+they make governments their tools to gather and appropriate the
+earnings of the many.
+
+They have exalted Mammon upon the throne of the world, and scoff at
+the God of heaven, who seeks the poor and needy, and who would in love
+lift up every son and daughter of the whole race.
+
+Milton presents Mammon as one of the devils cast out of heaven with
+Satan, and as saying in the council of the demons, "What place can be
+found for us within heaven's bound, unless heaven's Lord we
+overpower?... How wearisome eternity so spent in worship paid, to one
+we hate."
+
+The reign of Mammon subordinates character and virtue and liberty and
+human life to sordid gain, yet he holds the scepter of power.
+
+He elects legislators and senators. He elects governors or directs
+their arrest if they refuse to obey him. He elects presidents and
+dictates their policies. He places kings on their thrones and holds
+them there while they do his bidding. He strips a Khedive of power,
+and yet retains him as a collector of revenue. He steadies the
+Sultan's tottering throne, and compels six great Christian powers to
+stand by in silence while humanity is outraged. The Armenian's blood
+must be permitted to flow because the persecution is by a great
+servant, the Sultan, who pays interest on bonds, and his victims are
+only freemen. The murder of one hundred thousand Armenians meant
+nothing to Mammon. But when the Cretans were persecuted by the same
+Sultan, the suffering and bloodshed was soon ordered stopped by these
+same six powers, at Mammon's command. The Cretans were servants of the
+common master; the Cretan bonds were endangered. The cry of suffering
+humanity came up to deaf ears, but the cry of endangered bonds was
+heard from afar by this reigning god of wealth.
+
+The little republics of Africa were freemen, and therefore Mammon sees
+them strangled with indifference. Mammon gathers the civilized nations
+around China and demands that she shall be enslaved by all the bonds
+she can safely carry or submit to vivisection and distribution.
+
+This enslavement of the race is not by the destroying of intelligence,
+nor by denying the first principles of civil liberty, nor by crushing
+the aspirations for freedom, but by producing conditions that make the
+application of these principles and the exercise of freedom
+impossible. Though the race may increase in intelligence and
+theoretically have correct views of personal freedom and civil
+liberty, yet the conditions produced necessarily by usury utterly
+prevent their realization. The intelligence and aspirations of the
+race never were higher than at present, their subjection and
+subordination to material wealth was never more complete.
+
+The scepter wherein lies Mammon's power to sway the nations is usury.
+When bonds bear no increase his sovereignty is gone. All motive to
+involve the nation in debt at once disappears, and the power to
+control is lost. Moses' law was divinely wise that forbade interest,
+that his people could not be enslaved and might remain a free people
+forever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+EFFECT ON CHARACTER.
+
+
+The greatest factor in life in all ages is not material wealth, nor
+social position, nor genius, nor education, but character. Since man
+is above things, the highest purpose is not the gathering of that
+beneath him, but the developing of the best and noblest that is in
+him.
+
+The highest possible purpose and work is the developing of virtuous
+manhood.
+
+This was the thought of our fathers when they came to these shores and
+built their homes and established the free institutions which we now
+enjoy. They sacrificed material advantages that they might be free men
+and secure for themselves and for their children the opportunity to
+reach in faith and practice the ideal manhood.
+
+No material advantage can be regarded with favor that is detrimental
+to the characters of men. Position, wealth, education, are worse than
+worthless when associated with a corrupted manhood.
+
+    "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
+    Where wealth accumulates, and men decay."
+
+The test of truth is its developing of the virtues and graces.
+Falsehood is detected by its quickening the vices that degrade and
+destroy. "By their fruits shall ye know them."
+
+Virtues are linked together so that the promoting of one gives
+strength to the others. All vices are also so linked that the
+stimulating of one quickens other vices.
+
+Virtues and vices are opposite, so that the encouraging of a vice or
+fault discourages the opposing virtue. When you discourage a virtue,
+you encourage a vice.
+
+The old-fashioned virtues which our fathers prized, and which they
+regarded essential elements of worthy manhood, were industry, and
+honesty, and self-reliance, and brotherly sympathy, and the devout
+recognition of God's divine sovereignty.
+
+1. Usury discourages industry and encourages idleness. The laborer is
+stirred to diligence when he gets good wages. When his wages are
+meager he becomes discouraged, relaxes his efforts and may abandon his
+work altogether. When he knows that he is receiving less than he is
+earning, and that a part of his earnings are appropriated by another,
+he is embittered and becomes indifferent. When he receives all he
+earns, and the more diligent he is in his work the more he receives,
+he is stimulated to the utmost.
+
+This will be especially true if it is made impossible to secure a gain
+without earning it. The benefit of full wages may be largely lost by
+the knowledge of persons who, without productive effort, are
+appropriating the earnings of others. The influence of their easy,
+indolent lives may destroy or counteract the beneficent influence of
+good wages. The laborer may be led to despise his well-paid tasks and
+yearn for their ease, and thus become indolent.
+
+One is encouraged to idleness when he discovers that he can secure his
+bread by the sweat of another's face. He is likely to relax his
+efforts if he does not forsake all personal productive occupations. He
+may give great care and the closest attention to the management of his
+wealth, loaning to others and collecting the increase, but not to
+productive industry.
+
+There are activities that look like virtues, but they are perverted
+efforts. The slave-driver may work as hard as the slave in his efforts
+to appropriate the earnings of others. The thief may work in the night
+and endure more hardness to secure the property of another than would
+be necessary to honestly earn it. The usurer may give his thought,
+night and day, to the placing of his wealth the most securely and at
+the best rates of interest, and at the same time abandon all effort in
+the direct management of useful productive enterprises.
+
+The complete result of usury upon the habit of industry can be
+realized in those who have grown up under its influence; those who
+have an income secure from invested funds. When there is no need,
+present nor prospective, there is no motive to active industry, and
+the love of ease and pleasure grows and drives out all heart for
+productive effort.
+
+The industrious habit coupled with economy is called thrift. It is not
+parsimony or unwillingness to give, but a disposition to save. Our
+Lord, who was the prince of givers and inculcated unlimited giving
+among his followers, gave a lesson in thrift when he said after his
+miracle, "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost."
+
+Enforced industry and economy is not thrift. When by low wages or
+grinding conditions the necessities of life are with difficulty
+secured, the very opposite disposition may be cultivated. When the
+external restraints are removed, the wildest extravagance may be
+indulged in. This is sometimes given as an excuse for low, grinding
+wages; that "the workmen and their wives have no idea of saving;" that
+higher wages would be wasted in foolish extravagance.
+
+No one in normal conditions will be wasteful of that which has cost
+him hard labor. His care for it will naturally be in proportion to the
+effort that was necessary to secure it. Those who waste the wealth of
+the world are not those who by the sweat of their faces have produced
+it. The habit of thrift comes from the knowledge of the value of a
+thing, learned by earning it. Only that which comes without effort
+will be spent without thought. Those who have livings secured from the
+increase or interest of "productive" capital, having no need of
+industry, are wholly occupied with the spending; but in spending only,
+the value of the thing spent is not appreciated, the habit of
+extravagance grows and they become the idlers and the spendthrifts of
+the world.
+
+2. It prevents open and frank honesty. When the thought is turned to
+an endeavor to secure a dollar that is not earned, there is
+secretiveness of purpose and inward guile. No person doing business on
+borrowed capital advertises the number and amount of his loans nor
+does he welcome inquiry by others. In a column of advertisements by
+money lenders in a newspaper lying on this table every one promises
+"privacy" or "no publicity." No one can be so open and frank as the
+one who earns every dollar that he receives or seeks.
+
+The possibility of speculation is ruinous. The first step in the wreck
+of integrity in a young man's character is when he becomes absorbed in
+some scheme by which he can secure gain without honestly earning it.
+Lotteries are outlaws not only because they defraud but they undermine
+integrity and honest industry.
+
+When property earns property, and the gain is secured with no struggle
+on his part, the temptation is presented and the disintegration of his
+character has begun. When there is no gain except by production, the
+whole thought and energy of the man is directed to that end, and his
+desire to secure that earned by another is restrained. The frank,
+open disposition is preserved. Honest productive toil drives out the
+spirit of speculation. Under usury, both lender and borrower are in
+the attitude of expectants of unearned gain.
+
+3. It discourages the spirit of self-reliance.
+
+Usury causes a broad separation between a man of property and the man
+of mere muscle or brain. It makes such large combinations of capital
+possible in immense shops and department stores and other enterprises,
+that the individual workman is belittled. Under the principle of
+usury, property can produce as well as brain or muscle. One having
+property can control both.
+
+His property places him in a position as a superior. He comes to
+forget the relations he bears to men as equals, and requires that
+those who have only their natural gifts shall be cringing supplicants
+before him or be denied his favor. The borrower or the laborer who
+asserts his rights is endangered by the man controlling property, who
+has him in his power.
+
+That independent, self-reliant spirit, that looks every man in the
+face as an equal yet lingers in the country among the hills and
+mountains, but is fast disappearing from the city. There has come to
+the laborer in the town or city a feeling of dependence upon others
+and a desire to secure their favor. They almost feel that they must
+apologize for being laborers, and beg for an opportunity to earn a
+living in some one's employ. One of the saddest facts, and most
+threatening of disaster in these present commercial conditions, is the
+common desire to be employed, to get a job, dependent on the whim of
+another, instead of a determination to direct one's own labor and be
+the manager of one's own business. The sound educational development
+is wanting in the daily occupation of the hired laborer, and there is
+a loss of manhood that has no compensation.
+
+The independent spirit slips away so gradually that its going is
+scarcely noticed, but when once gone the degradation is complete.
+
+A family of free Hebrews went down into Egypt, and for a long time was
+in favor with the rulers, but they gradually lost their independence
+and became more and more servile and cringing until the Egyptian
+masters dared to go into their homes and pick up their boy babies and
+take them out and drown them as if they were worthless puppies.
+
+The hopelessness of the Ottoman Empire today is more in the cringing
+subordination and broken spirit of the people than in the oppression
+of the Sultan. His government might be overthrown in a day, but it
+would take ages to lift up that empire of prostrate slaves and to
+cultivate in them the self-assertion and self-reliance necessary to a
+free people.
+
+Every man who loves his country and his race must view with alarm this
+growing feeling of subordination and cringing disposition. It is the
+very reverse of that democratic spirit or consciousness of equality
+that must prevail to secure the permanency of our republican
+institutions.
+
+4. It destroys fraternal sympathy. Two classes are found in every
+modern community. The one is the laborers with muscle or brain, the
+other class, those whose property produces for them. Between these
+classes there is a great wall fixed. It cannot be expected that they
+will mingle harmoniously and be in sympathy in civil and social
+relations. Producing and non-producing classes can never be
+congenially associated.
+
+The question is frequently discussed in church circles, "How can the
+laboring man be attracted to the churches?" The discussion often
+presumes that the non-laboring man does find the church congenial. If
+he does, all efforts to win the other class will be in vain. The
+church itself needs to correct its teachings and reform its spirit.
+
+The moral law commands "Six days shalt thou work," and there is no
+release because a man has property. So long as a man has brain or
+brawn he is bound by that law. If he is not, he is not a moral man,
+and has no rightful place in the church of God. Honest, upright,
+industrious Christian men, engaged in all lines of production for
+human needs, may be congenial and co-operate most harmoniously, but
+they never can be made comfortable in association with those who are
+unproductive and idle, yet living in luxury.
+
+5. Usury promotes that "Covetousness which is idolatry."
+
+"As heathens place their confidence in idols, so doth the avaricious
+man place his confidence in silver and gold. The covetous person,
+though he doth not indeed believe his riches or his money to be God,
+yet by so loving and trusting in them, as God alone ought to be loved
+and trusted in, he is as truly guilty of idolatry as if he so
+believed."
+
+Idolatry is the act of ascribing to things or persons properties that
+are peculiar to God. The principal objects of worship are those things
+which bring to men the greatest good.
+
+The sun has been the most general object of idolatrous worship in all
+the ages. It is the most conspicuous object, and is the source of
+light and heat, and rules the seasons. Its worship was so general that
+the Hebrew people, when they lapsed from the worship of God, turned to
+the worship of the sun or Baal. No natural object is more worthy of
+worship. Job declaring his integrity and freedom from idolatry, said
+that he had not kissed his hand in salute of the sun in his rising.
+
+The river Nile was an object of idolatrous worship for ages. Its
+source was a mystery, and its annual rise in its rainless valley was
+so beneficent, that it was given the worship which belonged to the
+Divine alone. All the hope of the harvest depended on its annual
+overflow. It moistened and fertilized and prepared the ground, and
+then receded until the harvest was grown and gathered. Moses showed
+the Egyptians the impotence of their idols by making this chief idol,
+and the things that came out of it, a curse. The cow was worshiped
+because it was the most useful and necessary of their animals. A real
+or supposed power to give or withhold favors has been from the
+beginning the source and spring of idolatry.
+
+Riches, property, as the means of supplying our needs, is an object
+more coveted than any other. The principle of usury greatly aggravates
+this tendency. The principle of usury makes it imperishable; it can be
+perpetuated, unimpaired from year to year and from age to age; it is a
+constant source of benefit; it is productive of all that is necessary
+to supply human needs.
+
+It supplies, too, without effort on the part of the recipient. The
+sun, with his light and heat, makes the labor of the farmer
+successful. The rising Nile moistening and fertilizing the land,
+prepares the way for the sower. The cow draws the plow and the harrow,
+and threshes the grain, but usury makes property bring all needed
+material good without effort on the part of the owner. It brings him
+the matured fruits of the farm, though he neither plows or sows nor
+reaps. No labor on his part is needed. His property clothes and feeds
+him, and yet does not grow less, but is endowed with perpetual youth,
+ever giving yet never exhausted or diminished. He may die, but his
+idol knows no decay, and may continue to bless his children through
+the generations. This quality of riches makes them a greater source of
+blessing than the sun or any other object of idolatrous worship. This
+leads to unlimited self-denial and sacrifice to gain and retain
+property. The devotees subordinate their own ease and physical
+comfort, their own intellectual development, to secure it, they will
+themselves shrivel in body and soul; like other idolaters they will
+even yield the highest interests of their children, when this idol
+demands their sacrifice.
+
+6. It destroys spirituality. Property is matter and not spirit. With
+the thought and heart and effort directed to a material thing, the
+spirit is neglected. The heathen Greek artist directed his whole
+attention to the material part of man. The symmetry of the human
+physical form was his study. The perfect man was the most
+symmetrically developed specimen of physical form. His thought of man
+was matter. The Christian directs his thought to the spirit, his mind
+and heart, his noble purposes, and all the qualities of true manhood.
+The material part is subordinated to the spiritual.
+
+The tendency now is to appreciate a man for what he has rather than
+for what he is, to ignore both symmetry of form and the graces of the
+noble character, and to worship what he holds in his hands. The truly
+spiritual loves true manhood and is indifferent to the possessions.
+
+If a noble soul is found in a Lazarus, the true child of Abraham will
+take him to his bosom. A perverted manhood will receive no favor
+though clothed and surrounded with all material splendor.
+
+It destroys spirituality, too, because it holds the mind to a material
+thing as the source of all good. The spiritual man rises to the true
+source of our blessings, the author of all temporal good, from whose
+hand every living thing is fed.
+
+This, as all idolatry, leads to a breaking away from the restraints of
+the moral law. The devotion to the material leads, logically and
+practically, to a neglect of the restraints of the spiritual, and a
+preponderance of subserviency to the material. Practices that will
+promote the material are indulged though the moral law may be broken.
+The material is not held subject to the needs of the higher nature,
+nor subject to the promotion of the kingdom of God, but man's noblest
+gifts and the worship of God are all made, if possible, to minister to
+the material interests.
+
+To break this idol's power, the true nature of property must be shown.
+It is not immortal, but perishable. It can not preserve itself, but
+must be carefully preserved by man's own effort. It can not protect
+him, but he must protect it. It is but a thing which man has himself
+made. It must be shown absurd, as Isaiah ridiculed it, "They worship
+the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made."
+
+Other forms of gross external idolatry are exposed by the advancing
+light of these progressive years, but this musty old form has taken
+new life and now receives the service of the race. The whole world is
+running pell-mell after this idol. It stands in the market places, it
+is not a stranger in the courts of justice, and is in high favor in
+legislative halls. Solon is relegated and Croesus is elected.
+
+It is given a high place in the temple of God. Pious Lazarus is
+neglected but Dives is promoted.
+
+"What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?"
+
+Until this idol is cast out the church will and must languish.
+Spiritual life will be low and fervor impossible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+AX AT ROOT OF THE TREE.
+
+
+It is easier to cut down an evil tree than to climb up and lop off it
+branches; besides the branches will grow again if the stock is left
+undisturbed. It is easier to destroy the mother of vipers than it is
+to chase after, catch and kill her poisonous progeny. The reptiles
+will not become extinct while the mother is left to breed without
+restraint. There are a large number of industrial and financial evils
+that derive their strength from usury, which have received the close
+attention of benevolent reformers, but they have not exposed the
+cause, nor have they suggested a sufficient remedy. That the evils
+exist is apparent to them all, but they seem too high to reach or too
+swift to be caught.
+
+It is only possible to hint at the prevailing evils in one chapter. It
+would require a volume to discuss them in detail and to apply the
+remedy.
+
+1. There is a tendency to divergence in the material and financial
+conditions of men. Some are growing richer, while others are growing
+poorer.
+
+The prayer of Agur, "Give me neither poverty nor riches," is the
+prayer we should offer and the prayer we should try ourselves to
+answer. We are to seek freedom from poverty on the one hand and from
+ensnaring riches on the other. This is the condition we should try to
+secure in the community and in the commonwealth. We should discourage
+excess of riches and we should endeavor to relieve all of distressing
+poverty. We should hedge about accumulation with such conditions as to
+make it very difficult to gain great wealth, and at the same time we
+should so ease the conditions of accumulation that only gross
+indolence or great misfortune could cause dependent poverty.
+
+The so called middle class are those who neither have great riches nor
+yet are they in fear of want. The great mass of our people belonged to
+this class until very recent times. Now we find the excessively rich
+have multiplied and a vast number of our industrious, honest and
+virtuous population are struggling for life's necessities. The middle
+class is less numerous while both those in opulence and those in
+poverty have been increasing.
+
+We should level up and level down to the medium which is best for the
+development of the highest manhood and best also for the strength and
+perpetuity of our republican institutions.
+
+The rich should be limited in their accretions while the poor are
+lifted out of their poverty; but how can this be accomplished without
+interfering with individual liberty and our personal rights? The
+problem is not easily solved. While usury remains, which is an ever
+active centralizing force adding wealth to wealth, no remedy can be
+found. Do away with usury, and the evil is overcome.
+
+(_a_) When it is recognized that vital energy alone produces all
+wealth, no great fortune can be gathered in the life time of one man.
+The earnings of any life, however long, or the earnings of a
+succession of industrious, energetic ancestors, could not amass a
+fortune to interfere with the rights and activities of others.
+
+One may inherit a large fortune from wealthy kindred; he may discover
+a fortune; he may draw a grand prize in a lottery; he may as a Turk
+seize the properties of others and then bribe the courts to confirm
+his claims; or a people may be "held up" by law and one, selfish and
+conscienceless as a ghoul, may jump at the opportunity and appropriate
+their earnings and their property and yet the robber keep out of the
+penitentiary; but no one, however great his skill or brilliant his
+genius, can earn one million dollars, nor the tenth of it, in his
+natural life. To gain one million dollars one must earn twenty
+thousand dollars each year for fifty years and save it all. He must
+spend nothing for pleasure nor benevolence. He must spend nothing for
+food nor for clothes.
+
+(_b_) Wealth decays unless cared for and preserved. As wealth
+increases, the task of protecting and preserving it increases. There
+comes a time when production must cease, and all energy will be
+required to preserve that already gained. When others preserve and
+pay a price for the privilege, as in usury, the vital energy can
+continue production, indefinitely.
+
+(_c_) Abolish usury and the instant one ceases to produce he begins to
+consume that which he has earned. He can not live upon the increase of
+his earnings, but he must begin at once to diminish the supply.
+Exacting usury he may consume only the increase and preserve the
+principal untouched. He may not consume all the increase and add the
+remainder to his capital and thus grow richer in decrepit age. Many of
+those who have not inherited wealth, have not been wealthy until
+advanced age. It came to them by the accretions of interest after the
+productive period of life was past.
+
+(_d_) It is not possible to secure perfect equality of conditions. If
+all wealth was equally distributed today differences would begin to
+appear tomorrow. This has seemed to some disheartening and they
+abandon all hope of correcting the evil. They should look deeper and
+promote the natural and God-ordained remedy.
+
+The natural force for the preservation of the level of the ocean is
+gravity. But the surface is seldom smooth. The winds lash it into fury
+and pile high its waves, but gravity pulling upon every drop of water
+tends to draw it back to its place and smooth down the surface again.
+The wind cannot build permanently a mountain of water in the ocean.
+
+The consumption and decay of wealth tends unendingly to equalize the
+conditions of men. In the wild rush of the struggle for supremacy and
+gain, like a whirlwind in the affairs of men, with their diverse gifts
+and tastes and plans, there will be inequalities appearing, but
+consumption and inevitable decay are ever present leveling powers.
+Usury suspends this beneficent law and aggravates the evil, making the
+differences in condition permanent and increasing them.
+
+Do away with usury and there is a natural limitation to riches. The
+rich will find that he can not grow constantly richer; not because he
+is by statute deprived of any personal rights, but he is hindered by
+the natural law embedded in things by the Creator.
+
+Do away with usury and the problem of poverty is solved. If we credit
+vital energy with the increase of wealth and give the laborer all he
+earns, he has a fair and equal chance, and equity requires no more. It
+is justice and opportunity, a fair chance, that the poor need, not
+pity and gifts of charity.
+
+2. Great combines of capital in business and especially in industrial
+trusts are receiving the closest attention of the thoughtful. Some
+regard them as the necessary result of successful and enlarging
+business. Many others regard them as hostile to the public good and
+are anxiously seeking a means of restraining their great and
+increasing power.
+
+These were at the first associations of manufacturers who co-operated
+to maintain prices. In the competitive system there is a constant
+pressure on the part of the consumer for lower prices. The
+manufacturer who is conscientious and a model employer, seeking to
+maintain prices sufficiently high to afford him a profit and living
+wages for his employes, must ever be resisting this pressure. They
+united for this purpose and were benevolent and just in their design.
+But the manufacturers were paying tribute on borrowed capital. They
+must meet the demands of interest on their debts and also the wages of
+their workmen. Between these two they struggled to secure for
+themselves comfortable wages. The capitalists, seeing the advantage of
+this co-operation and the resultant profits, undertook and
+accomplished the combination of their capital to secure for themselves
+the profits at first sought for the operators and their employes.
+
+These great combines are the natural result of successful business
+with the practice of usury. They threaten evil.
+
+The purpose and plan of the present trust is to increase the increase
+of the capital; to make the capital more productive; to bring larger
+returns for the wealth invested.
+
+(_a_) They are not organized for the benefit of the laborer. The
+object is to decrease the cost by producing with less labor. The less
+the labor, other things being equal, the greater the returns for the
+capital invested.
+
+(_b_) They are not organized for the benefit of the consumer. When
+they do favor the consumer it is only incidental and generally
+temporary to meet competition. They make no pretence of being
+benevolent in their purposes. They are organized for the purpose of
+business gain.
+
+(_c_) These capitalists combine their interests because they can
+thereby secure a greater return from their investments than they can
+by operating separately. They combine that they may mutually increase
+the rate of interest or dividends on their capital. This is the motive
+that draws them into coöperation.
+
+The learned and benevolent statesmen, teachers of economy and
+reformers, have not suggested an adequate remedy. The remedy is not
+far to find. Do away with usury and they will fall apart like balls of
+sand; the cohesive power will be gone; the centralization will cease
+and the wealth will speedily return to the various individuals from
+whom it was gathered. This remedy may seem heroic, but it is a
+specific and is the simplest of all possible methods.
+
+3. How to secure a just distribution of the great advantages from
+improved machinery, new inventions and new discoveries, is a problem
+that is engaging the best thought of many of the wise and good. That
+the present distribution is inequitable and unfair; that it gives the
+capitalist an undue advantage over the laborer; that it aggravates the
+difference in conditions, seems generally admitted.
+
+An improved machine, owned by a capitalist, enables one man to do the
+work that formerly required ten. One man is employed and the nine are
+in competition for his place and there is no advance over the wages
+before the machine was introduced. The owner of the machine secures
+the gain. His wealth is greatly increased while the laborer plods on
+with his old wages. With the new machine the one man produces what ten
+men did before, but the product of the nine are credited to the
+machine and becomes the capitalist's gain.
+
+(_a_) The falsehood on which this claim rests must be seen and
+rejected before the evil can be overcome; that the machine is
+productive. It is but a tool in the hands of the one man, who now with
+it produces as much as ten men did without it. If one does the work of
+ten he earns the reward of ten. Because by this machine he multiplies
+his strength, and adds to his efficiency, he can not justly be
+deprived of his full reward.
+
+(_b_) "But the machine is owned by another." His not owning the
+machine does not change its nature and make it a productive force.
+Whether it belongs to him or to another, it is his intelligent vital
+energy that produces all that is produced. The machine is but his tool
+with which he works.
+
+(_c_) "But the machine must be paid for." Certainly, the inventors and
+skilled mechanics, who produced this wonderful tool, should be fully
+compensated, but once paid they have no claim upon it or on what
+another may produce with it. No honest workman objects to paying a
+good price for good tools. It is not the purchase of tools by one set
+of workmen of another that causes the unequal conditions.
+
+(_d_) It is the usurer or interest taker that perverts the conditions.
+
+He lays hold of those great inventions and discoveries, like railroads
+and telegraphs and telephones, and demands a perpetual compensation.
+He asks that the laborer shall be forever buying his tool, yet it
+shall be never bought, that the public shall be forever paying for
+privileges and the obligation remain forever unmet. This is but one of
+the forms of usury, by which wealth is heaped from the earnings of the
+many.
+
+4. The difficulties between employers and their laborers do not cease.
+The continued strikes and lock-outs show how general and deep the
+trouble is. Laborers organize into unions to protect themselves from
+discharge and to promote their interests. They ask for better wages
+and shorter hours. They urge their petition with forceful arguments;
+they make demands with an implied threat; they stop work or "strike."
+Then follows a test of strength and endurance in which both parties
+greatly suffer and both are embittered and neither is satisfied.
+
+The correction of this common evil has received close study from those
+who have the welfare of all classes at heart and wish to be
+benefactors of the race. The remedies have not been thorough but
+superficial, and the benefits temporary. The branches have been cut
+off but they grow again.
+
+(_a_) The complaint of too small wages implies that more is earned
+than is received; but there is no standard recognized by which what a
+man does earn can be measured. The capitalist claims the output as the
+earnings of his capital and his claim is allowed by the workmen. The
+workmen may claim that wages are too small for a comfortable living.
+This is not a plea of free workmen, but of slaves begging to be better
+fed.
+
+(_b_) They may complain of too many hours of labor; but the number of
+hours of labor is arbitrarily fixed. There is no valid constant reason
+why one should wish to work less. In the management of one's own work,
+and the collection of his own earnings, there are times when long
+hours, of the strain of labor, are necessary, and there are other
+times when ease can be taken. With no standard of earnings or time, it
+is impossible to arrive at a just and satisfactory settlement.
+
+The reasons given sound to the employers like the pleadings of
+servants for richer food and more play.
+
+(_c_) The laborer should find a solid basal reason for his demands.
+That will be found only in the utter rejection of the theory and
+practice of usury.
+
+The selfishness of human nature will remain; conflicts between men in
+all conditions and all businesses will remain; feuds and rivalries
+will remain; but when employer and employe are enabled to see that
+capital is dead, and decaying, and that all the earnings above its
+preservation belong to the laborers, there will be a recognized and
+true basis upon which the rightful claims of each can be adjusted.
+
+(_d_) In a co-operative shop, where the workmen are the owners, each
+receives his share of the gains. With usury done away it is possible
+for workmen, who are poor, to ultimately become the owners, by the
+accumulation of earnings, but under the pull of the usurers,
+continually appropriating the earnings, they are doomed to hopeless
+poverty.
+
+5. There is a widespread determination to overcome the evil of war.
+Non-combatants are numerous and peace societies are organized in all
+lands. Their literature is widely distributed and their petitions, for
+the preservation of peace, are poured upon every "power" that is
+thought to have an occasion, or a disposition, to engage in warfare.
+The waste of treasure and blood, the cruelties and suffering that are
+a military necessity, are pleaded in favor of peace. The shame of
+intelligent rational men settling differences with brute force is
+presented.
+
+The unchristian spirit, that in this age of light and saving grace
+should be so wanting in brotherly love as to wish to destroy those who
+harm us, is deprecated.
+
+When differences do arise between nations, they urge a just settlement
+or mutual concessions. Or if one is found to be unreasonable, unjust
+and oppressive, it is better and more christian-like, they claim, to
+endure hardness, submitting under protest, than by force, which the
+Master forbade, attempt to establish righteousness.
+
+Rulers of the greatest nations on the earth have become conscious of
+the cruel burdens upon their people, in the support of their great
+armaments. On the invitation of the Czar of Russia, peace
+commissioners from many nations recently met in The Hague, to devise
+means by which the burdens of armaments might be diminished and actual
+warfare avoided. This peace council advised that differences be
+submitted to arbitration, but while it was yet speaking two Christian
+powers, began open war, without having so "decent a regard to the
+opinions of mankind" as to make known to the world the cause of their
+conflict. Wars continue, and among the most highly civilized and
+enlightened and christianized, in the face of the arguments and advice
+and pleadings of non-combatants and peace societies and peace
+commissions.
+
+Mammon, a sordid greed of gain, is now on the world's throne and
+directs the movements of the nations in peace or war.
+
+His purposes may be often accomplished in peace by purchases of
+territory for which interest bearing bonds are issued. The irritation
+or hurts between peoples may be molified and healed by indemnities,
+which also serve his purpose because they necessitate the incurring of
+a bonded debt, interest bearing. But the history of the world for
+centuries proves that a condition of war is Mammon's opportunity to
+foist a debt upon a free people and to increase the burden of those
+whose bonds he already holds.
+
+His ears are deaf to advice and reason, when material and commercial
+advantages are to be secured. He cares not for human suffering and
+shed blood, if riches can be increased. When concessions can be
+secured, and mortgages placed, and a people exploited with profit, the
+cry of suffering, the pleading for pity and the call for justice are
+all in vain.
+
+To stop these modern wars they must be made unprofitable to Mammon.
+When they are made to deplete his treasury and to waste his wealth,
+instead of increasing it, he will call a halt in strife, and the
+gentle spirit of peace will be permitted to hover over the nations.
+
+Away with national debts and interest bearing bonds, which are the
+delight of the usurers. Make present wealth bear the burden of present
+duty. Try the patriotism of the usurers by making war a real
+sacrifice of their wealth, while the blood of others is being poured
+upon the field. Do not permit war to be an advantage to the rich to
+increase his riches. A patriot's life is given and it goes out
+forever, let wealth be no more sacred than life; let it not be
+borrowed but consumed. Let the rich grow poorer as the war goes on,
+let there be a facing of utter poverty, as the patriot faces death on
+the field.
+
+While Mammon is permitted this usury, his chief tool, he will use it
+for the oppression of the world. He will direct the movements among
+the nations to further his ends, although it may require a conflict
+between the most christianized and enlightened of the earth. The
+nations will be directed in peace or put in motion in war to make
+wealth increase.
+
+Give wealth its true place as a perishable thing, instead of a
+productive life, and wars will cease in all the earth. The holders of
+the wealth of the world will never urge nor encourage war, when the
+property destroyed is their own and not to be replaced. When wars are
+no longer the usurer's opportunity, but the consumption of his wealth,
+Mammon himself will beg that swords may be beaten into plow-shares and
+spears into pruning-hooks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+PER CONTRA; CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS.
+
+
+Every argument favoring the continuance of the practice of usury can
+be met from the propositions established in the preceding chapters.
+Indeed, there are no true arguments to be presented in its favor.
+Truth is consistent with truth. We are not placed in a dilemma and
+compelled to decide which are the strongest of the arguments arrayed
+against each other. We are not deciding which is the greater of two
+blessings nor which the less of two evils, but this is a question of
+evil or good, of sin or righteousness. If usury is wrong then every
+argument brought forward to support it is a falsehood, though it may
+be covered with a very beautiful and attractive and plausible form in
+its presentation.
+
+1. The old Wilson Catechism published in Dundee in 1737 is perhaps the
+most familiar defense.
+
+    "Q. Is the gaining of money by usury unlawful?
+
+    "A. Yes, Prov. 28:8. Psalm 15:5.
+
+    "Q. What is usury?
+
+    "A. The taking unlawful profit for money that is lent out.
+
+    "Q. Is it lawful to take any interest or gain for money lent?
+
+    "A. Yes, when it is taken according to the laws of the land, and
+    from these who make gain by it, by trading or purchasing of
+    lands; seeing it is equally just for the owner of money to ask a
+    share of the profit which others make by it, as for the owner
+    of the land to demand farm from the tenant of it, money being
+    improvable by art and labor as well as land.
+
+    "Q. What is the unlawful profit for money, which may be called
+    usury?
+
+    "A. The taking profit for money from the poor who borrow for
+    mere necessity, or taking needful things from them in pawn for
+    it; or the taking more profit for any than law allows, as these
+    who take ten, fifteen, or twenty in the hundred. Exod. 22:25,
+    26. Deut. 24:12, 17. Ezek. 18:7, 8.
+
+    "Q. But were not the people of Israel discharged to take any
+    usury or profit for lent money from their brethren? Deut. 23:19.
+
+    "A. This law seems to have been peculiar to the Jewish state,
+    and that in regard of their estates being so divided, settled,
+    and secured to their families by the year jubilee, and their not
+    being employed in trading or making purchases like other
+    nations, so that they had no occasion to borrow money but for
+    the present subsistence of their families. But for strangers,
+    who had another way of living, the Israelites were allowed to
+    lend upon usury, and to share with them in their profits, Deut.
+    23:20, which shows that the taking of interest is not oppressive
+    in itself; for they are frequently prohibited to oppress a
+    stranger, and yet allowed to take usury from him. Exod. 22:21,
+    and 23:9."
+
+The reader will notice that the definition of usury is defective. The
+reader will also notice that there are no Scripture references given
+to prove that any interest can be taken. This is singular, since
+throughout the Catechism Scripture references are profuse in
+confirmation of the answers. If a single passage had been found that
+could be twisted into an approval the reference would have been given.
+He rests the permission to take usury wholly on human reason, though
+in direct opposition to the Scripture references he had first given
+to prove that the gaining of wealth by usury was unlawful. He does not
+claim to get this answer from the Bible. He rests this answer on the
+law of the land and the purposes of the borrower, and says it is not
+worse than taking a rental for land anyway.
+
+The questions with regard to the customs of the people of Israel are
+completely met in the Second and Third Chapters of this book.
+
+Fisher, also, we find from his catechism published in 1753, thought it
+necessary to make some excuse for the custom in his time. High
+interest he finds condemned, but moderate interest he tries to defend.
+
+    "Q. 32. What is it to take usury, according to the proper
+    signification of the word?
+
+    "A. It is to take gain, profit, or interest, for the loan of
+    money.
+
+    "Q. 33. What kind of usury or interest is lawful?
+
+    "A. That which is moderate, easy, and no way oppressive. Deut.
+    23:20, compared with Ex. 22:21.
+
+    "Q. 34. How do you prove that moderate usury is lawful?
+
+    "A. From the very light of nature, which teaches, that since the
+    borrower proposes to gain by the loan, the lender should have a
+    reasonable share of his profit, as a recompense for the use of
+    his money, which he might otherwise have disposed of to his own
+    advantage. 1 Cor. 8:13.
+
+    "Q. 35. What is the usury condemned in scripture and by what
+    reason?
+
+    "A. It is the exacting of more interest or gain for the loan of
+    money, than is settled by universal consent, and the laws of the
+    land. Prov. 28:8. 'He that by usury, and unjust gain,
+    increaseth his substance, shall gather it for him that will pity
+    the poor.'
+
+    "Q. 36. How do you prove from scripture, that moderate usury, or
+    common interest, is not oppression in itself?
+
+    "A. From the express command laid upon the Israelites not to
+    oppress a stranger, Ex. 23:9; and yet their being allowed to
+    take usury from him, Deut. 23:20; which they would not have been
+    permitted to do, if there had been an intrinsic evil in the
+    thing itself.
+
+    "Q. 37. Is it warrantable to take interest from the poor?
+
+    "A. By no means; for, if such as are honest, and in needy
+    circumstances, borrow a small sum towards a livelihood, and
+    repay it in due time, it is all that can be expected of them;
+    and therefore the demanding of any profit or interest, or even
+    taking any of their necessaries of life in pledge, for the sum,
+    seems to be plainly contrary to the law of charity. Ex.
+    22:25-28. Ps. 15:5.
+
+    "Q. 38. Were not the Israelites forbidden to take usury from
+    their brethren, whether poor or rich? Deut. 23:19: 'Thou shalt
+    not lend upon usury to thy brother.'
+
+    "A. This text is to be restricted to their poor brethren, as it
+    is explained, Ex. 22:25, and Lev. 25:35, 36; or, if it respects
+    the Israelites indifferently, then it is one of the judicial
+    laws peculiar to that people, and of no binding force now."
+
+In the answer to the 34th question he appeals to the light of nature.
+That light, as he interprets it, may be applied as follows. We follow
+his language closely and his argument perfectly.
+
+From the very light of nature which teaches, that since the borrower
+of the hoe purposes to dig his own garden with it, the lender should
+have a reasonable amount of his garden dug, as a recompense for the
+use of the hoe, which he might otherwise have used himself to dig his
+own garden.
+
+Fisher confirms his conclusion with a Scripture reference but it is so
+irrelevant that it would seem Wilson was wiser in omitting Scripture
+reference altogether. 1 Cor. 8:13, "Wherefore, if meat make my brother
+to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my
+brother to offend."
+
+The only explanation the writer ever saw or heard of, that was
+seriously made was this: "If using my brother's money without interest
+offends him, then I will never while the world standeth accept his
+money without interest lest I make my brother to offend." If this is
+the intended application then it may be further applied. If using a
+brother's money at six per cent. offends him then I will surely give
+him ten per cent. lest I cause my brother offence. Could there be a
+more absurd application of a Scripture passage?
+
+The later theologians have seldom mentioned usury and none have
+discussed it at any length, and no divine to our knowledge has
+undertaken a defence. The "Systematic Theology" of Dr. Charles Hodge
+is perhaps the most elaborate and exhaustive. He does not more than
+refer to usury; he does not even mention it by name. But in his
+discussion of the violation of the eighth commandment, he ridicules
+the idea that "a thing is worth what it is worth to the man who
+demands it." He says: "If this be so, then if a man perishing from
+thirst is willing to give his whole estate for a glass of water it is
+right to exact that price; or if a man in danger of drowning should
+offer a thousand dollars for a rope, we might refuse to throw it to
+him for a less reward. Such conduct every man feels is worthy of
+execration."
+
+He closes the discussion of the eighth commandment with this
+significant and emphatic sentence: "Many who have stood well in
+society and even in the church will be astonished at the last day to
+find the word 'Thieves' written after their names in the great book of
+judgment."
+
+2. "To prohibit usury is revolutionary."
+
+Revolutions are not necessarily evil. They have been justified in all
+the ages to overthrow tyranny and oppression and to secure freedom and
+establish justice. Oppressors and evil-doers in power have ever been
+anxious to maintain the "statu quo": that is, to be let alone. The
+"Man of Galilee" is the prince of revolutionists. He has overthrown
+and turned down the civilizations of the world and has brought in his
+own, called by his name, Christian civilization. His followers were
+revolutionists. The idolatrous craftsmen of Ephesus, not wishing to be
+disturbed in their profitable business, in order to defeat the work of
+Paul and his associates, raised the cry of revolution. "These that
+have turned the world upside down have come hither also."
+
+The things that are wrong side up must be revolved. When material
+things are found superior to true manhood and womanhood, they must be
+reversed. When the works of men's hands are given a place above the
+hands that formed them, when the results of labor are given a place
+above the vital energy of the laborer, there is call for revolution.
+
+But this revolution should be the most peaceful the world ever saw.
+This need not require the destruction of any property nor the shedding
+of one drop of blood. It need interfere with no man's rights nor
+enforce upon any man a burden he should not be willing to bear. A man
+is not interfering with the rights of another when he is paying his
+debts, and a man should not feel that there is placed upon him a
+burden he is unwilling to carry, when his own property is returned to
+him. Yet that is the ultimate, the extreme goal, to be reached by the
+abolition of usury; every man free from debt and every man caring for
+his own property.
+
+3. "If usury is not permitted, the great modern enterprises are
+impossible."
+
+A great modern enterprise that is not for the general good has no
+right to be. Splendid enterprises are often made possible by the
+sacrifice of the welfare of the many for the interests of the few. The
+splendid plantations of the southern states flourished in time of
+slavery, when the labor of many was subordinate to the welfare of one.
+They are not now possible; yet the present and future general good is
+better secured by the sacrifice of the splendid past. A splendid
+military campaign is only possible by the complete subordination of
+the many to the will and order of the commanding head. One hundred
+thousand in an army is now receiving the attention of the world. One
+hundred thousand in happy homes are commonplace. The pyramids are
+splendid monuments, but they were not a blessing to the slaves, who
+built them.
+
+Splendid enterprises in which the few command the many may be an
+unmitigated curse.
+
+    "Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey
+    The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay;
+    'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand,
+    Between a splendid and a happy land."
+
+No enterprise, however brilliant, can be in the model state, that
+blesses the few by the losses of the many.
+
+Great and benign enterprises are possible without usury. There is no
+greater enterprise than the postal system in this land and extending
+to all the nations in the postal union. You owe it nothing; like poor
+Richard, "you pay as you go." It owes nothing, pays no interest and
+renders a great service for the small amount you pay. It is a standing
+illustration of the success of a strictly cash business.
+
+The great benevolent missionary enterprises, that send their
+messengers to all lands, over the whole earth, receive and disburse
+the gifts of the benevolent. Their work is not interrupted, but
+continues from age to age.
+
+The commerce of the world can be carried on just as effectively
+without usury. A mortgage does not make a farm more productive nor
+does a bonded debt make a railroad or a navigation company more
+efficient. The railroads and express and telegraph and telephone and
+other enterprises are greatly hindered in the service of the public by
+the tribute they are returning to the usurers. Had this farmer not
+this mortgage he could improve his farm and bring from his land better
+results. Were it not for the unceasing drain upon the income of great
+enterprises to meet the interest on bonds, the properties could be
+improved and the public better served at greatly reduced rates. Indeed
+the most successful enterprises are now operated by the owners.
+
+4. "It will be hard to borrow, if you will not pay interest."
+
+It would be a happy condition if no one should want to borrow except
+in urgent need from an accidental strait; if that old independent,
+self-reliant spirit that refused to be indebted to any man could be
+universal, that preferred frank and honest poverty in a cabin, to a
+sham affluence in a mortgaged palace.
+
+It should be hard to borrow, but easy to pay. Usury makes it easy to
+borrow, but hard to repay. Usurers even make it attractive and entice
+the victim into the trap of debt and then it is all but impossible to
+find a way out. An honest, industrious man of good habits must be ever
+on the alert or he will be entangled, sooner or later, with debts.
+
+It will not be harder for an honest man, who is in need, to borrow.
+He will not be able to borrow more than his need requires. The debt
+will not increase during the period of disability, and it will be
+easier to repay without increase. The usurer requires more than
+honesty for the security of his loan. The loan to him is precious
+seed, that must be planted where it will grow. To merely have the loan
+returned without increase does not meet his claim. To remit the
+increase, to make it easier for the poor debtor to pay, he would
+regard as a positive loss to himself and a gift to his victim. The
+usurer prefers rich debtors, who have abundant property to secure the
+loan and its increase.
+
+There is a despised class of pawn usurers who prey upon the poor. They
+are regarded as robbers of the poor in their distresses, but their
+business would be impossible, were it not that all avenues of relief
+are closed by usury; "interest must be paid anywhere; why not borrow
+of them though the rates are high?" The moral quality of the act is
+the same; the difference is wholly in the degree of turpitude.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+PER CONTRA; LAND RENTALS.
+
+
+"If no interest should be charged on money, then no rents should be
+collected."
+
+The early Christian apologists for usury, who felt it imperative to
+explain why it was permitted and practiced among Christians, found few
+arguments. They all agreed that the letter and spirit of the
+Scriptures forbade lending to the poor, upon interest. They also found
+it impossible to show from reason the right of money to an increase,
+but as money can readily be changed into other forms of property, as
+lands, they reversed the arguments; beginning with the assumed premise
+that it is right to charge rental for lands, and as money may
+represent lands, it is therefore right, they say, to charge interest
+on money.
+
+"It seems as lawful for a man to receive interest for money, which
+another takes pains with, improves, but runs the hazard in trade, as
+it is to receive rent for our land, which another takes pains with,
+improves, but runs the hazard of in husbandry."
+
+True logic would have led them to reason forward from the truth they
+had determined; that there is no valid reason justifying interest on
+money. Resting on this truth, and then discovering that money may
+represent lands, the necessary conclusion must be, that land rentals
+are without justice. Reversing the order of their argument, they
+assumed a false premise, and from it attempted to prove true the very
+proposition they had found to be false.
+
+There is the usury of lands as well as of "money or victuals."
+
+Forty years ago the Omaha Indians went across the river and cut some
+fine grass growing on open land, and carried it to their reservation.
+The owner of the land, living in a distant state, learning of this,
+claimed pay of the Indians and brought suit against them before the
+agent to recover it. The Indians admitted that they had cut and taken
+the grass; they also admitted its value. Their defense was that this
+man had no right superior to theirs. This was a natural growth that
+had cost him no labor, and they had not injured the land. Their
+speaker said, "If the man had dug the land and planted it in corn and
+hoed and tended the corn, the corn would have been his; but the Great
+Spirit made the grass grow and this man gave it no labor nor care; the
+buffalo or the cattle could eat it. Have we not the rights of the
+cattle? This man has no right to it."
+
+The agent decided against them and compelled them to pay the man. They
+were much dissatisfied and felt they were unjustly treated and
+oppressed, because they had to pay that which the man had never
+earned. The red men were not versed in legal statutes nor educated in
+the tutelage of usury, but it can not be denied that they interpreted
+very accurately the law written in the reason and conscience: that no
+man has any especial claim to that which he has not earned.
+
+The convictions of white men, and their method of compelling absentee
+owners to pay for the increase in value of their lands, came under the
+writer's observation in a new settlement near the Indians'
+reservation. He found three poor families in a district. They had
+little land and extremely plain homes, but there was a good
+school-house and a good school and an expensive bridge had been built
+across a stream to enable one of the families to reach it. Enquiring
+how they could afford to erect such improvements and support such a
+school, they replied that the lands all around them were owned by
+absentees, speculators in the east, who were holding the lands for the
+advance in value, which they, in their struggling poverty, should make
+by the improvement of the country, when they would gather in an
+"unearned increment." They said they had the power to levy taxes for
+bridges and for schools and they had determined to make the absentees
+in this way compensate them, in part, for the increment they were
+earning for them.
+
+The conviction of right and justice in the white settler did not
+differ from the innate and untutored argument of the Indian. The
+Indians felt oppressed because they were compelled to pay the man for
+what that man had never earned. The white settlers determined to
+thwart the purpose of the absentee owners to gain an increment from
+their sacrifice and labor.
+
+The landlord has a right to all that he has produced. When he has
+cleared away the forest or broken up the land; when he has planted the
+vineyard and builded the winepress, he has a right to let this out to
+husbandmen to gather the fruits of his preparation and planting and to
+share with them in the proportion each has contributed to the
+production, but to hold all that he himself has produced and yet claim
+a part of the product of another, is usury. A farmer retires from his
+farm because no longer able or willing to continue its cultivation. He
+has an undisputed right to a full reward for all his own labor, and
+for all he has purchased from others that he leaves in the farm. There
+must be a compensation for the transformation of the wilderness into a
+farm at the first, for the fertility that may have been added to the
+soil, for the orchards, vineyards, houses, barns and every improvement
+he may have made and left on the farm. He has an undisputed right to
+all the labor remaining in the farm. If he sells he expects
+compensation for all this.
+
+But if he sells, he must begin at once to consume its price, unless he
+becomes a usurer and is supported by the interest. If he does not
+sell, but retains his farm, he must also begin at once to consume the
+farm.
+
+For him to demand of his tenant that the farm shall remain as valuable
+as when he left it, the soil not permitted to become less fertile,
+the buildings to be kept from decay and restored when destroyed, the
+orchards to be kept vigorous and young by the planting of new trees
+and vines; in short, the farm to be preserved in full value and yet
+pay a rental, is usury in land.
+
+The preservation of a farm or land and its restoration to the owner
+unimpaired after a term of years involves far more than persons not
+informed suppose. It seems to them unreasonable to farm a field and
+only return the unimpaired field to the owner.
+
+While land is stable and possibly the most easily preserved of all
+forms of property, at least a thief cannot carry it away, yet the
+preservation of land involves great care and risk.
+
+The taking of any crop from any land reduces its fertility. On the
+virgin, western fertile lands the farmers laughed at the thought that
+they should ever need to return fertilizers, but it was only a few
+years until they yearned for the fertility they had extravagantly
+wasted. Buildings inevitably decay and they may be destroyed by fire
+or storm. Orchards may be overturned by a cyclone or be destroyed by
+blight or by the thousand enemies of the various varieties of fruit
+trees. The land may be injured by washing that may require years to
+repair. A single storm has destroyed fields in this way that never can
+be restored. Noxious weeds take possession of land that can only be
+eradicated by infinite pains. In this state certain weeds are
+declared outlaws and must be destroyed by the farmer for the
+protection of his neighbors. The farmer in this locality must have an
+alert eye for Canada thistles and oxeye daisy. It often causes more
+labor to eradicate them than the land is worth on which they are
+growing.
+
+If the annual renter was required to give bond for the return of the
+farm unimpaired, returning that which the crops and time must consume
+and destroy, taking all risks of every character upon himself, a
+thoughtful man, though poor and needing the opportunity, would
+hesitate. It might involve him in an obligation he could not discharge
+in his whole life through conditions and providences over which he has
+no control.
+
+Practically in this country the owner renting a farm from year to year
+does consume it. It begins at once to decline in fertility, the
+improvements begin to fall into decay, weeds take possession, washes
+occur and are not repaired, and in a few years the half of the value
+is gone. The owner is fortunate if he has received in rentals
+sufficient to restore its former value.
+
+Under a system of perpetual tenantry the case is different. If the
+fertility declines it is the tenant's loss. The improvements are his
+and may be sold as one could sell ordinary farm tools, but not to be
+removed. If they are impaired or destroyed it does not affect the
+annual rental.
+
+The landed proprietor in city or country, who has permanent tenants,
+who are required to make every improvement and keep up perfectly the
+fertility, and who pay an annual rental, is in the same class as those
+who are receiving annual interest. The landlord practically holds a
+perpetual mortgage, and the rental is the interest or increase exacted
+generation after generation.
+
+The debtor working under a mortgage is cheered by the hope that he may
+be able, some day, to lift it, but the perpetual tenant on entailed
+lands knows that he is doomed to hopeless tenantry. He can never own
+the land and he is in the power of the landlord, who is often
+oppressive.
+
+Calvin, in his letter of apology for usury of money, speaks of the
+injustice of the landlords in requiring a rental for "some barren
+farm" and of the "harsher" conditions imposed upon the tenants. Indeed
+his whole argument, when summed up, is, that the usury of lands is
+more cruel and oppressive than the usury of money.
+
+While it is not yet true in America, yet considering the landlordships
+of Ireland and Great Britain and the older countries, with their
+unremitted exactions, grinding the life out of their tenants for a
+mere subsistence, it is likely that the race is today suffering more
+from the injustice and oppression of usury of land than from the usury
+of money.
+
+The land question is too large for one short chapter or for one small
+book. It requires more and deeper study than the subject has ever yet
+received. The ownership of lands cannot be absolute; it must be
+limited by the rights of those who live upon them, but the limitations
+have never yet been clearly defined. If a man has a right to live he
+must have a right to a place to live. If a child has a right to be
+born it must have a right to a place to be born. It cannot be that the
+mass of our race only touch the earth by the sufferance of those who
+claim to own it.
+
+The unprecedented rapidity of the development of this country is owing
+more to its wise and beneficent land laws than to anything else. They
+are not perfect but the most favorable to the landless that the world
+has ever known. No landlordism, no binding up lands by entail to make
+it forever impossible to gain a title to a portion of the soil, but
+our land laws, wisely devised, gave hope of a home to the homeless
+everywhere. The result was that our people from the eastern part of
+our own country, and the landless from across the seas, swarmed over
+the mountains and filled the Ohio valley and pushed on to the great
+Mississippi and Missouri valleys, and in three generations have
+transformed this waste into happy homes. The possession of land, of a
+home, ennobles the character, produces a patriotic love of this
+country and stimulates devotion to her institutions. The landless
+foreigner who makes here a home of his own is unwavering in his
+loyalty to the country of his adoption. Those foreigners, who do not
+fall in love with our institutions and do not become assimilated with
+our people, are tenants here as they were before they came here. They
+are not attached to our soil; they do not secure homes of their own
+and are therefore restless and a menace.
+
+A dangerous tendency has been developing throughout our whole land in
+these later years. The usury of lands is on the increase. Tenantry is
+becoming more common on the farms in the country, while the mass of
+our city populations are living in rented houses or flats or crowded
+tenements.
+
+The yearning for a home of one's own is deeply imbedded in human
+nature. To be denied the privilege of living in one's own house is one
+of the greatest trials of a life. This tendency to tenantry is not
+because our people have come to care less for a home of their own, but
+the conditions are not such as to make a purchase of a home
+profitable; the interest on the purchase price is greater than the
+usury of the land or rental. The natural and desirable state is for
+every family to own and occupy their home, and those conditions should
+be encouraged which make it unprofitable for any one to own real
+property he does not himself occupy, and which make it easy and
+profitable for every family to own their own home.
+
+When all lands are owned by those who occupy them, the prophet Micah's
+picture of the millennial dawn will be realized. Every man shall sit
+under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one shall molest
+him or make him afraid, by demanding a rental or by serving a writ of
+ejectment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+PER CONTRA; POLITICAL ECONOMIST.
+
+
+The students of political economy are not always reformers. It is not
+their purpose nor the object of their studies to transform society.
+They only endeavor to explain why things are as they are. They find
+the taking of usury all but universal, and they endeavor to give the
+reasons for the prevailing custom. The subject is usually but slightly
+touched upon and dismissed with a few sentences.
+
+Few economists claim that interest or rental is a part of the cost of
+production. They mostly affirm that it is no part of production; that
+it is merely the price paid for the opportunity to produce. The lender
+of money makes a loan to the borrower and thus gives him a better
+opportunity to produce than he had before. The landlord for the rental
+withdraws his hand from over his land and gives the renter the
+opportunity to produce a harvest.
+
+In justification, or at least in explanation of this exaction for an
+opportunity, three reasons are usually given. These may be briefly
+stated as risk, time and abstinence.
+
+1. There is some risk in every investment. There is a possibility that
+the most honest, industrious and careful debtor may by some
+misfortune not be able to return the loan and it would therefore be
+lost. To guard against this the usurer requires the rate of interest
+to be graded by the measure of risk.
+
+This is claimed to be of the nature of insurance, the borrower paying
+the premium. The profits of insurance are secured by collecting a
+larger premium than necessary to pay all losses. On this theory, the
+gain of usury is in the excess that can be secured of increase over
+the amounts lost.
+
+This is the reverse of insurance. Insurance is the payment by an owner
+of property to a company who guarantees its preservation. Usury is the
+payment by the company to the owner for the privilege of guaranteeing
+that he shall not suffer loss.
+
+Business involves a risk usually covered by insurance, but no honest
+man expects to make a profit out of his insurance.
+
+2. A loan is made for a more or less extended time. Time is therefore
+claimed to be a ground for usury charges.
+
+This claim rests on the assumption that time will increase wealth. But
+time is the great destroyer; time does not make gardens and farms, but
+covers them with weeds and sends them back to a wilderness; time does
+not erect a house, but pulls it down; time does not build a city, but
+causes it to crumble and a few ages buries it under the dust; time
+does not "incubate eggs, but turns them putrid; it does not transform
+into fowls. If eggs are developed into chickens the difference between
+eggs and chickens is the reward of the incubator."
+
+Aside from the spirit of benevolence and sympathy with the needy there
+are three selfish reasons why a time loan may be made. First, the
+owner has no present need of it and wishes to be rid of its care.
+Second, the owner shall need it at a distant date and he wishes it
+preserved intact against that time. But these afford no ground for a
+charge of increase. He who stands and resists the ravages of time
+until the day it is needed does a positive service and deserves a
+reward. Third, the lender wishes to appropriate the earnings of
+another during the period of time given. This is the usurer's reason,
+and were it not for this time would lose its importance as an element;
+it is certain that long time loans would not be so attractive.
+
+3. "The reward of abstinence" is a reward for refraining from
+consuming one's own wealth.
+
+"You can not have your cake and eat it. If you do not eat it, you have
+your cake, but not a cake and a half. Not a cake and a quarter
+tomorrow, dunce, however abstinent you may be, only the cake you have,
+if the mice do not eat it in the night."--Ruskin.
+
+The usual illustration is that of Jacob. He practiced abstinence in
+refraining from eating the bowl of pottage and giving it to his
+hungry brother. The reward of his abstinence was his brother's
+birthright.
+
+If I do not take my soup now it is a great favor to have it preserved
+for me and served later, not cold and stale, but fresh and hot. If I
+deny myself now, for any cause, I can ask no more than that my meal
+shall be served, perfectly, later. This was all that Jacob could in
+justice demand of Esau.
+
+It should be remembered, that because Jacob took Esau's birthright, as
+a reward of his abstinence, he was accounted a robber, was compelled
+to flee from his home, and not for twenty years see his father's face;
+that the consciousness of this sin and of the merited vengeance of the
+brother, whom he thereby defrauded and whom he thought was on his
+track, caused that night of struggle when he could not let the angel
+go, until he had his promise of deliverance.
+
+Abstinence, to be benevolent, must be an act of personal loving
+self-sacrifice for another. Benevolent abstinence is its own reward
+and asks no more. Abstinence in hope of gain, denying himself while
+another is using his wealth, cannot be regarded as an act of
+benevolence, but of a selfish grovelling greed; more gratified to see
+his wealth increase than to himself enjoy its use. That is the spirit
+of the miser and receives the contempt of all right thinking people.
+
+That the political economists are right in their analysis of the
+common thought of usury; that risk, time and abstinence are the
+elements of its basis in the popular mind, may not be denied, but if
+these are in fact the elements, then usury has no standing in equity
+and must be condemned by every enlightened conscience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+USURY IN HISTORY.
+
+
+It would require volumes to fully present the history of usury. A very
+brief summary must suffice in this place. Yet this synopsis may serve
+as a guide to those who may wish to pursue the investigation further
+and who have access to any considerable library of general and
+ecclesiastical history.
+
+The exacting of usury has always been more or less practiced, and
+there has always been a contention against it as impolitic and wrong.
+In heathendom the philosophers and economists and common people were
+usually arrayed against it, and the voice of christendom has been
+practically unanimous in its denunciation until the 17th century. (For
+History of Usury in the Church, see Chapter X.)
+
+Greece: Greece had no laws forbidding usury. The trade in money was
+left, like the trade in every thing else, without legal restraint. The
+law declared that the usurer should not demand a higher rate than that
+fixed by the original contract; it also advised "Let the usury on
+money be moderate." One per cent. per month was the usual rate.
+
+There were among the Greeks at various times thoughtful men, who
+violently opposed the taking of increase. Solon, of aristocratic
+blood, but with strong sympathies for the oppressed classes, led a
+Nehemiah-like reformation. Solon was wise and patriotic. His name is a
+synonym for unselfish devotion to the public good. He was given
+authority in Greece in times of great financial distress. Debts were
+increasing. Mortgage stones were erected at the borders of each tract
+of land, giving the name of the creditor and the amount of his claim.
+The interest could not be paid. Interest taking had concentrated the
+wealth and power of the state in a few hands. The farmer lost all hope
+and was only a laborer on the farm he once owned. The debtor who had
+no farm to work for his creditor was yet in a worse condition; he was
+the mere slave of his creditor and could be sold by him. The free
+farmers were fast disappearing. The most of them were struggling with
+miserable poverty. Solon at once came to the relief of this suffering
+class. He released those who were enslaved and brought back those who
+had been sold abroad. The great work of Solon for this oppressed class
+has caused his name to be revered by all who have studied the history
+of his times.
+
+Plato opposed usury, but he does not give extended reasons. Also the
+philosopher, Aristotle. His name is yet illustrious in the departments
+of natural and moral science and economics. With regard to usury he
+said: "Of all modes of accumulation, the worst and most unnatural is
+interest. This is the utmost corruption of artificial degeneracy;
+standing in the same relation to commerce that commerce does to
+economy. By commerce money is perverted from the purpose of exchange
+to that of gain; still this gain is occasioned by the mutual transfer
+of different objects; but interest, by transferring merely the same
+object from one hand to another generates money from money, and the
+product thus generated is called offspring (toxos) as being precisely
+the same nature as that from which it proceeds."
+
+Rome: In the early ages of Rome there were no laws regulating the
+loans of money. The practice was common and was one of the most
+frequent subjects of popular complaint. In the celebrated secession of
+the lower classes of the people to Mons Sacer, when civil strife and
+fraternal bloodshed was threatened, the loudest outcry was against the
+oppression of exhorbitant interest exacted by wealthy citizens of
+those who were obliged to borrow. The common rate was twelve per cent.
+per annum. This is inferred from the fact that six per cent. was
+called half interest and three per cent. one-fourth interest.
+
+The early records of Rome prove conclusively the odium attached to the
+business of money-lending for profit. In the codification of laws in
+the fifth century B.C. the rate of usury was fixed at one per cent.
+per month. This limitation of usury was enacted after a long and
+bitter contest between the rich lenders and the poorer classes.
+
+A compromise seems to have been made in the assigned punishments. The
+laws for the collection of debts and the punishment of exacting more
+than the law permitted were alike extremely cruel.
+
+The creditors of an insolvent debtor were given the power of cutting
+his body in pieces and the power of selling his children into slavery.
+The penalty of taking more than this legal interest was punished with
+more severity than theft. The thief must restore double, but the
+usurer must restore fourfold. This we learn from Cato's treatise on
+"Agriculture." Cato's own opinion of usury is shown in the answer
+which he made when he was asked what he thought of usury, his reply
+was, "What do you think of murder?"
+
+Nearly a hundred years later the Licinian law forbade all increase. A
+little later we find the one-half of one per cent. permitted by law.
+Then under Sylla the legal rate is made three per cent. In the time of
+Antony and Cleopatra it is four per cent. For a time there was utter
+confusion and intolerably oppressive rates prevailed. Horace, in his
+Satires, speaks of one lending at sixty per cent. In the reign of
+Tiberius Cæsar, Rome was again shaken with another usury sedition, an
+uprising of the people against the usurers. The law was finally
+adjusted in the Justinian Code, by a compromise permitting six per
+cent. and severely restraining the exorbitant rates.
+
+Three hundred and twenty-three years B.C., Livy speaks of a creditor
+who kept his debtor in irons, claiming, besides the debt, the interest
+which he exacted with greatest severity. It was soon after decreed
+that this cruelty should end and that no citizen should be placed in
+irons or sold into slavery for debt.
+
+At the close of the republic the rate was twenty-four per cent.
+
+England: In the earliest periods of which we have any records we find
+that the doctrine, that letting money to hire was sinful, prevailed
+universally over the island of Great Britain. It was the prevailing
+opinion that interest, or usury, as it was then called, was unjust
+gain, forbidden by divine law, and which a good Christian could
+neither receive nor pay. In common law the practice of taking increase
+was classed among the lowest crimes against public morals. So odious
+was it among Christians that the practice was confined almost wholly
+to the Jews, who did not exact usury of Jews but of the Christians.
+
+The laws of King Alfred, about 900 A.D., directed that the effects of
+money-lenders upon usury should be forfeited to the king, their lands
+to the lords under whom they were held, and they should not be buried
+in consecrated ground.
+
+By the laws of Edward the Confessor, about 1050 A.D., the usurer
+forfeited all his property and was declared an outlaw and banished
+from England. In the reign of Henry II, about the close of the
+twelfth century, the estates of usurers were forfeited at their death
+and their children were disinherited.
+
+His successor, Richard I, was yet more severe, forbidding the usurers
+attending his coronation, nor would he protect them from mob violence.
+
+During the thirteenth century the severities against the usurers were
+not relaxed. King John confiscated their gathered wealth without
+scruple. It is recorded that he exacted an enormous fine of a Jew in
+Bristol for his usuries, and when the Jew refused to pay he ordered
+one of his teeth to be drawn daily until he should pay. The Jew is
+said to have endured the pulling of seven, but then weakened and paid
+the fine.
+
+Henry III was equally harsh and severe in his measures. He exacted all
+he could and then turned them over to the Earl of Cornwall. "The one
+flayed and the other emboweled." It is written in the chronicles of
+England, 1251 A.D., "By such usurers and licentious liurs as belong to
+him, the realme had alreadie become sore corrupted."
+
+In the fourteenth century, under the three Edwards, the taking of
+interest was an indictable offence and Edward III made it a capital
+crime.
+
+In the fifteenth century, under Henry VII, the penalty was fixed at
+one hundred pounds and the penalty of the church added, which was
+excommunication.
+
+Attorney General Noy, in the reign of James I, thought the taking of
+money by usury was no better than taking a man's life. He said:
+"Usurers are well ranked with murderers."
+
+In the sixteenth century, under Henry VIII, it was enacted that all
+interest above ten per cent. was unlawful. Less was not collectable by
+law, but was not a punishable offence.
+
+Edward VI revived the old laws condemning all interest.
+
+Mary I, next following, executed these laws with extreme severity.
+
+Elizabeth restored the laws of Henry VIII, in which usury less than
+ten per cent. was not a punishable offence. This edict of Elizabeth
+adds: "In the interpretation of the law it shall be largely and
+strongly construed for the repression of usury."
+
+This law of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, with the rate of interest
+reduced, was the statute law of England until 1854, when all the usury
+laws were repealed.
+
+In 1694 William and Mary II entered into a contract to secure a
+permanent loan and pledged the kingdom to pay interest on it forever.
+
+The loan marked the turning point in the popular mind with regard to
+usury. As it was approved in their necessity by the king and queen at
+the head of the Protestant world, ecclesiastics began to shift their
+ground and to apologize for, and excuse, that which had been formerly
+unequivocably condemned. As the crown was the head of both the church
+and the state, the condemnation of usury seemed tinged both with
+disloyalty and heresy. The courts too began to modify their decisions
+to bring them into harmony with the action of the crown.
+
+The change in the usury laws were not made by enactments of
+Parliament, but by the decisions of courts. The precedents were
+gradually accumulated and the statutes were merely made to conform to
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+FRANCIS BACON.
+
+
+From the short dissertation on usury found in the works of Bacon we
+learn that the taking of usury was a recognized evil and odious in his
+time.
+
+It will be noticed that he eliminates risk from usury and sees that
+"In the game of certainties against uncertainties" usury is sure to
+win. It will be noticed also that he mentions only economic arguments
+against usury. He does not give ethical and moral reasons. He does not
+mention the want of sympathy for the poor and their oppression.
+
+In his statement of the arguments in defence he implies that the
+usurer is less grasping than the man he knew who said "The devil take
+this usury."
+
+This is the very opposite of the picture of the usurer given by his
+contemporary, Shakespeare, in his character, Shylock.
+
+His specious argument for the regulation of the evil "For some small
+matter for the license" is familiar to modern reformers in connection
+with other sins. He speaks of the reduction of the usury rates as a
+general good and believes "It will no whit discourage the lender."
+Wrong-doers in all the ages have been ready to part with a portion of
+the profits of an unlawful business for the cover of the authority of
+the state.
+
+The following is his discussion in full
+
+
+OF USURY.
+
+"Many have made witty invectives against usury. They say that it is a
+pity the devil should have God's part, which is the tithe. That the
+usurer is the greatest Sabbath breaker, because his plough goeth every
+Sunday. That the usurer is the drone that Virgil speaketh of:
+
+"_Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent._
+
+"That the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for mankind
+after the fall, which was, _in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum;
+non in sudore vultus alieni_; (in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
+bread--not in the sweat of another's face.) That usurers should have
+orange-tawney bonnets, because they do Judaize. That it is against
+nature for money to beget money; and the like. I say only this, that
+usury is a _concessum propter duritiem cordis_; (a thing allowed by
+reason of the hardness of men's hearts): for since there must be
+borrowing and lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not
+lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have made suspicious
+and cunning propositions of banks, discovery of men's estates and
+other inventions. But few have spoken of usury usefully. It is good to
+set before us the incommodities and the commodities of usury, that the
+good may be either weighed out or culled out; and warily to provide,
+that while we make forth to that which is better, we meet not with
+that which is worse.
+
+"The discommodities of usury are, first, it makes fewer merchants. For
+were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie still,
+but would in great part be employed upon merchandising; which is the
+_vena porta_ of wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor
+merchants. For as a farmer can not husband his ground so well if he
+sit at a great rent, so the merchant can not drive his trade so well,
+if he sit at great usury. The third is incident to the other two; and
+that is the decay of customs of kings or states, which ebb or flow
+with merchandising. The fourth that it bringeth the wealth or treasure
+of a realm or state into a few hands.
+
+"For the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties, at
+the end of the game most of the money will be in the box; and ever a
+state flourisheth when wealth is more equally spread. The fifth that
+it beats down the price of land; for the employment of money is
+chiefly either purchasing or merchandising; and usury waylays both.
+The sixth, that it doth dull and damp all industries, improvements and
+new inventions, wherein money would be stirring, if it were not for
+this slug. The last, that it is the canker and ruin of many men's
+estates; which in process of time breeds a public poverty.
+
+"On the other side, the commodities of usury are, first, that
+howsoever usury in some respect hindereth merchandising, yet in some
+other it advanceth it; for it is certain that the greatest part of
+trade is driven by young merchants upon borrowing at interest; so as
+if the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will ensue
+presently a great stand of trade. The second is, that were it not for
+this easy borrowing upon interest, man's necessities would draw upon
+them a most sudden undoing; in that they would be forced to sell their
+means (be it lands or goods) far under foot; and so, whereas usury
+doth but gnaw upon them, bad markets would swallow them quite up. As
+for mortgaging or pawning, it will little mend the matter; for either
+men will not take pawns without use; or if they do, they will look
+precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel monied man in the
+country that would say: 'The devil take this usury, it keeps us from
+forfeitures of mortagages and bonds.' The third and last is, that it
+is a vanity to conceive that there would be ordinary borrowing without
+profit; and it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences
+that would ensue if borrowing be cramped. Therefore, to speak of the
+abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever had it, in one kind
+or rate, or other. So as that opinion must be sent to Utopia.
+
+"To speak now of the reformation and reiglement of usury; how the
+discommodities of it may be best avoided, and the commodities of it
+retained. It appears by the balance of commodities and discommodities
+of usury, two things are to be reconciled. The one, that the tooth of
+usury be grinded that it bite not too much; the other, that there be
+left open a means to invite monied men to lend to the merchants for
+the continuing and quickening of trade. This can not be done except
+you introduce two several sorts of usury, a less and a greater. For if
+you reduce usury to one low rate it will ease the common borrower, but
+the merchant will be to seek for money. And it is to be noted, that
+the trade of merchandise, being the most lucrative, may bear usury at
+a good rate: other contracts not so.
+
+"To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly thus: That there
+be two rates of interest; the one free and general for all, the other
+under license only, to certain persons and in certain places of
+merchandising. First, therefore, let usury in general be reduced to
+five in the hundred; and let that rate be proclaimed free and current;
+and, let the state shut itself out to take any penalty for the same.
+This will preserve borrowing from any general stop or dryness. This
+will ease infinite borrowers in the country. This will, in great part,
+raise the price of land, because land purchased at sixteen years'
+purchase will yield six in the hundred and somewhat more; whereas this
+rate of interest yields but five. This, by like reason, will encourage
+and edge industrious and profitable improvements; because many will
+rather venture in that kind than take five in the hundred, especially
+having been used to greater profit. Secondly, let there be certain
+persons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury at a higher
+rate; and let it be with the cautions following: Let the rate be, even
+with the merchant himself, somewhat more easy than that he used
+formerly to pay; for by that means all borrowers shall have some ease
+by this reformation, be he merchant or whosoever. Let it be bank or
+common stock, but every man be master of his own money. Not that I
+altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked in regard of
+certain suspicions. Let the state be answered some small matter for
+the license, and the rest left to the lender; for if the abatement be
+but small, it will no whit discourage the lender. For he, for example,
+that took before ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to
+eight in the hundred than give over his trade in usury, and go from
+certain gains to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in
+number indefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and
+towns of merchandising; for then they will be hardly able to color
+other men's monies in the country. So as the license of nine will not
+suck away the current rate of five; for no man will lend his monies
+far off, nor put them into unknown hands.
+
+"If it be objected that this doth in a sort authorize usury, which
+before was in some places but permissive; the answer is, that it is
+better to mitigate usury by declaration, than to suffer it to rage by
+connivance."
+
+(Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. 12, Page 218.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+WHY THIS TRUTH WAS NEGLECTED.
+
+
+That we may find the way of return, we must consider the reasons of
+our wandering. We must reverse our direction and retrace our steps.
+These reasons are not occult or hard to find.
+
+1. The departure had its root in man's depraved nature. The natural
+tendency is evil, while the graces must be cultivated with great
+diligence. Evils grow as weeds grow in the garden, as thorns and
+thistles and briers cover the untended fields. This evil has not been
+disturbed by any book exposing its harm for a hundred years, and it
+has been two hundred since it was treated as a violation of the Eighth
+Commandment. This evil, thus left undisturbed, has flourished and
+spread over all the world.
+
+2. Two and three hundred years ago the great doctrines were occupying
+the thought of Christendom. The doctrines of free grace, by repentance
+and an exercise of faith, were receiving close attention. The creeds
+of the denominations were being unfolded, and their defense and proof
+absorbed the thought of the wise and good. What shall we believe was
+the question?
+
+3. Other great evils stood before the faces of those who labored for
+the uplifting of the race. Practices attached to the ecclesiastics,
+and degrading the organized church, were flaunted before the eyes of
+those who stood for true faith and pure living. These were attacked
+with vigor, while this evil, which had been especially the sin of the
+Jew, crept in and entrenched itself.
+
+4. Covetousness is one of those secret sins that may lurk in the heart
+while there is maintained a fair outward life. Few will admit this
+sin. Priests declare that this is the one sin that is never
+voluntarily confessed. Usury is the common outward activity of this
+inward state, and when usury was made lawful by the statutes of the
+realm, the voice of conscience was silenced. The conscience that would
+cry out in protest against a rate of interest forbidden by law, will
+permit the same rate when the statutes of the state are changed.
+
+5. Early education and natural buoyancy have led the debtors to be
+less sensitive to the burdens of usury upon them.
+
+A large portion of our present arithmetic is taken up with percentage.
+The position of the student, in mind, is that of the creditor. This is
+presumed in the statements of the problems and lies in the thought of
+the student in all the calculations. If the statements of propositions
+and their conclusions were made to place the student on the debtor
+side, then the study of percentage would educate him to a horror of
+this sin.
+
+When a loan is made, the attention of the borrower is seldom called to
+the rapidity of increase and the dangers of accumulation. If this were
+done, and a prompt return of both principal and interest required, at
+the end of the term the borrower would soon be alarmed at the
+hopelessness of permanent gain through debt.
+
+Peter Cooper, it is said, taught this lesson to a friend who was
+talking of borrowing for six months at three per cent. We clip the
+following story:
+
+"Why do you borrow money for so short a time?" Mr. Cooper asked.
+
+"Because the brokers will not negotiate bills for longer."
+
+"Well, if you wish," said Mr. Cooper, "I will discount your note at
+that rate for three years."
+
+"Are you in earnest?" asked the would-be borrower.
+
+"Certainly I am. I will discount your note for ten thousand dollars
+for three years at that rate. Will you do it?"
+
+"Of course I will," said the merchant.
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Cooper. "Just sign this note for ten thousand
+dollars, payable in three years, and give me your check for eight
+hundred dollars, and the transaction will be complete."
+
+"But where is the money for me?" asked the astonished merchant.
+
+"You don't get any money," was the reply. "Your interest for
+thirty-six months at three per cent. per month amounts to one hundred
+and eight per cent., or ten thousand eight hundred dollars. Therefore,
+your check for eight hundred dollars just makes us even."
+
+There has come to this table, a letter recently sent by a wise uncle
+to his nephew, who sought from him his first loan. Usually the
+interest is minimized while the hopeful youth is permitted to indulge
+his dreams of fancied good, to be easily gained by a loan.
+
+"My Near Nephew:
+
+"I enclose a draft for forty dollars with a note for the amount to me,
+due in one year at six per cent., which please sign and return to me.
+This is probably the first note that you have ever given, and there
+are one or two things about a note that maybe you have never
+discovered. One striking peculiarity is, that they always come due,
+though they are drawn for a year. It may seem a long time, but when
+you have a note come due at the end of the year it seems altogether
+too short and has gone before you are aware of it. Another peculiar
+thing is, that while interest is a little thing apparently, yet it
+never works on the eight-hour system, but continues steadily through
+the whole twenty-four, and through the whole seven days in the week.
+Its about the most industrious animal of my acquaintance, working
+nights and Sundays as well, and apparently never becoming in the
+least fatigued, consequently, though it appears to be so slow, still
+if you do not watch it closely, the first thing you know you will be
+astonished at what an amount of work it has accomplished. There are
+other things equally striking about notes, but these two are the most
+important, and the ones I particularly wish to impress on your mind.
+
+                                               "_________________
+
+"P.S.--Don't think from the tone of this that I'm not willing to let
+you have the money. I merely want to impress on you what it means to
+go in debt."
+
+6. The evil was not hitherto so much felt. This, especially, is true
+in the United States. Great natural resources, unclaimed wealth, made
+the burden of a small debt unfelt. By appropriating the vast unbroken
+forests and untilled lands and unopened mines of precious metals, of
+coal and iron and gas and oil, there seemed such evident advantages
+from the borrowed capital that the evils were unnoticed, until these
+natural resources had been appropriated and were held in private
+hands, and the opportunities are found to be denied those who have
+come so closely after.
+
+This system made it possible for one generation to grasp a continent;
+to grasp all its natural resources and hold them, and compel tribute
+from all that came after. Taking only a limited and short-time view,
+the advantages seemed great and the evils small. But looking at the
+welfare of the generations its evils might have been clearly
+discerned.
+
+7. The evil was never before so great. The vast accumulations of
+wealth, so sure to follow the operation of usury, was hitherto
+unknown. Corporations, combinations for the handling of great
+interests, grasping the natural resources and monopolizing the natural
+wealth, gaining franchises covering a monopoly of privileges in
+transportation, light and communication by the telephone or telegraph,
+are comparatively recent.
+
+8. The first appearance of indebtedness is a seeming, but false,
+prosperity. The young man who takes possession of a tract of land and
+then, with borrowed capital, improves it, building his house and his
+barns and his permanent buildings, and stocking it with animals that
+please his taste, has the appearance of abounding prosperity, but as
+the unending grind of usury continues, these, he comes to feel, are
+but weights to which he is chained, and in an agony of sweat he is
+compelled to wear out his life.
+
+A city incurring debt is seemingly prosperous. Bonds are issued for
+the erection of attractive public buildings, for the paving of muddy
+streets, for the beautifying of public parks. These bond issues are
+signs of the prosperity of only one class, the usurers. The ultimate
+burden is upon the laborers, who must pay every bond, interest and
+principal.
+
+9. The opponents of usury have not always been wise. They have
+indulged in bitter invective rather than solid argument. The language
+of the fathers, especially, was unqualified in severity.
+
+When the absurdity and unmitigated evil of usury is seen, and one
+feels that adequacy requires superlatives, it is not easy to restrain
+language and use mild terms. The divine prohibition was so clear and
+the effects so oppressive, especially to the poor, that it did not
+appear to the fathers to require argument. The divine authority was
+not, therefore, followed up with the economic basis or reasons for the
+prohibitions.
+
+Usury crept in because it was not barred out by the sound reasoning of
+those who knew its evils. The vituperations were ignored as the
+rantings of ill-balanced minds.
+
+10. Like every other wrong, it feeds upon itself. The very conditions
+it produces fosters and promotes its growth. At first directing effort
+and thought along material lines, ultimately the ideals become
+groveling. The purposes of a worthy life and the characteristics of a
+noble manhood are perverted. There comes a wrong idea of true
+greatness. There arises a false measure of manhood. That measure is
+wealth, and of all the grounds of distinction among men, wealth is the
+most sordid. Success is accumulation of wealth. Prosperity is getting
+rich. Whatever else a man may accomplish in life, if he remains poor
+he is accounted a failure. Yet to this pass, such a pass, have we
+come, that our national and age characteristic is that of material
+gain, commonly called commercialism. This was not the thought of our
+fathers who subordinated material gain to the development of noble
+manhood. This is a perversion of our American traditions, and is a
+menace to better development of the individual and of the state.
+
+11. Wrong laws mislead the judgment and pervert the conscience. If
+there is a want of harmony between the moral and statute law when
+selfish interests are served, the moral law will be ignored. State
+laws ease the conscience that would be otherwise troubled. The rate of
+usury fixed by a state is used as a moral guide. When the legal rate
+is six per cent. it is wrong to take eight, but when the legal rate is
+ten per cent. then it is not wrong to take ten. The familiarity of our
+people with laws recognizing and enforcing interest rates has
+perverted their ideas of right and justice by substituting the statute
+for the divine moral law. But state laws can also trouble the
+conscience that is at ease and be a teacher of righteousness. Let the
+ancient laws forbidding usury be placed upon our statute books and
+enforced, and it would not be half a generation till the conscience
+and reason both approved.
+
+Nothing in history more shocked the conscience of Christendom than the
+compact of William and Mary with usurers in 1694. That was in direct
+conflict with the teachings and practice of all the ages among
+Christians. It has taken two hundred years for courts and states and
+financial institutions to first dull the Christian conscience and then
+secure its approval. The world now awaits the coming of some captain
+of righteousness, equal in authority and influence in church and
+state, who will organize a return to the faith and practice of the
+fathers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+CRUSHED TRUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.
+
+
+The practice of usury is so general, and it is apparently so fully
+approved and sanctioned by many of the most intelligent and virtuous
+of our people, that those who believe in its prohibition and are
+disposed to pessimism may be utterly discouraged.
+
+Truth must eventually prevail. Any custom or system built upon
+falsehood must sooner or later yield. The house built upon the sand
+must in time fall. It may be undermined by years of instruction and so
+gradually give way that the date of its overthrow can hardly be
+determined, or it may in its strength be taken in a storm and fall.
+The whole commercial credit system built on this monstrous falsehood
+must either crumble or tumble.
+
+The prophet Isaiah was hopeful and happy in the midst of the most
+unfavorable conditions of corruption and alienation from the truth,
+for he was able with his prophetic eye to catch a glimpse of the good
+time coming, when righteousness should completely triumph. "He shall
+teach us of His ways and we shall walk in His steps." "With
+righteousness shall He judge the poor." "Righteousness shall be the
+girdle of His loins."
+
+No prophet has fixed a date for the suppression of usury, yet no
+intelligent man of faith, familiar with the reforms of the past, when
+as thoroughly entrenched and as giant evils were attacked and
+overthrown, need be in despair.
+
+We were enslaved by superstitions. Haunted houses were numerous and
+the bewitching of people was frequent. Two hundred arrests for
+witchcraft were made in a single year, 1692, and twenty of these
+persons were put to death. These persecutions were urged and defended
+by Cotton Mather, a representative of the highest intelligence and
+culture of the times. His mother was a daughter of John Cotton, and
+his father the President of Harvard College. Now black cats and
+epilepsy inspire no fear, and ghost stories do not now terrify and
+unnerve our children.
+
+Duelling prevailed among men of honor. Public opinion made it
+compulsory that personal differences between gentlemen should be
+settled in this way. Persons were branded as cowards who would not put
+their lives in jeopardy. Few had the courage to resist. Duels were
+common among the political leaders at Washington. Many a shot rang out
+at sunrise in the little valley at Bladensburg, the noted duelling
+ground. Jackson and Benton and Clay and De Witt Clinton were
+duellists. After the killing of Alexander Hamilton by Aaron Burr, in
+1804, the whole country was aroused and an agitation began against the
+custom, but it yielded slowly. In 1838 and 1841 there were duels
+between distinguished congressmen. But now public opinion is so
+transformed that the "honorable and brave" duellist is a moral coward.
+
+Gambling was a common sin. There were lotteries organized for the
+raising of funds for state and municipal expenses. There were raffles
+at church fairs to support the ordinances in the sanctuary. The rules
+of the games were protected by the laws of the state. No one who had
+lost in a game could recover by law unless he proved that the rules of
+the game had not been followed. The rules for gambling were regarded
+as legitimate as the regulations of any business. The gambler was only
+a law-breaker when he "cheated." Now gambling is unlawful in every
+state and territory, and any newspaper advertising a lottery is shut
+out of our mails. Even an "honest" gambler is now classed among
+robbers.
+
+Intemperance was rampant through the eighteenth century and more than
+half the nineteenth. Whisky was king. Through a false physiology it
+became the almost universal opinion that in the great portion of the
+United States the climate required the use of "ardent spirit."
+Ministers and all classes of the people were thus deluded, and almost
+every person, adult or child, was a consumer.
+
+"Upon rising in the morning a glass of liquor must be taken to give an
+appetite for breakfast. At eleven o'clock the merchant in his
+counting-room, the blacksmith at his forge, the mower in the hay
+field, took a dram to give them strength till the ringing of the bell
+or the sounding of the horn for dinner. In mid-afternoon they drank
+again. When work for the day was done, before going to bed, they
+quaffed another glass. It was the regular routine of drinking in
+well-regulated and temperate families. Hospitalities began with
+drinking. 'What will you take?' was the question of host to visitor.
+Not to accept the proffered hospitality was disrespectful. Was there
+the raising of a meeting house, there must be hospitality for all the
+parish: no lack of liquor; and when the last timber was in its place a
+bottle of rum must be broken upon the ridge-place. In winter men drank
+to keep themselves warm; in summer to keep themselves cool; on rainy
+days to keep out the wet, and on dry days to keep the body in
+moisture. Friends, meeting or parting, drank to perpetuate their
+friendship. Huskers around the corn-stack, workmen in the field,
+master and apprentice in the shop, passed the brown jug from lip to
+lip. The lawyer drank before writing his brief or pleading at the bar;
+the minister, while preparing his sermon or before delivering it from
+the pulpit. At weddings bridegroom, bride, groomsman, and guest
+quaffed sparkling wines. At funerals minister, friend, neighbor,
+mourner, all except the corpse, drank of the bountiful supply of
+liquors always provided. Not to drink was disrespectful to living and
+dead, and depriving themselves of comfort and consolation. In every
+community there were blear-eyed men with bloated, haggard faces;
+weeping women, starving children." (Building of a Nation. Page 271.)
+
+While "temperate" men were grieved at the tide of wretchedness and
+protested, they did not think it possible to get on without whisky.
+Dr. Prime, for so many years editor of the New York Observer, told of
+the meeting of the family physician and the pastor at his father's
+home in a case of severe illness. When the physician took his leave
+the pastor followed him into the yard, where they had a long
+consultation. The pastor was anxiously seeking advice. Three drinks
+made his head swim, and the problem was how he could make more than
+three calls and not become unsteady. The doctor gave directions and
+Dr. Prime said that neither the minister nor the physician thought of
+the simple remedy, "not drinking."
+
+It has taken two generations, but the transformation is marvelous. The
+minister can now call in every home in his parish and never once have
+an opportunity to drink. If Rev. John Pierpont was yet living, who was
+put out of his pulpit in Boston by an ecclesiastical council because
+he publicly protested against the use of the basement of his church as
+a storeroom for whisky, he would see every minister losing his pulpit
+who would not publicly protest against such a desecration. Rev. George
+B. Cheever, the dreamer, in 1830, woke up the stupid consciences of
+the fuddled men and women; he wrote out his dream and published it,
+"Deacon Giles' Distillery," and went to jail for it, but even he never
+dreamed of the greatness of the temperance reform that has followed.
+
+The overthrow of chattel slavery is complete and the human rights of
+the inferior peoples are recognized. Human slavery was of old, as
+ancient as history; it was widespread over the world; there was an
+immense and profitable commerce in human flesh; luxurious wealth and
+ease was secured by appropriating labor without compensation; it was
+thought that the Scriptures in both Testaments approved the holding of
+bondmen; there was a consciousness of superior gifts; there was a firm
+belief that the negroes, especially, needed the care of the superior
+race; that they were better off and happier than they would be in
+freedom; there was a deep-seated race prejudice that remains
+unyielding till this day. Yet the slave trade has ceased, stopped by
+armed vessels patroling the seas. The slaves, eight hundred thousand,
+in the West Indies were set free; the shackles were stricken off by
+the sword in the United States; Brazil adopted gradual emancipation,
+and chattel slavery disappeared forever from the civilized world.
+
+The reform battles fought and won are assurances that victory shall
+also reward those who contend against this sin of usury. There are
+also other good grounds for confidence.
+
+1. They are seeking only a return--a reform: "a restoration to a
+former state;" they are not seeking for the establishment of some new
+and untried theory, but they are seeking a return to the faith and
+conduct of the righteous from the beginning and up seventeen centuries
+of the Christian era. The race is but temporarily deflected to the
+worship of the golden calf.
+
+2. There is coming forward a great army of intelligent, virtuous young
+people. They are made intelligent by our high schools, seminaries and
+colleges. They are made students of the Bible and stimulated in
+righteousness by Sunday Schools, Christian Associations, Endeavors,
+Leagues and Unions. From these there shall rise up defenders of the
+truth, free from the burden of debt and unbiassed by life-long
+association with conditions familiar to those older. The reformers in
+all ages have been young, and this reform will be no exception. There
+is a rashness in youth that needs direction, but there is also a dash
+and hope and confidence that is necessary to break away from old
+customs. One generation of intelligent, virtuous young people could
+give this evil its fatal blow.
+
+Usury cannot flourish among the vicious and the unreliable. Other
+evils may flourish among the idle, the indolent, the treacherous, the
+deceitful and the dishonest, but industry and economy and integrity
+and faithfulness and honor and even God-fearing piety are desirable
+qualities in the usurer's victims. The higher the civilization, yes
+Christian civilization, the more is produced and the richer the
+harvest. The usurer has no use for a savage. This worm thrives in the
+living body and sucks its vitality. It cannot flourish in putrid
+flesh. Let the highest types of our young manhood avoid this sin and
+its death knell is sounded.
+
+3. Present conditions stimulate an interest in this question. The
+unequal distribution of the vast wealth now being produced: the
+earnings of the many turned into the coffers of a few; the struggles
+between the employers and their employees; organized labor and
+combinations of wealth; lead to a closer study of this and allied
+economic questions than they have ever received before. The solution
+of these questions will expose the fraud of usury.
+
+4. The patriotic spirit has not decayed in our people and rulers. They
+are as strongly attached to our free, popular institutions as were the
+patriots of '76. There is alarm at the tendency to slip away from the
+early traditions, at the centralization of power, at class
+legislation. The influence of usury is so strong to promote a favored
+class and to concentrate power, that it must be resisted as an enemy
+to our republican institutions. It gradually undermined and then
+destroyed the republic of Venice, and it is now doing its first work
+with us. It must soon emerge from its cover. Then our people will
+arouse with their patriotic fervor and fell it with one blow, and then
+bury it with the other enemies of the government that have from time
+to time arisen.
+
+5. In the studies in sociology there is now a strong current toward
+Socialism. There is a desire to preserve the individual's interests
+and yet a stronger disposition to merge him in the general welfare.
+
+There is a conviction that the privileges of individuals have been
+unduly guarded while the rights of the public were neglected, that the
+rights of individuals have received an excess of protection while the
+welfare of the great mass of the people has been sacrificed. The
+present problem of the student of sociology is, How can the rights of
+individuals be adjusted, yet so as to maintain the superior interests
+of all the people? This can be accomplished largely, if not
+completely, by the abolition of usury.
+
+Let the Government receive on deposit the surplus wealth of the
+individuals for safe keeping and subject to their orders. Let the
+Postal Savings Bank be established. The Government is the best
+possible security. The certificates of deposit would be as good as
+Government bonds. They could take the place of the National Bank
+currency. The Postal Department now transfers money and in a manner
+receives deposits and issues postal notes.
+
+These deposits as they accumulated would lift from the people the
+burden of the interest bearing debt. As they increased the Government
+could invest them in public utilities to be operated for the general
+welfare. The Government thus caring for the surplus wealth the people
+are entitled to any benefits that may accrue from its use. All would
+have an interest in preserving and all would share in the advantages
+of the property thus cared for by the State, while each would have his
+individual earnings subject to draft for his personal needs or
+pleasure.
+
+This would preserve the rights of the individual and secure to him
+perfectly his surplus earnings, and at the same time the whole people,
+through the Government, would have the use of this accumulated wealth
+for its safe-keeping. This will preserve the stimulating incentives of
+individualism and also gain, practically, the blessings of Socialism.
+This will be the natural conclusion in the balancing and adjustment of
+the present sociological discussion.
+
+6. The prohibition of usury would be to the material advantage of the
+great mass of our people. It would be a blessing to all, though it
+might hinder the material gain of a few, but the hindered would not be
+a tithe of our people. It is not easy to forsake the wrong when
+appetite or passion or selfish interests plead for it. The martyrs who
+will stand by the right "though the heavens fall" are not a majority
+of our people. The paths of righteousness are easy, broad and smooth,
+and crowded with enthusiastic shouters when self-interest can walk
+hand in hand with a reform. Opposition to usury is self-defense to the
+poor, the pensioners, the producers, and they form a mighty,
+irresistible army.
+
+7. Reason remains. The laws of logic have not changed nor has the
+human mind lost its power of tracing premises to their conclusion. The
+custom of usury was never reasoned into practice, but was permitted to
+creep in while reason was diverted to abstract, abstruse, scholastic
+subjects by those who claimed to be scholars. Had the fathers reasoned
+more about practical subjects, and scolded less, this sin would never
+have appeared in Christian society and claimed respectability. When
+the people begin to think and to turn their reasoning powers to this
+subject, as light dispels darkness, this gross error will flee away.
+
+8. The conscience is yet alert to condemn the wrong and to approve the
+right. The public conscience was never more tender nor more delicately
+adjusted, but it is wanting in intelligence in this matter. The eye
+cannot see to determine the nature of an object without light, so the
+conscience must be enlightened, or made intelligent by the reason, to
+enable it to give a right decision. Conscience is the same in all ages
+among all peoples, and when informed by investigation and reasoning,
+the condemnation of usury will be as unanimous as in the centuries of
+the past.
+
+Prayer is also a means to this righteous end. God is still on His
+throne. His ear is not heavy. He hears the cry of the raven and
+sparrows and lions. He hears the cry of His suffering children and
+will not fail to come to their relief. In all the past, man's
+extremity has been God's opportunity. Relief has come at unexpected
+times and by ways that were not known. Sometimes by means that were
+insignificant and inadequate in order to show that it was not by human
+might or power; sometimes by the faith of one humble believer.
+
+This writer has been familiar with the story of David and Goliath from
+his infancy. To him, Mammon, whose head is usury, is the giant
+Philistine who now stalks forth to defy "the armies of the living
+God," and with a grain of David's faith, he flings this stone.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Abstinence, 255
+
+Agar--Prayer of, 219
+
+American Revision, 87
+
+American Statesman, 172
+
+Aristotle, 132, 259
+
+Average Interest, 135
+
+
+Bank of England, 184, 195
+
+Bank of Venice, 193
+
+Bank, First in U.S., 198
+
+Banks and Brokers, 161
+
+Bacon, 108, 180, 266
+
+Banking, Claim for, 56
+
+Barriers Broken Down, 45
+
+Borrower, 62
+
+Borrowing, 241
+
+Benton, Thomas H., 199
+
+Bankruptcy, 176
+
+Basil, 169
+
+Beza, 71
+
+Bible and Nature, 93
+
+Bible Encyclopedia, 8, 21
+
+Block Stone, 10
+
+Brotherhood--Christian, 47
+
+Bush, Prof. Geo., 14
+
+Bureau of Engraving, 123
+
+
+Capital Combines, 223
+
+Catechism, 233
+
+Cato, 261
+
+Car Fares, 164
+
+Calvin, Institutes of, 78
+
+Calvin, Letter of, 73, 162, 248
+
+Calhoun, J.C., 199
+
+Capital Demands, 165
+
+Cretan Bonds, 204
+
+Chalmers, 62
+
+Charlemagne, 70
+
+Changed Conditions, 81
+
+Chattel Slave, 147
+
+Character in Fathers, 206
+
+Cheever, Rev. Geo., 286
+
+Creeds, 272
+
+Croesus, 218
+
+Covetousness, 61, 214, 273
+
+Cooper Anecdote, 274
+
+City Debts, 140, 168
+
+Criminal in Court, 127
+
+Coachman, 111
+
+Chrysostom, 69
+
+Christ-like Soul, 42
+
+Council of Ten, 195
+
+Cyrus, 36
+
+
+David, 26
+
+Debts, Discharged, 63
+
+Debts, Stimulated, 138
+
+Debts, Church, 141
+
+Debts, National, 142, 189
+
+Decay, Limits, 136
+
+Deposit or Loan, 105
+
+Diligence, 60
+
+Disciples, Practice of, 58
+
+Deacon Giles' Distillery, 286
+
+Dives, 218
+
+Doge, The, 194
+
+Dueling, 282
+
+
+Edward III, 263
+
+Edward VI, 264
+
+England, History, 262
+
+English People, 192
+
+Elizabeth, 264
+
+Esau's Abstinence, 256
+
+Equality Impossible, 222
+
+Ethics in Bible, 94
+
+Equity Between Thieves, 160
+
+Exchanges, 56
+
+Express Company, 118
+
+Extravagance, 155
+
+Ezekiel's Protests, 31
+
+Ezra, 36
+
+
+Family Economy, 154
+
+Farm Preserved, 135, 247
+
+Farm Consumed, 246
+
+Faithful Steward, 117
+
+Fathers, Apostolic, 69, 80
+
+Fathers, Later, 70, 80
+
+Financial Slavery, 150
+
+Force in Abstract, 99
+
+Fishers' Catechism, 235
+
+Freight Rates, 109
+
+
+"Golden Book", 194
+
+Gambling, 283
+
+Giving, 51
+
+Gravity Levels, 222
+
+Great Enterprises, 239
+
+Greek Artist, 216
+
+Greece, History, 258
+
+Guile, Taken by, 104
+
+
+Hebrews in Egypt, 212
+
+Henry II, 262
+
+Henry III, 263
+
+Henry VII, 263
+
+Henry VIII, 264
+
+Hindoo Widow, 24
+
+Honesty Hindered, 210
+
+Hodge, Dr. Charles, 237
+
+Home Wanted, 251
+
+Horace, 261
+
+Human Nature, 81
+
+Hume, 192
+
+
+Incorporated Properties, 171
+
+Industry Discouraged, 207
+
+Indians, Omahas, 244
+
+Injustice, Submitted, 120
+
+Interest Defined, 9
+
+Insurance Company, 119, 254
+
+Interest, Compound, 180
+
+Installment Plan, 140
+
+Intemperance, 283
+
+
+Jackson, Andrew, 200
+
+Jefferson, Thos., 200
+
+Jennet, M., 182
+
+Jeremy Bentham, 113
+
+Jeremiah Protests, 30
+
+Jubilee, Year of, 45
+
+Justinian Code, 261
+
+
+King Alfred, 262
+
+Khedive, 203
+
+
+Land Question, 249
+
+Lombards, 195
+
+London Tenants, 169
+
+Luther, 71
+
+
+Macauley, 196
+
+Machinery, Improved, 226
+
+Mammon, 203, 221
+
+Melancthon, 71
+
+Messiah's Character, 42
+
+Moral Law, 82
+
+Milton, 145, 203
+
+Minuits, Peter, 181
+
+Middle Classes, 220
+
+Mons Sacer, 260
+
+Money Barren, 83, 122
+
+Moses, 57
+
+Mosaic Laws, 11, 14
+
+McCullough, Sec., 201
+
+
+Nature and Bible, 93
+
+Nehemiah, 36, 40, 57, 63
+
+Nile Worship, 214
+
+
+Obsolete Words, 7
+
+One Cent Loaned, 182
+
+Ottoman Empire, 212
+
+Over-production, 156
+
+
+Panics, 187
+
+Paul to Timothy, 59
+
+Paulist Fathers, 65
+
+Pounds, Parable of, 54
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, 196
+
+Physicians' Charges, 115
+
+Poor Richard, 240
+
+Poor, Oppressed, 154
+
+Poor, to the Spirit, 48
+
+Popes, 70
+
+Polygamy, 85
+
+Production, Limited, 158
+
+Promoter, 161
+
+Prime, Dr., 285
+
+
+Rates, Differ Why, 108
+
+Rentals of Land, 243
+
+Revolution, 238
+
+Ridpath, 71
+
+Rich Fool, 49, 137
+
+Rights, Personal, 98
+
+Rights, Equal, 102
+
+Risk, 253
+
+Robe, 111
+
+Rome, History, 250
+
+Ruskin, 72, 156, 255
+
+
+Sands, Bishop, 70
+
+Sabbath of Rest, 85, 171
+
+Schaff-Herzog, 8, 69
+
+Scripture Passages:
+  Genesis 21:26, 7
+  Exodus 32:1, 7
+  Exodus 22:25, 13, 20
+  Leviticus 19:33, 34, 21
+  Leviticus 22:22, 19
+  Leviticus 23:23, 22
+  Leviticus 34:10, 22
+  Deut. 5:14, 24
+  Deut. 25:19, 17
+  Deut. 15:7-9, 44
+  Numbers 15:15, 16, 19
+  Joshua 9:23, 22
+  Psalm 15, 26
+  Psalm 92, 7
+  Psalm 112:1-3, 15
+  Proverbs 22:4, 15
+  Proverbs 28:20, 15, 27
+  Jeremiah 31:29, 32
+  Isaiah 10:15, 101
+  Ezekiel 24:15-18, 31
+  Ezekiel 22:7-12, 31
+  Ezekiel 18:117, 33
+  Matthew 5:17, 43
+  Matthew 6:12, 45
+  Matthew 13:22, 48
+  Matthew 19:24, 49
+  Matthew 25:14, 52
+  Luke 6:35, 44
+  Luke 51:52, 53, 47
+  Luke 19:12, 52
+  John 15:12, 46
+  John 13:34, 46
+  Romans 1:13, 7
+  Romans 13:8, 62
+  Acts 3:17, 7
+  Acts 2:44, 45, 58
+  1 Corinthians 1:27, 28, 58
+  1 Corinthians 13, 8
+  Ephesians 4:28, 60
+  1 Thess. 4:15, 7
+  1 Timothy 5:8, 59
+  James 5:1-6, 61
+
+Slaves, Happy, 148
+
+Slaves, Chattel, 286
+
+Self Reliance, 211
+
+Strangers, Three Classes, 18
+
+Shoe Plant, 128
+
+Shylock, 121, 195
+
+Slot Machines, 104
+
+Solomon and Usury, 27, 144
+
+Solon, 218, 259
+
+Socialism, 289
+
+Spirituality Destroyed, 216
+
+Stevens, Thadeus, 201
+
+Strikes, 227
+
+Sultan, 203
+
+Sun Worship, 214
+
+Superstitions, 282
+
+
+Taxes Off the Poor, 168
+
+Tenantry, 250
+
+"The Hague", 230
+
+Talents, Parable of, 52
+
+Thrift, 51, 209
+
+Time, 107, 254
+
+Temptation to Upright, 149
+
+Timon of Athens, 146
+
+Tools, Not Productive, 135
+
+Trade, Profits in, 124
+
+Trusts, 186, 224
+
+
+Usury, Definition, 8
+
+Usury and the Stranger, 18
+
+
+Valet, 145
+
+Venice, 193
+
+Vienna, Council of, 70
+
+
+War, Evils of, 229
+
+Webster, Definition, 9
+
+Wealth Decays, 132
+
+Wealth, Barren, 131
+
+William and Mary, 195, 264, 279
+
+Wilson's Catechism, 233
+
+Wrong Laws, 279
+
+
+Young Reformers, 187
+
+
+Zaccheus, 49
+
+Zerubbabel, 36
+
+
+
+
+The Anti-Usury League
+
+
+    The object, the purpose and work of the Anti-Usury League is to
+    expose the evils, the oppressions, the fraud and the sin of
+    usury or interest, by publications, by lectures, by conventions
+    and by every other practical method.
+
+    All persons in sympathy with this object, and who can in any way
+    co-operate by distributing its literature or by other
+    publications or by lecturing or by arranging for lectures or
+    conventions, are requested to enter into correspondence.
+
+    Also all persons who have become interested by reading the
+    preceding pages and who seek further information and who desire
+    to keep in touch with the work of this League should send their
+    names and addresses for enrollment.
+
+                            THE ANTI-USURY LEAGUE,
+                                Millersburg, Ohio.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  39: coveteousness replaced with covetousness        |
+    | Page  54: ponds replaced with pounds                      |
+    | Page  61: Sabbaoth replaced with Sabbath                  |
+    | Page  61: weap replaced with weep                         |
+    | Page  64: bankrupty replaced with bankruptcy              |
+    | Page  70: degredation replaced with degradation           |
+    | Page 113: opportunites replaced with opportunities        |
+    | Page 119: employes replaced with employees                |
+    | Page 145: degredation replaced with degradation           |
+    | Page 211: forbodings replaced with forebodings            |
+    | Page 225: mutally replaced with mutually                  |
+    | Page 228: neighors replaced with neighbors                |
+    | Page 294: Dicharged replaced with Discharged              |
+    | Page 297: Shoff, Herzog replaced with Schaff-Herzog       |
+    | Page 299: Zacheus replaced with Zaccheus                  |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Usury, by Calvin Elliott
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USURY ***
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Usury, by Calvin Elliott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Usury
+       A Scriptural, Ethical and Economic View
+
+Author: Calvin Elliott
+
+Release Date: May 27, 2007 [EBook #21623]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USURY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Irma Spehar, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file made using scans of public domain works at the
+University of Georgia.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p>
+<p class="noin">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text.<br />
+For a complete list, please see the <a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+
+<h1>USURY</h1>
+
+<br />
+
+<h3>A Scriptural, Ethical and<br />
+Economic View</h3>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h2>CALVIN ELLIOTT</h2>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h6>PUBLISHED BY</h6>
+<h5>THE ANTI-USURY LEAGUE</h5>
+<h6>MILLERSBURG, OHIO</h6>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h5>COPYRIGHTED 1902<br />
+BY<br />
+CALVIN ELLIOTT.</h5>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>CONTENTS.</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><span style="font-size: 80%;">Page</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td width="80%" class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Chapter I&mdash;Definition</a></td>
+  <td width="20%" class="tdr">7</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Chapter II&mdash;The Law by Moses</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">11</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Chapter III&mdash;Usury and "The Stranger"</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">18</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Chapter IV&mdash;David and Solomon</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">26</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Chapter V&mdash;Denunciation of Jeremiah and Ezekiel</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">30</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Chapter VI&mdash;Financial Reform by Nehemiah</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">36</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chapter VII&mdash;Teachings of the Master</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">42</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Chapter VIII&mdash;Parables of the Talents and the Pounds</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">52</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Chapter IX&mdash;Practice of the disciples</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">58</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Chapter X&mdash;Church history</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">69</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">Chapter XI&mdash;Calvin's letter on usury</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">73</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Chapter XII&mdash;Permanency of the prohibition</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">79</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Chapter XIII&mdash;Our changed conditions</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">81</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">Chapter XIV&mdash;The American Revision</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">87</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Chapter XV&mdash;Duty learned from two sources</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">93</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Chapter XVI&mdash;Rights of man over things</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">97</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">Chapter XVII&mdash;Equal rights of men</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">102</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">Chapter XVIII&mdash;A false basal principle</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">108</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">Chapter XIX&mdash;The true ethical principle</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">115</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">Chapter XX&mdash;Wealth is barren</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">121</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">Chapter XXI&mdash;Wealth decays</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">132</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">Chapter XXII&mdash;The debt habit</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">138</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">Chapter XXIII&mdash;The borrower is servant to the lender</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">144</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">Chapter XXIV&mdash;Usury enslaves the borrower</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">146</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">Chapter XXV&mdash;Usury oppresses the poor</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">154</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">Chapter XXVI&mdash;Usury oppresses the poor&mdash;continued</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">160</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">Chapter XXVII&mdash;Usury oppresses the poor&mdash;continued</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">168</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">Chapter XXVIII&mdash;Usury oppresses the poor&mdash;concluded</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">174</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">Chapter XXIX&mdash;Usury centralizes wealth</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">180</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">Chapter XXX&mdash;Mammon dominates the nations</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">189</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">Chapter XXXI&mdash;Effect on character</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">206</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">Chapter XXXII&mdash;Ax at the root of the tree</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">219</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">Chapter XXXIII&mdash;Per contra; Christian Apologists</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">233</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">Chapter XXXIV&mdash;Per contra; Land Rentals</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">243</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">Chapter XXXV&mdash;Per contra; Political Economists</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">253</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">Chapter XXXVI&mdash;Usury in History</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">258</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">Chapter XXXVII&mdash;Francis Bacon</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">266</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">Chapter XXXVIII&mdash;Why this truth was neglected</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">272</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">Chapter XXXIX&mdash;Crushed truth will rise again</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">281</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">293</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>TO MY READERS.</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>I beg the sincere and thoughtful consideration of this book by all its
+readers. Please follow the argument in the order in which it is
+presented. This is the way it developed in my own mind and led me,
+step by step, irresistibly to its conclusions. Do not read the closing
+chapters first, but begin with the "<i>Definition</i>." I believe every
+candid reader doing this, and having a logical mind, will fully and
+heartily concur in the condemnation of usury.</p>
+
+<p>I hope these arguments will be fairly treated and justly weighed even
+by those whose interests seem in conflict. I have simply sought the
+truth, believing that "the truth shall make you free." It cannot be
+that this or any truth is in real conflict with the highest welfare of
+any man.</p>
+
+<p>If any sincere friends of this truth are grieved that the argument is
+so crudely and roughly stated, I can only say in excuse, that, so far
+as I know or can learn from the great librarians I have consulted,
+this is the first attempt ever made to fully present the anti-usury
+argument, and I sincerely hope that others, profiting by my effort,
+may be able to make it more effective.</p>
+
+<p class="right sc">The Author.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>DEFINITION.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In the evolution of the English language, since the making of our King
+James version of the Bible, many new words have been introduced, and
+many old ones have changed their meanings.</p>
+
+<p>In the nearly three hundred years the Saxon word "let," to hinder, has
+become obsolete. It was in common use and well understood when the
+version was made, but is now misleading. Thus we have in Isaiah 43:13:
+"I will work and who will let (hinder) it?" Paul declared that he
+purposed to go to Rome, "but was let (hindered) hitherto." Rom. 1:13.
+Again we have in II Thess. 2:7: "Only he who now letteth (hindereth)
+will let (hinder), until he be taken out of the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Wot," to know, has become obsolete. Gen. 21:26: "I wot (know) not who
+hath done this thing." Ex. 32:1: "As for this Moses, we wot (know) not
+what hath become of him." Acts 3:17: "I wot (know) that through
+ignorance ye did it."</p>
+
+<p>"Prevent," from its derivation and use, meant, "to go before;" now it
+means to hinder. Ps. 59:10: "The God of my mercies shall prevent (go
+before) me." Ps. 92:2: "Let us prevent (go before) his face with
+thanksgiving." I Thess. 4:15: "We who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>are alive shall not prevent (go
+before) them who are asleep."</p>
+
+<p>Charity, which now means liberality to the poor, and a disposition to
+judge others kindly and favorably, was at that time a synonym of love,
+and used interchangeably with love in the translations of the Greek.
+This is especially noted in the panegyric of love, in the thirteenth
+chapter of First Corinthians, and faithfully corrected in the Revised
+Version, though some have felt that the beauty and especially the
+euphony of the familiar passage has been marred. But the word charity
+is no longer equivalent to love, in our language, and could not be
+retained without perverting the sense.</p>
+
+<p>Usury, when the version was made, meant any premium for a loan of
+money, or increase taken for a loan of any kind of property.</p>
+
+<p>Theological Dictionary: "Usury, the gain taken for a loan of money or
+wares." "The gain of anything above the principal, or that which was
+lent, exacted only in consideration of the loan, whether it be in
+money, corn, wares or the like."</p>
+
+<p>Bible Encyclopedia: "Usury, a premium received for a sum of money over
+and above the principal."</p>
+
+<p>Schaff-Herzog: "Usury, originally, any increase on any loan."</p>
+
+<p>This was the usage of the word usury by the great masters of the
+English language, like Shakespeare and Bacon, in their day, and is
+still given as the first definition by the lexicographers of the
+present.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>Webster, 1890 edition: "Usury, 1. A premium or increase paid or
+stipulated to be paid for a loan, as for money; interest. 2. The
+practice of taking interest. 3. Law. Interest in excess of a legal
+rate charged to a borrower for the use of money."</p>
+
+<p>Interest is comparatively a new word in the language meaning also a
+premium for a loan of money. It first appeared in the fourteenth
+century, as a substitute for usury, in the first law ever enacted by a
+Christian nation that permitted the taking of a premium for any loan.
+The word usury was very odious to the Christian mind and conscience.</p>
+
+<p>Interest was at the first a legal term, used in law only, and it has
+always been applied to that premium or measure of increase that is
+permitted or made legal by civil law.</p>
+
+<p>In modern usage usury is limited in its meaning to that measure of
+increase prohibited by the civil law. Thus the two words interest and
+usury now express what was formerly expressed by the one word usury
+alone. Interest covers that measure of increase that is authorized in
+different countries, while usury, with all the odium that has been
+attached to it for ages, is limited to that measure of increase that
+for public welfare is forbidden by the laws of a state.</p>
+
+<p>The distinction is wholly civic and legal. That may be usury in one
+state which is only interest in another. The legal rates greatly vary
+and are changed from time to time in the states themselves. If a
+state <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>should forbid the taking of any increase on loans, then all
+increase would be usury, and there could be no interest; or if a state
+should repeal all laws limiting the exactions of increase, then there
+would be no usury in that state. Usury is increase forbidden by civil
+law. Separated from the enacted statutes of a state the distinction
+disappears. There is no moral nor is there an economic difference.</p>
+
+<p>Blackstone says: "When money is lent on a contract to receive not only
+the principal sum again, but also an increase by way of compensation
+for the use, the increase is called interest by those who think it
+lawful, and usury by those who do not."</p>
+
+<p>The moral nature of an act does not depend on the enacted statutes of
+human legislators, and the laws of economics are eternal. We must not
+permit our views of divine and economic truth to be perverted by this
+modern division of increase into legal and illegal. In order that the
+whole truth may be now expressed in our language we must combine with
+the old word usury the new word interest; then only will we have the
+full force of the revealed truth. "Wherefore then gavest not thou my
+money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own
+with usury or interest?" It is rendered interest in the Revised
+Version.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout this discussion usury is used in its full old classical
+meaning for any increase of a loan, great or small, whether authorized
+or forbidden by the civil state.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE LAW BY MOSES.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>God determined to deliver his enslaved people from the bondage in
+Egypt, and to lead them out to the land he had promised to their
+fathers. They had been strangers in Egypt; now they should have a land
+of their own. To them liberty was but a tradition; they should now be
+freemen. They had been a tribe; they should now be a nation.</p>
+
+<p>God raised up Moses to be his special servant and the mouthpiece to
+declare his will. He ordered his marvelous deliverance from the river,
+and his training in court as a freeman. He then gave him direction to
+lead his people out of their slavery, and also divine authority to
+announce to his people the code of laws by which they were to be
+governed in their free state. Some of these laws were ceremonial, to
+conserve their religion, that they might not forget their God. Some
+were civil and politic, to promote the moral, intellectual and
+material welfare. All were in accord with the moral and religious
+nature of man, and with sound economic principles. All were suited to
+promote their highest good, and to secure them forever in their
+freedom and national independence.</p>
+
+<p>The great basal principles of law are found in concrete form.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>Human life is sacred as we find from the explicit laws for its
+protection. The owner of an ox was made responsible for the life taken
+by "an ox that was known to push with its horns."</p>
+
+<p>A battlement or balustrade was required on the houses, very like our
+laws requiring fire escapes. The principle is the same.</p>
+
+<p>The laws forbidding marriage within certain degrees of kinship have
+been copied into the laws of every civilized people. The laws for the
+preservation of social purity have never been surpassed.</p>
+
+<p>The rights of property were sacred. Each had a right to his own. Theft
+was severely punished. "If a thief be found breaking up, and be
+smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him."</p>
+
+<p>Each must assist in the protection of the property of others; even the
+enemy's property must be protected. "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or
+his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again."</p>
+
+<p>The laws for the relief of the poor were kinder and more encouraging
+to self-help and self-reliance than our modern poorhouses. Deut.
+15:7-11: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren
+within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth
+thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
+poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt
+surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>wanteth.
+Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The
+seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil
+against thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught, and he cry unto
+the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give
+him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him:
+because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all
+thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor
+shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying,
+Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to
+thy needy, in thy land."</p>
+
+<p>These divinely given laws never wrought injustice. They protected
+life, purity and property, and required mutual helpfulness. They were
+given by the divine mind, in infinite love, to promote the highest
+good of this chosen people.</p>
+
+<p>These laws of God, given by Moses, positively forbade usury or
+interest, and this prohibition was so repeated that there was no
+mistaking the meaning. Ex. 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my
+people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer,
+neither shalt thou lay upon him usury."</p>
+
+<p>This law is more fully presented in Lev. 25:35, 36, 37: "And if thy
+brother be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then thou
+shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that
+he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>increase; but
+fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give
+him thy money upon usury, or lend him thy victuals for increase."</p>
+
+<p>Prof. George Bush makes the following note upon this passage: "The
+original term '<i>Neshek</i>' comes from the verb '<i>Nashak</i>' (to bite),
+mostly applied to the bite of a serpent; and probably signifies biting
+usury, so called perhaps because it resembled the bite of a serpent;
+for as this is often so small as to be scarcely perceptible at first,
+yet the venom soon spreads and diffuses itself till it reaches the
+vitals, so the increase of usury, which at first is not perceived, at
+length grows so much as to devour a man's substance."</p>
+
+<p>An effort is sometimes made to limit the application of these laws by
+placing special emphasis on the poverty of the borrowers and to
+confine the prohibition of usury to loans to the poor to meet the
+necessaries of life; and it is claimed that the laws are not intended
+to prohibit usury on a loan which the borrower secures as capital for
+a business.</p>
+
+<p>In reply it can be said:</p>
+
+<p>1. There may be more benevolence in a loan to enable a brother to go
+into business than in a loan to supply his present needs. It may be
+less benevolent and less kind to lend a dollar to buy flour for
+present use than to lend a dollar to buy a hoe with which to go into
+business and earn the flour. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>The highest philanthropy supplies the
+means and opportunities for self-help.</p>
+
+<p>2. A desire for capital to promote a business to gain more than is
+necessary to nourish the physical and mental manhood is not justified
+nor encouraged anywhere in the Word. There is just a sufficiency of
+food necessary to the highest physical condition. There is just a
+sufficiency of material wealth necessary to the development of the
+noblest manhood. More decreases physical and mental vigor and degrades
+the whole man. To seek more is of the nature of that "covetousness
+which is idolatry." Prov. 23:4: "Labor not to be rich." Prov. 28:20:
+"He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."</p>
+
+<p>Riches are a gift of God and a reward of righteousness.</p>
+
+<p>Prov. 22:4: "The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are
+riches and honor and life." Psalm 112:1, 3: "Blessed is the man that
+feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. <span style="white-space: nowrap;">* * *</span>
+Wealth and riches shall be in his house."</p>
+
+<p>"In the fourth petition of the Lord's prayer (which is: Give us this
+day our daily bread) we pray, That of God's free gift, we may receive
+a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy his
+blessing with them."</p>
+
+<p>3. If the prohibition is applicable only when the borrower is poor it
+would be difficult to properly apply it by drawing the line between
+the rich and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>poor. Many who are rich feel that they are poor and
+there are many high spirited poor who will not admit their poverty.
+Many rich live in conditions that some poor would call poverty. The
+line must be vague and indefinite and always offensive. If any one
+should endeavor to clearly mark and emphasize such a division in any
+modern community he would receive the contempt of all right thinking
+people.</p>
+
+<p>4. The laws of the Hebrews did not discriminate classes except in
+their ceremonial and forms of worship. There was but one law and that
+applicable to all alike. Even the stranger was included in the
+uniformity of the law. Num. 15:15, 16: "One ordinance shall be both
+for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth
+with you, <span style="white-space: nowrap;">* * *</span> one law and one manner shall be for you and for the
+stranger that sojourneth with you."</p>
+
+<p>5. In the Hebrew community the man of independent resources did not
+compromise his freedom by becoming indebted to another. Debt was a
+sure indication of some embarrassment or strait. The mention of the
+poverty of the possible debtor is not to limit the application of the
+law but describes the borrower. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to the
+poor unfortunate fellow who is compelled to ask a loan.</p>
+
+<p>6. The laws of the Hebrew state were for the promotion of equity
+between man and man and also for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>the protection of the weak and the
+helpless. With these objects all good governments must be in harmony.
+They can only be secured by general laws. It would be very imperfect
+protection to the helpless poor if it was permitted to charge usury to
+the covetous, greedy fellow who having much, yet desired to gain more
+and was bidding urgently for the very loan the unfortunate brother
+needed. Also even equity between the borrower and the lender would
+work a hardness in the conditions of the poor man. Full protection
+requires a law of general application.</p>
+
+<p>7. Independence, self-reliance, self-support, was the condition aimed
+at and encouraged in the Hebrew state. Borrowing was only in time of
+sore need. The man who went a-borrowing was second only to the man who
+went a-begging. The brother who, through misfortune became dependent,
+was able the sooner to repay his loan and return to independence and
+to self support.</p>
+
+<p>8. In the repetition of the law in Deut. 23:19, 20, there is no
+reference to the poverty of the borrower and it cannot by fair
+interpretation be limited to the poor. "Thou shalt not lend upon usury
+to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything
+that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury;
+but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy
+God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to do in the
+land whither thou goest to possess it."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY AND "THE STRANGER."</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Deut. 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury
+of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon
+usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy
+brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy God may
+bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither
+thou goest to possess it."</p>
+
+<p>While there is no reference to poverty in this passage and the
+prohibition cannot fairly be limited to loans to the poor, a shadow of
+permission to exact usury is found in the clause: "unto a stranger
+thou mayest lend upon usury."</p>
+
+<p>Hebrews, who have been anxious to obey the letter of the Mosaic law,
+while indifferent to its true spirit, have construed this into a
+permission to exact usury of all Gentiles. Christian apologists for
+usury, who have not utterly discarded all laws given by Moses as
+effete and no longer binding, have tried hard to show that this clause
+authorizes the general taking of interest. To do this it is wrested
+from its natural connection, and the true historic reference is
+ignored.</p>
+
+<p>Three classes of persons, that were called strangers, may be noted for
+the purpose of presenting the true import of this passage.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>1. Those were called strangers who were not of Hebrew blood, but were
+proselytes to the Hebrew faith and had cast their lot with them. They
+were mostly poor, for not belonging to any of the families of Jacob,
+they had no landed inheritance. The gleanings of the field and the
+stray sheaf were left for the fatherless, the poor, and these
+proselyted strangers. But they were to be received in love, and
+treated in all respects as those born of their own blood. Ex. 12:48,
+49: "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the
+passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcized, and then let
+him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the
+land: for no uncircumcized person shall eat thereof. One law shall be
+to him that is home born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Lev. 24:22: "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the
+stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God."</p>
+
+<p>Num. 9:14: "And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep
+the passover unto the Lord; according to the ordinance of the
+passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye
+shall have one ordinance both for the stranger, and for him that was
+born in the land."</p>
+
+<p>Num. 15:15, 16: "One ordinance shall be both for you of the
+congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an
+ordinance forever in your congregations: as ye are, so shall the
+stranger be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>before the Lord. One law and one manner shall be for you,
+and for the stranger that sojourneth with you."</p>
+
+<p>Of these strangers it is explicitly said they are to be treated
+precisely as brethren of their own blood.</p>
+
+<p>Lev. 25:35, 36: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay
+with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a
+<i>stranger</i>, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no
+usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live
+with thee."</p>
+
+<p>2. There was also another class of strangers, including all the
+nations that were not of Hebrew blood, by which they were surrounded.
+These traded with them and often sojourned for a more or less extended
+period among them for merely secular purposes, but never accepted
+their faith. For this reason they were often called sojourners. With
+us, in law, the former strangers would be known as "naturalized
+citizens," these as "denizens," residents in a foreign land for
+secular purposes. These denizens were to be dealt with justly, to be
+treated kindly and even with affection, remembering their long sojourn
+as strangers in Egypt. Ex. 22:21: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger,
+nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."</p>
+
+<p>Ex. 23:9: "Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the
+heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>They were "denizens," but not citizens of Egypt four hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>Lev. 19:33, 34: "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye
+shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be
+unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself;
+for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."</p>
+
+<p>This class of denizens or sojourners was also to be treated with the
+same kindness as their own blood.</p>
+
+<p>Lev. 25:35, 36: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay
+with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger,
+or a <i>sojourner</i>; that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of
+him, or increase: but fear thy God: that thy brother may live with
+thee."</p>
+
+<p>The sojourner or denizen is here distinguished from the stranger who
+had been naturalized, adopting their faith.</p>
+
+<p>3. There was another class called strangers. This class was limited to
+the inhabitants of their promised land.</p>
+
+<p>Robinson's Bible Encyclopedia says, on this clause: "'Unto a stranger
+thou mayest lend upon usury.' In this place God seems to tolerate
+usury toward strangers: that is the Canaanites and other people
+devoted to subjection, but not toward such strangers against whom the
+Hebrews had no quarrel. To exact usury is here, according to Ambrose,
+an act of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>hostility. It was a kind of waging war with the Canaanites
+and ruining them by means of usury."</p>
+
+<p>God withheld his chosen people from taking possession of the promised
+land until "their iniquity was full" and the divine sentence of
+condemnation had been pronounced against them. They were to be rooted
+out of the land and utterly destroyed for their sins, and their land
+given to the chosen people. God declared that he would execute his
+sentence, driving them out before them, as his people should increase
+and be able to occupy the land. Ex. 23:23, 28-32: "For mine angel
+shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the
+Jebusite, and I will cut them off. And I will send hornets before
+thee, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanite, and the
+Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee
+in one year; lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field
+multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from
+before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. And I will
+set my bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines,
+and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants
+of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
+Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods."</p>
+
+<p>Ex. 34:10-12: "And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy
+people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth,
+nor in any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see
+the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with
+thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive
+out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and
+the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself,
+lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither
+thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee."</p>
+
+<p>They were in no way to covenant with this people and interfere with
+the execution of divine judgment. They were commanded, willing or
+unwilling, to be in a measure the executioners of those under
+sentence. These people of Canaan were deprived of all rights by the
+divine sentence and the Israelites were not to grant any. To do so was
+direct disobedience, and yet most of the tribes failed to obey the
+command, permitting many of the inhabitants to remain.</p>
+
+<p>When the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and secured a pledge, the pledge
+of their lives was kept, but they were made slaves, doomed to drudgery
+forever, "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Josh. 9:23.</p>
+
+<p>This compromise was contrary to the divine command for their utter
+destruction. To condone the guilt of these people, or to interfere
+with their execution, was as flagrant a violation of law as that of a
+modern community that seeks to protect criminals, or that interferes
+with the execution of those convicted of capital crimes.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>This class of strangers had no rights that Hebrews were permitted to
+respect. They were not to be given any privileges. They were to be
+treated as Hindoo widows are treated, "accursed of the gods and hated
+of men." Debts were not to be forgiven them. The year of Jubilee did
+not affect them. They remained enslaved forever. The Sabbath's rest
+was only incidental, that there might be a complete cessation of all
+activities.</p>
+
+<p>In the fourth commandment Deut. 5:14, "thy stranger" is mentioned
+after the ox, ass, and cattle, and was given rest for the same reason
+the beasts are permitted to rest: "That thy man-servant and
+maid-servant may rest as well as thou." They had not the rights of a
+common servant or slave. The carcass of the animal that died of itself
+could be given them to eat, and they could be charged usury.</p>
+
+<p>Yet this clause has been seized upon by avaricious Jews as permission
+to exact usury of all the nations not of Hebrew blood, ignoring the
+fact that when given it was limited to those peoples under the curse
+of God for their iniquities. It can not justly be made to mean that
+the Hebrews have a right to treat other nations with less
+righteousness than they treat their own people.</p>
+
+<p>It is an unwarranted broadening to make it a permission to exact usury
+from all the human race except from Hebrews.</p>
+
+<p>It was chiefly the acting upon this false <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>interpretation, classing
+all Gentiles with these strangers, accursed of God, that had no rights
+they were permitted to respect, that set every Gentile Christian's
+hand against the Jews for fifteen hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing more clearly marked the line between Christian and Hebrew
+during fifteen centuries than this one thing, that the Hebrews exacted
+usury or interest of the Gentiles while the Christians were unanimous
+in its denunciation, and forbade its practice.</p>
+
+<p>Gentile Christian apologists for the taking of usury or interest, to
+overcome the force of this prohibition, are compelled to grant that
+Christians may be less brotherly than Hebrews: that the borrowers
+whether Christian or not are "strangers" to those who make them loans
+upon increase.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>DAVID AND SOLOMON.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Devout Hebrews during the period of the Judges obeyed the Mosaic
+prohibition of usury or interest. It was also recognized as binding
+and obeyed during the reigns of David and Solomon. This was a greatly
+prosperous period when commerce flourished and trade was extended to
+the ends of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>David was weak before certain temptations and his falls were grievous,
+but his repentance was deep and his returns to God were sincere. He
+never failed to regard God as supreme over him and the bestower of all
+his blessings. He is called the man after God's own heart, and it is
+also said that his heart was perfect before God. His spirit of devout
+worship has never been surpassed. His Psalms, in all the ages, have
+been accepted as expressing the true yearning after righteousness and
+a longing for closer communion with God.</p>
+
+<p>David, in the fifteenth Psalm, expresses the thought of the earnest
+and reverent worshippers of his time. This Psalm declares the
+necessity of moral purity in those who would be citizens of Zion and
+dwellers in the holy hill.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>Who shall dwell in thy holy
+hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
+speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
+tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
+against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he
+honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and
+changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh
+reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be
+moved."</p>
+
+<p>The description, "He that putteth not out his money to usury," is
+direct and unqualified. There could be no mistaking its meaning. Those
+who were guilty could not claim to be citizens of Zion. There is no
+qualifying clause behind which the usurer could take refuge and escape
+condemnation.</p>
+
+<p>This Psalm, prepared by the king, was chanted in the great
+congregation, and was a prick to the consciences of the sinners and a
+public reproof of all the sins mentioned. He that putteth out his
+money to increase received thus a public reproof in the great
+worshipping assembly.</p>
+
+<p>Solomon, endowed with unequaled wisdom and able so clearly to discern
+the right, places among his proverbs a direct denunciation of this
+sin.</p>
+
+<p>Prov. 28:8: "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his
+substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>In this proverb the gain of usury is classed with unjust gain that
+shall not bless the gatherer. This is in entire harmony with other
+proverbs in which those who practice injustice and oppression are
+declared to be wanting in true wisdom and receive no benefit
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but
+transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."</p>
+
+<p>"As righteousness tendeth to life; so he that pursueth evil pursueth
+it to his own death."</p>
+
+<p>"Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall
+fall himself into his own pit; but the upright shall have good things
+in possession."</p>
+
+<p>"Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted
+in the gate: for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul
+of those that spoiled them."</p>
+
+<p>Usury and unjust gain are joined by Solomon as sins of the same
+nature. It is also implied that they are necessarily connected with
+want of sympathy and helpfulness toward the poor. They are presented
+as an oppression that shall not bless the oppressor.</p>
+
+<p>This proverb does not confine the evil to the borrower like the
+proverb, "The borrower is servant to the lender." The wrong is not
+confined to those of the poor to whom loans may be made. The
+oppression of usury is upon all the poor though they are not
+borrowers. They are the ultimate sufferers though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>the loan may be
+made by one rich man to another to enable him to engage in some
+business for profit. Usury is so bound up with injustice that its
+practice cannot fail to result in increasing the hard conditions of
+all the poor.</p>
+
+<p>Solomon's reign was brilliant, and the ships of his commerce entered
+every port in the known world, yet usury was not necessary and was not
+practiced in that prosperous age.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>DENUNCIATION OF JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The Hebrew nation reached its summit of power and glory during the
+reign of King Solomon, but corruption crept in and disintegration
+followed, and a series of conflicts between portions of the kingdom.
+The laws given by Moses were neglected, and a long period of gross
+sinning followed. They were warned by the faithful yet hopeful prophet
+Isaiah that the overthrow of their nation was certain, and that their
+people would be carried captive to a strange land unless they forsook
+utterly their sins and turned to righteousness. They did not heed and
+the predicted calamities came upon them.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of these calamities the contemporary prophets Jeremiah
+and Ezekiel ministered. They differed greatly in their dispositions.</p>
+
+<p>Jeremiah was a complainer. Always bemoaning his own and his people's
+hard lot. The Lamentations are recognized as the best extant
+expression of unmitigated grief. He lamented his birth because he was
+treated as a usurer and oppressor, when he had never exacted usury,
+nor had business with usurers. Jer. 15:10: "Woe, is me, my brother,
+that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the
+whole earth. I have neither lent on usury, nor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>have men lent to me on
+usury; yet every one of them doth curse me."</p>
+
+<p>Ezekiel was always patient, faithfully proclaiming his messages, and
+suffering in silence. The completeness of his self-control and patient
+suffering is shown in the short but pathetic description of the death
+of his beloved wife, yet at the divine command he repressed his grief
+and delivered his message the following morning. Ezekiel 24:15-18:
+"Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I
+take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet
+neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
+Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thy
+head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover up thy
+lips, and eat not the bread of men. So I spake of people in the
+morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was
+commanded."</p>
+
+<p>These prophets were familiar with the same scenes. They met the same
+sins. Some have thought they exchanged messages, sending them
+respectively to Jerusalem and Chaldea for encouragement and
+confirmation. This was the opinion of Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>In a catalogue of the sins prevailing in Jerusalem, for which the
+judgment of God came upon them, this prophet places "Usury and
+increase." Ezekiel 22: 7-12: "In thee have they set light by father
+and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with
+the stranger: in thee have they vexed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>the fatherless and the widow.
+Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. In
+thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon
+the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. In thee have
+they discovered their father's nakedness: in thee have they humbled
+her that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed
+abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled
+his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his
+father's daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou
+hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy
+neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God."</p>
+
+<p>It would not be easy to give a list of more gross and flagrant sins
+than those associated with usury in this passage. They are all, always
+and everywhere, sinful. In no condition can they be lawful and right.</p>
+
+<p>One of the answers familiar to both Jeremiah and Ezekiel when the
+people were reproved for their sins and exhorted to forsake them, that
+the divine judgments might be removed, was this, that their sufferings
+were not on their own account, but for the sins of their fathers. They
+thus met the charge of personal sins and claimed their sufferings were
+inherited and unavoidable. Their fathers had indulged in sin and they
+must reap the consequences. They complained that this was hardness in
+God. They expressed this murmur by a proverb. Jer. 31:29: "The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on
+edge."</p>
+
+<p>The answer of the prophet Jeremiah briefly is, that every one shall
+answer for his own sin. Jer. 31:30: "But every one shall die for his
+own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be
+set on edge."</p>
+
+<p>This same proverb was repeatedly given to Ezekiel, as an excuse for
+continuing in sins, even when the judgments of God were upon them. The
+word of the Lord came more fully and explicitly to him.</p>
+
+<p>Ezekiel declares that the sins of the fathers were visited on the
+children only when they continued in their father's iniquity. That
+those who forsook the sins of their fathers and were righteous, were
+free from the punishment of the unrighteous parents.</p>
+
+<p>Ezekiel 18:1-17: "The word of God came unto me again, saying, What
+mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel,
+saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
+are set on edge.</p>
+
+<p>As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion to use this
+proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the
+father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it
+shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and
+right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up
+his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his
+neighbor's wife, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
+(<i>i.e.</i> neither hath committed a rape,) and hath not oppressed any,
+but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by
+violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the
+naked with a garment. He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither
+hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity,
+hath executed true judgment between man and man. Hath walked in my
+statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he
+shall surely live, saith the Lord God."</p>
+
+<p>"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
+doeth the like to any one of these things; and that doeth not any of
+those duties but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his
+neighbor's wife, hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by
+violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted his eyes to
+the idols, hath committed abomination, hath given forth upon usury,
+and hath taken increase: Shall he then live? He shall not live: he
+hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall
+be upon him. Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's
+sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like:
+that hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his
+eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his
+neighbor's wife, neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the
+pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>bread to
+the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, that hath taken
+off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury or increase,
+hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not
+die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live."</p>
+
+<p>It will be noticed that usury or increase is here mentioned among the
+grossest and foulest sins of which that people were guilty. They are
+placed by the prophet in the worst possible company. He classifies
+them among those things that can never be right. There is no
+qualification of "increase" great or small, nor of "usury" whether the
+loan be domestic or commercial, whether for personal need, or to go
+into business, whether the borrower be poor or rich.</p>
+
+<p>Usury is mentioned as "<i>malum per se</i>." "Usury and increase" are
+treated as sinful in themselves, just as fraud, violence, impurity,
+and idolatry are sinful, and can never be innocent unless their very
+natures are reversed. When there is fraud without dishonesty, and
+violence without injury, and adultery without impurity, and idolatry
+without false worship, then may there be "usury and increase" without
+injustice and oppression. "Some sins in themselves and by reason of
+several aggravations are more heinous in the sight of God than
+others," the prophet Ezekiel places "usury or increase" in the list of
+"abominations."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>FINANCIAL REFORM BY NEHEMIAH.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>After seventy years of captivity of the Hebrews in Chaldea an edict
+was issued by Cyrus the king permitting their return to Judea. The
+most earnest and devout had been restless and homesick in the strange
+land. The restoration was led by Zerubbabel who accompanied by about
+five thousand of the most devout men from the various families, made
+their way over the long return to their former home. This was only
+about one-sixth of the captive population. Many preferred to remain in
+the land they had now adopted, and where some had been prospered, and
+some were perhaps less fervent in their religious zeal. This fraction
+of the people, however, determined to re-erect their temple and to
+cultivate the fields again that were given to their fathers and to
+rebuild the nation, the tradition of whose glory never failed to stir
+their hearts.</p>
+
+<p>Eighty years later another company under the priest and scholar, Ezra,
+authorized by Artaxerxes, joined the first colony that had returned to
+re-occupy their own land.</p>
+
+<p>A few years later another company was led by the patriot, Nehemiah.
+Nehemiah was in an honorable and lucrative position in the first court
+upon earth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>yet he grieved over the misfortunes of his own people,
+and especially over the reported distress of the returned exiles. He
+sought leave of absence and a commission to return and co-work with
+his brethren for their complete re-establishment at Jerusalem.</p>
+
+<p>The leave of absence was cheerfully granted and a broad commission
+given to take with him any who wished to return. The revenues of the
+king were placed at his disposal and the governors of the provinces
+were ordered to assist and further his work. A large company of the
+earnest and devout returned with him, confident of his protection and
+in sympathy with his mission. He deliberately reviewed the work to be
+done, made careful plans and was greatly successful.</p>
+
+<p>The people were obedient. They cheerfully endured the privations and
+dangers in their devotion to their country, and in the hope of
+retrieving the fortunes of their depressed people.</p>
+
+<p>Enemies appeared, who threatened to estop their work, but some worked
+while others watched, with arms in hand, ready to defend. Some wrought
+with one hand and held a weapon for ready defence in the other.
+Nehemiah and his aides, and many of the people, did not take off their
+clothes, but were on duty constantly&mdash;so devoted were they to the
+cause in which they were engaged, regaining their homes and
+re-establishing the worship of their fathers and rebuilding the
+nation.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>But there was a strange interruption in this patriotic work. A sordid
+covetousness possessed their nobles and rulers. While the people were
+absorbed in their patriotic service, these persons were planning
+successfully to despoil them.</p>
+
+<p>A cry of distress came to the ears of Nehemiah. The people found, now
+that they had made the sacrifice and suffered deprivations and
+cheerfully given their labors for the common good, they were deprived
+of their blessings and enslaved.</p>
+
+<p>This enslavement was not to foreign rulers, but to those of their own
+blood. A division had grown up among their own kindred. Some had grown
+rich and become their masters. Others were in hopeless poverty. The
+distinctions came gradually or grew up among them, possibly
+unobserved: the rich becoming richer and the poor poorer, until the
+nobles held their lands and were selling their sons and daughters as
+chattels.</p>
+
+<p>This condition was hopeless, after all their struggles for nearly a
+hundred years to re-establish their institutions. Neither they nor
+their children could, under those conditions, enjoy the fruit of all
+their efforts. This was no fault of theirs. There had been times of
+dearth and harvest failure, when some with large families were in
+need. The king's tribute, too, was heavy upon them and some were not
+able to pay and they were compelled to borrow, but had to give
+mortgages upon their land as security. Now lands, homes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>and all, had
+passed to the creditors and they were despondent and helpless.</p>
+
+<p>This cry caused Nehemiah great distress, but Nehemiah was not like
+Ezra, a devout and learned priest, but without executive power, who in
+a like position gave way to unmitigated grief. Nehemiah was equally
+patriotic and conscientious, but he was also a strong leader and an
+independent commander. He did not call together the nobles and rulers
+charged with oppression and ask them what he should do. He had none of
+their counsel. He took counsel with himself, his own conscience, his
+own judgment, and worked out an independent, individual policy which
+he should pursue.</p>
+
+<p>His sympathy was with the suffering people, and he determined to
+espouse their cause and to correct their wrongs. He then called the
+nobles and rulers and charged them to their face with oppression. He
+laid "the ax at the root of the tree" and charged the fault to their
+covetousness, to the exacting of usury or interest. It was this, he
+declared, that had brought them to wealth, but driven others to
+poverty. He demanded reparation. When they were slow to yield, he
+called a convocation of the people and aroused them to a due sense of
+the wrong they had been enduring, and laid bare the sins of the rulers
+and nobles. He showed the oppression by comparing their sordid and
+greedy conduct with the unselfish, self-sacrifice of himself and
+others for the common <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>good. While he and the patriotic people were
+busy with hand and brain in rebuilding the nation and fighting the
+enemies, these usurers were busy getting in their work of ruin,
+gathering the property into their own hands and enslaving the
+patriots.</p>
+
+<p>The usurers were not able to withstand this onslaught of the chief
+commander and the aroused people, and they made no reply. Their
+conduct had so evidently been contrary both to the letter and spirit
+of their own law, they were compelled to yield and to say meekly, "We
+will do as you have said."</p>
+
+<p>Then he stated the terms and conditions of the reform he would
+institute.</p>
+
+<p>1. They must return the pledges they had taken for debts, without
+reserve. The people must not be deprived of their land, tools, or
+instruments of production. The foreclosure of mortgages must be set
+aside and the people again given possession of their lands.</p>
+
+<p>2. Interest must be returned or credited upon the debts. If the
+interest equaled the debt, then the debt was fully discharged. If more
+than the principal had been paid, then it must be returned in money or
+in the product of lands taken in foreclosure, the wine or oil or
+fruits and grains must be returned. Thus only could the wrongs be
+corrected and righteous adjustment be made.</p>
+
+<p>There then followed a general restoration of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>pledges and a cancelling
+of debts that had been paid once in interest, and a repaying of any
+surplus.</p>
+
+<p>3. They must take a solemn vow that this sin shall henceforth be
+unknown among them. The law against usury or interest must henceforth
+be carefully obeyed. These distinctions that had grown up among them
+must disappear forever, and the cause of the poverty of the many and
+the wealth of the few must be shunned.</p>
+
+<p>To these conditions the usurers assented, made ashamed by the conduct
+of the noble patriot in contrast with their own selfishness, though
+they had not yielded until awed and compelled by the indignation of
+the people, which Nehemiah had enkindled against them.</p>
+
+<p>This positive enforcement of the law against the taking of increase on
+any loan, makes unmistakably clear the interpretation of the law by
+the devout, earnest, sincere, God-fearing Hebrews, down to the close
+of the Old Testament Canon.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<br />
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> References: Ezra, Nehemiah, Bible Dictionaries.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER.</h4>
+<br />
+
+
+<p>Psalmist and prophets had sung of the exalted character of the coming
+Messiah. "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured
+into thy lips." "And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
+The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."</p>
+
+<p>At his coming he lifted to a higher plane, by his precepts and
+example, the ideal of a true, noble and worthy human life. By his
+teachings and by his life of utter unselfishness he revealed clearly
+the exalted character and conduct that conformed to the Divine will.</p>
+
+<p>1. Our Lord's character forbids that we should think of him for a
+moment as devoted to the gathering of worldly wealth. He came to
+minister unto, not to serve himself. Self-seeking was foreign to his
+nature. A great truth was spoken by the scoffers. "He saved others,
+himself he cannot save."</p>
+
+<p>He who strives to follow in his footsteps cannot serve himself.</p>
+
+<p>The whole drift of a great unselfish Christ-like soul must be for
+others. The whole current of his thought and effort during his life
+must be, to be helpful to others. Studying and striving to help
+others, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>cannot seek wealth. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."</p>
+
+<p>It is out of harmony with the whole life and all the teachings of the
+Master that he should encourage or permit a means of increasing wealth
+forbidden by the laws given by Moses and classed among the vilest of
+sins by the prophets.</p>
+
+<p>2. Again: He did not undo the teachings of the prophets, but enlarged
+their scope. He showed by word and example how the true spirit of the
+teachings of the old dispensation led to self-sacrifice for the
+welfare of others. Matt. 5:17: "Think not that I am come to destroy
+the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill."</p>
+
+<p>Fulfill, here, is more than to obey. It is in antithesis with destroy,
+and means to perfect and complete.</p>
+
+<p>The old ceremonial forms of religious worship, pointed to the advent
+of one who should be a perfect sacrifice for sin, typified by the
+daily sacrifice of bulls and rams. The sacrifice typified, was
+completed in Him.</p>
+
+<p>The moral enactments were not set aside, but they were given a
+completed meaning; that is they were made to reach beyond the external
+to the hidden desires and affections of the heart. He taught that mere
+external compliance was not sufficient in the All Seeing Eye. The
+affections and desires of the soul must be in agreement.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we have the explanation of the law of chastity, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>completed,
+requiring purity of the soul. So murder is not merely the external
+act, but the law for murder, completed, forbids enmity or hatred
+hidden in the heart.</p>
+
+<p>The requirements for mutual helpfulness were also perfected or
+completed.</p>
+
+<p>The old law required the helping of a brother in need.</p>
+
+<p>Deut. 15:7, 8: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy
+brethren within any of thy gates in the land which the Lord thy God
+giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine hand from
+thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and
+shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he
+wanteth."</p>
+
+<p>This was completed so as to extend the help to all sufferers, though
+not kindred nor friendly, and though they may not be able nor willing
+to repay. Luke 6:35: "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend,
+hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall
+be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful,
+and to the evil."</p>
+
+<p>The old law permitted the lender to take a pledge to secure the return
+of "as much again," that is, the loan without interest. The Master
+enjoins being helpful though the principal should never be repaid. To
+take a pledge or mortgage and add the interest would greatly harden
+the conditions for the borrower. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>It would be a step backward and not
+forward in the way of helpfulness to others.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the year of Jubilee was a kind of legal time limit to debts.
+All obligations were then cancelled. No debt could be collected. The
+selfish Hebrew feared to make a loan shortly before Jubilee lest it
+should not be repaid promptly and his claim would become worthless.
+Deut. 15:9: "Beware that there be no thought in thy wicked heart,
+saying, The seventh year, the year of release is at hand; and thine
+eye be evil toward thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught; and
+he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee." In his
+heart the old Hebrew might have a desire to press his claim but the
+law protected the debtor. This law for the release of the debtor from
+the payment of principal without interest is completed so as to
+require sincere and hearty forgiveness.</p>
+
+<p>Our Lord taught his disciples to ask for forgiveness of God only as
+they forgave their debtors, Matt. 6:12: "And forgive us our debts, as
+we forgive our debtors." The commercial terms here used show this to
+be the completion of the law as touching the creditor and his released
+debtor.</p>
+
+<p>3. Again, he broke down the artificial barriers, the distinction of
+Hebrew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, bond and free.</p>
+
+<p>The love and sympathy and helpfulness among men was no longer to be
+limited to such narrow bounds, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>but must be wide as the race. "Who is
+my neighbor?" is so answered that every man must be neighbor to every
+other man, and the object of his care and help. All are of one blood,
+and all God's children. He gave one law for all classes and conditions
+in all times. He so expounded the old commandments and so condensed
+them, that they became the one law of love. Whosoever is governed by
+supreme love to God, and loves his neighbor as himself, has fulfilled
+the law. He would thus bind all men together, and all to the throne of
+God, by the one bond of love.</p>
+
+<p>But he further intensified the obligations of love, by his own special
+command. John 15:12: "This is my commandment, that ye love one
+another, as I have loved you." And he adds it to the decalogue, John
+13:34: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as
+I have loved you that ye also love one another." This new command
+requires that men shall love their brethren above themselves and be
+ready to sacrifice for their welfare. As he gave his life, so also he
+commanded that men should sacrifice for their fellows.</p>
+
+<p>Those who hear his voice and have the spirit of obedience go to the
+ends of the earth, and make any sacrifice that may be required for the
+uplifting of fallen men.</p>
+
+<p>The law forbidding the Hebrews exacting usury of their brethren, of
+the stranger who had accepted their faith and kept the passover, of
+the stranger, sojourner <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>who dwelt among them, of everybody except the
+Canaanite who was under the condemnation of God, could not have been
+annulled or suspended by the divine Master who thus draws together and
+embraces as one family the whole race. The ties of Christian
+brotherhood are not less strong than the ties of Hebrew blood. The
+converts from heathen to Christian faith are not less dear to the
+missionary than the proselytes to the Hebrew faith were to the
+Pharisees. The foreigner who comes into a Christian community must not
+be treated with less justice and kindness than the wandering Arab who
+strolled into Jerusalem for a trade. It cannot be that the relation
+between Christians is like that between the Hebrew and the criminal
+Canaanites who were convicted of capital crimes and under sentence of
+death. As usury was repugnant to that spirit of justice and brotherly
+love that obtained in the Hebrew State, much more is it repugnant to
+that closer brotherhood into which we are drawn by the divine Lord.</p>
+
+<p>4. Again, He was a friend of the poor and lowly. This was foretold by
+the song of the virgin, when assured that she should be the mother of
+the Savior. Luke 51:52, 53: "He hath put down the mighty from their
+seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
+good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away."</p>
+
+<p>The prophets foretold that He should be the friend <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>of the poor. He
+pointed John to the fulfilment of these prophecies in proof of his
+Messiahship.</p>
+
+<p>In his first address in the explanation of the new dispensation he
+began by saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The literal
+rendering would be, "Blessed are the poor, to the Spirit." This is the
+dative singular with the definite article. He is speaking of external
+conditions as contrasted with spiritual blessings, and those
+conditions thought wretched in the world were especially favorable for
+the development of grace. The poor, humble, mourning, suffering, and
+persecuted were especially blessed in his kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>The word rendered poor does not mean pauper. There is a great
+difference. The poor may be industrious, self-reliant and
+self-supporting. There is no hint of dependence.</p>
+
+<p>In Luke he says, "Blessed are ye poor." When at the rich man's table,
+he told his host that he would be more blessed if he should make the
+next feast to the poor and defective, that could make him no return.</p>
+
+<p>He was uncompromising in his denunciation of the rich. Luke 6:24: "But
+woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation." He
+showed the danger of riches in the parable of the sower. Matt. 13:22:
+"He also that received seed among thorns is he that heareth the word;
+and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the
+word, and it becometh unfruitful."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>Where grace is to be cultivated and flourish, the "greed of gain" must
+not enter. The young man who came to him, whom he loved for his sweet
+disposition and excellent character, he turned away by the answer that
+his wealth was incompatible with his salvation. He must part from his
+riches. When the disciples were surprised, he made it more emphatic,
+Matt. 19:24: "And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go
+through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
+of God." And when they felt that this made salvation impossible, he
+declared it could only be possible by the exercise of omnipotent,
+divine grace.</p>
+
+<p>Zaccheus, the one rich man whose conversion is recorded, surrendered
+his ill-gotten gain fourfold and gave away half of the remainder
+before salvation came to his house. The temptation to trust and lean
+upon riches is irresistible.</p>
+
+<p>Our Lord did not make wealth more dangerous than under the Mosaic
+dispensation by removing the restraint that was there put upon it. As
+a friend to the poor he did not give wealth an advantage it did not
+have before.</p>
+
+<p>5. The whole drift of his teachings limited and restrained
+accumulation of wealth. The parable of the rich fool is a forcible
+presentation of its human folly on the earthly side.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose shall these things be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>where moth and rust
+doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up
+for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
+corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: For where
+your treasure is, there will your heart be also."</p>
+
+<p>The result is irresistible; when engaged in storing earthly treasure,
+the heart will be earthly; or if laying up treasures in heaven, the
+heart will reach heavenward. He who labors for a heavenly reward, will
+be heavenly minded.</p>
+
+<p>Treasures are stored for eternity, when used for the bringing out of
+that which shall survive the grave; for the bringing out the highest
+divine type of manhood and womanhood, in ourselves, in our children,
+and in all the children of men.</p>
+
+<p>Treasures expended in the development of immortals shall be found when
+the earthly and temporal scenes have passed away. That which is
+expended in the uplifting of the race shall be our eternal reward.</p>
+
+<p>Giving, giving, not hoarding is commended. Productive industry he
+enforced by his example, the carpenter that wrought for his daily
+bread. He chose workmen to be his followers. He taught economy in the
+command to take up the fragments of the food miraculously created
+"that nothing be lost," yet unreserved giving was the lesson he
+inculcated and illustrated in his life. To follow his example, we must
+produce and produce much, yet what we gain is to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>expended, so as
+to promote the highest welfare of all mankind. We must not store the
+fruits of our labor, but expend, not as a spendthrift who wastes, but
+judiciously and wisely for God and man. Our giving is only limited by
+the ability and facility to produce. Our Lord did not greatly add to
+the temptation to hoard by delivering the earthly treasures from the
+decay by "moth and rust" and instead permitting their increase. Our
+hoarding of earthly treasures must be limited, because of our
+disposition to trust in them. We must always be so dependent that we
+shall pray truly with the spirit of dependence, "Give us this day our
+daily bread." "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food
+convenient for me."</p>
+
+<p>Thrift does not require that we shall hoard an amount that will
+support us through life, much less that we shall lay up a fortune,
+that shall free our children from the necessity of productive labor.
+The spirit of the Master's teachings is, that each age shall produce
+and spend its product for its own advancement, then each succeeding
+age shall be better fitted to produce and care for itself and so
+advance the coming generations. "Go work today in my vineyard." Now is
+the time to give and do for the generation yet unborn.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PARABLES OF THE TALENTS AND THE POUNDS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Our Lord mentions usury by name only in the parables of the talents
+and pounds. Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27. Usury is mentioned in these
+passages incidentally to meet the excuses of worthless servants, but
+in both as the unjust and oppressive act of a hard and dishonest man.
+These references to usury are in entire harmony with the expressions
+of David and Solomon, and of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.</p>
+
+<p>These servants in the parables were slaves, who owed their service to
+their master and for whom he was responsible.</p>
+
+<p>The lesson in both parables is the necessity of faithfulness. The
+faithful servants are rewarded and the unfaithful punished in both.
+Yet there is a special lesson in each.</p>
+
+<p>The parable of the talents shows that an equal reward shall be given
+all who are equally faithful, though the means and opportunities
+afforded one may far exceed those granted another. One was given five
+talents and another but two; one gained five and the other two, yet
+both equally faithful, are directed to enter into the joy of their
+lord.</p>
+
+<p>The unfaithful servant brings his talent with an excuse, which is a
+charge against the character of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>master, "I knew thee that thou
+art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where
+thou hast not strewed," "so there thou hast which is thine."</p>
+
+<p>The master in reply showed the inconsistency of the excuse by assuming
+that he bore the hard character charged upon him by his slave, "Thou
+wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
+not, and gather where I have not strewed: Thou oughtest therefore to
+have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should
+have received mine own with usury." It is "interest" in the Revised
+Version.</p>
+
+<p>This interview may be paraphrased as follows:</p>
+
+<p>The unfaithful servant said: "I know the kind of a man you are. You
+are dishonest. You take what does not belong to you. You reap what
+other people sow, and you take up what others earn. I was afraid of
+you: Here is all that you gave me and all that belongs to you."</p>
+
+<p>The master said: "You are merely excusing yourself. You are a lazy
+faithless slave. If I am the hard man you say I am, taking what does
+not belong to me and gathering the sowings and earnings of others, you
+could have met that condition without trouble to yourself, by giving
+my money to the usurers and then at my coming I could have received my
+unjust gain. Your excuse is inconsistent, you condemn yourself. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>You
+are an indolent and worthless slave. Begone to your punishment."</p>
+
+<p>It is clearly implied that unearned increase, reaping and gathering
+without sowing, could be gained through the exchangers. If this was
+what was demanded, the servant could have secured this with no effort
+on his part. His charge against the master was a mere pretence to
+excuse his own want of personal faithfulness, and the master's reply
+was fitted to this pretense.</p>
+
+<p>This is in entire harmony with the opinion our Lord expressed of the
+exchangers when he called them thieves and drove them out of the
+temple. It would be wholly inconsistent for him to advise an honest
+and faithful servant to place any portion of the property in their
+hands. His advice can only come from the standpoint of a dishonest
+master such as his servant called him.</p>
+
+<p>The parable of the pounds shows the degrees of faithfulness in those
+who have equal opportunities. With the same opportunities one may far
+surpass another, because more faithful to his trust, his reward is
+proportionately greater.</p>
+
+<p>In this parable each servant received the same, but the gains and
+rewards differ. By diligence one gained ten pounds and is commended
+and given authority over ten cities. Another gained five pounds. He is
+also commended and given authority over five cities.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>Another, who had given no service, came with his pound but without
+increase. This was a proof of his unfaithfulness. He endeavors to
+shield himself like the servant with the talent, by charging injustice
+and oppression on his master. "I feared thee because thou art an
+austere man: thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest
+that thou didst not sow."</p>
+
+<p>His master turned on him because his own reason was inconsistent with
+his conduct and a mere shield for his indolence and worthlessness.
+"Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou
+knowest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and
+reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore gavest thou not my money into
+the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with
+usury."</p>
+
+<p>This interview may also be paraphrased.</p>
+
+<p>The unfaithful slave came and said: "Lord I have carefully kept all
+that thou gavest me. I knew that thou wast an exacting master, taking
+what did not belong to you and gathering what others sow."</p>
+
+<p>The master says: "Now stop right there and I will judge you by your
+own excuse out of your own mouth. You say you knew me to be exacting
+and dishonest, taking more than belonged to me. Now, knowing this, why
+did you not serve me by giving my money to the bank, and then at my
+coming you could have brought me my money with my unjust gain and that
+would have pleased a hard man like me, without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>effort on your part.
+You are only giving this as an excuse for your own unfaithfulness. You
+are a wicked slave."</p>
+
+<p>The master admits that he would be a hard man, if he reaped what
+another sowed, or took up what belonged to another, but assuming that
+this was his character, even this could have been met without trouble
+to the slave through the bank. This is a clear recognition of usury as
+unjust gain.</p>
+
+<p>Exchangers were little more than the pawn-brokers of today and a bank
+was a pawn-shop where pledges were stored. The money loaned upon any
+pawn was much less than its full value. The increase of the loan soon
+made it more than the value of the pledge which was then forfeited,
+and the pawn was sold by the broker.</p>
+
+<p>These parables are here dwelt upon, for they are so frequently
+misunderstood and misapplied. In a large volume on "Banking," the
+writer found the words of the master quoted, "Wherefore then gavest
+not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have
+required my own with usury." And they were quoted as a solemn
+direction of the divine Master to deposit money in the bank.</p>
+
+<p>To quote from these parables in the defense of usury is as flagrant a
+perversion of the truth as the famous quotation to prove that Paul
+encouraged theft. "Let him that stole, steal."</p>
+
+<p>The lessons of these parables are in entire harmony <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>with the law of
+Moses and the teachings of the prophets and Nehemiah. In these
+parables the usurer is presented as a hard man, exacting that which he
+has not earned and to which he has no right.</p>
+
+<p>The teachings of the Master did not permit what had been forbidden in
+all the ages.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PRACTICE OF THE DISCIPLES.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The conditions in the very early church were not such as to make
+prominent the sin of usury. Many of the disciples were very poor and
+from the humblest walks of life. I Cor. 1:27-28: "But God hath chosen
+the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
+chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
+mighty; and the base things of the world, and things which are
+despised, hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring
+to nought things that are."</p>
+
+<p>The practice of the disciples was, however, in entire harmony with the
+teachings of Moses and the Master, and in accord with the prohibition
+of usury. Later, in the time of the apostolic fathers when the church
+came face to face with this sin, there was but one voice and that in
+the denunciation, for the fathers were unanimous in its condemnation.</p>
+
+<p>(1) The first disciples did not loan, but gave to their needy
+brethren. The early converts held their property so subject to a
+general call that some have thought they had a community of goods.</p>
+
+<p>Acts 2:44, 45: "And all that believed were together, and had all
+things common; <span style="white-space: nowrap;">* * *</span> and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>sold their possessions and goods, and parted
+them to all men, as every man had need."</p>
+
+<p>It is evident they did not assist their brethren with "loans," but
+with gifts; much less did they take the opportunity to secure increase
+on loans.</p>
+
+<p>The suffering poor were their especial care. They gave of their
+poverty for the relief of the suffering. Many called by the Spirit
+were in want, and many came to want through the severe persecutions to
+which they were subjected. This was especially true of the converts in
+Jerusalem. For these large collections were received from the churches
+in Macedonia and in Corinth.</p>
+
+<p>They were commanded to care for the needy of their own house. I Tim.
+5:8: "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of
+his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an
+infidel." Paul, in giving directions to Timothy, as to the care of
+their poor, requires aid to be given to "widows indeed," those who
+have no children; but those who have children or nephews are to look
+to them and be supported by them, and if any person refuses to care
+for his widowed mother or grandmother or dependent aunt, "he hath
+denied the faith and is worse than an infidel."</p>
+
+<p>(2) They were diligent in business. They provided things honest in the
+sight of all men.</p>
+
+<p>Paul set the example during his itinerate ministry by working at his
+trade to secure his support and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>dictum has been accepted as both
+divine and human wisdom ever since. "If any will not work neither
+shall he eat."</p>
+
+<p>Diligence was enjoined for self-support, and that others might be
+helped. Eph. 4:28: "Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let
+him labor, working with his hands, the things which is good, that he
+may have to give to him that needeth." The effort was first by labor
+to be independent and then also to come to the relief of the feeble,
+the sick, the poor, and the needy. That a man could honestly secure a
+livelihood without productive labor was foreign to their way of
+thinking. If any did not work he did not deserve a living, nor was he
+an honest man. No one was at liberty to be idle. Productive effort
+must not be relaxed. There was no retiring for the enjoyment of a
+competency.</p>
+
+<p>There was no thought of such a provision to free them from the effort
+for the daily bread. The surplus product was given for the aid of
+others, to those who had claims of kinship first, then to all who had
+need.</p>
+
+<p>The instant a man failed to produce he began to consume. There is no
+hint anywhere that it entered any of their minds that they could stop
+production and live in ease from the increase of what they had
+produced and the supply grow no less; that the meal and oil should not
+fail, but be handed down unimpaired to their children.</p>
+
+<p>(3) Covetousness was hated and denounced and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>classed with the most
+flagrant violations of the moral law.</p>
+
+<p>Covetousness is an inordinate regard for wealth of any kind. This may
+be shown in the greed of seeking it, without proper regard for the
+rights of others; or in parsimony or stinginess in holding it, when
+there are rightful claims upon it.</p>
+
+<p>James 5:1-6: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries
+that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
+are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them
+shall be witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were
+fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.</p>
+
+<p>"Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
+which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
+which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have
+nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and
+killed the just, and he doth not resist you."</p>
+
+<p>Covetousness may also be shown in undue respect for wealth when in the
+hands of others. This is reproved in James 2:1-7. "My brethren, have
+not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
+respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a
+gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile
+raiment; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing,
+and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor
+man, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then
+partial in yourselves, and become the judges of evil thoughts?
+Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this
+world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised
+them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men
+oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they
+blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?"</p>
+
+<p>Covetousness was a secret sin often indulged when the outward forms of
+righteousness were observed. Usurers were the open representatives of
+flagrant covetousness in all the ages. Usury was not named among them
+as becometh saints.</p>
+
+<p>(4) The early disciples kept out of debt. The early Christians were
+not borrowers. In both dispensations borrowing was only resorted to in
+hard necessity. The borrower was second to the beggar. The borrowing
+was but for a short time, and the loan was returned as soon as
+absolute wants were supplied.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine and practice of the early church was to owe no man
+anything. Rom. 13:8: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:
+for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."</p>
+
+<p>Indebtedness was to be avoided as compromising <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>the faith in the eyes
+of others and detrimental to the development of grace in the
+disciples.</p>
+
+<p>This was the direct command of Paul. This commandment required the
+payment of all honest obligations. The Christian then as now who
+failed to acknowledge his obligations and meet them in full as he was
+able was wanting in the spirit of righteousness and unfaithful to his
+own convictions of right and duty.</p>
+
+<p>The payment of a debt was the return in full of the loan received.</p>
+
+<p>Any Christian conscience at that time would have been satisfied with
+the settlement approved and commanded by Nehemiah. The debt was fully
+discharged when payments equaled the loan by whatever name those
+payments were called.</p>
+
+<p>This text also required that they keep out of debt. By no distortion
+of the text can it be made to mean less. Chalmers on this passage
+comments as follows: "But though to press the duty of our text in the
+extreme and rigorous sense of it&mdash;yet I would fain aspire towards the
+full and practical establishment of it, so that the habit might become
+at length universal, not only paying all debts, but even by making
+conscience never to contract, and therefore never to owe any. For
+although this might never be reached, it is well it should be looked
+at, nay moved forward to, as a sort of optimism, every approximation
+to which were a distinct step in advance, both for the moral and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>economic good of society. For, first, in the world of trade, one can
+not be insensible to the dire mischief that ensues from the spirit
+often so rampant, of an excessive and unwarrantable speculation&mdash;so as
+to make it the most desirable of all consummations that the system of
+credit should at length give way, and what has been termed the
+ready-money system, the system of immediate payments in every
+commercial transaction, should be substituted in its place. The
+adventurer who, in the walks of merchandise, trades beyond his means
+is often actuated by a passion as intense, and we fear too, as
+criminal, as is the gamester, who in the haunts of fashionable
+dissipation, stakes beyond his fortune. But it is not the injury
+alone, which the ambition that precipitates him into such deep and
+desperate hazards, brings upon his own character, neither is it the
+ruin that the splendid bankruptcy in which it terminates brings upon
+his own family.</p>
+
+<p>These are not the only evils which we deprecate&mdash;for over and above
+these there is a far heavier disaster, a consequence in the train of
+such proceedings, of greatly wider and more malignant operation still,
+on the habit and condition of the working classes, gathered in
+hundreds around the mushroom establishment, and then thrown adrift
+among the other wrecks of its overthrow, in utter helplessness and
+destitution on society. This frenzy of men hasting to be rich, like
+fever in the body natural, is a truly sore distemper in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>the body
+politic. No doubt they are also sufferers themselves, piercing their
+own hearts through with many sorrows; but it is the contemplation of
+this suffering in masses, which the sons and daughters of industry in
+humble life so often earn at their hands, that has ever led me to rank
+them among the chief pests and disturbers of a commonwealth."</p>
+
+<p>To this may be added an extract from "Short Instructions for Early
+Masses by the Paulist Fathers." "The fact of the matter is, dear
+brethren, that there is too much laxity of conscience among our people
+on this question of contracting debts, of borrowing money, of running
+up bills with little or no hope of ever paying them. We have all of us
+no doubt come across people who consider themselves quite religious
+who owe money to their neighbors for years, and never make an effort
+to pay what they owe or even to offer an excuse for their negligence
+in such important matters.</p>
+
+<p>There are some professional debtors who think the world owes them a
+living, and who spend a good part of their time figuring out how much
+they can get out of the land and from those who dwell thereon. To have
+to pay rent is their greatest grievance, and after being trusted for a
+few months, they find it much cheaper to move to other quarters than
+to pay what they owe.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are others who must dress extravagantly, no matter what it
+costs, and in consequence <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>have nothing left to pay for the things
+they eat or drink. Do they on this account deny themselves any of the
+good things of this life? Not at all; on the contrary, every business
+man will tell you the same story&mdash;these people want the best and are
+the most exacting in their demands.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I repeat, there is too much laxity about contracting debts and
+too little conscience about the necessity of paying for what we use.
+St. Paul's warning should ring in the ears of every debtor: "Owe no
+man anything." It will not do for such people to come to confession
+and say they contracted debts and are not able to pay what they owe.
+Confession will not relieve them of their obligation, and they must
+begin at once and make an effort to lessen the debts they owe in the
+past and learn a lesson in economy and strive against contracting new
+burdens. This will help us to clear off the old ones.</p>
+
+<p>It is not edifying, nor is it conducive to good fellowship, nor does
+it help to make our religion better known and better loved, to find
+people, dressed in the finest, coming Sunday after Sunday to mass
+while they are heavily in debt to their grocer or butcher or landlord,
+who may be in the very same pew with them. This is certain, it
+convinces such men in business that the debtor's religion is not very
+sincere.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, brethren, it is far better to live in less pretentious
+dwellings, dress more soberly and eat more sparingly than to owe any
+man anything. Pay <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>what thou owest, and then you may walk honestly
+among all men."</p>
+
+<p>Freedom from debt is necessary to the independence of the man who does
+right and answers only to God. Struggle as he may the man is not free
+who is under obligations to others. He is hindered in his conduct; he
+is not always conscious of it, but nevertheless there is a real
+binding or fettering of his actions. It influences his gifts, for what
+he holds is not his own and the owner may criticize his benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>An easy conscience and sound sleep is the portion of the man who is
+under no obligations to another. He looks the whole world in the face,
+who owes no man a cent.</p>
+
+<p>He is free from distracting business relations with his brethren and
+brotherly love may abound. The exhortation of Paul is in connection
+with brotherly love, and of all external relations, debt hinders the
+free flow of sympathy among brethren.</p>
+
+<p>The early disciples endeavored to avoid all debt. Much less did they
+pay a premium for the privilege. They only borrowed in hard necessity;
+but borrowing on usury to make a profit by it was as repellant to the
+Christian conscience then as complicity with theft or fraud. It marked
+a man as anxious to share in unrighteous gain. His own conscience
+placed him among those who are discontented with their lawful estate
+and guilty of that covetousness which is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>idolatry. I Tim. 6:6-11:
+"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
+into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And
+having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that
+will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
+and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For
+the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted
+after, they have erred in the faith, and pierced themselves through
+with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and
+follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
+meekness."</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>CHURCH HISTORY.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The Church, from the time of the apostles, was emphatic in its
+denunciation of usury.</p>
+
+<p>Schaff-Herzog says: "All the apostolic fathers condemned the taking of
+usury." The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge declares the same.</p>
+
+<p>Chrysostom said: "Nothing is baser in this world than usury, nothing
+more cruel."</p>
+
+<p>Basil describes a scene so real that we can scarcely realize that he
+wrote over fifteen hundred years ago. After stating the usurer's
+protestations of having no money, to the victim, who seeks a loan
+without interest, he says: "Then the suppliant mentions interest and
+utters the word security. All is changed. The frown is relaxed; with a
+genial smile he recounts old family connections. Now it is 'My friend,
+I will see if I have any money by me. Yes, there is that very sum
+which a man, I know, has left in my hands in deposit for profit. He
+named a very heavy interest. However, I will certainly take something
+off and give it to you on better terms.' With pretenses like this he
+fawns on the wretched victim and induces him to swallow the barb."</p>
+
+<p>Of the man who has borrowed on interest, he says: "At first he is
+bright and joyous and shines with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>another's splendor <span style="white-space: nowrap;">* * *</span> now night
+brings no rest, no sun is bright. He hates the days that are hurrying
+on, for time as it runs adds the interest to its tale."</p>
+
+<p>The fathers unanimously condemned the taking of interest, Tertullian,
+Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome can be quoted against it. The
+popes followed the teachings of the fathers and forbade it under
+severe penalties. The priests guilty of this sin were degraded from
+their orders. The laymen found guilty were excommunicated. Interest
+paid could be reclaimed, not only from the usurer but from his heirs.
+A bargain, though confirmed by an oath never to claim back the
+interest paid, was declared not binding. This action of the popes was
+confirmed by councils.</p>
+
+<p>Charlemagne, in France, forbid the taking of usury either by priests
+or laity.</p>
+
+<p>A council at Westminster (1126) approved the degradation of all
+clergy, who were guilty of this practice.</p>
+
+<p>Archbishop Sands said: "This canker (usury) hath corrupted all
+England."</p>
+
+<p>A council in Vienna (1311) reaffirmed the denunciations of previous
+popes and councils, and then adds: "If any shall obstinately persist
+in the error of presuming to affirm that the taking of usury is not a
+sin, we decree that he shall be punished as a heretic."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>There is no record of the repeal of any of these edicts.</p>
+
+<p>The leaders of the Protestant reformation also denounced usury.</p>
+
+<p>Luther was violent in his opposition, using the strongest language he
+could command. "Whoever eats up, robs and steals the nourishment of
+another, commits as great a murder, as he who carves a man or utterly
+undoes him. Such does a usurer, and he sits the while on his stool,
+when he ought rather to be hanging from the gallows."</p>
+
+<p>Melancthon, Beza and others are accounted against usury.</p>
+
+<p>The decisions of Ecclesiastical Councils were numerous and emphatic
+until the seventeenth century. Since that time interest taking has
+become common, all but universal, but there is no record found
+anywhere of its direct approval by any ecclesiastical body. The Church
+has come to tolerate it but has never given it official approval.</p>
+
+<p>Usury has not been included in any creed or confession of faith, nor
+has it been directly approved by any council or general assembly.</p>
+
+<p>The truth has not been left in any age without its witness. There have
+always been those more or less prominent in the Church who contended
+that it was unjust and oppressive. Some of them have been of
+world-wide distinction. The writer has a letter written him by John
+Clark Ridpath, the historian, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>expressing his agreement with the views
+presented in these pages. Another of these is brilliant John Ruskin,
+recently deceased. Quotations from him will close this review.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not so perverted my soul nor palsied my brain as to expect to
+be advantaged by that adhesion (usury). I do not expect that because I
+have gathered much to find Nature or man gathering more for me; to
+find eighteen pence in my box in the morning instead of the shilling
+as a reward of my continence, or to make an income of my Koran by
+lending it to poor scholars. If I think he can read it and will
+carefully turn the leaves by the outside, he is welcome to read it for
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Thus in all other possible or conceivable cases, the moment our
+capital is increased by having lent it, be it but the estimation of a
+hair, that hair-breadth of increase is usury, just as much as stealing
+a farthing is theft no less than stealing a million."</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>CALVIN'S LETTER ON USURY.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>A mere hint of encouragement to the usurer came from Calvin. In a
+letter, to a friend, he hesitatingly expressed opinions that have ever
+since been quoted in defense of the practice. He alone of all the
+reformers took a doubtful stand. He has often been referred to and
+given great credit for his opinion, even by those who utterly reject
+all the doctrines he most earnestly advocated. The fear that he
+expressed near the opening, that some word might be seized to take
+more license than he would allow had reason, for this letter has been
+the basis for all the apologies for usury that have ever been
+attempted. In these last days all who have tried to present fully the
+moral law as comprehended in the ten commandments have felt called
+upon to make some apology for the prevailing practice of usury in
+connection with the eighth command. They all refer to this letter.
+Sometimes there is a brief quotation, given in Latin and left
+untranslated, to convince the ignorant, for Calvin wrote in Latin.</p>
+
+<p>Letter of Calvin: <i>De Usuris Responsum</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not yet essayed what could fitly be answered to the question
+put to me; but I have learned by the example of others with how great
+danger this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>matter is attended. For if all usury is condemned tighter
+fetters are imposed on the conscience than the Lord himself would
+wish. Or if you yield in the least, with that pretext, very many will
+at once seize upon unlicensed freedom, which can then be restrained by
+no moderation or restriction. Were I writing to you alone I would fear
+this the less; for I know your good sense and moderation, but as you
+ask counsel in the name of another, I fear, lest he may allow himself
+far more than I wish by seizing upon some word, yet confident that you
+will look closely into his character and from the matter that is here
+treated judge what is expedient, and to what extent, I shall open my
+thoughts to you.</p>
+
+<p>"And first, I am certain that by no testimony of Scripture is usury
+wholly condemned. For the sense of that saying of Christ, 'Lend,
+hoping for nothing again' (Luke 6:35), has up to this time been
+perverted; the same as another passage when speaking of splendid
+feasts and the desire of the rich to be received in turn, he commands
+them rather to summon to these feasts, the blind, the lame, and other
+needy men, who lie at the cross-roads and have not the power to make a
+like return. Christ wished to restrain men's abuse of lending,
+commands them to lend to those from whom there is no hope of receiving
+or regaining anything; and his words ought to be interpreted, that
+while he would command loans to the poor without expectation of
+repayment or the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>receipt of interest, he did not mean at the same
+time to forbid loans to the rich with interest, any more than the
+injunction to invite the poor to our feasts did not imply that the
+mutual invitation of friends to feasts is in consequence prohibited.
+Again the law of Moses was political and should not influence us
+beyond what justice and philanthropy will bear.</p>
+
+<p>"It could be wished that all usury and the name itself were first
+banished from the earth. But as this cannot be accomplished it should
+be seen what can be done for the public good. Certain passages of
+Scripture remain in the Prophets and Psalms in which the Holy Spirit
+inveighs against usury. Thus a city is described as wicked because
+usury is practiced in the forum and streets, but as the Hebrew word
+means frauds in general, this cannot be interpreted so strictly. But
+if we concede that the prophet there mentions usury by name, it is not
+a matter of wonder that among the great evils which existed, he should
+attack usury. For wherever gains are farmed out, there are generally
+added, as inseparable, cruelty, and numberless other frauds and
+deceits.</p>
+
+<p>"On the other hand it is said in praise of a pious and holy man 'that
+he putteth not out his money to usury.' Indeed it is very rare for a
+man to be honest and yet a usurer.</p>
+
+<p>"Ezekiel goes even further (Ezek. 22:12). Enumerating the crimes which
+inflamed the wrath of the Lord against the Jews, he uses two words,
+one of which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>means usury, and is derived from a root meaning to
+consume; the other word means increase or addition, doubtless because
+one devoted to his private gain takes or rather extorts it from the
+loss of his neighbor. It is clear that the prophets spake even more
+harshly of usury because it was forbidden by name among the Jews, and
+when therefore it was practiced against the express command of God, it
+merited even heavier censure.</p>
+
+<p>"But when it is said, that as the cause of our state is the same, the
+same prohibition of usury should be retained, I answer that there is
+some difference in what pertains to the civil state. Because the
+surroundings of the place in which the Lord placed the Jews, as well
+as other circumstances, tended to this, that it might be easy for them
+to deal among themselves without usury, while our state today is very
+different in many respects. Therefore usury is not wholly forbidden
+among us unless it be repugnant both to Justice and to Charity.</p>
+
+<p>"It is said, 'Money does not beget money.' What does the sea beget?
+What does a house from the letting of which I receive a rent? Is money
+born from roofs and walls? But on the other hand both the earth
+produces and something is brought from the sea which afterward
+produces money, and the convenience of a house can be bought and sold
+for money. If therefore more profit can be derived from trading
+through the employment of money than from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>the produce of a farm, the
+purpose of which is subsistence, should one who lets some barren farm
+to a farmer, receiving in return a price or part of the produce, be
+approved, and one who loans money to be used for profit be condemned?
+And when one buys a farm for money does not that farm produce other
+money yearly? And whence is derived the profit of the merchant? You
+will say from his diligence and his industry. Who doubts that idle
+money is wholly useless? Who asks a loan of me does not intend to keep
+what he receives idle by him. Therefore the profit does not arise from
+the money, but from the product that results from its use or
+employment. I therefore conclude that usury must be judged, not by a
+particular passage of Scripture, but simply by the rules of equity.
+This will be made clearer by an example. Let us imagine a rich man
+with large possessions in farms and rents, but with little money.
+Another man not so rich, nor with such large possessions as the first,
+but has more ready money. The latter being about to buy a farm with
+his own money, is asked by the wealthier for a loan. He who makes the
+loan may stipulate for a rent or interest for his money and further
+that the farm may be mortgaged to him until the principal is paid, but
+until it is paid, he will be content with the interest or usury on the
+loan. Why then shall this contract with a mortgage, but only for the
+profit of the money, be condemned, when a much harsher, it may be, of
+leasing or renting a farm at large annual rent, is approved?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>"And what else is it than to treat God like a child, when we judge of
+objects by mere words and not from their nature, as if virtue can be
+distinguished from vice by a form of words.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not my intention to fully examine the matter here. I wished
+only to show what you should consider more carefully. You should
+remember this, that the importance of the question lies not in the
+words but in the thing itself."</p>
+
+<p>Those acquainted with Calvin's "Institutes" will not fail to notice
+the timid manner in which he treats the subject, as if uncertain of
+his ground and endeavoring to excuse usury to please his friend. This
+letter is wanting in that positive air of assured certainty that
+breathes inspired authority and lends a charm to his "Institutes." He
+is nearest himself when he bursts out, "It could be wished that all
+usury and the name itself were banished from the earth."</p>
+
+<p>The letter is here given in full because often more force is carried
+by the reference to a great name than by the study of his argument. A
+careful reading of this letter does not reveal a positive approval of
+usury. He merely excuses it by suggesting other evils that he thinks
+worse; for instance, that land rentals may be worse than the usury of
+money. He does not mention the necessary oppression of the poor
+tenants by the loan upon a mortgage.</p>
+
+<p>It is proof of the weakness of the case when this letter is the most
+favorable that can be presented from any ecclesiastic.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PERMANENCY OF THE PROHIBITION.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>It is sometimes urged that the law of Moses with regard to usury was
+not intended to be permanent but was only a wise and beneficent
+regulation for that people in their peculiar condition; that as the
+ceremonial was done away by the incoming of the New Testament
+dispensation, so this prohibition was annulled and should be reckoned
+among the effete laws of the ancient Hebrews.</p>
+
+<p>In answer to this contention it may be replied:</p>
+
+<p>(1) This prohibition is not ceremonial. It has no connection with the
+rites and forms of their religion. It touches their character and
+conduct but has no place in their forms of worship.</p>
+
+<p>(2) Nothing can be presented from the Mosaic laws to prove that this
+prohibition was only of a temporary character. It is in entire harmony
+with the spirit of helpfulness and especially the protection of the
+weak, that is so characteristic of the Mosaic order.</p>
+
+<p>No induction from any of the Old Testament writers can be fairly made
+to limit its application. The prophets place usury in the catalogue of
+sins that are always and everywhere offensive to God. Nehemiah
+condemns it as destructive to personal and civic freedom.</p>
+
+<p>(3) There is no hint of its discontinuance in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>new dispensation.
+The Master gave a spiritual completeness to this law as he did to all
+enactments requiring external moral character. He classed the usurers,
+in his parables, among the dishonest, who took up what they had not
+laid down.</p>
+
+<p>The disciples, in their poverty and persecutions, were not specially
+tempted by this sin, and it is not therefore prominent in their
+history. But there is nothing in their teachings or practice that is
+not in entire harmony with the binding continuance of the Mosaic
+prohibition, and their practice and teaching are just such as we
+should expect from Christian people in their condition and
+circumstances who recognized the prohibition as permanent.</p>
+
+<p>(4) The apostolic fathers, as the church grew and came into contact
+with the world and was beginning to share in the business of the
+world, to a man, regarded the prohibition as in full force and its
+observance as one of the marked characteristics of the Christian,
+distinguishing him from the worldling and the Jew. Conditions in the
+apostolic age did not make this prominent but when the conditions were
+changed and the church came in conflict with this sin, it is clearly
+seen that the law was in a continuous binding force through the whole
+period.</p>
+
+<p>The later fathers were of the opinion, unanimously, that it was in
+full force, not temporary or provincial, but binding for all time and
+upon all people. That it is suspended is a modern idea, a suggestion
+of the world to the church within the last few hundred years.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>OUR CHANGED CONDITIONS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The changed conditions of the race in these last years are urged as a
+sufficient reason for annulling this law. It is admitted that it was
+righteous and beneficent in ages long past but with the new light and
+new conditions of the present it is effete, inapplicable and unjust.
+They call attention to the vast extension of commerce, to the
+marvelously increased facilities for travel, transportation and
+intercommunication; to the innumerable and wonderful inventions that
+in their application have brightened our civilization. They exalt
+present conditions and they belittle the long past conditions and
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>The prohibition of usury belonged to the past, the practice of usury
+is all but universal in the present, therefore they argue that usury
+is a part and a necessary part of our civilization and to revive the
+old prohibition would turn the world's civilization backward and be as
+absurd as to now dispense with steam or electricity.</p>
+
+<p>In reply it may be said that the changes are not universal, that there
+are some things that abide, that the changes are trifling when
+compared with those things that remain and are permanent.</p>
+
+<p>1. Human nature remains the same. Man, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>body and mind, in
+physiology and psychology, has not changed in these thousands of
+years. That which in ages past promoted the health and vigor of his
+body, will secure its best development now. That discipline, culture
+and mental exercise that secured the highest intellectual strength in
+ages past will do the most for its best development now. Many things
+that now give splendor to our civilization do not promote either the
+best physical or mental manhood.</p>
+
+<p>2. Family ties remain. The relation of husband and wife, of parents
+and children, and the duties of their several positions in the home
+have not changed. The family remains the social unit as it has been in
+all ages. Sociology, the science of social and political organization,
+is a permanent science. It does not change with the shifting temporal
+conditions of the people. Those things which made for the general
+welfare of ages ago are for the public weal now, and those things that
+endangered the state then are to be avoided now.</p>
+
+<p>3. The moral law remains unchanged and unchangeable, with all the
+brilliant present there is no amendment to the ten commandments. The
+ethical nature remains and the voice of conscience, approving the same
+right and condemning the same wrong, is identical with the voice of
+conscience in the time of Moses.</p>
+
+<p>4. The laws of nature have not changed. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>relation between a cause
+and its sequence remains. Like causes produce like effects.</p>
+
+<p>No living thing has changed its nature. A lion now is of the same
+nature that it was in the time of Samson. So with every savage beast
+that roams the jungle. Even the domesticated animals, with all the
+effort and skill of intelligent man, have only been smoothed or
+speeded a little. The horse, cow, sheep, or dog have held their old
+forms and dispositions.</p>
+
+<p>Seed time and harvest come and go and we are dependent for the same
+shower and sunshine that gave Adam his first harvest.</p>
+
+<p>We know some things they did not know and we have bettered our tools,
+but the natural world has shown no signs of change.</p>
+
+<p>5. The relation of things to each other have not changed. Plants must
+have soil to grow in, animals must have vegetation to feed upon. Fish
+must have water. And so with the thousands of relations of climate,
+elements, soils, plants, animals, fishes, birds and insects, they are
+the identical relations sustained ages and ages ago.</p>
+
+<p>6. The nature of money has not changed. Its material and form and
+denominations have been modified but the functions of money as a
+storage of values and as a measure of values and as a medium of
+exchange remain the same. Our gold and silver and paper money may be
+more convenient and more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>exact, but its functions are just the same
+as the Indians' wampum.</p>
+
+<p>The law of supply and demand and the equity in commercial
+transactions, great or small, are unchanged. Money could always be
+used to make or gather more money in business. It is no more true now
+than in the times of David or Nehemiah. If this had not then been
+possible; if there had not been tempting opportunities, there would
+have been no sin of usury for them to reprove.</p>
+
+<p>Man's changed conditions are but trifling and incidental, relating to
+himself. They do not affect a single natural or moral or economic law.</p>
+
+<p>The changed conditions, which are urged as a reason that the
+prohibition of usury is no longer binding, are only the conditions
+brought about by the violation of that law.</p>
+
+<p>The prohibition of usury is systematically violated. The neighbor in
+the smallest transaction with his neighbor exacts usury, though it be
+but a few cents. The credit system has become universal. It is the
+rare exception now to "own what you have" and to "pay as you go."
+Interest bearing bonds are issued by the smallest manufacturing plant,
+by the great corporation and by the empire. These conditions do not
+prove usury right. They only show how far true business, commercial,
+and political principles have been perverted by this practice.</p>
+
+<p>If violating a law annuls it, then any law can be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>pushed aside. Let
+the claims of the Sabbath day be ignored. Let the houses of worship
+remain closed upon that day. Let work be planned for seven days of the
+week. Let the hum of the mills and the roar of commerce go on. Take no
+note of the Sabbath day, either in business or recreation or worship,
+and conditions will soon be upon us, such that we may urge as
+plausibly, that the Sabbath is effete, possible to our slow going
+fathers but inconsistent with the necessary rush of our day.</p>
+
+<p>If the systematic violation of a law annuls it then we can quiet the
+conscience and be dishonest while dealing with a Turk in
+Constantinople and we may lie while dickering with a Chinese merchant
+in Canton.</p>
+
+<p>If violating a law annuls it, even the seventh commandment, the
+violation of which is so offensive to decency and its observance so
+necessary to the purity of the home, may in this way be ruled out as a
+binding obligation. Let polygamy be the order, supported by the
+example of Jacob and David and Solomon, and the families be
+constituted along that line, then enforced monogamy would seem to be a
+sundering of tender ties and hardness toward the cast off Hagars that
+is inconsistent with the Christian spirit. An earnest, Godly man, a
+missionary friend of the writer, under whose ministry a heathen chief
+was converted, was misled by the plausibility. The chief had a number
+of wives; he had children by them; he was much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>attached to his wives
+and was fond of his children, and they all seemed to love him and
+clung to him. The missionary in the kindness of his heart did not
+interfere with the family, permitting the chief to keep his wives and
+placed his name on the church roll of the Mission. For this act he was
+reproved by the ecclesiastical authorities above him. Let polygamy
+become as universal as usury and even the seventh commandment in its
+strictness will seem impracticable and unkind if not positively cruel.</p>
+
+<p>It will not do to claim freedom from the prohibition of usury because
+we have organized commerce and the state and all society in violation
+of it.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>AMERICAN REVISION.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The Revision by the American Committee is the latest effort of
+scholarship to bring King James' Version up to date by eliminating
+effete terms and using words in their modern sense.</p>
+
+<p>The references to usury are here collated so as to give a general view
+of the question from the translations of the passages in this the
+latest Revision. The reader will notice that the modern word
+"interest" is substituted for "usury" in nearly every passage.</p>
+
+<p>Exodus 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that
+is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay
+upon him interest."</p>
+
+<p>Leviticus 25:35-37: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his hand
+fail with thee, then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a
+sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him or
+increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou
+shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals
+for increase."</p>
+
+<p>Deuteronomy 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy
+brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything
+that is lent upon interest: unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon
+interest, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>upon interest,
+that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand
+unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it."</p>
+
+<p>Nehemiah 5:7-10: "Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the
+nobles and rulers and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his
+brother. And I held a great assembly against them. And I said unto
+them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews that
+were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and
+should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace and found
+never a word. Also I said, The thing ye do is not good: ought ye not
+to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the
+nations, our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do
+lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury."</p>
+
+<p>The interest exacted by the princes and nobles was no doubt so
+extortionate that it could be called usury in the modern legal sense.</p>
+
+<p>Psalm 15:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Jehovah, Who shall sojourn in thy tabernacles?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And speaketh the truth in his heart;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He that slandereth not with his tongue,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor doeth evil to his friend,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He that putteth not out his money to interest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor taketh reward against the innocent.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He that doeth these things shall never be moved."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>Proverbs 28:8: "He that augmenteth his substance by interest and
+increase, gathereth it for him that hath pity on the poor."</p>
+
+<p>Jeremiah 15:10: "I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet
+every one of them doth curse me."</p>
+
+<p>King James reads: "I have neither lent upon usury, nor have men lent
+to me upon usury." As Jeremiah was protesting his innocence of any
+wrongdoing the early translators inserted what was evidently implied
+while these latest revisors have omitted what was not in the original
+text.</p>
+
+<p>Ezekiel 18:1-18: "The word of Jehovah came again unto me saying, What
+mean ye that ye use this proverb, concerning the land of Israel,
+saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
+are set on edge? As I live saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall not have
+occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are
+mine, as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine:
+the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just and do that
+which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains,
+neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
+neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a
+woman in her impurity, and hath not wronged any, but hath restored to
+the debtor his pledge, hath taken naught by robbery, hath given his
+bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment: he
+hath not given forth upon interest, neither hath taken any increase,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true justice
+between man and man, hath walked in my statutes and hath kept my
+ordinances, to deal truly: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the
+Lord Jehovah.</p>
+
+<p>"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
+doeth any one of these things, and that doeth not any of those duties,
+but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and denied his neighbor's
+wife, hath wronged the poor and needy, hath taken by robbery, hath not
+restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath
+committed abomination, hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken
+increase; shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all
+these abominations: he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, lo, if he beget a son which seeth all his father's sins which he
+hath done, and feareth and doeth not such like; that hath not eaten
+upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of
+the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbor's wife, neither
+hath wronged any, hath not taken aught to pledge, neither hath taken
+by robbery, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered
+the naked with a garment; that hath not withdrawn his hand from the
+poor, that hath not received interest nor increase, hath executed my
+ordinances, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the
+iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As for his father,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which
+is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity."</p>
+
+<p>Ezekiel 22:6-12: "Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according
+to his power have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they set
+light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by
+oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they wronged the
+fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things and hast
+profaned my sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood;
+and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee
+they have committed lewdness. In thee have they uncovered their
+fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in
+her impurity. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor's
+wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another
+in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have
+they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and
+increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression
+and hast forgotten me saith the Lord Jehovah."</p>
+
+<p>Matthew 25:26-27: "But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou
+wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
+not and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to
+have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have
+received back mine own with interest."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>Luke 19:22, 23: "He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I
+judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I am an austere man
+taking up that I laid not down and reaping that I did not sow; then
+wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank, and I at my coming
+should have required it with usury."</p>
+
+<p>Luke 16:13-15: "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will
+hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and
+despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees
+who were lovers of money heard all these things and they scoffed at
+him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the
+sight of men but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted
+among men is an abomination in the sight of God."</p>
+
+<p>It is not easy to understand how an honest, godly man, who has even
+medium intelligence, unclouded by prejudice, and who has confidence in
+the highest scholarship of the age, can deny that the revealed Word of
+God, in both Testaments, condemns usury or interest. It is just as
+difficult to explain how any one, not glaringly inconsistent, can
+claim that interest taking is not a sin, who bows to the divine
+authority of the revealed Word and who defines sin as "Any want of
+conformity unto or transgression of the law of God."</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>DUTY LEARNED FROM TWO SOURCES.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In this discussion we learn our duty from two sources. Two authorities
+are recognized. One is the revelation of God in his written Word. The
+other is the book of nature; this includes the ethical nature of man,
+his social relations, and the laws that govern material things.</p>
+
+<p>The author of the Bible is the God of nature. They are but two volumes
+from the same mind and hand. They must speak in harmony when both are
+understood. Truth found in the inspired Word cannot be contradicted in
+nature; and no facts in the works of God can be found in conflict with
+the Word He has spoken. A truth found in either is always consistent
+with the truths made plain in the other.</p>
+
+<p>Familiarity with one prepares us to better understand the other. The
+devout student of the Word has his mind aroused, and his
+susceptibility so quickened that he is able to read more clearly the
+lessons in the volumes of nature open before him. The student of
+nature, who has searched its mysteries and taken in its beauty and
+designs of infinite wisdom everywhere appearing, must be the more
+ready and competent to appreciate the revealed love and grace.</p>
+
+<p>The Bible is not a treatise on natural science, nor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>does natural
+science teach revealed religion, yet they do not conflict. The special
+student of either may have perfect confidence that whatever he has
+found true in his chosen field will be found consistent with truth in
+other fields of special study.</p>
+
+<p>Chemistry, biology and all studies of nature, are found only to give a
+higher conception of the God of all grace. The same wisdom and power
+shine out in His works that are revealed in His Word.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the laws of God, whether fixed in nature or revealed in His
+Word, are for the highest interest of the physical, mental and
+spiritual man. Every truth in the Word works for the welfare of man's
+body and soul. The laws of nature, physical and psychological, obeyed,
+promote man's bodily and mental vigor. Strict obedience to the laws of
+God, as revealed in both Word and nature, produces the completest
+physical and mental manhood.</p>
+
+<p>God had the highest welfare of every man at heart when He prepared the
+earth for his abode and gave him dominion over it. And He yearned for
+his deliverance from a fallen estate when He gave him a revelation of
+His infinite redeeming love. The eye of God is upon each individual of
+the race, as upon every sparrow. He has in thought, in word and in
+works, not the favoring of one of an hundred, while the ninety and
+nine are crushed or neglected, but the happiness and highest good of
+every one of the hundred.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>The ethics of the Bible and the ethics of nature, as wrought out by
+the earnest heathen philosophers, mainly agree. It is an astonishment
+to some that there is so much agreement in the systems of heathen
+morals and the revealed moral law. The moral law is written on men's
+hearts, and can be read there by the diligent and careful student; but
+the consciences of men, enlightened and quickened by the revealed
+Word, produce the highest ethical types the world knows.</p>
+
+<p>The Bible is not a work on political economy, yet there is nothing out
+of harmony with the most perfect political institutions. When we find
+political principles clearly revealed, we shall find the same truths
+when we study the most orderly relations of men in their social
+organization.</p>
+
+<p>The Bible is not a work on economics, yet it advances no economic
+principles that work a hardness or injustice to any. When we find
+economic principles clearly stated, we shall surely find the same
+truths confirmed in a careful study of the nature of things.</p>
+
+<p>As the written Word forbids usury or interest, it can be presumed that
+the nature of things and man's highest good also forbids it; that it
+is not an arbitrary prohibition, but is given in love because it is in
+its very nature a ruinous evil. As we find a positive prohibition of
+taking usury or interest in the old dispensation and the confirmation
+of it in the new, both by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>the words of the Master and the
+understanding and practice of the disciples and fathers, we may
+confidently expect that it will be confirmed by a correct and careful
+study of ethics and of the relation of man to things.</p>
+
+<p>We may learn duty from either or both sources. To some men the Bible
+comes with the greatest clearness and the utmost force of authority.
+Others find in nature their highest conception of the Infinite, and
+their best directions for a correct life. If usury or interest is
+found to be a sin from the Word, there is no need for those to enter
+into the economic proof who have no taste for this character of study
+or reasoning. If it is found to be "<i>malum per se</i>" from the nature of
+things, even those who reject the divine revelation must array
+themselves against it. If it is shown to be evil by both revelation
+and economic law, then all peoples, Christian and heathen, should
+combine against it.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>RIGHTS OF MAN OVER THINGS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Man was the last and the crowning work of the Creator. God made man in
+his own image and gave him dominion over all creatures.</p>
+
+<p>"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast
+crowned him with glory and honor.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou
+hast put all things under his feet:</p>
+
+<p>"All the sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;</p>
+
+<p>"The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
+through the paths of the seas."</p>
+
+<p>This high position is in entire harmony with man's innate
+consciousness of his superior powers, and of his nobler spiritual
+nature, and of his rightful dominion over all the other material
+creations. Man is a person, a thinking intelligent being, and is
+conscious of his personality, and from his lofty height he calls all
+else the lower and the inferior creatures. Wherever man is found over
+the whole earth, of whatever faith or grade of civilization, he claims
+this universal dominion.</p>
+
+<p>Man was commanded to subdue the earth and bring it into subjection as
+his servant and he is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>conscious of his right to use all things to
+promote his comfort, convenience and welfare. Anything he can make of
+service to himself he has a right to appropriate.</p>
+
+<p>A tree is a thing which he may prepare for his own purposes, for fuel,
+for tools, or for a dwelling, as he pleases.</p>
+
+<p>Isaiah ridiculed the idolater in his time, who made an idol of wood
+and worshiped it, while with another part of the same tree he built a
+fire and warmed himself. A part he served and a part served him. The
+whole tree was subject to him; in itself it had no rights.</p>
+
+<p>Rights belong to persons, and not to things, and personality cannot be
+transferred to a thing. If there is no personal owner the question of
+rights is never raised. The tree, or any thing whatever, has no rights
+in the matter. Rights belong to the owner, the person, not to the
+thing he owns.</p>
+
+<p>The game in the mountain forests and the fish in the rivers are things
+with no owner and whosoever will may take and use them.</p>
+
+<p>Land is a thing, and any person may make it into a farm or garden and
+build upon it his home. The land has no rights and makes no protest.
+The whole earth is subject to man and is to be subdued by him. If no
+owner appears his rights are not disputed. Our fathers found an
+unowned continent, with all its rich resources of soil and forests and
+mines. It was to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>them free, and with the labor of a few generations
+they transformed it into farms and plantations and built it over with
+magnificent cities.</p>
+
+<p>Even that which formerly was the property of another has no rights.
+The deserted hunter's hut in the mountains can be appropriated. The
+abandoned farm does not resist a new tenant. A derelict vessel, still
+afloat but driven before the winds, whose officers, crew and owners
+are at the bottom of the sea, can be appropriated, for there is no one
+to dispute the claim.</p>
+
+<p>Even force or labor in the abstract is but a thing and has no rights.
+The wind is unowned and any one who will may harness it to do his
+work. The electric forces of nature are unowned, whoever will may
+gather and direct them to do his purpose. The waterfall may be made to
+do man's work and will not resist. The animals have no rights against
+man. The broncho, horse, ox, mule, or animal of any kind, may be
+turned to man's service. All the forces of nature were made for man.
+They have no rights to be regarded, when his interests can be served.</p>
+
+<p>It is man's high privilege to stand above all things, to call them to
+his feet and to compel their service. It is the reversion of the order
+for him to take the subordinate place and serve the inferior creation.
+Things subdued, such as wealth secured, is to minister to his highest
+good and to promote his noblest manhood. The order is reversed when
+this wealth commands his service and sacrifice. The miser both
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>reverses the divine order and violates common sense by giving the love
+and service of his shriveling soul to a thing.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer and the borrower on usury, both, reverse the true order by
+assuming that a thing can claim man's service. Both grant that a thing
+has rights to be respected. The usurer takes the service as due to the
+thing he owns. It is his property that is exalted, and for which he
+claims the service must be rendered, and if the borrower will think
+closely, he will find that in paying usury he is serving a thing.</p>
+
+<p>A man reverses the divine order and degrades himself, and becomes a
+gross idolater, when he serves things unowned instead of commanding
+their service, "stocks and stones." He reverses the true order when he
+becomes a miser and serves that which is his own, "which his own
+fingers have made," instead of compelling it to serve him. He is not
+less degraded when he exalts over himself a thing owned by another and
+serves it. The ownership of another does not change the nature of the
+thing. One can serve his neighbor's idol as truly as he can his own.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing above man but God. His fellow man is by his side, his
+equal, and all other material creations are beneath his feet, and he
+is not to permit his fellow man to lift up the inferior thing and
+place it above him. If he does he must step down from the pinnacle on
+which he was placed by his God and which his own consciousness demands
+he shall occupy.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>"Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall
+the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod
+should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff
+should lift up itself, as if it were no wood." Isaiah 10:15.</p>
+
+<p>If he serves the borrowed ax and saw for the claim that the ax and saw
+have against him, he admits his debt to things and Isaiah's ridicule
+of an idolater can be turned against him and he steps down from the
+position of conscious inborn dignified lordship and becomes a servant
+of the inferior things.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>EQUAL RIGHTS OF MEN.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>All men have sacred rights that must be regarded. That these rights
+are equal is so familiar and stale an expression that it hardly need
+be spoken. "All men are created equal," each having rights, that are
+inalienable, and each having the right to resist the encroachment on
+his rights by another. To protect these rights governments are
+instituted.</p>
+
+<p>The vital energy of a man is his own and his right to it must be
+regarded. Since the abolition of chattel slavery this has been
+indefeasible except for crime.</p>
+
+<p>He has a right to his own vital energy and to all that his own vital
+force produces. He has a right to his property inherited, earned, or
+however secured, except by fraud. He has no claim against the vital
+energy of his fellow man, nor has he any claim whatever against the
+property of another.</p>
+
+<p>The working man needs capital. His vital energy must waste unless
+there is material upon which it may be expended. There must be the
+tree, land or material in some form, upon which he can work. But give
+him the world raw and unsubdued and he can transform it again as he
+has. He can build again everything on land and sea, the farms, towns,
+and cities, and the floating palaces. He can again dig <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>out the mines
+and refine the silver and gold, mould the clay, smelt the ore and
+shape the iron. His needs and his power, however, give him no claim to
+the property of another.</p>
+
+<p>The man of property is dependent upon the laborer. He may be the owner
+of farms, forests and mines, of horses, flocks and herds, of railroads
+and oil wells, yet these will not minister to him nor serve him
+without the laborer. His coffers may be filled with gold, and his
+barns bursting with grain and his stalls filled with fatlings, yet all
+this wealth is useless and lost, unless touched with the vital energy
+of an intelligent laborer. But his dependence and losses give him no
+right to the labor of another.</p>
+
+<p>He has no right, no just claim, to the services of another man, his
+equal. All his wealth cannot confer the right. Wealth is but a thing,
+in itself without rights, and can therefore add nothing to the rights
+of its owner.</p>
+
+<p>He may however use his wealth to command service by might, but not by
+right. A club is but a thing having no will and no rights, yet in the
+hands of a savage it adds greatly to his power and may be used by him
+to oppress another of his tribe. A ruffian with his gun meeting a
+defenseless man may so command him, that he is ready for the most
+abject obedience. An armed highwayman may compel a brave man "to stand
+and deliver." So a man may use his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>property to secure the service of
+another but it gives him no right to that service.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer, who has himself no rights against his fellows, uses a
+thing, his property, as an instrument or weapon to command service.</p>
+
+<p>He may place his hand upon every material thing another must have, and
+withhold it, and the other is shut up and compelled, he has no
+alternative. He must yield to the demands or suffer. Many men are
+driven to the last extremity before they will borrow.</p>
+
+<p>But if the borrower is very willing and urgent for the loan, this does
+not change the nature of the act. The game may be shot upon the wing
+as it is endeavoring to escape, or it may be snared in a trap by a
+tempting bait. The wild broncho may be captured in chase, or beguiled
+into the corral.</p>
+
+<p>The voluntary sacrifice of others to the usurer does not make his
+gains just. The foolish ones are now willing to invest in lottery
+tickets, yet that does not make the lottery lawful. Slot machines are
+being put out of the cities, because so many are ready to part with
+their nickels. If there were none ensnared by them, they could stand
+harmless.</p>
+
+<p>The borrower may be greatly elated with the hope of gain, but the
+injustice is the same, whether the services be secured by compelling
+force, or by guile, or by the folly of the victim.</p>
+
+<p>If we admit the supremacy of man over the material creation, all
+subordinate to him, and no right to be, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>except to serve him, and also
+admit the equal rights of all men, there is no escape from the
+conclusion that the usurer can have no rightful claims to any portion
+of the labor of the borrower, without surrendering to him some portion
+of his property as compensation for the services received. He must
+have less property when the service is rendered and the borrower must
+have more property if the rights of both are regarded.</p>
+
+<p>A false impression prevails, that the lender in some way gives the
+loan to the borrower; that the borrower becomes somewhat the owner of
+the property. The borrower is encouraged in this illusion and it
+becomes a plausible basis for the claim upon his services.</p>
+
+<p>When a loan is made to a bank it is called a "deposit" and rightly,
+for it is only placed in the banker's hands and does not in any part
+become his. This is true of any amount, great or small, whether the
+deposit draws interest or not. The lender never loses his sense of
+ownership of the whole amount, nor does the banker encourage the
+fiction that he has become part owner.</p>
+
+<p>Every loan is but a "deposit." The ownership of no part passes to the
+borrower. It is seldom that the loan or "deposit" is not safer in the
+keeping of the borrower than in the hands of the owner himself, when
+secured by mortgages or personal sureties. The usurer gains the
+earnings of the borrower but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>parts with no property. He receives the
+service but gives nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Two usurers, A and B, are neighbors. A has a garden he wishes dug. He
+has an ax but no hoe. B has wood that he wishes cut. He has a hoe but
+no ax. The laborer appears and wishes to do their work. Usurer A
+agrees to lend him his ax to cut B's wood on the condition that he
+shall return it unimpaired and work his garden for its use.</p>
+
+<p>He cuts the wood, but has no hoe to dig A's garden for the use of the
+ax. Usurer B now lends the laborer his hoe to dig the garden, but
+takes the cutting of the wood for the use of the hoe. The confused
+borrower knows he is defrauded of his work, though each seems to have
+a plausible claim upon him.</p>
+
+<p>A does not give the hoe to the laborer. He retains the full ownership
+but deposits it in the workman's hands to be returned unimpaired. B
+does not give away his ax, he only places it in the laborer's hands
+also to be returned unimpaired. The full hoe and full ax is returned
+and they have taken the services without compensation.</p>
+
+<p>The result is just the same as if A and B had traded tools and A had
+given the laborer a hoe to dig the garden, "the tool and the material
+with which to work," and B had given him an ax to cut his wood, "the
+tool and the material with which to work," without a pretence of a
+payment for his labor.</p>
+
+<p>Taking only a part of the borrower's or laborer's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>services does not
+relieve it of injustice. The nature of the oppression is the same,
+only less heinous and flagrant. He who took a penny belonging to
+another is a thief as truly as the man who took a pound. Petit larceny
+and grand larceny differ only in the amount stolen. The man who takes
+three per cent. of the labor of another wrongfully defrauds as the man
+who takes fifty per cent. The nature of the wrong is the same; they
+only differ in degree.</p>
+
+<p>It is a well known fact, however, often repeated, that ninety-five out
+of every hundred who go into business with borrowed capital, that is,
+who pay interest on "their material and tools," do give the vigor of
+their lives to the service of usurers and at the end have nothing.</p>
+
+<p>The element of time is only a figment that clouds the question of
+right and deceives the borrower. In order that the labor of another
+may be appropriated it is necessary to give him time to work. The
+laborer may dig in A's garden a day or all summer and he may chop wood
+for B a day or all winter. The result is the same. It is necessary
+that the borrower be given time to earn something before it is or can
+be appropriated. The question is, how rapidly can he earn, and how
+soon can his earnings be collected? Long time loans with the frequent
+payments of the earnings of the victim are the ideal conditions of the
+usurer.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>A FALSE BASAL PRINCIPLE.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>That usury or interest must be held under the restraints of law is
+recognized in nearly all countries. It is treated as a necessary evil
+that cannot be abolished, and therefore must be controlled. Bacon
+said, "It is permitted on account of the hardness of men's hearts."</p>
+
+<p>The laws differ in the various states. The rate of interest authorized
+by a particular state is not invariably fixed, but is changed as the
+condition of the people seems to demand.</p>
+
+<p>That which determines the rate, of any particular people, at any
+particular time, is the productive ability of the borrower. The rate
+now in England is about three per cent. The conditions being such that
+the productive power of the borrower is very limited. In the United
+States, where the natural resources are not all occupied, and the
+avenues for successful effort more numerous, the average is seven per
+cent. In the western states of the United States the rates are higher
+than in the eastern, for the material resources lie so open and
+undeveloped that the productive power of the borrower is far greater
+than in the older eastern states.</p>
+
+<p>The basal for the rate of interest is the benefit or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>the advantage of
+the loan to the borrower. What can the borrower do or make with this
+capital? How great a benefit can he gain by it? The rate is based on
+the earnings of the borrower.</p>
+
+<p>The transfer from R. R. station to R. R. station across this city is
+twenty-five cents. That I may make my train and meet my appointment,
+that prompt and rapid transfer is of greater value to me, but that
+does not give the hackman the right to an increased charge.</p>
+
+<p>The fare to the distant city is ten dollars, but to me, with important
+business waiting and suffering, it is worth an hundred. The conductor
+does not ask me what my profits are to be from this trip. He collects
+the same fare of all for the same service, whatever their interests
+may be in the passage.</p>
+
+<p>The letter which is freighted with a proposition that affects my
+future life is two cents. Because of great value to me the postal
+service is no more than a letter of idle gossip.</p>
+
+<p>Railroad freight rates are at times arbitrarily fixed on the basis of
+the benefit to the patron. The rates of freight from a coal mine are
+sometimes made by a railroad on the basis of the profits of operating
+the mine. The rates to a quartz mine in the mountains are often so
+regulated. A contractor, dependent on a transportation company, must
+often share his profits. Such rates are regarded as unjust and
+oppressive and efforts are made to correct the evil by law.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>A is crossing the city and can without inconvenience carry a note to a
+party for B. That accommodation without sacrifice or inconvenience on
+the part of A is no basis for a charge upon B, though the delivery of
+the message was of value to B, but if A discovers that in delivering
+that note he can make it a matter of business gain to himself, that
+would not justify B in claiming a part of the profits A secured for
+himself. While A served his own business he also favored B. It would
+be unreasonable and unjust for B to forget the favor and make a charge
+against A, because in the delivery of the note A managed to gain a
+profit.</p>
+
+<p>Two farmers are without barns. It will require the labor of a number
+of years to secure the requisite amount of lumber and other material
+to enable them to erect their barns. One of the farmers undertakes to
+shelter and protect from decay the lumber of both, until the requisite
+amount can be secured. This is a real favor to the other and is
+accepted readily. He even offers to pay him for the care and
+liability. But he discovers afterward that his neighbor, by wise,
+careful and skillful piling, has made from this lumber a shelter for
+his stock and grain. That he has so managed as to gain for himself a
+benefit. Then, with the false principle of usury he makes a charge for
+the keeping of the very thing for which he was willing to pay a
+price.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>A gentleman not wanting his coach for a time, but wishing it to be
+kept in perfect repair, and his team fed and exercised, to be kept
+sleek and strong, leaves it in his coachman's care. The coachman
+agrees to keep from decay, and to replace should one die, and at the
+end of the term, return the coach in perfect condition, no mar or
+wear, and the team sleek and strong from good care, feed and daily
+exercise. But the coachman discovers that in the daily exercise of the
+team he can carry a party of business men to and from their offices,
+and secure for himself a gain. He, at the end of the term, returns the
+carriage and equipage complete as he received it. The owner has had
+his property perfectly cared for during the term he could not use it.
+But the owner learning of the benefit to the keeper, which would not
+have been possible without his equipage, demands a portion of the
+benefit which cost him nothing, nor in the least diminished his
+property.</p>
+
+<p>A gentleman has a warm, rich and beautiful robe, but is about to
+travel a number of years among the countries of Cuba, Porto Rico, and
+the Philippines, where he will not need it, and afterward visit
+Siberia, where he will need and use it. Another undertakes to relieve
+him of all care of it during these years and deliver it to the
+Siberian home ready for his use. He protects it from the moths in
+summer, and guards it against all touch or taint, and delivers it in
+the perfect condition in which it was received. In justice he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>deserves a reward from the owner, and if he received no benefit, would
+receive it, but it is found that he needed it for his comfort by the
+way, and that without it he should have perished. Then the owner
+demands a reward for the benefit the carrier received. The owner did
+no service. He received a positive benefit, but the porter, who
+carried the burden all the way, must pay interest or rental because he
+was kept from perishing by it.</p>
+
+<p>The surprise or discovery feature is introduced into the above
+illustrations to emphasize the false basis upon which the rates of
+interest rest. In the actual practice of usury the lender may have
+full information as to the use of the loan and its advantages to the
+borrower. If we eliminate this feature the basis still remains
+untenable. By no tortion of ethics can I demand that he, who does me a
+favor, shall pay me for the privilege.</p>
+
+<p>A man has one thousand dollars of money he is not using. He gives it
+to another to keep or place in a drawer in his vault. To care for this
+and be responsible for it, a commission is allowed, for it is no
+benefit to the keeper. Even an amount is asked for the drawer in the
+vault, without responsibility. To care for this a term of years is
+deserving of a reward. But now keeping the property equally safe, and
+returning every dollar when the owner calls for it, is not
+satisfactory to the usurer. If this money has in any way proved a
+benefit to the keeper, through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>his wisdom and energy and skill, he
+demands an increase. What is this loan worth to you? is the question
+of the usurer to the borrower.</p>
+
+<p>The basis of legal interest rates is the amount of benefit the
+borrower gains by the loan. If his opportunities in a state are
+favorable, and he may by diligence make a large gain, the rates are
+high. If in another state his opportunities are so limited that,
+strive as he may, he can make little gain, the legal rates will be
+low.</p>
+
+<p>The basis is so absurd that many have urged the repeal of all laws
+regulating the rates of interest. "Why should the laws presume to
+level the rates for a whole state? The possibilities and opportunities
+of gain are infinitely varied. Every borrower knows his own conditions
+and the amount of advantage the loan is to him and he should be
+permitted to pay for money whatever he is willing to pay."</p>
+
+<p>One writer thus expresses it, "No man of ripe years and of sound mind,
+acting freely, and with his eyes open, ought to be hindered, with a
+view to his advantage, from making such bargains in the way of
+obtaining money, as he thinks fit; nor anybody hindered from supplying
+him upon any terms he thinks proper to accede to."</p>
+
+<p>Jeremy Bentham is often quoted to prove the absurdity of all laws
+regulating the rates of interest, and yet all his elaborate arguments
+are based on this false principle.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>If usury is wrong only when the borrower can make no profit, and is
+right whenever the borrower can make a gain by it, and the rate of
+interest is to be measured by that gain, then all laws are illogical
+that limit the rate, and may be classed among those restraining
+trade.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE TRUE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The true ethical principle that should govern the relation between the
+owner of property and the person holding that property as a loan, does
+not differ from the principle that is recognized as prevailing in all
+the other relations of life. The party to whom the service is rendered
+is under obligation. The party served is the one who must pay for the
+service. The party served must pay in proportion to the amount of
+service rendered him. If that service is great, then the payment must
+be large. If the service is slight, then the payment is small, and
+when there is no service then no payment can be claimed.</p>
+
+<p>This principle is recognized in all worthy and upright transactions.
+It is the service rendered that is rewarded in a court of justice. An
+employe recovers his wages from his employer for his services
+rendered. The condition of the employer's business does not enter into
+the count. It may have been unprofitable or a great success but that
+cannot affect the claim either way.</p>
+
+<p>A physician charges for the services given a patient. The recovery or
+death of the patient can neither increase nor diminish them.</p>
+
+<p>In service we always surrender something of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>ourselves or of our own,
+and each knows the sacrifice or effort he has made; he cannot know the
+value of this to the other, and he need not know. Full compensation is
+due from the party served but no compensation is due when no service
+is given nor property surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer's whole claim is for the service of his property. But he
+does not surrender a particle of his wealth. He does not become poorer
+in making his loan. He holds all his wealth as fully as before,
+whether it be a loan of money or grains or tools. There has been no
+outgo of property for which, in any other relation, he could claim a
+reward or compensation from his fellow. He simply deposits his
+property with his fellow and takes security for its safe keeping. It
+must be preserved perfectly and restored fully.</p>
+
+<p>When we consider the true principle, that compensation is due always
+for services rendered, the obligation is upon the lender for the care
+and preservation of his property. The borrower in any and every case
+gives a real and valuable service in preservation and restoration at
+the end of the term, while the lender renders no personal service nor
+does he part with a particle of his wealth.</p>
+
+<p>There is always a service rendered in caring for and preserving the
+property of another. It may be very great or it may be very small. It
+may be so great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>that no one would undertake it though the property
+should be freely given him.</p>
+
+<p>In 1800 the "Faithful Steward" was wrecked in Delaware bay near the
+shore. It had on board a large number of passengers, emigrants, who
+nearly all perished. Few lives were saved and all the property was
+lost. One young man, of the kin of the writer, swam ashore through the
+breakers. Before he left the vessel an old man offered him a stocking
+full of gold if he cared to try and save it. Though young and vigorous
+he would not undertake to try to save it for it. This was an extreme
+case of risk and danger.</p>
+
+<p>In another extreme case the service may be very small, reduced to the
+minimum, for instance, caring for the gold of another by locking it up
+in a fire and burglar-proof safe. For this simple service a
+comparatively small charge is made. But caring for the property of
+another is always some service that earns a reward great or small.</p>
+
+<p>The nature of the service is not changed and the principle still holds
+when the deposit is made with a person who gives ample pledges for its
+full return; the principle still holds when the deposit is made in a
+farm and secured there by mortgage, making it safer than in the iron
+vault.</p>
+
+<p>The true ethical principle, equity between man and man, requires that
+the holder of the property of another shall be compensated by the
+owner of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>property for his services in caring for and preserving
+it. The amount of compensation depends on the difficult or favorable
+conditions attending its care. These conditions greatly vary, perhaps
+in no two cases are exactly alike, and so there can be no fixed price
+or rate at which one will receive and care for the property of
+another. The extreme limit of liberality permitted is that he may care
+for the property of another for nothing. He is not permitted to pay a
+price for the privilege. The revealed divine law, true ethics and
+equity and duty of self preservation forbid him. Perfect preservation
+of any amount, large or small, for any time, long or short, whatever
+the incidental advantages to the borrower, is the highest compensation
+a borrower is permitted to give for any loan. The demand for more than
+this by the owner is to be resisted as unjust and oppressive.</p>
+
+<p>An express company receives a package of money for which it receipts
+and becomes responsible and agrees to deliver to the owner at some
+distant point. For this service it receives compensation in accordance
+with the amount of service. If the conditions are dangerous and the
+distance great the charge is large. If the conditions are very
+favorable and safe the charges are small.</p>
+
+<p>If the amount of service is reduced to the minimum, in rare cases, no
+charge may be made. But that a price should be paid for the privilege
+of caring for and conveying it, is inconsistent with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>management
+of an honest business. The purpose would be either to rob the owner of
+his wealth or to rob the employes of their services.</p>
+
+<p>An insurance company undertakes to protect a property for a term of
+years, to a distant date. A rate is given for protection from a single
+element, as fire. If all destructive agents are included the rate is
+higher. The rate is higher for a long than a short period. All the
+business world recognize the value of this service and nearly every
+kind of property may now be insured. The premium is cheerfully paid by
+the owner of the property for the service rendered him. It is a real
+and valuable service to have his property protected, preserved, or
+restored, so that it cannot be lost before the distant date. It is
+conceivable that a property might be so indestructible that the risk
+would be practically nothing and a policy might be issued without a
+premium, but that a price should be paid for the privilege of
+protecting any property is utterly inconsistent with rational
+insurance.</p>
+
+<p>Now usury presumes to reverse this ethical order and requires that the
+insurance company shall pay the owner of the property for the
+privilege of protecting it. Under usury the property given into the
+care of another, and called a loan, must be perfectly protected and
+preserved by the borrower, restored if lost, and returned in full to
+the owner at the agreed distant date, and a price paid for the
+privilege of performing the service.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>The true ethical principle and equity in the relations between the
+owner of a property and the one who holds, protects and preserves it,
+require that the owner shall render to the holder a just compensation.
+This will vary in different conditions, it may be very small, it may
+in rare cases be entirely eliminated; but they also utterly forbid
+that the party rendering the service shall pay for the privilege of
+serving.</p>
+
+<p>One may submit to an injustice in order to gain an advantage. He can
+do better for himself by submitting than by resisting. His employer
+may be hard and oppressive but this is the best job he can get and he
+holds on, but that does not justify the oppressions of the employer up
+to the breaking point. It may be to the advantage of a borrower to
+submit to the exactions of usury, that is, he may gain more wealth by
+borrowing upon interest than not, but that does not relieve usury of
+its oppression up to the breaking point when it can no longer be
+endured. There is no better ethical basis for low interest than high
+interest. Low rates of interest are oppressions that may be suffered
+or endured for a possible gain, but high rates are intolerable. The
+principle is the same whatever the rate of interest, whether it be low
+or high. They only differ in the degrees of their severity.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>WEALTH IS BARREN.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>That wealth can produce wealth is the assumption of Shylock.</p>
+
+<div style="margin-left: 15%;">
+<p class="noin" style="white-space: nowrap;">
+Shylock&mdash;"When Jacob grazed his Uncle Laban's sheep&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">This Jacob from our holy Abraham was</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The third possessor; ay, he was the third."</span><br />
+
+Antonio&mdash;"And what of him? Did he take interest?"<br />
+
+Shylock&mdash;"No, not take interest; not as you would say,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Directly interest. Mark what Jacob did." <span style="white-space: nowrap;">* * *</span></span><br />
+
+Antonio&mdash;"This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">A thing not in his power to bring to pass&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">But swayed and fashioned by the hand of Heaven.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Was this inserted to make interest good?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Or is your gold and silver, ewes and rams?"</span><br />
+
+Shylock&mdash;"I can not tell; I make them breed as fast."<br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">&mdash;<i>Merchant of Venice.</i></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+
+<p>It is only intelligent energy that can produce wealth. Even the
+natural resources must be subdued and shaped by intelligent energy to
+be of service to man. Trees do not betake themselves into the form of
+houses. Land does not transform itself into farms and gardens. Coal
+does not come to our fires without hands. Ore is not iron, nor is clay
+pottery. They must be carefully manipulated by the intelligent
+laborer.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing man can make has the power of self propagation. All wealth is
+as barren as silver and gold, though Shylock claimed he could make
+them breed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>like ewes and rams. Life alone is productive, and the
+secrets of life man has not touched.</p>
+
+<p>A tree or animal grows by the life that is in it, but the accretions
+of wealth are from the efforts of intelligent energy outside of
+itself. Wealth is an effect, a result. The vital energy of a person,
+of "a willing intelligent being" produces wealth, but it does not
+follow that it has the qualities of its cause. It has no intelligence,
+nor has it self-determining power, nor is it vital, nor has it energy,
+it has not in itself the force to overcome its inertia, the energy
+must be applied. It has no power to increase or grow. A fortune is
+built, as a building is built, brick after brick is added by
+intelligent hands.</p>
+
+<p>All wealth must have the living hands applied to cause it to increase
+even the smallest amount. There is no such thing as "productive"
+capital. It is so called when it is used to gather and appropriate the
+earnings of others, but wealth in none of its forms has the quality or
+power of producing.</p>
+
+<p>Money, the most familiar form, is barren. A bag of dollars stored for
+ages will not have increased a single coin. No one holds or handles
+money on the assumption that it will increase in his hands. Money is a
+care, and the broker who holds or handles it relies for his
+compensation, not on the increase of the dollars in his hands, but on
+the increase from some producer to whom he lends it. If there is no
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>borrower he takes a direct commission from the amount itself, as
+trustee or administrator or custodian.</p>
+
+<p>Money is readily exchanged for any other property. Money has a number
+of functions but in exchange it is a medium by which the value of
+articles is conveyed. It takes the place of the bags which conveyed
+the wheat, of the crates which contained the potatoes, of the baskets
+which carried the peaches, and the wrapping which held the cotton or
+the wool.</p>
+
+<p>Col. Irish, who was chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at
+Washington, when he died, and under whose administration the present
+building was erected, at one time sent to the wife of the writer a ten
+dollar bill, wrapped up so that it looked like a picture, cabinet
+size; this was accompanied by a note, to be opened first. In this note
+he said he took pleasure in sending her an excellent likeness of our
+late lamented president, which he would be pleased to have her accept.
+If she should prefer it in some other form, it was a peculiarity of
+this likeness that it would change instantly at the will of the holder
+into any form desired; that this was the peculiarity that troubled
+him, as he had been unable to decide what would please her best, and
+had finally decided to send it in this form, and let her change it
+into any other she might like better.</p>
+
+<p>Money is a peculiar medium which will hold and carry the value of
+anything. You pour in your wheat and take it to the merchant, who
+empties your wheat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>and fills it with clothes, he carries it to the
+dealer in any article needed and the vessel is instantly emptied and
+refilled.</p>
+
+<p>The values of the products of laborers in the various occupations of
+life or the products of the various climates are thus readily
+exchanged by money, but the gain is not in the money. The art in trade
+is to study and know the products and needs of the laborers of one
+class or country, and the varied products and needs of the producers
+of another class or local community. The skill in trade is in
+supplying the needs of one from the products of the other.</p>
+
+<p>The profit in trade is the gain from securing for an article a greater
+portion of the product of those whose needs are supplied, than was
+given to those who produced it. The harvester cost the manufacturer
+twenty days' work. The farmer, who needs and purchases it, pays forty
+days' work for it. The farmer may produce one hundred bushels of wheat
+with twenty-five days' work, but the mechanics in the city, who need
+it for bread, may give twice that amount of labor for that quantity of
+wheat. There is a wide field for skill and profit in trade, when the
+products and needs of all classes and all lands are considered. But
+money does not add to wealth in trade. There is nothing produced by it
+in trade. It is but the tool by which values are conveyed, and no more
+productive than baskets or crates or sacks. Intelligent energy
+produces all the profits that are secured by trading.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>Modern apologists for usury, knowing that money is unproductive
+itself, call it a tool for production, and as it can be readily
+transformed into any tool, they try to avoid the logical conclusion
+that the taking of interest on money is unjust and oppressive to the
+producer.</p>
+
+<p>But no tool is productive. All tools are but the reaching out of man
+for the better control and mastery of material things.</p>
+
+<p>The tool is but dead matter; the productive efficiency is in the vital
+energy of the intelligent laborer. The most complicated and ingenious
+tool ever made is useless without the operator. It is as helpless as
+the wire without the electric current; as helpless as the body without
+its life, for the body is but man's tool, preserved, and kept
+efficient, and made productive, by the living energy alone.</p>
+
+<p>Tools are but the reaching out of the vital energy beyond the body.
+Tools are but the means, invented and constructed, by which the man
+can overcome his physical limitations and accomplish wonders, the
+impossible to a creature wanting in his intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>These glasses enable dim eyes to see clearly. There is no ability in
+the glasses to see; they would be of no use on blind eyes. I see,
+these spectacles cannot see. Enlarge and so place these lenses that I
+can see bacteria, or the mountains of the moon, yet this microscope or
+this telescope has no more life nor sight than this single lens. I,
+with it, see the minute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>creation or examine the distant planet. It is
+but the extension of my eye.</p>
+
+<p>This pen and paper and this book are but the means by which I reach
+and reason with my fellow-men. They are but my tools to convey my
+thought. I am reasoning with you, not this paper and ink.</p>
+
+<p>My hand is the natural tool with which I labor. I may work in the
+garden and plant the seed and destroy the weeds with my hand alone,
+and there is no dispute but that I do the work. I take a small weeder
+in my hand and greatly increase my efficiency. I take a hoe and reach
+out further and greatly add to my efficiency. I am the efficient
+agent. There is no power in the weeder or the hoe. I take my plow, as
+my tool, and I tear up the soil and prepare it for my harvest. I take
+the complicated harvester and gather it into my barn. In every part of
+that process the tool is but the reaching out of my energy beyond my
+body. There is no place where that tool becomes vitalized and
+productive.</p>
+
+<p>I am a porter, I carry packages in my hands. To increase my efficiency
+I build me a cart, and smooth a roadway, by which I am able to carry
+more and heavier packages with ease. I construct a roadway across the
+continent, and with the power which I employ I carry the commerce of
+the nation. I build ships and direct them from continent to continent
+and handle the commerce of the world. Now there is no place from this
+simple carriage in the hand, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>the complicated and stupendous system
+of transportation, where the tool is not wholly dependent on the vital
+intelligent energy.</p>
+
+<p>When the vital principle leaves this body, then hands, eyes and the
+whole body is helpless. Withdraw the vital energy from these means by
+which man extends his power beyond the body, and all the implements of
+agriculture will not produce a harvest, and the wheels of commerce on
+land and sea would instantly stop.</p>
+
+<p>There is no place in the most complicated machine where it begins to
+produce. The machine may show the greatest ingenuity in its invention
+and the perfection of skill in its construction, and the intelligence
+necessary to its operation may be reduced to the minimum, yet no where
+and at no time can it produce of itself.</p>
+
+<p>When a criminal is arraigned in court the responsibility is placed
+upon the person, the intelligent energy, always. It matters not by
+what tools the burglary or other criminal act was committed. The man
+who handled the tools is held accountable for the results. His tools
+may show the greatest ingenuity and the highest skill in their
+construction but they do not share his guilt. He is the efficient and
+responsible cause. If this were not so justice could be so perverted
+that the preservation of the order and the security of society would
+be impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Every tool is itself produced, and its maker must be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>rewarded or paid
+once, but there the claim for the tool ends. The laborer who
+constructs the machine cannot demand repayment over and over. The
+skilled mechanic who produced this pair of lenses must be paid, but he
+has no claim for second payment. To secure repayment he must make
+another pair. The maker of this pen and this paper must be paid, but
+that ends his claim. The maker of the hoe or cart or engine must have
+the reward he has earned, but can prefer no second claim.</p>
+
+<p>There is no question when the laborer makes and owns his own tool. The
+labor of constructing the tool must be rewarded as well as the laborer
+in its operation.</p>
+
+<p>When the tools are complicated and require the skill of many, the
+makers of the machine are usually different persons from the laborers
+who operate it. In this case the payment of all must come from the
+finished product. Those who constructed the machine and those who
+operate it must be paid by the consumers.</p>
+
+<p>If the shoe plant is built and operated, then from the shoes produced
+must come the payment for all. The workmen who built the plant and the
+engines and machinery for the manufacture of the different parts of
+the shoe, must be paid by the consumer of shoes. The workmen who built
+the plant must be as fully compensated as those who operate it, but
+being compensated, they have no claim for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>recompensation for the same
+work. To be paid again they must build a new plant. The operators must
+be compensated for every shoe they make, but they can not reclaim
+payment over and over again. To receive more pay they must make more
+shoes.</p>
+
+<p>Both classes of laborers have a right to full compensation for all the
+labor performed. Neither party has a right to demand a second payment
+for the same labor.</p>
+
+<p>It would be manifestly as unjust for the constructors of the plant to
+compel the operators to pay them over and over again, as it would be
+for the operators of the machine, having supplied the community with
+shoes, to demand payment over and over without making another shoe.
+The shoes will wear out, so will the machines. It is as unreasonable
+for the first class of laborers to compel the operators of their
+machinery to keep the same in repair, as for the operators to compel
+their customers to keep their shoes in perfect condition. For the
+first laborers to receive a new payment they must build a new plant,
+and for the operators to receive a new payment they must make new
+shoes.</p>
+
+<p>The confusion of ideas comes in when there intervenes a third party
+between these two classes of laborers. This third party meets the
+demands of the class of laborers who build the plant and machines,
+from hoarded wealth, and then exacts payment from those who operate
+it. This is then called productive <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>capital, but it is no more
+productive than the money in the bank vault. The producing, so called,
+is but the exacting of a part of that which the operators produce. It
+is the exacting of payment that never pays. The operators are
+compelled to be forever buying, yet the plant is never bought. The
+capitalist is forever selling, yet the plant is never sold.</p>
+
+<p>Usually, the usurer is a fourth party that stands yet behind the third
+party, taking no risks, demanding complete security for his loan and
+also an increase out of the products of the operators. The third party
+assumes all care and guarantees against all losses and depends for his
+compensation on a portion of the product after the demands of the
+fourth party are satisfied. This third party may be an active
+producer. All that he receives may be fully earned in care, oversight
+and management of the business of the plant.</p>
+
+<p>But the fourth party can have no claim for his services, he has no
+part in the production. The absurdity, the figment that his capital is
+productive, is introduced to cover the evident fraud of appropriating,
+without compensation, a portion of the products of the operators. He
+has no more claim to an increase of his capital year by year and a
+doubling in a term of years, than the laborers who built it have to
+the same plant, perfect and unworn at the end of a term, and in
+addition, another plant equal in every respect. They built but one,
+they have no claim upon a second. For the usurer, who takes their
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>place, to double his wealth, and yet the debt be undischarged, is a
+flagrant fraud.</p>
+
+<p>The underlying falsehood is that wealth changes its nature when put in
+the hands of a live man and becomes productive. It is acknowledged
+that wealth lying in the vault is barren and at the same time it is
+claimed that it produces in the hands of an intelligent agent. But it
+is the same dead, helpless, barren thing wherever it may be found and
+whatever form it may be made to take. The dollar taken from the vault
+and exchanged for a hoe does not receive this new quality. The hoe is
+as dead as the dollar. When this hoe is in the hands of the workman it
+is the same barren thing is was before he picked it up. These glasses
+are precisely the same when astride my nose as when lying on the
+table. It is not true that wealth in any form, though it be that of a
+useful tool, takes on this new quality or attribute when in the hands
+of a live man.</p>
+
+<p>A man's labor is more productive with suitable tools than without
+them. The same energy will secure far greater returns. If it were not
+so he would not trouble to make tools or use them. But to call tools
+productive agents and so reward them is to rob intelligent energy,
+skill and inventive genius of that which they alone can produce. This
+degrades the man to the level of the tool or exalts the tool to the
+height of its maker.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>WEALTH DECAYS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>All man-made wealth is subject to inevitable decay. Aristotle said,
+"Labor produces all wealth," but the product has no sooner left the
+laborer's hands than it begins to perish. The vital energy that
+produced it must follow to preserve it from the ravages of time.</p>
+
+<p>Take the life, the vital part, from the body, and corruption begins.
+So with all that has been produced, withdraw the vital force and ruin
+immediately follows. The vital energy must ever be present and active
+to preserve it.</p>
+
+<p>Fruits and grains and provisions of all kinds for human food rapidly
+perish. The laborer must be continually active, producing and
+preserving, or the race would be starving in a fortnight. Even the
+miraculously bestowed manna became corrupt in a night. It had to be
+gathered day by day.</p>
+
+<p>Flocks and herds need the shepherd's care. They are subject to disease
+and natural enemies and are short lived, so that however large and
+strong, and healthy the herd of cattle, or the flock of sheep, it
+would be soon scattered and lost to the owner without watchful care.</p>
+
+<p>Tools and instruments of production, great or small, if used, soon
+need to be renewed, or if unused <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>perish even sooner. Neglected they
+speedily decay. The locomotive left unattended on the track would soon
+be utterly useless from the destructive elements of rain and heat,
+frosts and sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>The palace, that floats on the ocean, would be a prey to barnacles, to
+winds and waves, to shoals and rocks, and would soon disappear,
+without the constant hand of intelligent vital energy to direct and
+preserve it. Houses untenanted and uncared for soon decay. Leaks
+unstopped, broken windows unrepaired, and vermin unrestrained, soon
+make them unfit for habitation. Farms and plantations go back speedily
+to weeds and wilderness when uncultivated. Great cities like Babylon
+and Nineveh are soon so covered with dust that we have to dig to find
+their ruins.</p>
+
+<p>Decay is written over every form of man-made wealth. There is needed
+constantly the touch of the laborer for its preservation.</p>
+
+<p>Gold, silver and precious stones are the least subject to decay. They
+are not, however, made, but found, and simply refined and polished.
+The indestructibility of silver and gold have made them the money
+metals of the world, quite as much as their rarity, their beauty and
+malleability. In them wealth could be stored and moth and rust would
+not corrupt.</p>
+
+<p>But even gold and silver will disappear. The thief will break through
+and steal. They must be, therefore, carefully guarded. The tax or levy
+of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>government for its part in the protection must be met, so that
+even gold and silver must also gradually slip away.</p>
+
+<p>Decay is upon all wealth and the hand of the laborer must be ever
+present for its preservation.</p>
+
+<p>This law is universal. Even the Divine Creator must continue to uphold
+his creation. His sustaining hand cannot be withdrawn. He must
+preserve by his power and ever guide and direct, or disorder and chaos
+will ensue.</p>
+
+<p>Usury or interest presumes to ignore this order of nature and demands
+not only that the borrower shall resist this tendency of capital to
+decay, but shall also pay a price for the privilege.</p>
+
+<p>That any one should undertake to care for and preserve the property of
+another without compensation is unreasonable, but that any one should
+voluntarily pay a premium for the privilege can only be explained by
+misguided judgment or a perverted moral sense.</p>
+
+<p>No one would be responsible for, and care for and pay tax upon the
+money of another and himself get from it no return. Trustees and
+administrators receive, and feel they earn, a commission for this
+caring for the property of others.</p>
+
+<p>When this wealth is in the form of a tool, or manufacturing plant, the
+responsibility is greater. The owner asks that it be preserved
+perfectly. There must be no decline in value, from new improved
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>machinery, and all accidents must be made good; if destroyed by fire,
+it must be rebuilt. To take this for a year or term of years, is a
+responsibility no one would feel justified in assuming in justice to
+himself. He would be using his own vital force to preserve the
+perishable property of another.</p>
+
+<p>A man has a farm, fertile and well improved, and well stocked. He is
+to be absent for a time. He asks as a favor that another watch it with
+care, preserve the stock in condition, if any die, replace them, and
+in short, so preserve that he shall have the farm at his return, just
+as fertile, the stock just as young and valuable, the implements
+unworn and no signs of decay on the buildings; if any burn, rebuild
+them. This would be a favor only the kindest and weakest of neighbors
+or friends would undertake, and what no man would be justified in
+asking of another. This is loaning without interest and this is the
+borrower, who pays only the principal and no increase.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer says, Care for my property and pay me for the opportunity.
+Keep it intact. Make good every loss and return to me an increase
+which you by your energy and effort may produce.</p>
+
+<p>The rates of interest greatly vary. The average in the United States
+is about seven per cent., by statistics of the government only
+recently issued. At seven per cent., interest paid annually or added
+to debt for ten years, the debt is doubled.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer or interest taker says, You take this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>hundred dollars and
+care for it for me for ten years and then bring me two hundred
+dollars. Take this wheat and this corn and in ten years bring me back
+just twice the amount. Take these horses and these sheep and cattle
+and care for them for ten years and return them just as good as they
+are now, and other horses, cattle and sheep in equal number, which you
+have produced in these ten years.</p>
+
+<p>Take this shop with all its tools and implements and care for it so
+that in ten years you can return it to me in as perfect order as now,
+and also build me with your labor and energy another shop, just like
+it, and equip it in every way just as complete as this, and on my
+return give both to me. Take this farm, fertile as it is, with its
+buildings and animals and implements, and preserve them perfectly, not
+a thing shall decay or decline in value; make good every loss, and at
+the end of ten years return it to me and also another farm which you
+have earned during these ten years, of equal acreage and fertility,
+equally improved with live stock and implements.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer gains the preservation of his own perishable property, and
+he gains also the product of the vital force of his victim.</p>
+
+<p>This law of decay is a natural limitation to the accumulation of any
+producer. As decay begins at once, a part of the vital energy must be
+expended in the preservation of that already produced. As the
+accumulations increase, more energy is required for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>its preservation,
+and less remains for active production. Time does not relax his work
+of ruin, and the resisting energy must be constant. The tendency to
+decay is such that soon the energy required to preserve that already
+gained leaves none to produce, and the accumulations must cease.</p>
+
+<p>To this point the rich fool in the parable had come. He had abundance
+accumulated and the problem was to preserve it, until he could consume
+it. "This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and
+there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my
+soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine
+ease, eat, drink, and be merry."</p>
+
+<p>The usurer hands his goods to another to build the barns and keep for
+him, while he is free from its care; and, more, he requires of his
+victim not only that he shall preserve, resisting all decay, but that
+he shall actually pay him for the privilege.</p>
+
+<p>Had the rich fool not lived in his day, when usury was a crime, but in
+this age of folly, he would have apportioned his goods among his
+foolisher neighbors upon interest, to keep for him, and then not only
+he, for "many years," but his posterity forever, could be at ease,
+eating, drinking, and making merry. The silly borrowers would supply
+all the needs of his endowed family, for the privilege of caring for
+the goods.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE DEBT HABIT.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The debt habit of mind is the disposition or tendency to look to
+things we have not as necessary to our success: To yearn for other
+opportunities and other means than those we have in our hands: To feel
+helpless without them and willing to incur debt to secure them. The
+independent, self-reliant disposition takes account of its own powers
+and opportunities and means, and plans with these to accomplish the
+very most. This old self-reliant, independent spirit, that scorned
+debt, has largely passed away. To incur debt is now the common habit
+and has become respectable.</p>
+
+<p>All evil-doers encourage and stimulate the particular fashion or habit
+or appetite or passion on which they thrive. Usury thrives on debt. If
+no one was in debt then usurers would be harmless. It is this debt
+habit that gives them the large field for their operations and secures
+to them their harvest.</p>
+
+<p>The agreement to pay interest preserves for a time the feeling of
+independence that would be wounded by receiving a loan as a favor.
+There is usually a feeling of joy and elation in the borrower that
+confidence in him is so great, and his credit is so high, that he can
+be entrusted with a loan.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>By incurring a debt there seems to promise the opening up of
+opportunities that have been denied, and a possible field for the
+successful exertion of his pent up energies.</p>
+
+<p>The present intended use of the loan, too, seems so attractive and
+profitable, and the buoyant, hopeful spirit does not doubt that the
+loan can be easily and promptly repaid.</p>
+
+<p>The temptations to debt do not come to the vicious and idle and
+worthless, but to the most worthy, industrious, talented, reliable and
+enterprising, those who will be the most productive in their fields of
+effort. Its very approach is flattering and therefore so hard to
+resist.</p>
+
+<p>A bright, intelligent, noble young man with high aims and worthy
+purposes yearns for an education, but the opportunities seem to be
+denied him; but there is a fund at low interest at his service.</p>
+
+<p>A lively, energetic young man, with industrious and economical habits,
+is anxious to engage in business; his youth, character and energy
+bring the loan to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>The young man with pure yearning for domestic life and a home, with a
+reputation that is above reproach and of commendable energy and
+thrift, has a home pressed upon him, to be paid for in long-time
+payments. He can fill it with furniture "on the installment plan."
+With intellectual taste, he can fill his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>library with just the books
+he desires "on the installment plan." Is he musical in his taste, he
+can fill his parlor with musical instruments "on the installment
+plan." His needs and tastes can all be gratified at once by incurring
+debt. To avoid debt there must be a determined and unremitted effort
+to resist. Few have been able to escape. The aggregate of private
+indebtedness can not be told.</p>
+
+<p>Few manufacturing plants are free from debt. They are usually carrying
+all the load their credit enables them to secure. Railroads and other
+corporations are under bonded debts that tax their trade to the utmost
+to sustain.</p>
+
+<p>Counties and municipalities have caught the contagious habit. Bonds
+are issued to build school houses, town halls, viaducts, water-works,
+and pave streets.</p>
+
+<p>There lies on this table a list of all the cities in this great land,
+the United States, with their number of inhabitants and their bonded
+debts. There are but six small cities in the long list without debt.
+In some the amount is enormous, the city debt in cases running up to
+one hundred and one hundred and fifty, and two hundred dollars per
+inhabitant. That is, there is a city debt on each man, woman and child
+of two hundred dollars. On this amount interest must be paid, twelve
+dollars per year, one dollar per month for every man, woman and
+child.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>There lies also on the table a report of the financial condition of
+the nearest great city. It is rendered in a cheerful mood and declares
+the city's credit "tip top." The indebtedness is eight millions, but
+the assessed valuation of the city is so high that two million more
+bonds can be issued before the limit of indebtedness is reached as
+established by the general law. This is regarded as a most favorable
+showing and the assurance is given that all the contemplated public
+improvements can be pushed without interruption. There is no thought
+of stopping until the extreme limit is reached.</p>
+
+<p>This habit extends to the churches and benevolent enterprises. There
+is scarcely a church that is not paying interest on some debt. Local
+societies are often greatly hindered in their work. A benevolent
+agency of one of the largest and richest denominations issued a
+piteous appeal to their constituents for help, declaring that the
+interest on their debts amounted to one thousand dollars per week.</p>
+
+<p>The debt habit has seized the nations and the most enlightened. This
+is so true that debts are, in pleasantry, spoken of as a sign of a
+nation's progress. These aggregate billions are rapidly increasing.</p>
+
+<p>The Chancellor of the Exchequer says the debt of England was reduced
+five hundred millions in twenty years. To the astonishment of all the
+world, the United States began to pay her debt, eighteen hundred
+million, in thirty years. But these stand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>alone among the nations.
+The national debts do not grow less, but are rapidly increasing. Both
+the United States and England are now increasing their indebtedness
+each year.</p>
+
+<p>The world has gone debt mad. It has become a great harvest field, ripe
+for the usurers.</p>
+
+<p>Debts may at times be unavoidable. They may at times be positively
+beneficial. There may be times when the system is in such a condition
+that it is necessary to take arsenic in small doses, but arsenic has
+no place in the menu of a healthy man. So debts may be necessary to
+those who have fallen into decay or have been unfortunate, but they
+should find no place in the normally healthy financial conditions of
+an individual or incorporation or nation.</p>
+
+<p>Debts make no man the richer. A man is no richer when he has secured a
+loan, than he was before. Paying debts makes no man poorer. He but
+relieves himself of the property of another.</p>
+
+<p>Paying a national debt destroys no wealth. If owed at home, it is but
+a transfer from one hand or pocket to another.</p>
+
+<p>Adjusting the world's debts, private, corporate, municipal, or
+national, the world would remain as rich and productive. Not a
+material thing would perish. No man would suffer the loss of any right
+or of any property, but it would be the destruction of the device by
+which the usurers appropriate to themselves the productions of
+others.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>Freed from this debt habit of mind, and the independent, self-reliant
+disposition replaced, this anomalous condition would disappear; the
+producer would receive again his full earnings and the great army of
+parasites, that has grown up, and that feed so richly on the labors of
+others, would be compelled to turn producers or perish.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE BORROWER IS SERVANT TO THE LENDER.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Solomon's declaration that, "The borrower is servant to the lender,"
+was spoken without reference to usury. Loaning upon increase was not
+lawful in his day, and was condemned by him in his proverb, "He that
+by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it
+for him that will have pity on the poor."</p>
+
+<p>A loan binds the borrower to the lender though he pay no increase.
+There comes a sense of subserviency and subordination that can not be
+thrown off.</p>
+
+<p>He becomes steward of another's goods, and frees the owner of their
+care, but they remain subject to the owner's order. The preservation
+of goods hinder any great accumulation by any single producer, but if
+he can be freed from its care, then all his energies can be used to
+continue production. Many find it as hard to keep property as it is to
+earn it.</p>
+
+<p>The hunter or fisherman takes with him his lackey to carry his game.
+If game is plentiful and the hunter successful, he would, otherwise,
+soon be compelled to discontinue his hunt from the burden of fish and
+game. But, freed from that care and burden, he can continue his hunt
+indefinitely. So, the borrower, even when he pays no interest, as a
+lackey, without wages, cares for the earnings of the lender, leaving
+him free to continue his earning unhindered.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>A valet cares for the clothes of his master until he calls for them.
+The borrower, without interest, as a valet, without pay, cares for the
+goods of the lender until he needs them.</p>
+
+<p>The independent spirit of the borrower is not immediately lost. The
+servile spirit and conscious sense of bondage may not be felt at once.
+Likely the first sensation on receiving a loan is an elation bordering
+on ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>The poor man who is offered a loan is usually greatly delighted. There
+is hope of relief from the limitations and restraints that have been
+as a wall round about him. The loan seems to throw down these walls
+and give him an opportunity to secure greater results and achieve
+success. But the delight is transient and the sense of greater liberty
+is brief. The prison walls are down, but the debt holds him like a
+ball and chain. He has only exchanged one restraint for another worse;
+he has leaped from the pan into the fire. The spirit loses its
+hopefulness and independence and becomes servile and cringing.</p>
+
+<p>Milton represents our first parents, after their first sin, as
+intoxicated in delight, but the consciousness of their degradation and
+shame soon followed. So the first sensation from a loan is of relief
+and hope; the future looks bright, but the sense of subjection to the
+lender is sure to follow.</p>
+
+<p>He forfeits the free, independent, self-reliant spirit that scorns
+dependence upon any man. He only looks the whole world in the face,
+who owes no man a cent.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY ENSLAVES THE BORROWER.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Timon of Athens said, "No usurer, but has a fool for a slave."</p>
+
+<p>The borrower without usury loses his free and independent spirit and
+becomes cringing and servile, but when interest is paid it increases
+the severity of the servile service.</p>
+
+<p>The lackey must not only care for the game taken, but he must add to
+the bag from his own hunting. He not only cares for the fish his
+master caught but must add to the basket from his own catching. The
+valet must not only perfectly preserve the clothes of his master, but
+must add to his wardrobe.</p>
+
+<p>The borrower of the usurer must protect and preserve every farthing in
+value of the property or goods, and must also increase the amount.</p>
+
+<p>The estimate put upon the mental condition of the person who will
+submit to such an imposition, by "Timon of Athens," must be admitted
+as fairly just, for a heathen. From the almost universal practice of
+usury, and the vast numbers enslaved, we must also admit that Solomon,
+the wisest man that ever lived, knew what he was saying, when he slyly
+called us all fools in his proverb, "A wise man's heart is at his
+right hand but a fool's heart is at his left."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>The object of the usurer in making a loan is to secure the service of
+the borrower; it may be called a favor, an opportunity, an
+accommodation, but that is its purpose and its effect. It may be
+called capital or a tool for production, but the appropriation of the
+service of the borrower is the result sought and secured.</p>
+
+<p>To secure the service of a horse, there must be an outgo of wealth in
+its purchase price and in its harness and the vehicle. The service
+received is the return, the compensation for the payment made. That is
+money invested and repaid in service. The price was in accordance with
+the service the animal would be able to render. For more and better
+service a higher price must be paid.</p>
+
+<p>There must be an expenditure to secure the service of a chattel slave.
+The purchase price must be paid and the tools and material or
+plantation must be supplied before his services are available. The
+price paid is in accordance with a reasonable estimate of the service
+the slave will be able to render during life. The outlay is made in
+consideration of an equivalent in service.</p>
+
+<p>A loan is made for the same purpose and secures the same result. The
+price of the horse or slave must be paid before the service can be
+claimed. The loan must be made before there can be a pretext of a
+claim upon the services of the borrower.</p>
+
+<p>There is this difference, however, that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>purchaser pays for the
+services he expects to receive; he makes a real outlay for what is to
+be given him. The usurer pays nothing, he does not give a farthing; he
+makes no outlay; he merely changes the deposit from the bank vault, or
+his strong box, to his victim, and requires from him such an ample
+security that it is as safe in his hands as remaining in the vault.
+That he has bought the service of the borrower as another bought the
+service of the horse or chattel slave is untrue. He has given no
+equivalent. He retains every farthing of his wealth safely deposited
+with his victim. The service he receives does not diminish the value
+of his property nor discharge any portion of his claim.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer, like all those who appropriate the labors of their slaves,
+claims that he is a real benefit to his borrower. He has given him an
+opportunity of advancement that he could not otherwise have had. He
+points to him possibly with some degree of pride, especially if he
+seems greatly prospered. The owner of colored slaves pointed to his
+well-fed and well-clothed and happy people, merry in their cabins, and
+made a claim that was equally plausible; that these people are far
+better off and far happier than they could be in freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Their well-kept, happy, care-free condition did not make them freemen.
+They were slaves, though they may have been happy. They were slaves,
+though they preferred bondage to being their own masters. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>The
+usurer's prosperous victim is not therefore a freeman. Though he
+should prefer debt to independence, that does not make him free.</p>
+
+<p>No one prefers to be in debt. Debts are chosen as the least of the
+evils. The natural resources are occupied and the opportunities of
+life are denied. Lands and all tools of production are withheld and
+the horns of the dilemma are debt or privation. The independent spirit
+shrinks from debt until the struggle of life becomes desperate, when
+he turns to the other evil and is enslaved.</p>
+
+<p>This is not a temptation that comes to the idle and vicious. They
+could not secure a loan though they tried. An indolent, dissipated and
+vicious chattel slave would not find a purchaser in the market.</p>
+
+<p>It is the industrious, virtuous and economical young man that is of
+value to the usurer, and the better his character, the greater his
+worth. For this reason their virtues are cried up to the usurers, as
+the favorable qualities of the chattel were presented in the slave
+marts. To secure a loan is an evidence of confidence in his business
+ability, and an evidence of the appreciation of his character. It is a
+flattering compliment, and promising relief to a condition that seems
+hopeless, he permits the yoke of bondage to be fastened upon him.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer's slave is cheaper than the chattel. It requires less
+wealth to secure an equal amount of service. A loan of five thousand
+dollars at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>prevailing rate of seven per cent. will bring to the
+usurer more than one dollar, clear gain, for every working day. That
+is as much as any one man, not professional or specially skilled, can
+hope to produce with that amount of capital, after caring for himself
+and his home. The borrower secures the lender from all loss, he
+largely relieves him from oversight, he directs his own labors,
+supports himself wholly; if sick, he supplies a substitute that the
+service does not stop, and when from the infirmities of age he is no
+longer able to give the required amount of service, one dollar per
+day, he returns the loan in full, which may be bound upon another
+victim, and thus continued forever.</p>
+
+<p>In the days of chattel slavery labor was not so cheap. The price of a
+strong, faithful young colored slave, and the value of the tools for
+him to use, and the proportionate part of the plantation necessary for
+him to work, was about equal to the above loan. Then he must be
+clothed and fed; his work must be directed; if sick his labor was
+lost, and he must receive medical and other care; all risks of harvest
+from drouth or flood must be incurred by the owner, and the slave's
+term of service was limited by his death, when his purchase cost was
+lost, and there must be an outlay by a new purchase. One chattel slave
+could not bring his master such enormous returns.</p>
+
+<p>Not only does financial slavery exact more labor for the amount
+invested, but it is more heartless than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>chattel bondage. The master
+had a personal interest in the slave he bought. His health and
+strength was an object of his care and his death a great loss. There
+was also often a mutual affection developed, as is sometimes found
+between a man and his horse or affectionate dog. There was sometimes
+real unfeigned mutual love. The master had a tender care over his
+slaves in their sicknesses and in their decrepit age, and sorrowed at
+their graves. The slaves were inconsolable in their grief at the death
+of their master.</p>
+
+<p>The usurer has no personal interest in his slave. He has no care for
+his health or his life; they are of no interest to him. He may live in
+a distant state and has no anxiety about those who serve him. Their
+personal ills give him no concern. When they die, there is no loss nor
+any additional outlay required; the bonds are simply transferred to
+others, and the service is not interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>Many faithful, industrial and honest borrowers are unable to return
+the loan. It is as difficult to retain property as it is to earn it.
+New inventions, new processes, new methods, new legislation and the
+changing fashions and customs, often sweep property from the shrewd
+and careful. "Riches make themselves wings; they fly away." If for any
+cause the borrower fails there is scant sympathy from the usurer. He
+charges him with being deficient in business management and
+thriftless. If the yoke of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>bondage galls and becomes so painful that
+in his distress the debtor turns from the struggle in one direction to
+struggle in another in hope of relief, he calls him fickle; and if at
+last, after a long and hard service, he is unable to return the loan
+in full, he calls him dishonest. His ear is deaf to the voice, "Is not
+this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to
+undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free."</p>
+
+<p>There are those in debt yet struggling against hope to be free. They
+are slaving at work, but making no progress toward relief. The crisis
+must come. In the race with biting usury that knows no rest, night nor
+day, year in and year out, that knows no sickness nor delay, that
+keeps step with time, there is but one possible result. There can be
+but one final result, though the debtor may have a start far in
+advance, but if in the race it has become neck and neck, the end is
+near. Usury will sweep on with full wind, and unslacking pace, when
+the debtor falls exhausted. There is comfort, however, though the race
+be lost, for the distress of poverty is less than the agony of
+hopeless debt.</p>
+
+<p>The old and ruined, who have lived honorable and industrious lives,
+who have endeavored to do their part in all the relations of life, yet
+have been in the slavery of debt all their days, and when their powers
+began to fail were stripped of the earnings of years, and besides, are
+compelled to bear the name of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>dishonorable debtors, are the most
+worthy of sympathy of any the world knows. The decrepit old chattel
+slave had hope of a home until the end, and a decent burial, but the
+debtor has nothing, not even an honorable name.</p>
+
+<p>The young, who are yet free from personal debt, should be warned, and
+should not permit themselves to be beguiled by any of the allurements
+held out, nor by flatteries. As one prizes his independent spirit and
+freedom from the dictation of others, as he desires a successful life
+and a peaceful old age, he should avoid debt. As a Christian, who
+desires unrestrained Christian fellowship, whose benevolence will be
+from the kindness and love of his own heart, as one who wishes to
+bless all he meets, and to leave a name associated only with hallowed
+memories, he should avoid debt.</p>
+
+<p>"Owe no man anything, but love one another."</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Moses, Solomon and the prophets connect usury with the oppression of
+the poor. For this reason many have thought the divine prohibition of
+usury applied only to loans to the poor. By careful attention we will
+find that its evils are not confined to the immediate participants in
+the transaction. In the natural operation of economic laws the
+ultimate burden rests upon the poor. It is clear that when each member
+of a community contributes his portion to the common welfare the
+burdens are equally distributed. When any one fails to contribute his
+proportion the burdens are made heavier for the other members, and the
+burdens increase as the number increases of those who for any cause
+fail to contribute their part.</p>
+
+<p>This is true in the family home life. When every member of the
+household is able, and with cheerful willingness does his full part
+for the family support and comfort, the burden is equally distributed.
+Let one member of the family be in any way disabled and his duties
+must be performed by others. If several are disabled the burdens upon
+the others may be greatly increased. If any are indolent the burdens
+are made heavy upon those who are industrious.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>The same is true in the larger family, the community and the state,
+for political economy is but enlarged home economy. The burdens are
+lightest when every one contributes his full share to the general
+welfare. When any are idle the duties become heavier upon those who
+are faithful.</p>
+
+<p>Usury makes it possible for many to live upon incomes from their
+property. They are not classed, nor do they class themselves, among
+those who are personally productive. This makes it necessary for the
+poor, those who have no property, to produce more in order to house
+and clothe and feed the community.</p>
+
+<p>But those non-productive persons are consumers and are the most active
+consumers. They make heavy drafts upon the energies of others. They
+become extravagant in their habits and the spendthrifts of the world;
+while in proportion to their extravagant habits there must be severity
+and simplicity in the habits of the industrious and productive, on
+whom the support of the community rests.</p>
+
+<p>The world does not grow richer nor are the conditions of life for one
+class eased by the extravagance of another class.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes said that the idleness and the wasteful habits of some
+are for the benefit of others because they make a demand for more
+work. It would give the lumberman and nail-cutter and carpenter and
+glazier and plasterer and painter more work to call <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>back the fire
+department and let the house burn, but that is not the way to house
+the houseless. Extravagance is wasteful destruction of property.</p>
+
+<p>"It is insisted upon both moral and economic grounds that no public
+benefit of any kind arises from the existence of a rich idle class.
+Their incomes must be paid, though inconsistent with the public good.
+To illustrate, the London and Southwestern railroad contemplated a
+reduction of fares in cars of the third-class. It was defeated because
+it might reduce the dividends. The poor could not be relieved lest it
+should reduce the incomes of the idle."&mdash;Ruskin.</p>
+
+<p>That family is happy and prosperous in which every member contributes
+personally his portion to its support and comfort. That condition
+affords the highest measure of relief for all. It is unfortunate if
+there should be an idler in the home who, as a parasite, feeds on the
+industry of the others; it is a double misfortune if that idler proves
+a spendthrift to waste the thrifty gatherings of the diligent. The
+same economic principles make it necessary for the highest good of
+every individual in the community that each shall contribute his
+personal part. "If any will not work neither shall he eat." If any
+insist upon eating and yet will not work, it imposes an oppressive
+burden on others to compel them to supply his table.</p>
+
+<p>Again: The limiting of production is a hardness to the poor. Their
+welfare requires the largest possible product along every line of
+human needs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>Over-production is a term of the trade and means only
+that the supply has become so great that it cannot be sold at prices
+satisfactory to the trade. But as the prices fall the market broadens.
+Consumption increases with the increasing abundance, and that which it
+was not possible for certain classes to enjoy now comes within their
+reach and may become possible to even the poorest. There never can be
+an over-supply of fruits and vegetables and grains and meats and shoes
+and clothes and salt and oil and fuel and houses until the wants of
+the poorest are supplied. Their welfare requires that there shall be
+no restraining of the supply until they come out of their huts into
+houses; until they can shed their rags and dress in clothes both
+comfortable and attractive; until their tables are supplied with
+nutritious food; until they have the means of discovering and
+cultivating their &aelig;sthetic nature by shaking off the repellant
+conditions in which they are mostly compelled to live.</p>
+
+<p>The practice of usury restrains the supply by freeing so large a part
+of the people from the necessity of active productive effort by the
+incomes from their properties. Many born to wealth have never felt the
+necessity, and have never made an effort nor turned a thought along
+productive lines. The world has lost all that they might have added to
+the world's supply for human needs. Many, who have been successful in
+accumulation early in life, retire from active work while yet in full
+vigor, because they are relieved of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>the necessity by the income of
+usury or increase, and the most valuable portion of their lives is
+lost to the world.</p>
+
+<p>Production is further limited by the demand that it shall yield an
+increase on the property employed. The shop is shut down when the
+goods cannot be sold at such a price as to pay a satisfactory profit
+on the investment. The shop stands idle until the stock is depleted
+and the demand raises the price of the goods and then the shop is
+again opened. The workmen could go on with their work, supplying the
+world with their goods, bringing the price down until within the reach
+of the poorest, but it is the owner of the shop that holds the key and
+demands that the supply shall be so far restrained that the price
+shall yield a satisfactory increase on the property.</p>
+
+<p>Inventions and improved tools are a blessing to the poor when they
+make labor so productive that they can enjoy results of labor that
+could not be enjoyed by them before. They are not a blessing when used
+to gain an increase on wealth by employing less labor. Their proper
+use is to make labor more productive; their perverted use is to make
+property more profitable.</p>
+
+<p>There is a natural restraint by the law of supply and demand when all
+needs are so supplied that there is no longer a sufficient
+compensation to the producer; but it is a perverted and unrighteous
+restraint to place property between productive labor and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>human needs
+and demand a reward for it before these human needs shall be
+satisfied. There is an utter want of pity for the poor in permitting
+them to go unhoused, unfed and unclothed, unless there shall be a
+profit by increase in supplying their wants. True benevolence requires
+that labor shall be made so effective as to fill every human need, but
+pure selfishness uses property to supply the need for a gain. This
+restraint for an increase on property is oppression of the poor for a
+price.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXVI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR&mdash;Continued.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The influence of any act is not limited to the person acting. The
+righteous act of a righteous man blesses himself and his generation
+and generations yet unborn. So the influence of a wrong act is not
+limited to the wrong-doer, but extends to others and is harmful to
+those who had no voluntary part in the act. Though the wrong be a
+personal habit and the sinner be himself the greatest sufferer, yet it
+is impossible to avoid causing distress to others who are themselves
+innocent.</p>
+
+<p>Equity between those who participate in a wrong does not make a wrong
+act righteous. Thieves may be just among themselves, in the division
+of the spoils secured from others, but that does not make them upright
+men, nor does it make their business honest. If it were possible to
+preserve equity between the borrower and the lender upon usury, yet
+that would not justify the act nor remove the evil. The collection of
+their profits, which they divide equitably among themselves, imposes a
+burden upon others who have no part in the transaction. Their
+satisfactory agreement does not make the transaction less detrimental
+to the general good. It may the rather partake of the nature of a
+conspiracy against the public welfare.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>The promoter of an enterprise on borrowed capital is practically but
+the agent of the lender. He may be the director and manager but he so
+conducts his undertaking as to gather the usury from others. When the
+opportunities for profitable investments become rare, and money
+accumulates and is lying idle, such promoters with their schemes are
+encouraged in order to gain a profit on the investment, though others
+suffer by it.</p>
+
+<p>There lies upon this table a booklet, written in 1841, which charges
+and proves complicity between the bankers and brokers of New York at
+that time. The bankers loaned the brokers the money which they
+reloaned at very high rates. The banks refused accommodations to those
+in pressing need, compelling them to go to the brokers and to submit
+to their extortionate demands.</p>
+
+<p>Though there may be an equitable arrangement between the owner of
+property and his broker and between the broker and his promoter, yet
+in the last analysis it will be found that this equitable arrangement,
+in its ultimate result, is of the nature of a conspiracy to compel the
+innocent poor to pay the profits of both; their consent is not first
+secured nor do they gain a single advantage and they are helpless to
+resist.</p>
+
+<p>Though the transaction may have been between the rich, a rich lender
+and a rich borrower, yet the final result is that the interest is paid
+by the poor. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>Calvin's letter of apology he supposes a case of
+equity between a rich land owner who is in need of ready money and the
+man who has money to buy a farm, but instead lends to his rich
+landlord and takes a mortgage. In this case the tenants of the
+borrower must pay the interest and finally the principal also. This
+increases the hardness of their hard lot. Though Calvin seems to
+appreciate the severe conditions of the ordinary tenant in his day,
+yet he fails to recognize that the very illustration he gives would
+result in greater oppression.</p>
+
+<p>When one entrusts his money to a broker for investment he does not
+come in contact with those who earn the interest. It may pass through
+a number of agents and the source from which the interest is drawn is
+not regarded. When one entrusts his money to the "Security Co." in
+their great building, surrounded by all appearances of unlimited
+wealth, it is not realized that the interest returned is wrung from
+the poor. Money does not lie in the vaults. It is loaned to others who
+as agents do collect or gather from the poor. A loan is made to a
+milling company and the interest is gathered from all who buy their
+flour. A loan is made to a landlord and he collects the usury from his
+tenants. A loan is made to a street car company and increase is
+collected from the employes and from every rider. A loan is made to a
+merchant and he collects from his customers.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>It is easy to see who pay the interest when we make a common
+pawnbroker our agent and see in his dingy rooms the evident distress
+and needs of his callers. Many shrink from his oppressions who are
+deceived by the splendid surroundings of the "Security Co." But the
+interest is exacted from the same class as truly by one as by the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Usury oppresses the poor by raising the price of all that he consumes.
+Without being consulted and without the power of resistance he must
+pay tribute to property for the very necessities of life.</p>
+
+<p>He lives in a rented house. The owner has placed a mortgage on this
+house and the tenant must pay the interest and more in his rental or
+be ejected. The bread he must have is from wheat raised on mortgaged
+land and the interest must be met in the price of wheat. The mill is
+mortgaged in which it is ground and the interest must be paid in the
+increased price of flour. The railroad is bonded and the interest on
+the bonds must be paid in the price of its transportation, and the
+merchant has a loan to enable him to do business and the interest on
+this loan must be met in the increase of the profits on flour and all
+other goods he handles. By usury a tribute is levied on his bread from
+the wheat in the field until it reaches his tables.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way he pays interest in the price of his meat, which is
+raised on a mortgaged farm, transported over a bonded railroad,
+dressed in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>mortgaged abattoir and sold by a dealer doing business
+on borrowed capital.</p>
+
+<p>The same is true of his clothes; a first tribute must be paid to
+property by the raw cotton or wool, then the transportation and the
+factory and the merchant, in addition to the compensation for their
+services, must meet also the interest upon their loans, and the whole
+is summed up in the price the poor man must pay. He has no option in
+the matter; he has no alternative, no method by which he can escape.
+The same is true with regard to his fuel and his light.</p>
+
+<p>The same is true with regard to car fares. In every ride he pays an
+enormous tribute to invested wealth. The writer made a careful
+estimate of the accounts of a car line in a small city where the
+number of riders bore small comparison with the crowded cars of any
+metropolis. When the cost of maintenance of the plant, including the
+wear and tear and all repairs, and the cost of operation, covering all
+current expenses, including taxes, were compared with the receipts
+from the patrons of the road, it was found that less than two cents
+per passenger was necessary to pay these charges and that three cents
+had gone to pay the interest on the enormous bonded indebtedness and
+dividends on the inflated stock.</p>
+
+<p>The wage-earner, the pensioner and every person living upon an annuity
+or fixed income from any source, must thus pay usury or interest on
+obligations they never incurred. A large portion of their living <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>is
+thus taken from them, and under a system of general usury they have no
+way of avoiding it. They must pay an enormous tribute to property in
+providing the common necessaries of life.</p>
+
+<p>Usury lowers the poor man's wages. The owners of property forbid its
+use until such a concession is made by the laborer as they may demand
+for the material and tools of production. Those who will use them and
+give the owner the highest return for their use secure the work,
+<i>i.e.</i>, those who will bid the labor the lowest, who will use the
+tools and work up the material the cheapest.</p>
+
+<p>The demand of capital has come to absorb a large portion of the
+produce of labor. In 1890 the wage-earners created a value of
+$3,579,168,172 and received out of it wages amounting to
+$1,981,228,321, leaving in the hands of the employers $1,687,939,851.
+Labor thus received a little less than 53 per cent. of its product. In
+1900 the wage-earners created a value of $4,640,784,931 and received
+out of it wages amounting to $2,323,407,257, leaving in the hands of
+employers $2,317,377,674. The employers and employes divided labor's
+product so evenly that the difference does not amount to one-eighth of
+one per cent.</p>
+
+<p>The decade 1890 to 1900 has been of unprecedented prosperity to
+capital, but the advantages to labor have not appeared. When the
+number of laborers at the beginning and the close of the decade are
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>considered the annual income of the wage-earner at the close of the
+decade is actually $7 per year less than ten years ago.</p>
+
+<p>The tribute to property must first be gained, the wages are secondary.
+If the tribute is not paid the enterprise is regarded as not
+successful and the industry closes.</p>
+
+<p>There is no protection for the laborer except the selfishness of
+capitalists themselves in competition to secure the services of labor.
+But the selfish strife has rather resulted in the combination of their
+capital to dispense with labor or to cause the same labor to produce
+more by the employment of more capital. The effect is to give
+employment to capital rather than to labor. If labor can be dispensed
+with by borrowing more capital, then a loan is secured and the laborer
+is dismissed. Thus capital is made to crowd out the laborer and gains
+for itself his reward. This diminishes the call for labor and
+increases the number of the unemployed and they become competitors for
+the privilege of working. The opportunities for labor becoming fewer,
+the strife for work becomes fiercer. The laborer is helpless to
+resist, as his wants do not stop; his family must be fed and clothed
+and housed. The struggle is unequal between "flesh and blood" and a
+material thing that, by a false economy, is given not only the power
+of self-support but also continuous increase. For this reason
+combinations of laborers never have been and never can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>be successful
+in a conflict with capital. So long as the false principle is
+admitted, all efforts must fail. So long as it is granted that
+property has earning power, the effort will be made by the owners of
+property, and always successfully made, to have property receive the
+larger portion of the reward. The true order will be reversed; the
+laborer will be given a mere subsistence while the increase will be
+claimed for the capital; the very opposite of the true order, the mere
+preservation or subsistence of the capital, while all the increase
+belongs to the laborers.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXVII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR&mdash;Continued.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Usury makes it possible to impose on the poor the principal burden of
+taxation. Though taxes are levied upon property it is a delusion to
+think that those who own no property pay no taxes. By usury the taxes
+are easily slipped upon the poor.</p>
+
+<p>If the tax levy is one per cent. on property then in a year the one
+hundred dollars has been decreased by one dollar and is but
+ninety-nine, unless that dollar has been supplied from other earnings
+of the owner. Thus vacant lots, jewels and hoarded stores are a burden
+to their owner. But when the property can add to itself an increase,
+then there need be no diminution of the amount, and no sacrifice is
+necessary on the part of the owner. If the wealth is placed in the
+form of a loan on mortgage on a house, the tenant in his rental pays
+the interest on that mortgage, which meets the tax and also yields a
+revenue to the owner, and leaves the wealth undiminished. The tenant
+earned the tax, and both property and owner are relieved. The mortgage
+may be upon a manufacturing plant, when the operatives pay the tax
+from their earnings.</p>
+
+<p>The bonded debt of a city or state, in the ultimate result, is
+collected from the productive labor. To <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>pay the interest and
+principal of the bonded debt of a city the tax levy is increased, and
+a greater proportionate amount of labor is appropriated. Laboring
+people without property are often amazed at the indifference of
+property holders when a great bonded debt is incurred, as both
+interest and principal are to be paid by a tax upon property. Those
+who make the loan to the city, and all who hold mortgages and dividend
+paying properties, are complacent because the taxes of a hundred years
+would never diminish their property a dollar, though the tax levy
+should be doubled. It would raise the interest on money, diminish the
+price of labor and raise the price of goods, but those who profit by
+the gain of usury are untouched by it.</p>
+
+<p>Recently complaints were made by the tenants of one of the poor
+districts of London because their rentals had been greatly increased.
+The reply of the landlord was direct and clear: "You have voted for
+public improvements and now you must pay for them."</p>
+
+<p>The same is true of the interest and principal of the national debt.
+The revenue is raised from a levy upon importations, as, for example,
+tea, the tax on which is ten cents per pound. The tax is collected
+from the importer and by him attached to the price for which it is
+sold to the wholesale dealer and by him attached to the price he
+charges the retail dealer and by him the amount is collected from the
+consumer. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>Sufficient notice is usually given that the importer and
+the dealers may dispose of all their goods before the tariff is
+removed. A public announcement of such a purpose was recently made in
+reference to the tax upon tea.</p>
+
+<p>The tax collected from the consumer is far heavier than the mere levy
+of the government. The importer demands a profit on the amount of
+revenue tax he has paid as well as on the amount he pays for the
+goods. This results in greatly increasing the burdens of the poor. The
+revenue tax recently imposed by Great Britain of three pence per cwt.
+on wheat and five pence per cwt. on flour resulted immediately in the
+addition of one penny to the price of the four-pound loaf to the
+consumers.</p>
+
+<p>Again: This attributing to property the quality of self-perpetuation
+and increase has led to its incorporation and in a manner separation
+from those who own it. Property must always have an owner.</p>
+
+<p>Personality must always come in else there are no rights to be
+considered. Labor apart from a person laboring and property apart from
+a person owning are impersonal and no ethical or moral laws can be
+applied to them. They are only physical forces and material things.
+The wind may push against a tree and overcome its resistance and the
+tree falls. That is merely an abstract force against a material thing.
+But when my energy is exerted against your tree and destroys it, then
+personal responsibility and personal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>rights must be considered. A
+righteous adjustment between labor and capital can never be arrived at
+without the consideration of the personal elements on both sides. The
+moral and ethical laws must be applied as well as the physical and
+economic.</p>
+
+<p>Incorporated property, however, has eliminated from it the ethical and
+moral responsibility of personality and is regarded as possessed only
+of economic and physical qualities and restrained only by legal
+statutes.</p>
+
+<p>Incorporated properties are not generally managed by those who own
+them. The managers are employed by the owners, who are ready to pay
+large compensation to those who have the tact and brain and nerve
+power and peculiar quality of conscience to gain for them a
+satisfactory increase. It is their work to press this irresponsible
+material body up against "flesh and blood."</p>
+
+<p>The incorporation employs the laborer when his labor earns a
+satisfactory dividend on the capital, and lays him off or discharges
+him whenever it seems most to the advantage of the investment. A plant
+is built and operated for a time and then the plant is closed, or the
+location is changed without the slightest regard to the sacrifices of
+the poor laborers who have gathered around and are left stranded.</p>
+
+<p>Laborers everywhere throughout Christendom need and beg for a Sabbath
+of rest, but neither <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>physical needs nor conscientious scruples are
+regarded when a greater dividend can be gained in seven days than in
+six.</p>
+
+<p>On the part of the workman, resistance is useless. He can do nothing
+but yield to the economic and physical force managed by those in whom
+human sympathy and pity for the suffering and helpless are not
+permitted. The dividend must be gained though it be necessary to grind
+the poor.</p>
+
+<p>The owner of this steel plant is in a distant city. All employes, from
+the manager down to the porter, must so serve that he shall receive
+the dividend. This mercantile house is owned by a woman on a pleasure
+trip round the world. All who are connected with this business must so
+serve and sacrifice that she shall receive her income regularly. This
+railroad is owned by those who have gone a-yachting in southern seas.
+It must be so managed that the revenues shall not fail whatever the
+sacrifice required of others.</p>
+
+<p>The writer once heard an American statesman, who afterward became
+President of the United States, deliver an elaborate and carefully
+prepared oration on a great occasion, in which he discussed the
+growing power and controlling influence in state and national affairs
+of incorporations. He did not formulate a remedy but said, "The
+problem to be solved by the next generation is, how shall the people
+be protected against the encroachments of incorporated wealth?" It
+need scarcely be said that there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>was no discussion of that question
+during the campaign which closed with his election to the presidency.</p>
+
+<p>Usury is both the basis of the incorporation and the instrument of its
+oppression. Incorporated wealth must not be permitted to claim
+personal rights and yet escape personal responsibility. It must be
+held to the same ethical and moral laws as the individual. Personal
+responsibility must not be eliminated from property. It must not be
+divested of personal responsibility and then pressed as a mere
+material thing up against "flesh and blood."</p>
+
+<p>No instrument of oppression ever surpassed in severity the usury of
+incorporated wealth and retained the pretense of respectability. It is
+sucking the blood of the poor every hour, yet they cherish and pet the
+vampire, not realizing that it is their blood upon which it feeds.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXVIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR&mdash;Concluded.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Usury increases its burdens in proportion to the poverty. It is the
+most oppressive upon the poorest. Property in any measure is a relief.
+However small the amount may be, to that degree it assists in bearing
+the burden. Those who have a home are relieved of the burden of usury
+by rent. Those who own their shops or farms on which they can employ
+their labor are relieved of the usury of tools and material. From the
+conditions now prevailing the burden of usury rests on all those, the
+half of whose income is the product of their own labor. The one who
+receives one-half his income from the interest on property and
+one-half from his own labor has no advantage from usury. The income of
+his labor would bring him as many of the comforts of life as his labor
+now does, plus the income from his property. There is no advantage
+until a greater part of the income is derived from property. A small
+savings account, adding a few dollars annually to the income, is a
+very small offset to the constant drain from usury in all that we buy
+and upon all our earnings. The full burden however is upon those who
+have nothing but their own productive energy; who receive only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>wages
+and must buy in the market. As the relief afforded by property
+decreases, the oppressive burden of usury in present conditions
+increases.</p>
+
+<p>It is a fair estimate that usury is oppressive until relieved by the
+income from property to the amount of one-half of the entire income
+received. When less, the oppression begins and leans its full weight
+and without pity upon the poorest and most helpless.</p>
+
+<p>He that has no property is dependent upon others for employment and in
+his wages must give a part of his product as tribute to the capital he
+uses. This, in the case of the average wage earner in this country, is
+not less than one-third, that is, he who earns one dollar and a half
+will receive as wages one dollar, the other half dollar is retained by
+the employer as due for the capital invested. Then having no home he
+must pay tribute to property in shelter for himself and family. The
+rent will be higher in proportion to the poverty of the apartments.
+The poorest tenement returns the highest rate of interest to the
+landlord.</p>
+
+<p>His decreased wages do not make the necessities of life
+proportionately cheap to him. He pays usury in the price of the fuel
+which he burns, of the oil, gas or electric light in his home. In the
+price of vegetables, bread and clothes and shoes. There is an
+increased outgo at every turn which he cannot avoid. He is helpless to
+resist.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>He can but struggle staggering along while work is given and his
+health and strength remain. When these fail he falls and must become
+entangled in debt, from which there is no hope of being able to
+extricate himself.</p>
+
+<p>The state recognizes the hopelessness of the poor man who is in debt
+and has provided a relief by bankruptcy, by which he may again arise
+and struggle on. This discharge in bankruptcy is an act of mercy but
+the relief from the oppressions of usury would be an act of justice.
+Grinding the helpless poor between low wages and high prices and then
+relieving them by the act of bankruptcy is only pulling them out of
+the mill to throw them into the hopper again, for the wage earner who
+has no protection from any property is between these upper and nether
+mill stones.</p>
+
+<p>Those who defend the fraud of usury always take to cover behind the
+widow and the fatherless. They plausibly pretend to be zealous for
+their protection while endeavoring to hide their own greed. Their
+pleas are often touchingly pathetic. "A thrifty loving father was
+taken away by death from a dear wife and sweet little ones. They had
+always leaned on his strong arms. He was their joy, their protector
+and their support. This widow and her fatherless children are left
+with nothing to support them except the saved hard earnings of this
+husband's life. As these earnings are their only support they are
+deposited with care with the 'Security Co.' for safety and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>that the
+regular interest dues may be received without fail. If there should be
+one failure they would suffer. The 'Security Co.' loan their deposits
+as opportunity offers. They take some local mortgages and also some
+mortgages on western lands. They buy some bonds of a milling trust and
+also of a railroad and street car line and some national bonds and
+loan on personal security to local merchants and traders. From all
+these sources the interest is regularly collected and regularly paid
+to this widowed mother, without which she and her little fatherless
+dear ones must suffer. 'Certainly,' they say 'usury is not oppressive
+to the widow and the fatherless. Usury comes to the help of the
+helpless.'"</p>
+
+<p>Another faithful industrious father was taken away from his wife and
+his little ones. He had been their stay and support. He was sober and
+thrifty but sickness and untoward conditions made accumulations
+impossible. When he, the head of the home, was taken away there was
+nothing for the support of these helpless little ones and their
+widowed mother but her own arms and head and heart. There was no time
+for sentiment and tears. These little ones must be sheltered and their
+hungry mouths must be fed. Restraining her grief, she bravely
+undertakes the heavy task.</p>
+
+<p>She rents a room but the rental is high, for the interest must be paid
+on a mortgage held by the Security Co. She finally finds a shop where
+she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>secures employment but the wages are low, for the shop is heavily
+mortgaged to the Security Co. and the interest must be paid or the
+shop will be closed and even this opportunity for scant wages will be
+lost. The distance requires that she shall ride to her work but the
+round trip costs two nickels and one of them goes to the Security Co.
+for interest on their bonds and stock. She buys a loaf of bread but
+the wheat was raised on a western farm mortgaged to the Security Co.
+and the interest was charged up against the wheat. The wheat was
+floured in a trust mill and the interest on the Security Co. bonds
+were charged up against the flour. It was transported by a railroad
+that charged up against it the interest on the bonds held by the
+Security Co. It was baked in a mortgaged oven and handled by a local
+dealer doing business on capital he had borrowed of the Security Co.
+How much of her bread money went for interests is an intricate
+problem. She only notices that her loaf is small.</p>
+
+<p>The same oppressive tribute must be paid on all that she buys to feed
+and clothe herself and her little ones.</p>
+
+<p>The first widow does not live upon the earnings of her husband. They
+are untouched at the end of a year nor diminished as the years pass.
+By the operation of usury she has lived upon the hard earnings of this
+poor widow. The laborers on the western farms contributed to her
+support in decreases of wages; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>the operatives of the railways, the
+workmen in the mill, the baker and merchant all contribute a portion,
+but it cannot be denied that the heaviest burden comes upon the
+poorest. The rich widow has fed her children with the bread which the
+poor widow earned.</p>
+
+<p>The flaunting sympathy for the poor of those who themselves feed upon
+them, is rank hypocracy. Nor can those who have grown fat by the
+practice of usury, condone the crime by tossing back to them a portion
+of the unjust gain.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his
+soul?... Is not this the fast that I have chosen?... To undo the heavy
+burdens and to let the oppressed go free?... Is it not to deal thy
+bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to
+thy house?"</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY CENTRALIZES WEALTH.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The dictum of Bacon that "Usury gathers the wealth of the realm into
+few hands" is readily proven and fully verified in the experience of
+these times. The tendency to centralization under a system of usury or
+interest-taking is so strong, and the modern result so apparent that
+the statement only is necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Usury not only enslaves the borrower and oppresses the poor who are
+innocent of all debt, but it also affects the rich by gathering the
+wealth of the wealthy into fewer and fewer hands. There is a
+centralizing draft that threatens and then finally absorbs the smaller
+fortunes into one colossal financial power. It is as futile to resist
+this as to resist fate. Wealth cannot be so fortified and guarded as
+to successfully resist the attack of superior wealth when the practice
+of usury is permitted. The smaller and weaker fortune, using the same
+weapon as the larger and stronger, must inevitably be defeated and
+overcome, and ultimately absorbed.</p>
+
+<p>Rates of interest do not affect the ultimate result. Under a high rate
+the gathering is rapid, under a low rate the accretions are slower,
+but the gathering into few hands is none the less sure. Rates of
+interest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>only place the convergent center at a nearer or more remote
+period.</p>
+
+<p>If any interest is right, compound interest is right. When simple
+interest is due and paid, it may be loaned to another party, and thus
+the usurer secures interest upon his interest, though not from the
+same debtor. When the interest is to be paid annually, it is to be
+assumed, if not paid, that the debtor takes it as a loan in addition
+to the face of the note of his obligation. This saves the care of
+receiving and re-loaning to another. The custom of usurers, however,
+is to renew the note, adding the interest to the face, if unpaid. The
+mass of bank paper is renewed each ninety days: Compounded four times
+a year, whether to the same or to another debtor, the result in
+accretion is the same.</p>
+
+<p>Few realize the rapidity at which a loan increases, accelerating in
+geometrical progression as time passes. Any loan will double itself at
+three per cent. in twenty-three and a half years; at seven per cent.
+in ten and a fourth years, and at ten per cent. in seven and a third
+years. One dollar loaned for one hundred years, at three per cent.,
+would amount to nineteen dollars; at seven per cent. one thousand
+dollars, and at ten per cent. thirteen thousand.</p>
+
+<p>The island upon which New York stands was bought from the Indians for
+the value of twenty-four dollars by Peter Minuits in 1626. Yet, if the
+purchaser had put his twenty-four dollars at interest, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>where he could
+have added it to the principal at the rate of seven per cent., the
+accumulation would now exceed the total value of the entire city and
+county of New York.</p>
+
+<p>M. Jennet quotes the elaborate calculation of an ingenious author to
+show that 100 francs ($20) accumulating at five per cent. compound
+interest for seven centuries, would be sufficient to buy the whole
+surface of the globe, both land and water, at the rate of 1,000,000
+francs ($200,000) per hectare (nearly four square miles). From this we
+can gather that $20 at five per cent. compound interest for 700 years,
+would buy all the earth, mountains, and swamp lands, and water, at $80
+per acre.</p>
+
+<p>Another mathematical genius says, had one cent been loaned on the
+first day of January A.D. 1, interest being allowed at the rate of six
+per cent. compounded yearly, then 1895 years later&mdash;that is on January
+1, 1895&mdash;the amount due would be $8,497,840,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (8,497,840,000 decillions). If it were
+desired to pay this in gold, 23.2 grains to the dollar, then taking
+spheres of pure gold the size of the earth, it would take
+610,070,000,000,000,000 to pay for that cent. Placing these spheres in
+a straight row, their combined length would be
+4,826,870,000,000,000,000 miles, a distance which it would take light
+(going at the rate of 186,330 miles per second) 820,890,000 years to
+travel.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>The planets and stars of the entire solar and stellar universe, as
+seen by the great Lick telescope, if they were all in solid gold,
+would not nearly pay the amount. A single sphere to pay the whole
+amount, if placed with its centre at the sun, would have its surface
+extending 563,580,000 miles beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune,
+the farthest in our system.</p>
+
+<p>It may be added that if the earth had contained a population of ten
+billions, each one making a million dollars a second, then to pay for
+that cent it would have required their combined earnings for
+26,938,500,000,000,000,000,000 years.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone can figure on this and see if it be correct.</p>
+
+<p>Had Peter only thought to put one cent at interest, there would be no
+call now for Peter's pence.</p>
+
+<p>With any accretion allowed, the concentration of wealth is
+irresistible. However small the amount of capital, if permitted to
+grow at any rate of increase it will ultimately absorb everything. Any
+finite quantity permitted any finite rate of increase, will, in finite
+time, gather all that is less than infinite.</p>
+
+<p>The only difficulty in this accretion is to secure debtors that will
+not die. We inherit the property of our fathers, but fortunately we do
+not inherit their personal debts. This difficulty is being overcome by
+bonds of corporations and nations that live on, though the individuals
+composing them may, age after age, pass away. This makes the increase
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>perpetual. Generations may come and go, but the concentration of
+wealth goes uninterruptedly on.</p>
+
+<p>This is not visionary theory, but is shown in the practical results
+everywhere apparent.</p>
+
+<p>The usurers of England, a little over two hundred years ago, secured a
+charter for a bank on the condition that they loan the crown or
+government 1,200,000 pounds sterling, about six million dollars.</p>
+
+<p>This was a perpetual loan, never to be repaid, but annual interest at
+eight per cent. was to be paid by the government forever. This
+constant annual interest paid to this bank has made it such a
+financial power that it reaches and draws to itself of the resources
+of all lands. The aggregated wealth of the institution, if the
+accretions were continuous, would now be $25,165,824,000,000. The
+wealth of the United Kingdom is estimated at fifty billions, and all
+Europe two hundred billions, the United States seventy billions, and
+the whole world's wealth at five hundred billions.</p>
+
+<p>Were the accretions of the bank at eight per cent. undisturbed and
+unconsumed, it would now take fifty worlds as rich as ours to pay that
+debt. It is sometimes wondered how there can be such an accumulation
+of wealth in one institution as to control the finances of the world.</p>
+
+<p>It is often attributed to superior wisdom or some profound, occult
+manipulation. It is but the natural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>operation of the principle of
+interest&mdash;accretion from age to age.</p>
+
+<p>The managers may be stupid dolts, only so they do not interfere with
+the usurious principle in its eternal pull on the resources of
+mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The interest bearing debt of the United States, at this date, is about
+one thousand millions. This in one hundred years at six per cent.
+would amount to $340,000,000,000; five times the whole present wealth
+of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>The smallest national bank organized, by the deposit of $25,000 of
+bonds yielding two per cent. interest, and permitted to re-loan the
+same funds to its private customers at eight per cent., could gather
+to itself in one hundred years, $345,225,000.</p>
+
+<p>The wealth of an individual or of a family may also grow with the
+years as they pass. The property may be in public bonds or that of
+incorporations, requiring no care or effort on their part, yet it may
+be continually increasing. A usurer in any community in one life comes
+to absorb the wealth of that community, though the amount loaned at
+the beginning was small.</p>
+
+<p>The accretions are the irresistible result of the principle of usury.</p>
+
+<p>The wealth is more and more centralized as the years pass. Great trees
+in the forest shadow the smaller, and rob them of the sunshine and
+moisture until they perish. Great fish in the crowded pond <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>feed upon
+the smaller. Individual manufacturers are absorbed by the great
+combinations called trusts. The stockholders of a railroad are
+absorbed by those who have large and controlling interest. But the
+railroad is itself absorbed by another yet greater corporation, and
+this again by a great combine that eliminates the influence of all but
+the chief control, and tends to a complete centralization of all the
+systems.</p>
+
+<p>There is no escaping from this centralizing draft upon all resources,
+when the system of interest-taking is as general as now. Freedom from
+personal debt does not deliver us. The farmer, the most independent of
+men, in his own home, free from personal debt, yet must contribute to
+this centralizing by paying interest on bonds in every shipment of
+produce, and every mile of railroad travel. He pays tribute also in
+all the tools that he buys, in the food that he eats and the clothes
+that he wears.</p>
+
+<p>This centralizing draft is constant, though not always equally
+apparent. Certain favorable conditions may hold in check, for a time,
+the adverse influence and cause a temporary distribution of wealth to
+the producers. Its force is not, however, destroyed, but only
+restrained for a time, and then draws with accumulated power.</p>
+
+<p>Times of industrial depression and commercial disasters are occurring
+over and over again. Some economists attribute them to the peculiar
+industrial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>and monetary conditions of the periods in which they
+occur; but they have seldom agreed as to the causes of any particular
+panic. They are so regular in their recurrence that some economists
+have thought they must be produced by some constant cause; like the
+moon causing the tides of the ocean. Both are true. There is a general
+and there is also a secondary or superficial cause.</p>
+
+<p>The times of greatest commercial disasters in this country were in the
+years 1809, 1818, 1837, 1873, 1893.</p>
+
+<p>The political economists can assign as reasons some peculiar
+conditions prevailing in each of these periods, but the wisest have
+never gone deep enough to discover the general cause; this constant
+centralizing draft of usury.</p>
+
+<p>In these periods of commercial disaster there is no destruction of
+property. There is only a general shake up and redistribution. All the
+wealth of the country remains, but after the disaster wealth is always
+found to be in fewer hands. Some have become rich, many who were
+thought to be wealthy are ruined, and the number of the poor has been
+multiplied.</p>
+
+<p>A patient may be afflicted with some deep-seated, chronic disease that
+makes him very easily affected by a change of the weather, by a change
+of his diet or of his bed, and these may be assigned as the causes of
+his frequent relapses, and they are the immediate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>or secondary
+causes, but the real cause is the deep-seated, chronic disease. Cure
+that disease and the changes in conditions, now so serious, would not
+be noticed by the healthy man.</p>
+
+<p>The real and constant cause of our recurring financial disasters is
+this centralizing usury that directly opposes the distribution of
+wealth that is natural, when the producers of wealth are permitted to
+receive and enjoy it. Root out this evil, and then the trifling
+differences in our harvests, changes in our tariff laws, currency
+legislation, and the score of other things that now affect us, would
+be unfelt by the healthy body politic.</p>
+
+<p>If this centralizing power is destroyed then the natural distribution
+would be undisturbed, and these, so-called, panics would be unknown.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>MAMMON DOMINATES THE NATIONS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The debt habit has been diligently cultivated and encouraged, until
+the nations are enslaved. Public bonds imply bondsmen, and the nations
+are no longer free. There is a mortgage upon the inventive genius,
+industry and productive energy of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Usurers greatly prefer an organized government as a debtor. The
+individual may die, but a nation's debts bind from age to age, are
+bequeathed by the fathers to the children, and thus descend from
+generation to generation. The bonds of no corporation, however great
+and rich, can be so secure. They embrace special industries, while
+national debts are a claim upon every industry and a mortgage upon
+every foot of soil, and every dollar of present personal property, and
+of all that may be produced in the whole realm.</p>
+
+<p>If we express the world's indebtedness, the national debts, in the
+terms of our currency, as nearly as we can reduce the currency of
+other nations to such an expression, we find the national debts as
+follows, in 1890:</p>
+
+<div style="margin-left: 10%;">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="65%" summary="national debts">
+  <tr>
+  <td width="75%" class="tdl">Denmark</td>
+  <td width="25%" class="tdr">$&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;33,004,722</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Great Britain</td>
+  <td class="tdr">3,848,460,000</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">United States</td>
+  <td class="tdr">915,962,112</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Germany</td>
+  <td class="tdr">1,956,217,017</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>Austria-Hungary</td>
+  <td class="tdr">$2,666,339,539</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">France</td>
+  <td class="tdr">4,446,793,398</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Russia</td>
+  <td class="tdr">3,491,016,074</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Italy</td>
+  <td class="tdr">2,324,826,329</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Spain</td>
+  <td class="tdr">1,251,433,096</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Netherlands</td>
+  <td class="tdr">430,539,653</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Belgium</td>
+  <td class="tdr">360,504,099</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Sweden</td>
+  <td class="tdr">64,220,807</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Norway</td>
+  <td class="tdr">13,973,752</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Portugal</td>
+  <td class="tdr">490,493,599</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Greece</td>
+  <td class="tdr">107,306,518</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Turkey</td>
+  <td class="tdr">821,000,000</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Switzerland</td>
+  <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: 1px black solid;">10,912,925</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" style="padding-left: 1em;">These debts aggregate</td>
+  <td class="tdr" style="border-top: 1px black solid;">$22,955,386,008</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<p>Hundreds of millions have been added to these national debts in the
+last ten years. Nearly every nation has increased its indebtedness,
+possibly no nation has decreased it, and others, like China, with its
+recent great loan, and little Korea, with its twelve millions, must be
+added to the list. The debts of the nations of Europe have been
+increased until they now amount in the aggregate to twenty-three
+billions. The debts of the nations of all the world have increased
+one-half since 1890, and now aggregate thirty-three billions.</p>
+
+<p>These great national debts are practically perpetual, and though they
+may be at so low a rate of interest as three per cent., they absorb
+the energies of the people, and, like a glacier grinding over the
+earth, crush all beneath them.</p>
+
+<p>Public debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the burden
+of present duty. Debts place the whole burden on producers of the
+future. They <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>relieve those who hold the wealth now, but are a draft
+upon those who make the wealth that is to be.</p>
+
+<p>An individual incurring debt places a mortgage upon his productions;
+by a pledge of future production he relieves himself of the strain of
+the present.</p>
+
+<p>A family incurs debt; a part of the members of the house are strong
+and capable of productive labor, and a part are not; the whole burden
+of the payment comes upon the productive members of the home. The weak
+and helpless and the indolent, though strong, bear no part of the
+burden. This family has a home, and a mortgage is placed upon it to
+secure the present needs. The burden of paying the interest on this
+mortgage, and the final payment of the principal, is wholly on the
+capable and industrious members of the family.</p>
+
+<p>National debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the
+burden of present government calls and obligations, and to roll it
+upon those who shall produce wealth in the future. So the debt of a
+city, state, or nation is a present relief to property holders, by
+placing the producers under future obligations.</p>
+
+<p>A street in a city is to be paved; no additional tax is levied; but
+bonds are issued running twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>This relieves the present wealth of the burden, placing it upon those
+who shall produce the wealth that shall be in twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>The expenses of a great war must be met. Present taxes may be slightly
+increased, but to meet the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>burden consols or public bonds are issued
+to be paid at a distant date. This relieves the present wealth, but
+binds it upon those who shall be the producers of wealth in the
+generations to come. Hume says, "The practice of contracting debts
+will almost invariably be abused by every government. It would
+scarcely be more imprudent to give a prodigal son a credit with every
+banker, than to empower statesmen to draw bills in this manner on
+posterity."</p>
+
+<p>These public bonds are the golden opportunity of the usurers. Not only
+is their wealth relieved of all burden, but it affords an opportunity
+of profitable investment with the best possible debtor. They can pose
+as enterprising citizens, and urge great public improvements, and at
+the same time gain a most sure and profitable investment. They can
+pose as patriots in time of war, and urge that it be pressed with
+energy at whatever cost of treasure and blood. It is not their blood
+that is shed, nor their wealth that is wasted. It gives them the
+opportunity of binding their burdens on the nation for the producers
+of the coming generations to carry.</p>
+
+<p>Usurers never wish public debts paid. They wish them issued for as
+long time as possible, and then reissued, or the time extended before
+they are due. This is done by the figment called refunding, as if it
+were a concession and favor to a poor debtor. It is but a device to
+keep the burden on the public back. It is not a financial feat and
+triumph for the chancellor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>of the exchequer to refund a public debt.
+He but yields himself as a tool to the usurers to continue their
+loans. They resist the payment when due, but when an officer is found
+willing to extend them before they are due all trouble is avoided and
+the accretions of interest are not interrupted for a day.</p>
+
+<p>Those who hold the bonds of a nation direct its destinies. The nation
+borrowing is servant to the lender, just as an individual. The nation
+compromises its freedom and becomes the slave of its bond-holders. The
+usurers use their power for the advancement of their own material
+interests, and hold all other purposes of government as inferior to
+their own ends. This subordination of a people, to the creditors, is
+fatal to republican and constitutional governments; the form may be
+preserved for a time, but the substance of free government has
+departed.</p>
+
+<p>The concentration of wealth carries with it the concentration of
+power, and is inimical to republican institutions. A proper
+distribution of wealth and power must be preserved or popular
+government is put in jeopardy.</p>
+
+<p>The first bank of deposit and discount was the Bank of Venice, in the
+republic of Venetia. It continued its existence for six hundred years,
+until the government that gave it life itself perished. From its long
+continuous business, and its success as a bank, it has been spoken of
+in every work on banking as a model. It began its association with the
+republic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>in 1171, and dominated it, sapping its life, and assuming
+its functions, until the bank practically ruled the state, and when
+one fell both perished in 1797. The usurers received their hold on the
+state in a time of the greatest need. The republic had been
+impoverished by the crusades, and was in dire financial straits.
+Advantage was taken of this by the usurers to so bind the bank and
+state together that when one lived the other must, or both must die
+together. Stock in the bank was a loan to the state at four per cent.
+annual interest. The union seemed to promise great prosperity for a
+time, but really absorbed all the republic's vitality during the last
+hundred years of their life.</p>
+
+<p>Venetia was at the first a pure democracy. The Doge was elected by the
+people and administered the government, himself being the responsible
+head. He, later, chose advisers, or a cabinet, to be associated in the
+responsible duties. After this, and about the time of the association
+with the bank, a representative council was elected by the people, and
+the government was administered by the Doge and this council. This was
+gradually transformed from a government of the people to an oligarchy;
+and as the years passed there were no steps taken toward a return, but
+the authority and power was more and more centralized. The ruling
+class was, in a hundred years, limited to those families enrolled in
+the "Golden Book." In another hundred years the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>government was in
+control of the "Council of Ten." Later the secret tribunal of three
+was the terror of the people and the instrument of their oppression.
+The republic was only such in name, the people were deprived of all
+voice in the government, and the Doge became a puppet to obey the
+ruling cabal.</p>
+
+<p>Shakespeare went to Venice to find his typical usurer in Shylock the
+Jew. He found there also his typical Christian, Antonio. Antonio was a
+benevolent great soul, who loved his friends, supported all
+benevolences, and hated the usurers. Shylock hated him because he
+would lend without interest, and was constantly reproving him for his
+usurious practice.</p>
+
+<p>The contest between the usurers and the people of the Venetian
+republic was a struggle for the life, but the usurers never relaxed
+their hold. They dominated until the end.</p>
+
+<p>Another great triumph of the usurers was in England at the time of
+great need. William and Mary had been placed upon the throne by the
+Protestants, but were in need of money to carry on the struggle for
+its complete establishment. This was the usurers' opportunity. Former
+kings, in like straits, had confiscated the wealth of the usurious
+Jews, Lombards and Goldsmiths, and appropriated their property as a
+penalty for their unchristian practice, but William and Mary entered
+into a contract with them to gain their assistance, giving them
+special privileges to secure a permanent loan. They were to loan the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>crown 1,200,000 pounds sterling. This was never to be repaid, but
+interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum was to be paid
+forever. This loan was a marvel of success. There was a great rush of
+usurers to place their money with the crown as a perpetual loan at
+that rate of increase. Their usuries, which had hitherto been counted
+dishonest gain, were henceforth to be honorable, and they esteemed as
+patriots.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, the first Protestant power in the world was established in the
+hands of usurers, and bound to continue associated with them forever.
+The story, by Macauley, of the establishment of the Bank of England,
+is familiar to all students of English history.</p>
+
+<p>This bank is a great corporation; the Board of Directors is composed
+of twenty-six members, who elect their own successors, and thus it is
+entirely independent. It makes laws for its own direction in the name
+of the people or defies their control. In 1797 it secured an order
+from the privy council ordering itself to suspend specie payment. It
+obeyed its own order promptly, and at the same time announced their
+strength and that the order would be temporary; but for one excuse and
+another it was continued for twenty-five years.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Robert Peel, in 1844, having become convinced of the dangerous and
+disastrous influence, expanding and contracting its loans, secured the
+enactment of a law to regulate and limit its circulation. This law
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>was distasteful to the bank, and was, upon its enactment, defied by
+open disobedience. It has not only dictated the laws for its own
+regulation, but directed both the domestic and the foreign policy of
+the government. It has subordinated the public weal to financial
+profit. This corporation of usurers manage all the finances of the
+kingdom, and has more influence than Crown and Parliament combined. As
+a great uncrowned king it dictates the diplomatic policies of the
+United Kingdom. Its influence has not been extended to promote
+Protestant Christian faith, Jews are not zealous for any Christian
+sect; nor for the purpose of lifting up the degraded and enlightening
+them; nor in the east has it exercised its power to relieve human
+suffering, but its diplomatic policy has been mercenary greed always.</p>
+
+<p>It should be noted that the enlightened Christian people of the United
+Kingdom are not the English government. There has been, for two
+hundred years, a power behind the Throne, behind Parliament, behind
+the people, essentially selfish and commercial. This has controlled
+India for profit, while the benevolent people were anxious to
+christianize and uplift. It has befriended the Turk while England wept
+over the Turkish barbarities. It forced opium upon China while the
+Christian people sent missionaries. The people of England love
+freedom, yet the government has endeavored to crush it in the American
+colonies and everywhere throughout the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>world, when in conflict with a
+selfish commercial policy. The English people cry out against human
+slavery, yet in the struggle in the United States, when slavery was in
+the balance, the English government earnestly espoused the cause of
+those who upheld slavery. The English people rejoiced that the slave
+trade in Africa was abolished, yet the government enacted the hut tax,
+and compels now the service of the young and vigorous blacks in the
+mines, sending them back to their people when their strength declines.</p>
+
+<p>In the establishment of the republic of the United States there was a
+strong resistance to any debt or subordination to usurers. The history
+of banks in the United States shows a struggle at the birth of the
+nation between the usurers, who demanded the management of the
+finances, and the people who resisted. This struggle continued for
+half a century, when the people triumphed, and for thirty years there
+was no hint of a purpose to overthrow what was regarded as the settled
+policy of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>The first bank was incorporated in 1791. Its establishment was
+strongly resisted, but being urged by the Secretary of the Treasury, a
+charter was granted for twenty years. When that charter expired by
+limitation in 1811, there was a struggle by the usurers to secure its
+renewal, but they were defeated. They did not, however, abandon their
+effort. In 1816 they secured the charter of the second bank of the
+United <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>States. This charter was also limited to twenty years,
+expiring in 1836. There was a tremendous struggle for its renewal, but
+the chief executive, backed by a strong political party, so completely
+defeated it that the usurers for the time yielded, and for thirty
+years the settled policy of the government forbade the alliance with
+usurers and the making of any public debt. Many of the leading
+statesmen of that period were very pronounced in their opposition.</p>
+
+<p>"The banking system concentrates and places the power in the hands of
+those who control it.</p>
+
+<p>"Never was an engine invented better calculated to place the destines
+of the many in the hands of the few, or less favorable to that
+equality and independence which lies at the bottom of our free
+institutions."&mdash;J.C. Calhoun.</p>
+
+<p>"I object to the continuance of this bank because its tendencies are
+dangerous and pernicious to the government and the people. It tends to
+aggravate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer, and the
+poor poorer; to multiply nabobs and paupers, and to deepen and widen
+the gulf that separates Dives from Lazarus."&mdash;Thomas H. Benton.</p>
+
+<p>"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous
+than standing armies. I am not among those who fear the people. They
+and not the rich are our dependence for continued freedom. And to
+preserve their independence, we must not let <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>our rulers load us with
+perpetual debts."&mdash;Thomas Jefferson.</p>
+
+<p>"Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
+people, that the mischief and dangers which flow from a national bank
+far overbalance all its advantages."&mdash;Andrew Jackson.</p>
+
+<p>The usurers were compelled to remain under public condemnation during
+thirty years, as sentiment was strongly against them and conditions
+were not in their favor, but they did not relax their watchful effort
+nor abandon hope of ultimate success. When the nation was struggling
+to prevent its dissolution in 1861-5, and unusual war measures seemed
+necessary to meet the great emergency, the usurers saw their
+opportunity and came forward, as they did in Venice and England; they
+would loan the government the funds necessary to carry on the war, if
+the government would comply with their conditions and grant them the
+privileges demanded. They asked that their loan be perpetual, like the
+English loan; that they should be freed from the burdens of the
+government; that their loan should be free from taxation; that they
+should receive their interest semi-annually, and not in the common
+legal tender, but in coin; that they be permitted to issue their own
+notes as currency to be loaned to their customers; that the government
+discredit its own issues and endorse theirs; and that they be given a
+monopoly by taxing out of existence all opposition.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>These were great demands, and were regarded as extortionate and
+oppressive. The struggle was severe, but the enemy in the field was
+threatening the life of the nation, while the usurers were urgent and
+posing as patriots, that they might accomplish their ends. True
+patriots, anxious to defeat the enemy in arms, regarded these usurers
+at home as equally the enemies of freedom. They were in a strait
+betwixt two foes.</p>
+
+<p>Secretary McCullough said, "Hostility to the government has been as
+decidedly manifested in the efforts that have been made in the
+commercial metropolis of the nation to depreciate the currency as has
+been by the enemy."</p>
+
+<p>The opposition to the usurers was very strong and bitter, but the
+conditions were in their favor and they gained a decided advantage. In
+the Senate the vote stood twenty-three yeas to twenty-one nays. It was
+carried only as a war measure. There was an effort to limit the
+usurers' privileges to the war and one year after its close. This was
+not successful, but their loan was confined to the war debt, and their
+time to its payment, limited to twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>This action caused great distress and dark forebodings of evil to many
+of the thoughtful. It was setting aside the policy of the nation,
+which had been generally acquiesced in as wise and judicious and safe
+for many years. The old patriot Thadeus Stevens, in the opening of a
+speech in a preliminary skirmish between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>patriotism and usurers,
+said: "I approach the subject with more depression of spirits than I
+ever before approached any question. No personal motive or feeling
+influences me. I hope not, at least. I have a melancholy foreboding
+that we are about to consummate a cunningly devised scheme, which will
+carry great injury and great loss to all classes of people throughout
+the Union, except one." Later he said, in excuse of the action, "We
+had to yield, we did not yield until we found that the country must be
+lost or the banks gratified, and we have sought to save the country in
+spite of the cupidity of its wealthier classes."</p>
+
+<p>The usurers have never relaxed the hold they secured by this victory,
+and have since been continually increasing their power. They obtained
+an extension or "refunding" of the war debt, and a renewal of their
+charters by the general laws, so their hold is indefinitely extended.
+Bonds are no longer limited to the covering of war expenses, but are
+issued freely in times of peace. The traditions of the fathers have
+been cast to the winds, and their fears derided and their policy
+changed. The usurers have been firmly in the saddle for many years,
+and have defeated every effort that has been made to unseat them.</p>
+
+<p>The great debts of the nations have brought all mankind into
+subjection to the usurers. Those who hold the bonds have the destinies
+of the race in their hands. They pervert the ends of government; the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>protection of life, liberty and the highest good of all the people;
+they make governments their tools to gather and appropriate the
+earnings of the many.</p>
+
+<p>They have exalted Mammon upon the throne of the world, and scoff at
+the God of heaven, who seeks the poor and needy, and who would in love
+lift up every son and daughter of the whole race.</p>
+
+<p>Milton presents Mammon as one of the devils cast out of heaven with
+Satan, and as saying in the council of the demons, "What place can be
+found for us within heaven's bound, unless heaven's Lord we
+overpower?... How wearisome eternity so spent in worship paid, to one
+we hate."</p>
+
+<p>The reign of Mammon subordinates character and virtue and liberty and
+human life to sordid gain, yet he holds the scepter of power.</p>
+
+<p>He elects legislators and senators. He elects governors or directs
+their arrest if they refuse to obey him. He elects presidents and
+dictates their policies. He places kings on their thrones and holds
+them there while they do his bidding. He strips a Khedive of power,
+and yet retains him as a collector of revenue. He steadies the
+Sultan's tottering throne, and compels six great Christian powers to
+stand by in silence while humanity is outraged. The Armenian's blood
+must be permitted to flow because the persecution is by a great
+servant, the Sultan, who pays interest on bonds, and his victims are
+only freemen. The murder of one hundred thousand Armenians <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>meant
+nothing to Mammon. But when the Cretans were persecuted by the same
+Sultan, the suffering and bloodshed was soon ordered stopped by these
+same six powers, at Mammon's command. The Cretans were servants of the
+common master; the Cretan bonds were endangered. The cry of suffering
+humanity came up to deaf ears, but the cry of endangered bonds was
+heard from afar by this reigning god of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>The little republics of Africa were freemen, and therefore Mammon sees
+them strangled with indifference. Mammon gathers the civilized nations
+around China and demands that she shall be enslaved by all the bonds
+she can safely carry or submit to vivisection and distribution.</p>
+
+<p>This enslavement of the race is not by the destroying of intelligence,
+nor by denying the first principles of civil liberty, nor by crushing
+the aspirations for freedom, but by producing conditions that make the
+application of these principles and the exercise of freedom
+impossible. Though the race may increase in intelligence and
+theoretically have correct views of personal freedom and civil
+liberty, yet the conditions produced necessarily by usury utterly
+prevent their realization. The intelligence and aspirations of the
+race never were higher than at present, their subjection and
+subordination to material wealth was never more complete.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>The scepter wherein lies Mammon's power to sway the nations is usury.
+When bonds bear no increase his sovereignty is gone. All motive to
+involve the nation in debt at once disappears, and the power to
+control is lost. Moses' law was divinely wise that forbade interest,
+that his people could not be enslaved and might remain a free people
+forever.</p>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>EFFECT ON CHARACTER.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The greatest factor in life in all ages is not material wealth, nor
+social position, nor genius, nor education, but character. Since man
+is above things, the highest purpose is not the gathering of that
+beneath him, but the developing of the best and noblest that is in
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The highest possible purpose and work is the developing of virtuous
+manhood.</p>
+
+<p>This was the thought of our fathers when they came to these shores and
+built their homes and established the free institutions which we now
+enjoy. They sacrificed material advantages that they might be free men
+and secure for themselves and for their children the opportunity to
+reach in faith and practice the ideal manhood.</p>
+
+<p>No material advantage can be regarded with favor that is detrimental
+to the characters of men. Position, wealth, education, are worse than
+worthless when associated with a corrupted manhood.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where wealth accumulates, and men decay."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The test of truth is its developing of the virtues and graces.
+Falsehood is detected by its quickening <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>the vices that degrade and
+destroy. "By their fruits shall ye know them."</p>
+
+<p>Virtues are linked together so that the promoting of one gives
+strength to the others. All vices are also so linked that the
+stimulating of one quickens other vices.</p>
+
+<p>Virtues and vices are opposite, so that the encouraging of a vice or
+fault discourages the opposing virtue. When you discourage a virtue,
+you encourage a vice.</p>
+
+<p>The old-fashioned virtues which our fathers prized, and which they
+regarded essential elements of worthy manhood, were industry, and
+honesty, and self-reliance, and brotherly sympathy, and the devout
+recognition of God's divine sovereignty.</p>
+
+<p>1. Usury discourages industry and encourages idleness. The laborer is
+stirred to diligence when he gets good wages. When his wages are
+meager he becomes discouraged, relaxes his efforts and may abandon his
+work altogether. When he knows that he is receiving less than he is
+earning, and that a part of his earnings are appropriated by another,
+he is embittered and becomes indifferent. When he receives all he
+earns, and the more diligent he is in his work the more he receives,
+he is stimulated to the utmost.</p>
+
+<p>This will be especially true if it is made impossible to secure a gain
+without earning it. The benefit of full wages may be largely lost by
+the knowledge of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>persons who, without productive effort, are
+appropriating the earnings of others. The influence of their easy,
+indolent lives may destroy or counteract the beneficent influence of
+good wages. The laborer may be led to despise his well-paid tasks and
+yearn for their ease, and thus become indolent.</p>
+
+<p>One is encouraged to idleness when he discovers that he can secure his
+bread by the sweat of another's face. He is likely to relax his
+efforts if he does not forsake all personal productive occupations. He
+may give great care and the closest attention to the management of his
+wealth, loaning to others and collecting the increase, but not to
+productive industry.</p>
+
+<p>There are activities that look like virtues, but they are perverted
+efforts. The slave-driver may work as hard as the slave in his efforts
+to appropriate the earnings of others. The thief may work in the night
+and endure more hardness to secure the property of another than would
+be necessary to honestly earn it. The usurer may give his thought,
+night and day, to the placing of his wealth the most securely and at
+the best rates of interest, and at the same time abandon all effort in
+the direct management of useful productive enterprises.</p>
+
+<p>The complete result of usury upon the habit of industry can be
+realized in those who have grown up under its influence; those who
+have an income secure from invested funds. When there is no need,
+present nor prospective, there is no motive to active industry, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>and
+the love of ease and pleasure grows and drives out all heart for
+productive effort.</p>
+
+<p>The industrious habit coupled with economy is called thrift. It is not
+parsimony or unwillingness to give, but a disposition to save. Our
+Lord, who was the prince of givers and inculcated unlimited giving
+among his followers, gave a lesson in thrift when he said after his
+miracle, "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost."</p>
+
+<p>Enforced industry and economy is not thrift. When by low wages or
+grinding conditions the necessities of life are with difficulty
+secured, the very opposite disposition may be cultivated. When the
+external restraints are removed, the wildest extravagance may be
+indulged in. This is sometimes given as an excuse for low, grinding
+wages; that "the workmen and their wives have no idea of saving;" that
+higher wages would be wasted in foolish extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>No one in normal conditions will be wasteful of that which has cost
+him hard labor. His care for it will naturally be in proportion to the
+effort that was necessary to secure it. Those who waste the wealth of
+the world are not those who by the sweat of their faces have produced
+it. The habit of thrift comes from the knowledge of the value of a
+thing, learned by earning it. Only that which comes without effort
+will be spent without thought. Those who have livings secured from the
+increase or interest of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>"productive" capital, having no need of
+industry, are wholly occupied with the spending; but in spending only,
+the value of the thing spent is not appreciated, the habit of
+extravagance grows and they become the idlers and the spendthrifts of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>2. It prevents open and frank honesty. When the thought is turned to
+an endeavor to secure a dollar that is not earned, there is
+secretiveness of purpose and inward guile. No person doing business on
+borrowed capital advertises the number and amount of his loans nor
+does he welcome inquiry by others. In a column of advertisements by
+money lenders in a newspaper lying on this table every one promises
+"privacy" or "no publicity." No one can be so open and frank as the
+one who earns every dollar that he receives or seeks.</p>
+
+<p>The possibility of speculation is ruinous. The first step in the wreck
+of integrity in a young man's character is when he becomes absorbed in
+some scheme by which he can secure gain without honestly earning it.
+Lotteries are outlaws not only because they defraud but they undermine
+integrity and honest industry.</p>
+
+<p>When property earns property, and the gain is secured with no struggle
+on his part, the temptation is presented and the disintegration of his
+character has begun. When there is no gain except by production, the
+whole thought and energy of the man is directed to that end, and his
+desire to secure that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>earned by another is restrained. The frank,
+open disposition is preserved. Honest productive toil drives out the
+spirit of speculation. Under usury, both lender and borrower are in
+the attitude of expectants of unearned gain.</p>
+
+<p>3. It discourages the spirit of self-reliance.</p>
+
+<p>Usury causes a broad separation between a man of property and the man
+of mere muscle or brain. It makes such large combinations of capital
+possible in immense shops and department stores and other enterprises,
+that the individual workman is belittled. Under the principle of
+usury, property can produce as well as brain or muscle. One having
+property can control both.</p>
+
+<p>His property places him in a position as a superior. He comes to
+forget the relations he bears to men as equals, and requires that
+those who have only their natural gifts shall be cringing supplicants
+before him or be denied his favor. The borrower or the laborer who
+asserts his rights is endangered by the man controlling property, who
+has him in his power.</p>
+
+<p>That independent, self-reliant spirit, that looks every man in the
+face as an equal yet lingers in the country among the hills and
+mountains, but is fast disappearing from the city. There has come to
+the laborer in the town or city a feeling of dependence upon others
+and a desire to secure their favor. They almost feel that they must
+apologize for being laborers, and beg for an opportunity to earn a
+living in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>some one's employ. One of the saddest facts, and most
+threatening of disaster in these present commercial conditions, is the
+common desire to be employed, to get a job, dependent on the whim of
+another, instead of a determination to direct one's own labor and be
+the manager of one's own business. The sound educational development
+is wanting in the daily occupation of the hired laborer, and there is
+a loss of manhood that has no compensation.</p>
+
+<p>The independent spirit slips away so gradually that its going is
+scarcely noticed, but when once gone the degradation is complete.</p>
+
+<p>A family of free Hebrews went down into Egypt, and for a long time was
+in favor with the rulers, but they gradually lost their independence
+and became more and more servile and cringing until the Egyptian
+masters dared to go into their homes and pick up their boy babies and
+take them out and drown them as if they were worthless puppies.</p>
+
+<p>The hopelessness of the Ottoman Empire today is more in the cringing
+subordination and broken spirit of the people than in the oppression
+of the Sultan. His government might be overthrown in a day, but it
+would take ages to lift up that empire of prostrate slaves and to
+cultivate in them the self-assertion and self-reliance necessary to a
+free people.</p>
+
+<p>Every man who loves his country and his race must view with alarm this
+growing feeling of subordination and cringing disposition. It is the
+very reverse of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>that democratic spirit or consciousness of equality
+that must prevail to secure the permanency of our republican
+institutions.</p>
+
+<p>4. It destroys fraternal sympathy. Two classes are found in every
+modern community. The one is the laborers with muscle or brain, the
+other class, those whose property produces for them. Between these
+classes there is a great wall fixed. It cannot be expected that they
+will mingle harmoniously and be in sympathy in civil and social
+relations. Producing and non-producing classes can never be
+congenially associated.</p>
+
+<p>The question is frequently discussed in church circles, "How can the
+laboring man be attracted to the churches?" The discussion often
+presumes that the non-laboring man does find the church congenial. If
+he does, all efforts to win the other class will be in vain. The
+church itself needs to correct its teachings and reform its spirit.</p>
+
+<p>The moral law commands "Six days shalt thou work," and there is no
+release because a man has property. So long as a man has brain or
+brawn he is bound by that law. If he is not, he is not a moral man,
+and has no rightful place in the church of God. Honest, upright,
+industrious Christian men, engaged in all lines of production for
+human needs, may be congenial and co-operate most harmoniously, but
+they never can be made comfortable in association <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>with those who are
+unproductive and idle, yet living in luxury.</p>
+
+<p>5. Usury promotes that "Covetousness which is idolatry."</p>
+
+<p>"As heathens place their confidence in idols, so doth the avaricious
+man place his confidence in silver and gold. The covetous person,
+though he doth not indeed believe his riches or his money to be God,
+yet by so loving and trusting in them, as God alone ought to be loved
+and trusted in, he is as truly guilty of idolatry as if he so
+believed."</p>
+
+<p>Idolatry is the act of ascribing to things or persons properties that
+are peculiar to God. The principal objects of worship are those things
+which bring to men the greatest good.</p>
+
+<p>The sun has been the most general object of idolatrous worship in all
+the ages. It is the most conspicuous object, and is the source of
+light and heat, and rules the seasons. Its worship was so general that
+the Hebrew people, when they lapsed from the worship of God, turned to
+the worship of the sun or Baal. No natural object is more worthy of
+worship. Job declaring his integrity and freedom from idolatry, said
+that he had not kissed his hand in salute of the sun in his rising.</p>
+
+<p>The river Nile was an object of idolatrous worship for ages. Its
+source was a mystery, and its annual rise in its rainless valley was
+so beneficent, that it was given the worship which belonged to the
+Divine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>alone. All the hope of the harvest depended on its annual
+overflow. It moistened and fertilized and prepared the ground, and
+then receded until the harvest was grown and gathered. Moses showed
+the Egyptians the impotence of their idols by making this chief idol,
+and the things that came out of it, a curse. The cow was worshiped
+because it was the most useful and necessary of their animals. A real
+or supposed power to give or withhold favors has been from the
+beginning the source and spring of idolatry.</p>
+
+<p>Riches, property, as the means of supplying our needs, is an object
+more coveted than any other. The principle of usury greatly aggravates
+this tendency. The principle of usury makes it imperishable; it can be
+perpetuated, unimpaired from year to year and from age to age; it is a
+constant source of benefit; it is productive of all that is necessary
+to supply human needs.</p>
+
+<p>It supplies, too, without effort on the part of the recipient. The
+sun, with his light and heat, makes the labor of the farmer
+successful. The rising Nile moistening and fertilizing the land,
+prepares the way for the sower. The cow draws the plow and the harrow,
+and threshes the grain, but usury makes property bring all needed
+material good without effort on the part of the owner. It brings him
+the matured fruits of the farm, though he neither plows or sows nor
+reaps. No labor on his part is needed. His property clothes and feeds
+him, and yet does not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>grow less, but is endowed with perpetual youth,
+ever giving yet never exhausted or diminished. He may die, but his
+idol knows no decay, and may continue to bless his children through
+the generations. This quality of riches makes them a greater source of
+blessing than the sun or any other object of idolatrous worship. This
+leads to unlimited self-denial and sacrifice to gain and retain
+property. The devotees subordinate their own ease and physical
+comfort, their own intellectual development, to secure it, they will
+themselves shrivel in body and soul; like other idolaters they will
+even yield the highest interests of their children, when this idol
+demands their sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>6. It destroys spirituality. Property is matter and not spirit. With
+the thought and heart and effort directed to a material thing, the
+spirit is neglected. The heathen Greek artist directed his whole
+attention to the material part of man. The symmetry of the human
+physical form was his study. The perfect man was the most
+symmetrically developed specimen of physical form. His thought of man
+was matter. The Christian directs his thought to the spirit, his mind
+and heart, his noble purposes, and all the qualities of true manhood.
+The material part is subordinated to the spiritual.</p>
+
+<p>The tendency now is to appreciate a man for what he has rather than
+for what he is, to ignore both symmetry of form and the graces of the
+noble character, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>and to worship what he holds in his hands. The truly
+spiritual loves true manhood and is indifferent to the possessions.</p>
+
+<p>If a noble soul is found in a Lazarus, the true child of Abraham will
+take him to his bosom. A perverted manhood will receive no favor
+though clothed and surrounded with all material splendor.</p>
+
+<p>It destroys spirituality, too, because it holds the mind to a material
+thing as the source of all good. The spiritual man rises to the true
+source of our blessings, the author of all temporal good, from whose
+hand every living thing is fed.</p>
+
+<p>This, as all idolatry, leads to a breaking away from the restraints of
+the moral law. The devotion to the material leads, logically and
+practically, to a neglect of the restraints of the spiritual, and a
+preponderance of subserviency to the material. Practices that will
+promote the material are indulged though the moral law may be broken.
+The material is not held subject to the needs of the higher nature,
+nor subject to the promotion of the kingdom of God, but man's noblest
+gifts and the worship of God are all made, if possible, to minister to
+the material interests.</p>
+
+<p>To break this idol's power, the true nature of property must be shown.
+It is not immortal, but perishable. It can not preserve itself, but
+must be carefully preserved by man's own effort. It can not protect
+him, but he must protect it. It is but a thing which man has himself
+made. It must be shown absurd, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>Isaiah ridiculed it, "They worship
+the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made."</p>
+
+<p>Other forms of gross external idolatry are exposed by the advancing
+light of these progressive years, but this musty old form has taken
+new life and now receives the service of the race. The whole world is
+running pell-mell after this idol. It stands in the market places, it
+is not a stranger in the courts of justice, and is in high favor in
+legislative halls. Solon is relegated and Croesus is elected.</p>
+
+<p>It is given a high place in the temple of God. Pious Lazarus is
+neglected but Dives is promoted.</p>
+
+<p>"What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?"</p>
+
+<p>Until this idol is cast out the church will and must languish.
+Spiritual life will be low and fervor impossible.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>AX AT ROOT OF THE TREE.</h4>
+<br />
+
+
+<p>It is easier to cut down an evil tree than to climb up and lop off it
+branches; besides the branches will grow again if the stock is left
+undisturbed. It is easier to destroy the mother of vipers than it is
+to chase after, catch and kill her poisonous progeny. The reptiles
+will not become extinct while the mother is left to breed without
+restraint. There are a large number of industrial and financial evils
+that derive their strength from usury, which have received the close
+attention of benevolent reformers, but they have not exposed the
+cause, nor have they suggested a sufficient remedy. That the evils
+exist is apparent to them all, but they seem too high to reach or too
+swift to be caught.</p>
+
+<p>It is only possible to hint at the prevailing evils in one chapter. It
+would require a volume to discuss them in detail and to apply the
+remedy.</p>
+
+<p>1. There is a tendency to divergence in the material and financial
+conditions of men. Some are growing richer, while others are growing
+poorer.</p>
+
+<p>The prayer of Agur, "Give me neither poverty nor riches," is the
+prayer we should offer and the prayer we should try ourselves to
+answer. We are to seek freedom from poverty on the one hand and from
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>ensnaring riches on the other. This is the condition we should try to
+secure in the community and in the commonwealth. We should discourage
+excess of riches and we should endeavor to relieve all of distressing
+poverty. We should hedge about accumulation with such conditions as to
+make it very difficult to gain great wealth, and at the same time we
+should so ease the conditions of accumulation that only gross
+indolence or great misfortune could cause dependent poverty.</p>
+
+<p>The so called middle class are those who neither have great riches nor
+yet are they in fear of want. The great mass of our people belonged to
+this class until very recent times. Now we find the excessively rich
+have multiplied and a vast number of our industrious, honest and
+virtuous population are struggling for life's necessities. The middle
+class is less numerous while both those in opulence and those in
+poverty have been increasing.</p>
+
+<p>We should level up and level down to the medium which is best for the
+development of the highest manhood and best also for the strength and
+perpetuity of our republican institutions.</p>
+
+<p>The rich should be limited in their accretions while the poor are
+lifted out of their poverty; but how can this be accomplished without
+interfering with individual liberty and our personal rights? The
+problem is not easily solved. While usury remains, which is an ever
+active centralizing force adding wealth to wealth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>no remedy can be
+found. Do away with usury, and the evil is overcome.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) When it is recognized that vital energy alone produces all
+wealth, no great fortune can be gathered in the life time of one man.
+The earnings of any life, however long, or the earnings of a
+succession of industrious, energetic ancestors, could not amass a
+fortune to interfere with the rights and activities of others.</p>
+
+<p>One may inherit a large fortune from wealthy kindred; he may discover
+a fortune; he may draw a grand prize in a lottery; he may as a Turk
+seize the properties of others and then bribe the courts to confirm
+his claims; or a people may be "held up" by law and one, selfish and
+conscienceless as a ghoul, may jump at the opportunity and appropriate
+their earnings and their property and yet the robber keep out of the
+penitentiary; but no one, however great his skill or brilliant his
+genius, can earn one million dollars, nor the tenth of it, in his
+natural life. To gain one million dollars one must earn twenty
+thousand dollars each year for fifty years and save it all. He must
+spend nothing for pleasure nor benevolence. He must spend nothing for
+food nor for clothes.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) Wealth decays unless cared for and preserved. As wealth
+increases, the task of protecting and preserving it increases. There
+comes a time when production must cease, and all energy will be
+required to preserve that already gained. When others <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>preserve and
+pay a price for the privilege, as in usury, the vital energy can
+continue production, indefinitely.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) Abolish usury and the instant one ceases to produce he begins to
+consume that which he has earned. He can not live upon the increase of
+his earnings, but he must begin at once to diminish the supply.
+Exacting usury he may consume only the increase and preserve the
+principal untouched. He may not consume all the increase and add the
+remainder to his capital and thus grow richer in decrepit age. Many of
+those who have not inherited wealth, have not been wealthy until
+advanced age. It came to them by the accretions of interest after the
+productive period of life was past.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>) It is not possible to secure perfect equality of conditions. If
+all wealth was equally distributed today differences would begin to
+appear tomorrow. This has seemed to some disheartening and they
+abandon all hope of correcting the evil. They should look deeper and
+promote the natural and God-ordained remedy.</p>
+
+<p>The natural force for the preservation of the level of the ocean is
+gravity. But the surface is seldom smooth. The winds lash it into fury
+and pile high its waves, but gravity pulling upon every drop of water
+tends to draw it back to its place and smooth down the surface again.
+The wind cannot build permanently a mountain of water in the ocean.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>The consumption and decay of wealth tends unendingly to equalize the
+conditions of men. In the wild rush of the struggle for supremacy and
+gain, like a whirlwind in the affairs of men, with their diverse gifts
+and tastes and plans, there will be inequalities appearing, but
+consumption and inevitable decay are ever present leveling powers.
+Usury suspends this beneficent law and aggravates the evil, making the
+differences in condition permanent and increasing them.</p>
+
+<p>Do away with usury and there is a natural limitation to riches. The
+rich will find that he can not grow constantly richer; not because he
+is by statute deprived of any personal rights, but he is hindered by
+the natural law embedded in things by the Creator.</p>
+
+<p>Do away with usury and the problem of poverty is solved. If we credit
+vital energy with the increase of wealth and give the laborer all he
+earns, he has a fair and equal chance, and equity requires no more. It
+is justice and opportunity, a fair chance, that the poor need, not
+pity and gifts of charity.</p>
+
+<p>2. Great combines of capital in business and especially in industrial
+trusts are receiving the closest attention of the thoughtful. Some
+regard them as the necessary result of successful and enlarging
+business. Many others regard them as hostile to the public good and
+are anxiously seeking a means of restraining their great and
+increasing power.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>These were at the first associations of manufacturers who co-operated
+to maintain prices. In the competitive system there is a constant
+pressure on the part of the consumer for lower prices. The
+manufacturer who is conscientious and a model employer, seeking to
+maintain prices sufficiently high to afford him a profit and living
+wages for his employes, must ever be resisting this pressure. They
+united for this purpose and were benevolent and just in their design.
+But the manufacturers were paying tribute on borrowed capital. They
+must meet the demands of interest on their debts and also the wages of
+their workmen. Between these two they struggled to secure for
+themselves comfortable wages. The capitalists, seeing the advantage of
+this co-operation and the resultant profits, undertook and
+accomplished the combination of their capital to secure for themselves
+the profits at first sought for the operators and their employes.</p>
+
+<p>These great combines are the natural result of successful business
+with the practice of usury. They threaten evil.</p>
+
+<p>The purpose and plan of the present trust is to increase the increase
+of the capital; to make the capital more productive; to bring larger
+returns for the wealth invested.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) They are not organized for the benefit of the laborer. The
+object is to decrease the cost by producing with less labor. The less
+the labor, other things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>being equal, the greater the returns for the
+capital invested.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) They are not organized for the benefit of the consumer. When
+they do favor the consumer it is only incidental and generally
+temporary to meet competition. They make no pretence of being
+benevolent in their purposes. They are organized for the purpose of
+business gain.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) These capitalists combine their interests because they can
+thereby secure a greater return from their investments than they can
+by operating separately. They combine that they may mutually increase
+the rate of interest or dividends on their capital. This is the motive
+that draws them into co&ouml;peration.</p>
+
+<p>The learned and benevolent statesmen, teachers of economy and
+reformers, have not suggested an adequate remedy. The remedy is not
+far to find. Do away with usury and they will fall apart like balls of
+sand; the cohesive power will be gone; the centralization will cease
+and the wealth will speedily return to the various individuals from
+whom it was gathered. This remedy may seem heroic, but it is a
+specific and is the simplest of all possible methods.</p>
+
+<p>3. How to secure a just distribution of the great advantages from
+improved machinery, new inventions and new discoveries, is a problem
+that is engaging the best thought of many of the wise and good. That
+the present distribution is inequitable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>and unfair; that it gives the
+capitalist an undue advantage over the laborer; that it aggravates the
+difference in conditions, seems generally admitted.</p>
+
+<p>An improved machine, owned by a capitalist, enables one man to do the
+work that formerly required ten. One man is employed and the nine are
+in competition for his place and there is no advance over the wages
+before the machine was introduced. The owner of the machine secures
+the gain. His wealth is greatly increased while the laborer plods on
+with his old wages. With the new machine the one man produces what ten
+men did before, but the product of the nine are credited to the
+machine and becomes the capitalist's gain.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) The falsehood on which this claim rests must be seen and
+rejected before the evil can be overcome; that the machine is
+productive. It is but a tool in the hands of the one man, who now with
+it produces as much as ten men did without it. If one does the work of
+ten he earns the reward of ten. Because by this machine he multiplies
+his strength, and adds to his efficiency, he can not justly be
+deprived of his full reward.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) "But the machine is owned by another." His not owning the
+machine does not change its nature and make it a productive force.
+Whether it belongs to him or to another, it is his intelligent vital
+energy that produces all that is produced. The machine is but his tool
+with which he works.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>(<i>c</i>) "But the machine must be paid for." Certainly, the inventors and
+skilled mechanics, who produced this wonderful tool, should be fully
+compensated, but once paid they have no claim upon it or on what
+another may produce with it. No honest workman objects to paying a
+good price for good tools. It is not the purchase of tools by one set
+of workmen of another that causes the unequal conditions.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>) It is the usurer or interest taker that perverts the conditions.</p>
+
+<p>He lays hold of those great inventions and discoveries, like railroads
+and telegraphs and telephones, and demands a perpetual compensation.
+He asks that the laborer shall be forever buying his tool, yet it
+shall be never bought, that the public shall be forever paying for
+privileges and the obligation remain forever unmet. This is but one of
+the forms of usury, by which wealth is heaped from the earnings of the
+many.</p>
+
+<p>4. The difficulties between employers and their laborers do not cease.
+The continued strikes and lock-outs show how general and deep the
+trouble is. Laborers organize into unions to protect themselves from
+discharge and to promote their interests. They ask for better wages
+and shorter hours. They urge their petition with forceful arguments;
+they make demands with an implied threat; they stop work or "strike."
+Then follows a test of strength and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>endurance in which both parties
+greatly suffer and both are embittered and neither is satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The correction of this common evil has received close study from those
+who have the welfare of all classes at heart and wish to be
+benefactors of the race. The remedies have not been thorough but
+superficial, and the benefits temporary. The branches have been cut
+off but they grow again.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) The complaint of too small wages implies that more is earned
+than is received; but there is no standard recognized by which what a
+man does earn can be measured. The capitalist claims the output as the
+earnings of his capital and his claim is allowed by the workmen. The
+workmen may claim that wages are too small for a comfortable living.
+This is not a plea of free workmen, but of slaves begging to be better
+fed.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) They may complain of too many hours of labor; but the number of
+hours of labor is arbitrarily fixed. There is no valid constant reason
+why one should wish to work less. In the management of one's own work,
+and the collection of his own earnings, there are times when long
+hours, of the strain of labor, are necessary, and there are other
+times when ease can be taken. With no standard of earnings or time, it
+is impossible to arrive at a just and satisfactory settlement.</p>
+
+<p>The reasons given sound to the employers like the pleadings of
+servants for richer food and more play.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>(<i>c</i>) The laborer should find a solid basal reason for his demands.
+That will be found only in the utter rejection of the theory and
+practice of usury.</p>
+
+<p>The selfishness of human nature will remain; conflicts between men in
+all conditions and all businesses will remain; feuds and rivalries
+will remain; but when employer and employe are enabled to see that
+capital is dead, and decaying, and that all the earnings above its
+preservation belong to the laborers, there will be a recognized and
+true basis upon which the rightful claims of each can be adjusted.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>) In a co-operative shop, where the workmen are the owners, each
+receives his share of the gains. With usury done away it is possible
+for workmen, who are poor, to ultimately become the owners, by the
+accumulation of earnings, but under the pull of the usurers,
+continually appropriating the earnings, they are doomed to hopeless
+poverty.</p>
+
+<p>5. There is a widespread determination to overcome the evil of war.
+Non-combatants are numerous and peace societies are organized in all
+lands. Their literature is widely distributed and their petitions, for
+the preservation of peace, are poured upon every "power" that is
+thought to have an occasion, or a disposition, to engage in warfare.
+The waste of treasure and blood, the cruelties and suffering that are
+a military necessity, are pleaded in favor of peace. The shame of
+intelligent rational men settling differences with brute force is
+presented.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>The unchristian spirit, that in this age of light and saving grace
+should be so wanting in brotherly love as to wish to destroy those who
+harm us, is deprecated.</p>
+
+<p>When differences do arise between nations, they urge a just settlement
+or mutual concessions. Or if one is found to be unreasonable, unjust
+and oppressive, it is better and more christian-like, they claim, to
+endure hardness, submitting under protest, than by force, which the
+Master forbade, attempt to establish righteousness.</p>
+
+<p>Rulers of the greatest nations on the earth have become conscious of
+the cruel burdens upon their people, in the support of their great
+armaments. On the invitation of the Czar of Russia, peace
+commissioners from many nations recently met in The Hague, to devise
+means by which the burdens of armaments might be diminished and actual
+warfare avoided. This peace council advised that differences be
+submitted to arbitration, but while it was yet speaking two Christian
+powers, began open war, without having so "decent a regard to the
+opinions of mankind" as to make known to the world the cause of their
+conflict. Wars continue, and among the most highly civilized and
+enlightened and christianized, in the face of the arguments and advice
+and pleadings of non-combatants and peace societies and peace
+commissions.</p>
+
+<p>Mammon, a sordid greed of gain, is now on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>world's throne and
+directs the movements of the nations in peace or war.</p>
+
+<p>His purposes may be often accomplished in peace by purchases of
+territory for which interest bearing bonds are issued. The irritation
+or hurts between peoples may be molified and healed by indemnities,
+which also serve his purpose because they necessitate the incurring of
+a bonded debt, interest bearing. But the history of the world for
+centuries proves that a condition of war is Mammon's opportunity to
+foist a debt upon a free people and to increase the burden of those
+whose bonds he already holds.</p>
+
+<p>His ears are deaf to advice and reason, when material and commercial
+advantages are to be secured. He cares not for human suffering and
+shed blood, if riches can be increased. When concessions can be
+secured, and mortgages placed, and a people exploited with profit, the
+cry of suffering, the pleading for pity and the call for justice are
+all in vain.</p>
+
+<p>To stop these modern wars they must be made unprofitable to Mammon.
+When they are made to deplete his treasury and to waste his wealth,
+instead of increasing it, he will call a halt in strife, and the
+gentle spirit of peace will be permitted to hover over the nations.</p>
+
+<p>Away with national debts and interest bearing bonds, which are the
+delight of the usurers. Make present wealth bear the burden of present
+duty. Try the patriotism of the usurers by making war a real
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>sacrifice of their wealth, while the blood of others is being poured
+upon the field. Do not permit war to be an advantage to the rich to
+increase his riches. A patriot's life is given and it goes out
+forever, let wealth be no more sacred than life; let it not be
+borrowed but consumed. Let the rich grow poorer as the war goes on,
+let there be a facing of utter poverty, as the patriot faces death on
+the field.</p>
+
+<p>While Mammon is permitted this usury, his chief tool, he will use it
+for the oppression of the world. He will direct the movements among
+the nations to further his ends, although it may require a conflict
+between the most christianized and enlightened of the earth. The
+nations will be directed in peace or put in motion in war to make
+wealth increase.</p>
+
+<p>Give wealth its true place as a perishable thing, instead of a
+productive life, and wars will cease in all the earth. The holders of
+the wealth of the world will never urge nor encourage war, when the
+property destroyed is their own and not to be replaced. When wars are
+no longer the usurer's opportunity, but the consumption of his wealth,
+Mammon himself will beg that swords may be beaten into plow-shares and
+spears into pruning-hooks.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PER CONTRA; CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Every argument favoring the continuance of the practice of usury can
+be met from the propositions established in the preceding chapters.
+Indeed, there are no true arguments to be presented in its favor.
+Truth is consistent with truth. We are not placed in a dilemma and
+compelled to decide which are the strongest of the arguments arrayed
+against each other. We are not deciding which is the greater of two
+blessings nor which the less of two evils, but this is a question of
+evil or good, of sin or righteousness. If usury is wrong then every
+argument brought forward to support it is a falsehood, though it may
+be covered with a very beautiful and attractive and plausible form in
+its presentation.</p>
+
+<p>1. The old Wilson Catechism published in Dundee in 1737 is perhaps the
+most familiar defense.</p>
+
+<div class="block2"><p>"Q. Is the gaining of money by usury unlawful?</p>
+
+<p>"A. Yes, Prov. 28:8. Psalm 15:5.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. What is usury?</p>
+
+<p>"A. The taking unlawful profit for money that is lent out.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. Is it lawful to take any interest or gain for money lent?</p>
+
+<p>"A. Yes, when it is taken according to the laws of the land, and
+from these who make gain by it, by trading or purchasing of
+lands; seeing it is equally just for the owner of money to ask a
+share of the profit which others make by it, as for the owner
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>of the land to demand farm from the tenant of it, money being
+improvable by art and labor as well as land.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. What is the unlawful profit for money, which may be called
+usury?</p>
+
+<p>"A. The taking profit for money from the poor who borrow for
+mere necessity, or taking needful things from them in pawn for
+it; or the taking more profit for any than law allows, as these
+who take ten, fifteen, or twenty in the hundred. Exod. 22:25,
+26. Deut. 24:12, 17. Ezek. 18:7, 8.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. But were not the people of Israel discharged to take any
+usury or profit for lent money from their brethren? Deut. 23:19.</p>
+
+<p>"A. This law seems to have been peculiar to the Jewish state,
+and that in regard of their estates being so divided, settled,
+and secured to their families by the year jubilee, and their not
+being employed in trading or making purchases like other
+nations, so that they had no occasion to borrow money but for
+the present subsistence of their families. But for strangers,
+who had another way of living, the Israelites were allowed to
+lend upon usury, and to share with them in their profits, Deut.
+23:20, which shows that the taking of interest is not oppressive
+in itself; for they are frequently prohibited to oppress a
+stranger, and yet allowed to take usury from him. Exod. 22:21,
+and 23:9."</p></div>
+
+<p>The reader will notice that the definition of usury is defective. The
+reader will also notice that there are no Scripture references given
+to prove that any interest can be taken. This is singular, since
+throughout the Catechism Scripture references are profuse in
+confirmation of the answers. If a single passage had been found that
+could be twisted into an approval the reference would have been given.
+He rests the permission to take usury wholly on human reason, though
+in direct opposition to the Scripture <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>references he had first given
+to prove that the gaining of wealth by usury was unlawful. He does not
+claim to get this answer from the Bible. He rests this answer on the
+law of the land and the purposes of the borrower, and says it is not
+worse than taking a rental for land anyway.</p>
+
+<p>The questions with regard to the customs of the people of Israel are
+completely met in the Second and Third Chapters of this book.</p>
+
+<p>Fisher, also, we find from his catechism published in 1753, thought it
+necessary to make some excuse for the custom in his time. High
+interest he finds condemned, but moderate interest he tries to defend.</p>
+
+<div class="block2"><p>"Q. 32. What is it to take usury, according to the proper
+signification of the word?</p>
+
+<p>"A. It is to take gain, profit, or interest, for the loan of
+money.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. 33. What kind of usury or interest is lawful?</p>
+
+<p>"A. That which is moderate, easy, and no way oppressive. Deut.
+23:20, compared with Ex. 22:21.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. 34. How do you prove that moderate usury is lawful?</p>
+
+<p>"A. From the very light of nature, which teaches, that since the
+borrower proposes to gain by the loan, the lender should have a
+reasonable share of his profit, as a recompense for the use of
+his money, which he might otherwise have disposed of to his own
+advantage. 1 Cor. 8:13.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. 35. What is the usury condemned in scripture and by what
+reason?</p>
+
+<p>"A. It is the exacting of more interest or gain for the loan of
+money, than is settled by universal consent, and the laws of the
+land. Prov. 28:8. 'He that by usury, and unjust gain,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>increaseth his substance, shall gather it for him that will pity
+the poor.'</p>
+
+<p>"Q. 36. How do you prove from scripture, that moderate usury, or
+common interest, is not oppression in itself?</p>
+
+<p>"A. From the express command laid upon the Israelites not to
+oppress a stranger, Ex. 23:9; and yet their being allowed to
+take usury from him, Deut. 23:20; which they would not have been
+permitted to do, if there had been an intrinsic evil in the
+thing itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. 37. Is it warrantable to take interest from the poor?</p>
+
+<p>"A. By no means; for, if such as are honest, and in needy
+circumstances, borrow a small sum towards a livelihood, and
+repay it in due time, it is all that can be expected of them;
+and therefore the demanding of any profit or interest, or even
+taking any of their necessaries of life in pledge, for the sum,
+seems to be plainly contrary to the law of charity. Ex.
+22:25-28. Ps. 15:5.</p>
+
+<p>"Q. 38. Were not the Israelites forbidden to take usury from
+their brethren, whether poor or rich? Deut. 23:19: 'Thou shalt
+not lend upon usury to thy brother.'</p>
+
+<p>"A. This text is to be restricted to their poor brethren, as it
+is explained, Ex. 22:25, and Lev. 25:35, 36; or, if it respects
+the Israelites indifferently, then it is one of the judicial
+laws peculiar to that people, and of no binding force now."</p></div>
+
+<p>In the answer to the 34th question he appeals to the light of nature.
+That light, as he interprets it, may be applied as follows. We follow
+his language closely and his argument perfectly.</p>
+
+<p>From the very light of nature which teaches, that since the borrower
+of the hoe purposes to dig his own garden with it, the lender should
+have a reasonable amount of his garden dug, as a recompense for the
+use of the hoe, which he might otherwise have used himself to dig his
+own garden.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>Fisher confirms his conclusion with a Scripture reference but it is so
+irrelevant that it would seem Wilson was wiser in omitting Scripture
+reference altogether. 1 Cor. 8:13, "Wherefore, if meat make my brother
+to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my
+brother to offend."</p>
+
+<p>The only explanation the writer ever saw or heard of, that was
+seriously made was this: "If using my brother's money without interest
+offends him, then I will never while the world standeth accept his
+money without interest lest I make my brother to offend." If this is
+the intended application then it may be further applied. If using a
+brother's money at six per cent. offends him then I will surely give
+him ten per cent. lest I cause my brother offence. Could there be a
+more absurd application of a Scripture passage?</p>
+
+<p>The later theologians have seldom mentioned usury and none have
+discussed it at any length, and no divine to our knowledge has
+undertaken a defence. The "Systematic Theology" of Dr. Charles Hodge
+is perhaps the most elaborate and exhaustive. He does not more than
+refer to usury; he does not even mention it by name. But in his
+discussion of the violation of the eighth commandment, he ridicules
+the idea that "a thing is worth what it is worth to the man who
+demands it." He says: "If this be so, then if a man perishing from
+thirst is willing to give his whole estate for a glass of water it is
+right to exact that price; or if a man in danger of drowning should
+offer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>a thousand dollars for a rope, we might refuse to throw it to
+him for a less reward. Such conduct every man feels is worthy of
+execration."</p>
+
+<p>He closes the discussion of the eighth commandment with this
+significant and emphatic sentence: "Many who have stood well in
+society and even in the church will be astonished at the last day to
+find the word 'Thieves' written after their names in the great book of
+judgment."</p>
+
+<p>2. "To prohibit usury is revolutionary."</p>
+
+<p>Revolutions are not necessarily evil. They have been justified in all
+the ages to overthrow tyranny and oppression and to secure freedom and
+establish justice. Oppressors and evil-doers in power have ever been
+anxious to maintain the "statu quo": that is, to be let alone. The
+"Man of Galilee" is the prince of revolutionists. He has overthrown
+and turned down the civilizations of the world and has brought in his
+own, called by his name, Christian civilization. His followers were
+revolutionists. The idolatrous craftsmen of Ephesus, not wishing to be
+disturbed in their profitable business, in order to defeat the work of
+Paul and his associates, raised the cry of revolution. "These that
+have turned the world upside down have come hither also."</p>
+
+<p>The things that are wrong side up must be revolved. When material
+things are found superior to true manhood and womanhood, they must be
+reversed. When the works of men's hands are given <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>a place above the
+hands that formed them, when the results of labor are given a place
+above the vital energy of the laborer, there is call for revolution.</p>
+
+<p>But this revolution should be the most peaceful the world ever saw.
+This need not require the destruction of any property nor the shedding
+of one drop of blood. It need interfere with no man's rights nor
+enforce upon any man a burden he should not be willing to bear. A man
+is not interfering with the rights of another when he is paying his
+debts, and a man should not feel that there is placed upon him a
+burden he is unwilling to carry, when his own property is returned to
+him. Yet that is the ultimate, the extreme goal, to be reached by the
+abolition of usury; every man free from debt and every man caring for
+his own property.</p>
+
+<p>3. "If usury is not permitted, the great modern enterprises are
+impossible."</p>
+
+<p>A great modern enterprise that is not for the general good has no
+right to be. Splendid enterprises are often made possible by the
+sacrifice of the welfare of the many for the interests of the few. The
+splendid plantations of the southern states flourished in time of
+slavery, when the labor of many was subordinate to the welfare of one.
+They are not now possible; yet the present and future general good is
+better secured by the sacrifice of the splendid past. A splendid
+military campaign is only possible by the complete subordination of
+the many to the will and order of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>commanding head. One hundred
+thousand in an army is now receiving the attention of the world. One
+hundred thousand in happy homes are commonplace. The pyramids are
+splendid monuments, but they were not a blessing to the slaves, who
+built them.</p>
+
+<p>Splendid enterprises in which the few command the many may be an
+unmitigated curse.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Between a splendid and a happy land."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>No enterprise, however brilliant, can be in the model state, that
+blesses the few by the losses of the many.</p>
+
+<p>Great and benign enterprises are possible without usury. There is no
+greater enterprise than the postal system in this land and extending
+to all the nations in the postal union. You owe it nothing; like poor
+Richard, "you pay as you go." It owes nothing, pays no interest and
+renders a great service for the small amount you pay. It is a standing
+illustration of the success of a strictly cash business.</p>
+
+<p>The great benevolent missionary enterprises, that send their
+messengers to all lands, over the whole earth, receive and disburse
+the gifts of the benevolent. Their work is not interrupted, but
+continues from age to age.</p>
+
+<p>The commerce of the world can be carried on just as effectively
+without usury. A mortgage does not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>make a farm more productive nor
+does a bonded debt make a railroad or a navigation company more
+efficient. The railroads and express and telegraph and telephone and
+other enterprises are greatly hindered in the service of the public by
+the tribute they are returning to the usurers. Had this farmer not
+this mortgage he could improve his farm and bring from his land better
+results. Were it not for the unceasing drain upon the income of great
+enterprises to meet the interest on bonds, the properties could be
+improved and the public better served at greatly reduced rates. Indeed
+the most successful enterprises are now operated by the owners.</p>
+
+<p>4. "It will be hard to borrow, if you will not pay interest."</p>
+
+<p>It would be a happy condition if no one should want to borrow except
+in urgent need from an accidental strait; if that old independent,
+self-reliant spirit that refused to be indebted to any man could be
+universal, that preferred frank and honest poverty in a cabin, to a
+sham affluence in a mortgaged palace.</p>
+
+<p>It should be hard to borrow, but easy to pay. Usury makes it easy to
+borrow, but hard to repay. Usurers even make it attractive and entice
+the victim into the trap of debt and then it is all but impossible to
+find a way out. An honest, industrious man of good habits must be ever
+on the alert or he will be entangled, sooner or later, with debts.</p>
+
+<p>It will not be harder for an honest man, who is in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>need, to borrow.
+He will not be able to borrow more than his need requires. The debt
+will not increase during the period of disability, and it will be
+easier to repay without increase. The usurer requires more than
+honesty for the security of his loan. The loan to him is precious
+seed, that must be planted where it will grow. To merely have the loan
+returned without increase does not meet his claim. To remit the
+increase, to make it easier for the poor debtor to pay, he would
+regard as a positive loss to himself and a gift to his victim. The
+usurer prefers rich debtors, who have abundant property to secure the
+loan and its increase.</p>
+
+<p>There is a despised class of pawn usurers who prey upon the poor. They
+are regarded as robbers of the poor in their distresses, but their
+business would be impossible, were it not that all avenues of relief
+are closed by usury; "interest must be paid anywhere; why not borrow
+of them though the rates are high?" The moral quality of the act is
+the same; the difference is wholly in the degree of turpitude.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXIV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PER CONTRA; LAND RENTALS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>"If no interest should be charged on money, then no rents should be
+collected."</p>
+
+<p>The early Christian apologists for usury, who felt it imperative to
+explain why it was permitted and practiced among Christians, found few
+arguments. They all agreed that the letter and spirit of the
+Scriptures forbade lending to the poor, upon interest. They also found
+it impossible to show from reason the right of money to an increase,
+but as money can readily be changed into other forms of property, as
+lands, they reversed the arguments; beginning with the assumed premise
+that it is right to charge rental for lands, and as money may
+represent lands, it is therefore right, they say, to charge interest
+on money.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems as lawful for a man to receive interest for money, which
+another takes pains with, improves, but runs the hazard in trade, as
+it is to receive rent for our land, which another takes pains with,
+improves, but runs the hazard of in husbandry."</p>
+
+<p>True logic would have led them to reason forward from the truth they
+had determined; that there is no valid reason justifying interest on
+money. Resting on this truth, and then discovering that money may
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>represent lands, the necessary conclusion must be, that land rentals
+are without justice. Reversing the order of their argument, they
+assumed a false premise, and from it attempted to prove true the very
+proposition they had found to be false.</p>
+
+<p>There is the usury of lands as well as of "money or victuals."</p>
+
+<p>Forty years ago the Omaha Indians went across the river and cut some
+fine grass growing on open land, and carried it to their reservation.
+The owner of the land, living in a distant state, learning of this,
+claimed pay of the Indians and brought suit against them before the
+agent to recover it. The Indians admitted that they had cut and taken
+the grass; they also admitted its value. Their defense was that this
+man had no right superior to theirs. This was a natural growth that
+had cost him no labor, and they had not injured the land. Their
+speaker said, "If the man had dug the land and planted it in corn and
+hoed and tended the corn, the corn would have been his; but the Great
+Spirit made the grass grow and this man gave it no labor nor care; the
+buffalo or the cattle could eat it. Have we not the rights of the
+cattle? This man has no right to it."</p>
+
+<p>The agent decided against them and compelled them to pay the man. They
+were much dissatisfied and felt they were unjustly treated and
+oppressed, because they had to pay that which the man had never
+earned. The red men were not versed in legal statutes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>nor educated in
+the tutelage of usury, but it can not be denied that they interpreted
+very accurately the law written in the reason and conscience: that no
+man has any especial claim to that which he has not earned.</p>
+
+<p>The convictions of white men, and their method of compelling absentee
+owners to pay for the increase in value of their lands, came under the
+writer's observation in a new settlement near the Indians'
+reservation. He found three poor families in a district. They had
+little land and extremely plain homes, but there was a good
+school-house and a good school and an expensive bridge had been built
+across a stream to enable one of the families to reach it. Enquiring
+how they could afford to erect such improvements and support such a
+school, they replied that the lands all around them were owned by
+absentees, speculators in the east, who were holding the lands for the
+advance in value, which they, in their struggling poverty, should make
+by the improvement of the country, when they would gather in an
+"unearned increment." They said they had the power to levy taxes for
+bridges and for schools and they had determined to make the absentees
+in this way compensate them, in part, for the increment they were
+earning for them.</p>
+
+<p>The conviction of right and justice in the white settler did not
+differ from the innate and untutored argument of the Indian. The
+Indians felt oppressed because they were compelled to pay the man for
+what that man had never earned. The white settlers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>determined to
+thwart the purpose of the absentee owners to gain an increment from
+their sacrifice and labor.</p>
+
+<p>The landlord has a right to all that he has produced. When he has
+cleared away the forest or broken up the land; when he has planted the
+vineyard and builded the winepress, he has a right to let this out to
+husbandmen to gather the fruits of his preparation and planting and to
+share with them in the proportion each has contributed to the
+production, but to hold all that he himself has produced and yet claim
+a part of the product of another, is usury. A farmer retires from his
+farm because no longer able or willing to continue its cultivation. He
+has an undisputed right to a full reward for all his own labor, and
+for all he has purchased from others that he leaves in the farm. There
+must be a compensation for the transformation of the wilderness into a
+farm at the first, for the fertility that may have been added to the
+soil, for the orchards, vineyards, houses, barns and every improvement
+he may have made and left on the farm. He has an undisputed right to
+all the labor remaining in the farm. If he sells he expects
+compensation for all this.</p>
+
+<p>But if he sells, he must begin at once to consume its price, unless he
+becomes a usurer and is supported by the interest. If he does not
+sell, but retains his farm, he must also begin at once to consume the
+farm.</p>
+
+<p>For him to demand of his tenant that the farm shall remain as valuable
+as when he left it, the soil not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>permitted to become less fertile,
+the buildings to be kept from decay and restored when destroyed, the
+orchards to be kept vigorous and young by the planting of new trees
+and vines; in short, the farm to be preserved in full value and yet
+pay a rental, is usury in land.</p>
+
+<p>The preservation of a farm or land and its restoration to the owner
+unimpaired after a term of years involves far more than persons not
+informed suppose. It seems to them unreasonable to farm a field and
+only return the unimpaired field to the owner.</p>
+
+<p>While land is stable and possibly the most easily preserved of all
+forms of property, at least a thief cannot carry it away, yet the
+preservation of land involves great care and risk.</p>
+
+<p>The taking of any crop from any land reduces its fertility. On the
+virgin, western fertile lands the farmers laughed at the thought that
+they should ever need to return fertilizers, but it was only a few
+years until they yearned for the fertility they had extravagantly
+wasted. Buildings inevitably decay and they may be destroyed by fire
+or storm. Orchards may be overturned by a cyclone or be destroyed by
+blight or by the thousand enemies of the various varieties of fruit
+trees. The land may be injured by washing that may require years to
+repair. A single storm has destroyed fields in this way that never can
+be restored. Noxious weeds take possession of land that can only be
+eradicated by infinite pains. In this state certain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>weeds are
+declared outlaws and must be destroyed by the farmer for the
+protection of his neighbors. The farmer in this locality must have an
+alert eye for Canada thistles and oxeye daisy. It often causes more
+labor to eradicate them than the land is worth on which they are
+growing.</p>
+
+<p>If the annual renter was required to give bond for the return of the
+farm unimpaired, returning that which the crops and time must consume
+and destroy, taking all risks of every character upon himself, a
+thoughtful man, though poor and needing the opportunity, would
+hesitate. It might involve him in an obligation he could not discharge
+in his whole life through conditions and providences over which he has
+no control.</p>
+
+<p>Practically in this country the owner renting a farm from year to year
+does consume it. It begins at once to decline in fertility, the
+improvements begin to fall into decay, weeds take possession, washes
+occur and are not repaired, and in a few years the half of the value
+is gone. The owner is fortunate if he has received in rentals
+sufficient to restore its former value.</p>
+
+<p>Under a system of perpetual tenantry the case is different. If the
+fertility declines it is the tenant's loss. The improvements are his
+and may be sold as one could sell ordinary farm tools, but not to be
+removed. If they are impaired or destroyed it does not affect the
+annual rental.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>The landed proprietor in city or country, who has permanent tenants,
+who are required to make every improvement and keep up perfectly the
+fertility, and who pay an annual rental, is in the same class as those
+who are receiving annual interest. The landlord practically holds a
+perpetual mortgage, and the rental is the interest or increase exacted
+generation after generation.</p>
+
+<p>The debtor working under a mortgage is cheered by the hope that he may
+be able, some day, to lift it, but the perpetual tenant on entailed
+lands knows that he is doomed to hopeless tenantry. He can never own
+the land and he is in the power of the landlord, who is often
+oppressive.</p>
+
+<p>Calvin, in his letter of apology for usury of money, speaks of the
+injustice of the landlords in requiring a rental for "some barren
+farm" and of the "harsher" conditions imposed upon the tenants. Indeed
+his whole argument, when summed up, is, that the usury of lands is
+more cruel and oppressive than the usury of money.</p>
+
+<p>While it is not yet true in America, yet considering the landlordships
+of Ireland and Great Britain and the older countries, with their
+unremitted exactions, grinding the life out of their tenants for a
+mere subsistence, it is likely that the race is today suffering more
+from the injustice and oppression of usury of land than from the usury
+of money.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>The land question is too large for one short chapter or for one small
+book. It requires more and deeper study than the subject has ever yet
+received. The ownership of lands cannot be absolute; it must be
+limited by the rights of those who live upon them, but the limitations
+have never yet been clearly defined. If a man has a right to live he
+must have a right to a place to live. If a child has a right to be
+born it must have a right to a place to be born. It cannot be that the
+mass of our race only touch the earth by the sufferance of those who
+claim to own it.</p>
+
+<p>The unprecedented rapidity of the development of this country is owing
+more to its wise and beneficent land laws than to anything else. They
+are not perfect but the most favorable to the landless that the world
+has ever known. No landlordism, no binding up lands by entail to make
+it forever impossible to gain a title to a portion of the soil, but
+our land laws, wisely devised, gave hope of a home to the homeless
+everywhere. The result was that our people from the eastern part of
+our own country, and the landless from across the seas, swarmed over
+the mountains and filled the Ohio valley and pushed on to the great
+Mississippi and Missouri valleys, and in three generations have
+transformed this waste into happy homes. The possession of land, of a
+home, ennobles the character, produces a patriotic love of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>this
+country and stimulates devotion to her institutions. The landless
+foreigner who makes here a home of his own is unwavering in his
+loyalty to the country of his adoption. Those foreigners, who do not
+fall in love with our institutions and do not become assimilated with
+our people, are tenants here as they were before they came here. They
+are not attached to our soil; they do not secure homes of their own
+and are therefore restless and a menace.</p>
+
+<p>A dangerous tendency has been developing throughout our whole land in
+these later years. The usury of lands is on the increase. Tenantry is
+becoming more common on the farms in the country, while the mass of
+our city populations are living in rented houses or flats or crowded
+tenements.</p>
+
+<p>The yearning for a home of one's own is deeply imbedded in human
+nature. To be denied the privilege of living in one's own house is one
+of the greatest trials of a life. This tendency to tenantry is not
+because our people have come to care less for a home of their own, but
+the conditions are not such as to make a purchase of a home
+profitable; the interest on the purchase price is greater than the
+usury of the land or rental. The natural and desirable state is for
+every family to own and occupy their home, and those conditions should
+be encouraged which make it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>unprofitable for any one to own real
+property he does not himself occupy, and which make it easy and
+profitable for every family to own their own home.</p>
+
+<p>When all lands are owned by those who occupy them, the prophet Micah's
+picture of the millennial dawn will be realized. Every man shall sit
+under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one shall molest
+him or make him afraid, by demanding a rental or by serving a writ of
+ejectment.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PER CONTRA; POLITICAL ECONOMIST.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The students of political economy are not always reformers. It is not
+their purpose nor the object of their studies to transform society.
+They only endeavor to explain why things are as they are. They find
+the taking of usury all but universal, and they endeavor to give the
+reasons for the prevailing custom. The subject is usually but slightly
+touched upon and dismissed with a few sentences.</p>
+
+<p>Few economists claim that interest or rental is a part of the cost of
+production. They mostly affirm that it is no part of production; that
+it is merely the price paid for the opportunity to produce. The lender
+of money makes a loan to the borrower and thus gives him a better
+opportunity to produce than he had before. The landlord for the rental
+withdraws his hand from over his land and gives the renter the
+opportunity to produce a harvest.</p>
+
+<p>In justification, or at least in explanation of this exaction for an
+opportunity, three reasons are usually given. These may be briefly
+stated as risk, time and abstinence.</p>
+
+<p>1. There is some risk in every investment. There is a possibility that
+the most honest, industrious and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>careful debtor may by some
+misfortune not be able to return the loan and it would therefore be
+lost. To guard against this the usurer requires the rate of interest
+to be graded by the measure of risk.</p>
+
+<p>This is claimed to be of the nature of insurance, the borrower paying
+the premium. The profits of insurance are secured by collecting a
+larger premium than necessary to pay all losses. On this theory, the
+gain of usury is in the excess that can be secured of increase over
+the amounts lost.</p>
+
+<p>This is the reverse of insurance. Insurance is the payment by an owner
+of property to a company who guarantees its preservation. Usury is the
+payment by the company to the owner for the privilege of guaranteeing
+that he shall not suffer loss.</p>
+
+<p>Business involves a risk usually covered by insurance, but no honest
+man expects to make a profit out of his insurance.</p>
+
+<p>2. A loan is made for a more or less extended time. Time is therefore
+claimed to be a ground for usury charges.</p>
+
+<p>This claim rests on the assumption that time will increase wealth. But
+time is the great destroyer; time does not make gardens and farms, but
+covers them with weeds and sends them back to a wilderness; time does
+not erect a house, but pulls it down; time does not build a city, but
+causes it to crumble and a few ages buries it under the dust; time
+does not "incubate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>eggs, but turns them putrid; it does not transform
+into fowls. If eggs are developed into chickens the difference between
+eggs and chickens is the reward of the incubator."</p>
+
+<p>Aside from the spirit of benevolence and sympathy with the needy there
+are three selfish reasons why a time loan may be made. First, the
+owner has no present need of it and wishes to be rid of its care.
+Second, the owner shall need it at a distant date and he wishes it
+preserved intact against that time. But these afford no ground for a
+charge of increase. He who stands and resists the ravages of time
+until the day it is needed does a positive service and deserves a
+reward. Third, the lender wishes to appropriate the earnings of
+another during the period of time given. This is the usurer's reason,
+and were it not for this time would lose its importance as an element;
+it is certain that long time loans would not be so attractive.</p>
+
+<p>3. "The reward of abstinence" is a reward for refraining from
+consuming one's own wealth.</p>
+
+<p>"You can not have your cake and eat it. If you do not eat it, you have
+your cake, but not a cake and a half. Not a cake and a quarter
+tomorrow, dunce, however abstinent you may be, only the cake you have,
+if the mice do not eat it in the night."&mdash;Ruskin.</p>
+
+<p>The usual illustration is that of Jacob. He practiced abstinence in
+refraining from eating the bowl of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>pottage and giving it to his
+hungry brother. The reward of his abstinence was his brother's
+birthright.</p>
+
+<p>If I do not take my soup now it is a great favor to have it preserved
+for me and served later, not cold and stale, but fresh and hot. If I
+deny myself now, for any cause, I can ask no more than that my meal
+shall be served, perfectly, later. This was all that Jacob could in
+justice demand of Esau.</p>
+
+<p>It should be remembered, that because Jacob took Esau's birthright, as
+a reward of his abstinence, he was accounted a robber, was compelled
+to flee from his home, and not for twenty years see his father's face;
+that the consciousness of this sin and of the merited vengeance of the
+brother, whom he thereby defrauded and whom he thought was on his
+track, caused that night of struggle when he could not let the angel
+go, until he had his promise of deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>Abstinence, to be benevolent, must be an act of personal loving
+self-sacrifice for another. Benevolent abstinence is its own reward
+and asks no more. Abstinence in hope of gain, denying himself while
+another is using his wealth, cannot be regarded as an act of
+benevolence, but of a selfish grovelling greed; more gratified to see
+his wealth increase than to himself enjoy its use. That is the spirit
+of the miser and receives the contempt of all right thinking people.</p>
+
+<p>That the political economists are right in their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>analysis of the
+common thought of usury; that risk, time and abstinence are the
+elements of its basis in the popular mind, may not be denied, but if
+these are in fact the elements, then usury has no standing in equity
+and must be condemned by every enlightened conscience.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXVI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>USURY IN HISTORY.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>It would require volumes to fully present the history of usury. A very
+brief summary must suffice in this place. Yet this synopsis may serve
+as a guide to those who may wish to pursue the investigation further
+and who have access to any considerable library of general and
+ecclesiastical history.</p>
+
+<p>The exacting of usury has always been more or less practiced, and
+there has always been a contention against it as impolitic and wrong.
+In heathendom the philosophers and economists and common people were
+usually arrayed against it, and the voice of christendom has been
+practically unanimous in its denunciation until the 17th century. (For
+History of Usury in the Church, see Chapter X.)</p>
+
+<p>Greece: Greece had no laws forbidding usury. The trade in money was
+left, like the trade in every thing else, without legal restraint. The
+law declared that the usurer should not demand a higher rate than that
+fixed by the original contract; it also advised "Let the usury on
+money be moderate." One per cent. per month was the usual rate.</p>
+
+<p>There were among the Greeks at various times thoughtful men, who
+violently opposed the taking of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>increase. Solon, of aristocratic
+blood, but with strong sympathies for the oppressed classes, led a
+Nehemiah-like reformation. Solon was wise and patriotic. His name is a
+synonym for unselfish devotion to the public good. He was given
+authority in Greece in times of great financial distress. Debts were
+increasing. Mortgage stones were erected at the borders of each tract
+of land, giving the name of the creditor and the amount of his claim.
+The interest could not be paid. Interest taking had concentrated the
+wealth and power of the state in a few hands. The farmer lost all hope
+and was only a laborer on the farm he once owned. The debtor who had
+no farm to work for his creditor was yet in a worse condition; he was
+the mere slave of his creditor and could be sold by him. The free
+farmers were fast disappearing. The most of them were struggling with
+miserable poverty. Solon at once came to the relief of this suffering
+class. He released those who were enslaved and brought back those who
+had been sold abroad. The great work of Solon for this oppressed class
+has caused his name to be revered by all who have studied the history
+of his times.</p>
+
+<p>Plato opposed usury, but he does not give extended reasons. Also the
+philosopher, Aristotle. His name is yet illustrious in the departments
+of natural and moral science and economics. With regard to usury he
+said: "Of all modes of accumulation, the worst and most unnatural is
+interest. This is the utmost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>corruption of artificial degeneracy;
+standing in the same relation to commerce that commerce does to
+economy. By commerce money is perverted from the purpose of exchange
+to that of gain; still this gain is occasioned by the mutual transfer
+of different objects; but interest, by transferring merely the same
+object from one hand to another generates money from money, and the
+product thus generated is called offspring (toxos) as being precisely
+the same nature as that from which it proceeds."</p>
+
+<p>Rome: In the early ages of Rome there were no laws regulating the
+loans of money. The practice was common and was one of the most
+frequent subjects of popular complaint. In the celebrated secession of
+the lower classes of the people to Mons Sacer, when civil strife and
+fraternal bloodshed was threatened, the loudest outcry was against the
+oppression of exhorbitant interest exacted by wealthy citizens of
+those who were obliged to borrow. The common rate was twelve per cent.
+per annum. This is inferred from the fact that six per cent. was
+called half interest and three per cent. one-fourth interest.</p>
+
+<p>The early records of Rome prove conclusively the odium attached to the
+business of money-lending for profit. In the codification of laws in
+the fifth century B.C. the rate of usury was fixed at one per cent.
+per month. This limitation of usury was enacted after a long and
+bitter contest between the rich lenders and the poorer classes.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>A compromise seems to have been made in the assigned punishments. The
+laws for the collection of debts and the punishment of exacting more
+than the law permitted were alike extremely cruel.</p>
+
+<p>The creditors of an insolvent debtor were given the power of cutting
+his body in pieces and the power of selling his children into slavery.
+The penalty of taking more than this legal interest was punished with
+more severity than theft. The thief must restore double, but the
+usurer must restore fourfold. This we learn from Cato's treatise on
+"Agriculture." Cato's own opinion of usury is shown in the answer
+which he made when he was asked what he thought of usury, his reply
+was, "What do you think of murder?"</p>
+
+<p>Nearly a hundred years later the Licinian law forbade all increase. A
+little later we find the one-half of one per cent. permitted by law.
+Then under Sylla the legal rate is made three per cent. In the time of
+Antony and Cleopatra it is four per cent. For a time there was utter
+confusion and intolerably oppressive rates prevailed. Horace, in his
+Satires, speaks of one lending at sixty per cent. In the reign of
+Tiberius C&aelig;sar, Rome was again shaken with another usury sedition, an
+uprising of the people against the usurers. The law was finally
+adjusted in the Justinian Code, by a compromise permitting six per
+cent. and severely restraining the exorbitant rates.</p>
+
+<p>Three hundred and twenty-three years B.C., Livy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>speaks of a creditor
+who kept his debtor in irons, claiming, besides the debt, the interest
+which he exacted with greatest severity. It was soon after decreed
+that this cruelty should end and that no citizen should be placed in
+irons or sold into slavery for debt.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the republic the rate was twenty-four per cent.</p>
+
+<p>England: In the earliest periods of which we have any records we find
+that the doctrine, that letting money to hire was sinful, prevailed
+universally over the island of Great Britain. It was the prevailing
+opinion that interest, or usury, as it was then called, was unjust
+gain, forbidden by divine law, and which a good Christian could
+neither receive nor pay. In common law the practice of taking increase
+was classed among the lowest crimes against public morals. So odious
+was it among Christians that the practice was confined almost wholly
+to the Jews, who did not exact usury of Jews but of the Christians.</p>
+
+<p>The laws of King Alfred, about 900 A.D., directed that the effects of
+money-lenders upon usury should be forfeited to the king, their lands
+to the lords under whom they were held, and they should not be buried
+in consecrated ground.</p>
+
+<p>By the laws of Edward the Confessor, about 1050 A.D., the usurer
+forfeited all his property and was declared an outlaw and banished
+from England. In the reign of Henry II, about the close of the
+twelfth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>century, the estates of usurers were forfeited at their death
+and their children were disinherited.</p>
+
+<p>His successor, Richard I, was yet more severe, forbidding the usurers
+attending his coronation, nor would he protect them from mob violence.</p>
+
+<p>During the thirteenth century the severities against the usurers were
+not relaxed. King John confiscated their gathered wealth without
+scruple. It is recorded that he exacted an enormous fine of a Jew in
+Bristol for his usuries, and when the Jew refused to pay he ordered
+one of his teeth to be drawn daily until he should pay. The Jew is
+said to have endured the pulling of seven, but then weakened and paid
+the fine.</p>
+
+<p>Henry III was equally harsh and severe in his measures. He exacted all
+he could and then turned them over to the Earl of Cornwall. "The one
+flayed and the other emboweled." It is written in the chronicles of
+England, 1251 A.D., "By such usurers and licentious liurs as belong to
+him, the realme had alreadie become sore corrupted."</p>
+
+<p>In the fourteenth century, under the three Edwards, the taking of
+interest was an indictable offence and Edward III made it a capital
+crime.</p>
+
+<p>In the fifteenth century, under Henry VII, the penalty was fixed at
+one hundred pounds and the penalty of the church added, which was
+excommunication.</p>
+
+<p>Attorney General Noy, in the reign of James I, thought the taking of
+money by usury was no better <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>than taking a man's life. He said:
+"Usurers are well ranked with murderers."</p>
+
+<p>In the sixteenth century, under Henry VIII, it was enacted that all
+interest above ten per cent. was unlawful. Less was not collectable by
+law, but was not a punishable offence.</p>
+
+<p>Edward VI revived the old laws condemning all interest.</p>
+
+<p>Mary I, next following, executed these laws with extreme severity.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth restored the laws of Henry VIII, in which usury less than
+ten per cent. was not a punishable offence. This edict of Elizabeth
+adds: "In the interpretation of the law it shall be largely and
+strongly construed for the repression of usury."</p>
+
+<p>This law of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, with the rate of interest
+reduced, was the statute law of England until 1854, when all the usury
+laws were repealed.</p>
+
+<p>In 1694 William and Mary II entered into a contract to secure a
+permanent loan and pledged the kingdom to pay interest on it forever.</p>
+
+<p>The loan marked the turning point in the popular mind with regard to
+usury. As it was approved in their necessity by the king and queen at
+the head of the Protestant world, ecclesiastics began to shift their
+ground and to apologize for, and excuse, that which had been formerly
+unequivocably condemned. As the crown was the head of both the church
+and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>state, the condemnation of usury seemed tinged both with
+disloyalty and heresy. The courts too began to modify their decisions
+to bring them into harmony with the action of the crown.</p>
+
+<p>The change in the usury laws were not made by enactments of
+Parliament, but by the decisions of courts. The precedents were
+gradually accumulated and the statutes were merely made to conform to
+them.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXVII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>FRANCIS BACON.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>From the short dissertation on usury found in the works of Bacon we
+learn that the taking of usury was a recognized evil and odious in his
+time.</p>
+
+<p>It will be noticed that he eliminates risk from usury and sees that
+"In the game of certainties against uncertainties" usury is sure to
+win. It will be noticed also that he mentions only economic arguments
+against usury. He does not give ethical and moral reasons. He does not
+mention the want of sympathy for the poor and their oppression.</p>
+
+<p>In his statement of the arguments in defence he implies that the
+usurer is less grasping than the man he knew who said "The devil take
+this usury."</p>
+
+<p>This is the very opposite of the picture of the usurer given by his
+contemporary, Shakespeare, in his character, Shylock.</p>
+
+<p>His specious argument for the regulation of the evil "For some small
+matter for the license" is familiar to modern reformers in connection
+with other sins. He speaks of the reduction of the usury rates as a
+general good and believes "It will no whit discourage the lender."
+Wrong-doers in all the ages have been ready to part with a portion of
+the profits of an unlawful business for the cover of the authority of
+the state.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>The following is his discussion in full</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<p class="cen">OF USURY.</p>
+
+<p>"Many have made witty invectives against usury. They say that it is a
+pity the devil should have God's part, which is the tithe. That the
+usurer is the greatest Sabbath breaker, because his plough goeth every
+Sunday. That the usurer is the drone that Virgil speaketh of:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.</i></p>
+
+<p>"That the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for mankind
+after the fall, which was, <i>in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum;
+non in sudore vultus alieni</i>; (in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
+bread&mdash;not in the sweat of another's face.) That usurers should have
+orange-tawney bonnets, because they do Judaize. That it is against
+nature for money to beget money; and the like. I say only this, that
+usury is a <i>concessum propter duritiem cordis</i>; (a thing allowed by
+reason of the hardness of men's hearts): for since there must be
+borrowing and lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not
+lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have made suspicious
+and cunning propositions of banks, discovery of men's estates and
+other inventions. But few have spoken of usury usefully. It is good to
+set before us the incommodities and the commodities of usury, that the
+good may be either weighed out or culled out; and warily to provide,
+that while we make forth to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>that which is better, we meet not with
+that which is worse.</p>
+
+<p>"The discommodities of usury are, first, it makes fewer merchants. For
+were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie still,
+but would in great part be employed upon merchandising; which is the
+<i>vena porta</i> of wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor
+merchants. For as a farmer can not husband his ground so well if he
+sit at a great rent, so the merchant can not drive his trade so well,
+if he sit at great usury. The third is incident to the other two; and
+that is the decay of customs of kings or states, which ebb or flow
+with merchandising. The fourth that it bringeth the wealth or treasure
+of a realm or state into a few hands.</p>
+
+<p>"For the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties, at
+the end of the game most of the money will be in the box; and ever a
+state flourisheth when wealth is more equally spread. The fifth that
+it beats down the price of land; for the employment of money is
+chiefly either purchasing or merchandising; and usury waylays both.
+The sixth, that it doth dull and damp all industries, improvements and
+new inventions, wherein money would be stirring, if it were not for
+this slug. The last, that it is the canker and ruin of many men's
+estates; which in process of time breeds a public poverty.</p>
+
+<p>"On the other side, the commodities of usury are, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>first, that
+howsoever usury in some respect hindereth merchandising, yet in some
+other it advanceth it; for it is certain that the greatest part of
+trade is driven by young merchants upon borrowing at interest; so as
+if the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will ensue
+presently a great stand of trade. The second is, that were it not for
+this easy borrowing upon interest, man's necessities would draw upon
+them a most sudden undoing; in that they would be forced to sell their
+means (be it lands or goods) far under foot; and so, whereas usury
+doth but gnaw upon them, bad markets would swallow them quite up. As
+for mortgaging or pawning, it will little mend the matter; for either
+men will not take pawns without use; or if they do, they will look
+precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel monied man in the
+country that would say: 'The devil take this usury, it keeps us from
+forfeitures of mortagages and bonds.' The third and last is, that it
+is a vanity to conceive that there would be ordinary borrowing without
+profit; and it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences
+that would ensue if borrowing be cramped. Therefore, to speak of the
+abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever had it, in one kind
+or rate, or other. So as that opinion must be sent to Utopia.</p>
+
+<p>"To speak now of the reformation and reiglement of usury; how the
+discommodities of it may be best avoided, and the commodities of it
+retained. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>appears by the balance of commodities and discommodities
+of usury, two things are to be reconciled. The one, that the tooth of
+usury be grinded that it bite not too much; the other, that there be
+left open a means to invite monied men to lend to the merchants for
+the continuing and quickening of trade. This can not be done except
+you introduce two several sorts of usury, a less and a greater. For if
+you reduce usury to one low rate it will ease the common borrower, but
+the merchant will be to seek for money. And it is to be noted, that
+the trade of merchandise, being the most lucrative, may bear usury at
+a good rate: other contracts not so.</p>
+
+<p>"To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly thus: That there
+be two rates of interest; the one free and general for all, the other
+under license only, to certain persons and in certain places of
+merchandising. First, therefore, let usury in general be reduced to
+five in the hundred; and let that rate be proclaimed free and current;
+and, let the state shut itself out to take any penalty for the same.
+This will preserve borrowing from any general stop or dryness. This
+will ease infinite borrowers in the country. This will, in great part,
+raise the price of land, because land purchased at sixteen years'
+purchase will yield six in the hundred and somewhat more; whereas this
+rate of interest yields but five. This, by like reason, will encourage
+and edge industrious and profitable improvements; because many will
+rather venture in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>that kind than take five in the hundred, especially
+having been used to greater profit. Secondly, let there be certain
+persons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury at a higher
+rate; and let it be with the cautions following: Let the rate be, even
+with the merchant himself, somewhat more easy than that he used
+formerly to pay; for by that means all borrowers shall have some ease
+by this reformation, be he merchant or whosoever. Let it be bank or
+common stock, but every man be master of his own money. Not that I
+altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked in regard of
+certain suspicions. Let the state be answered some small matter for
+the license, and the rest left to the lender; for if the abatement be
+but small, it will no whit discourage the lender. For he, for example,
+that took before ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to
+eight in the hundred than give over his trade in usury, and go from
+certain gains to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in
+number indefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and
+towns of merchandising; for then they will be hardly able to color
+other men's monies in the country. So as the license of nine will not
+suck away the current rate of five; for no man will lend his monies
+far off, nor put them into unknown hands.</p>
+
+<p>"If it be objected that this doth in a sort authorize usury, which
+before was in some places but permissive; the answer is, that it is
+better to mitigate usury by declaration, than to suffer it to rage by
+connivance."</p>
+
+<p class="cen">(Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. 12, Page 218.)</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXVIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>WHY THIS TRUTH WAS NEGLECTED.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>That we may find the way of return, we must consider the reasons of
+our wandering. We must reverse our direction and retrace our steps.
+These reasons are not occult or hard to find.</p>
+
+<p>1. The departure had its root in man's depraved nature. The natural
+tendency is evil, while the graces must be cultivated with great
+diligence. Evils grow as weeds grow in the garden, as thorns and
+thistles and briers cover the untended fields. This evil has not been
+disturbed by any book exposing its harm for a hundred years, and it
+has been two hundred since it was treated as a violation of the Eighth
+Commandment. This evil, thus left undisturbed, has flourished and
+spread over all the world.</p>
+
+<p>2. Two and three hundred years ago the great doctrines were occupying
+the thought of Christendom. The doctrines of free grace, by repentance
+and an exercise of faith, were receiving close attention. The creeds
+of the denominations were being unfolded, and their defense and proof
+absorbed the thought of the wise and good. What shall we believe was
+the question?</p>
+
+<p>3. Other great evils stood before the faces of those who labored for
+the uplifting of the race. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>Practices attached to the ecclesiastics,
+and degrading the organized church, were flaunted before the eyes of
+those who stood for true faith and pure living. These were attacked
+with vigor, while this evil, which had been especially the sin of the
+Jew, crept in and entrenched itself.</p>
+
+<p>4. Covetousness is one of those secret sins that may lurk in the heart
+while there is maintained a fair outward life. Few will admit this
+sin. Priests declare that this is the one sin that is never
+voluntarily confessed. Usury is the common outward activity of this
+inward state, and when usury was made lawful by the statutes of the
+realm, the voice of conscience was silenced. The conscience that would
+cry out in protest against a rate of interest forbidden by law, will
+permit the same rate when the statutes of the state are changed.</p>
+
+<p>5. Early education and natural buoyancy have led the debtors to be
+less sensitive to the burdens of usury upon them.</p>
+
+<p>A large portion of our present arithmetic is taken up with percentage.
+The position of the student, in mind, is that of the creditor. This is
+presumed in the statements of the problems and lies in the thought of
+the student in all the calculations. If the statements of propositions
+and their conclusions were made to place the student on the debtor
+side, then the study of percentage would educate him to a horror of
+this sin.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>When a loan is made, the attention of the borrower is seldom called to
+the rapidity of increase and the dangers of accumulation. If this were
+done, and a prompt return of both principal and interest required, at
+the end of the term the borrower would soon be alarmed at the
+hopelessness of permanent gain through debt.</p>
+
+<p>Peter Cooper, it is said, taught this lesson to a friend who was
+talking of borrowing for six months at three per cent. We clip the
+following story:</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you borrow money for so short a time?" Mr. Cooper asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Because the brokers will not negotiate bills for longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you wish," said Mr. Cooper, "I will discount your note at
+that rate for three years."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you in earnest?" asked the would-be borrower.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I am. I will discount your note for ten thousand dollars
+for three years at that rate. Will you do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I will," said the merchant.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mr. Cooper. "Just sign this note for ten thousand
+dollars, payable in three years, and give me your check for eight
+hundred dollars, and the transaction will be complete."</p>
+
+<p>"But where is the money for me?" asked the astonished merchant.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>"You don't get any money," was the reply. "Your interest for
+thirty-six months at three per cent. per month amounts to one hundred
+and eight per cent., or ten thousand eight hundred dollars. Therefore,
+your check for eight hundred dollars just makes us even."</p>
+
+<p>There has come to this table, a letter recently sent by a wise uncle
+to his nephew, who sought from him his first loan. Usually the
+interest is minimized while the hopeful youth is permitted to indulge
+his dreams of fancied good, to be easily gained by a loan.</p>
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p>"My Near Nephew:</p>
+
+<p>"I enclose a draft for forty dollars with a note for the amount to me,
+due in one year at six per cent., which please sign and return to me.
+This is probably the first note that you have ever given, and there
+are one or two things about a note that maybe you have never
+discovered. One striking peculiarity is, that they always come due,
+though they are drawn for a year. It may seem a long time, but when
+you have a note come due at the end of the year it seems altogether
+too short and has gone before you are aware of it. Another peculiar
+thing is, that while interest is a little thing apparently, yet it
+never works on the eight-hour system, but continues steadily through
+the whole twenty-four, and through the whole seven days in the week.
+Its about the most industrious animal of my acquaintance, working
+nights and Sundays as well, and apparently never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>becoming in the
+least fatigued, consequently, though it appears to be so slow, still
+if you do not watch it closely, the first thing you know you will be
+astonished at what an amount of work it has accomplished. There are
+other things equally striking about notes, but these two are the most
+important, and the ones I particularly wish to impress on your mind.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">"&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</span></p>
+
+<p>"P.S.&mdash;Don't think from the tone of this that I'm not willing to let
+you have the money. I merely want to impress on you what it means to
+go in debt."</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>6. The evil was not hitherto so much felt. This, especially, is true
+in the United States. Great natural resources, unclaimed wealth, made
+the burden of a small debt unfelt. By appropriating the vast unbroken
+forests and untilled lands and unopened mines of precious metals, of
+coal and iron and gas and oil, there seemed such evident advantages
+from the borrowed capital that the evils were unnoticed, until these
+natural resources had been appropriated and were held in private
+hands, and the opportunities are found to be denied those who have
+come so closely after.</p>
+
+<p>This system made it possible for one generation to grasp a continent;
+to grasp all its natural resources and hold them, and compel tribute
+from all that came after. Taking only a limited and short-time view,
+the advantages seemed great and the evils small. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>looking at the
+welfare of the generations its evils might have been clearly
+discerned.</p>
+
+<p>7. The evil was never before so great. The vast accumulations of
+wealth, so sure to follow the operation of usury, was hitherto
+unknown. Corporations, combinations for the handling of great
+interests, grasping the natural resources and monopolizing the natural
+wealth, gaining franchises covering a monopoly of privileges in
+transportation, light and communication by the telephone or telegraph,
+are comparatively recent.</p>
+
+<p>8. The first appearance of indebtedness is a seeming, but false,
+prosperity. The young man who takes possession of a tract of land and
+then, with borrowed capital, improves it, building his house and his
+barns and his permanent buildings, and stocking it with animals that
+please his taste, has the appearance of abounding prosperity, but as
+the unending grind of usury continues, these, he comes to feel, are
+but weights to which he is chained, and in an agony of sweat he is
+compelled to wear out his life.</p>
+
+<p>A city incurring debt is seemingly prosperous. Bonds are issued for
+the erection of attractive public buildings, for the paving of muddy
+streets, for the beautifying of public parks. These bond issues are
+signs of the prosperity of only one class, the usurers. The ultimate
+burden is upon the laborers, who must pay every bond, interest and
+principal.</p>
+
+<p>9. The opponents of usury have not always been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>wise. They have
+indulged in bitter invective rather than solid argument. The language
+of the fathers, especially, was unqualified in severity.</p>
+
+<p>When the absurdity and unmitigated evil of usury is seen, and one
+feels that adequacy requires superlatives, it is not easy to restrain
+language and use mild terms. The divine prohibition was so clear and
+the effects so oppressive, especially to the poor, that it did not
+appear to the fathers to require argument. The divine authority was
+not, therefore, followed up with the economic basis or reasons for the
+prohibitions.</p>
+
+<p>Usury crept in because it was not barred out by the sound reasoning of
+those who knew its evils. The vituperations were ignored as the
+rantings of ill-balanced minds.</p>
+
+<p>10. Like every other wrong, it feeds upon itself. The very conditions
+it produces fosters and promotes its growth. At first directing effort
+and thought along material lines, ultimately the ideals become
+groveling. The purposes of a worthy life and the characteristics of a
+noble manhood are perverted. There comes a wrong idea of true
+greatness. There arises a false measure of manhood. That measure is
+wealth, and of all the grounds of distinction among men, wealth is the
+most sordid. Success is accumulation of wealth. Prosperity is getting
+rich. Whatever else a man may accomplish in life, if he remains poor
+he is accounted a failure. Yet to this pass, such a pass, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>have we
+come, that our national and age characteristic is that of material
+gain, commonly called commercialism. This was not the thought of our
+fathers who subordinated material gain to the development of noble
+manhood. This is a perversion of our American traditions, and is a
+menace to better development of the individual and of the state.</p>
+
+<p>11. Wrong laws mislead the judgment and pervert the conscience. If
+there is a want of harmony between the moral and statute law when
+selfish interests are served, the moral law will be ignored. State
+laws ease the conscience that would be otherwise troubled. The rate of
+usury fixed by a state is used as a moral guide. When the legal rate
+is six per cent. it is wrong to take eight, but when the legal rate is
+ten per cent. then it is not wrong to take ten. The familiarity of our
+people with laws recognizing and enforcing interest rates has
+perverted their ideas of right and justice by substituting the statute
+for the divine moral law. But state laws can also trouble the
+conscience that is at ease and be a teacher of righteousness. Let the
+ancient laws forbidding usury be placed upon our statute books and
+enforced, and it would not be half a generation till the conscience
+and reason both approved.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing in history more shocked the conscience of Christendom than the
+compact of William and Mary with usurers in 1694. That was in direct
+conflict with the teachings and practice of all the ages among
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>Christians. It has taken two hundred years for courts and states and
+financial institutions to first dull the Christian conscience and then
+secure its approval. The world now awaits the coming of some captain
+of righteousness, equal in authority and influence in church and
+state, who will organize a return to the faith and practice of the
+fathers.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXXIX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>CRUSHED TRUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The practice of usury is so general, and it is apparently so fully
+approved and sanctioned by many of the most intelligent and virtuous
+of our people, that those who believe in its prohibition and are
+disposed to pessimism may be utterly discouraged.</p>
+
+<p>Truth must eventually prevail. Any custom or system built upon
+falsehood must sooner or later yield. The house built upon the sand
+must in time fall. It may be undermined by years of instruction and so
+gradually give way that the date of its overthrow can hardly be
+determined, or it may in its strength be taken in a storm and fall.
+The whole commercial credit system built on this monstrous falsehood
+must either crumble or tumble.</p>
+
+<p>The prophet Isaiah was hopeful and happy in the midst of the most
+unfavorable conditions of corruption and alienation from the truth,
+for he was able with his prophetic eye to catch a glimpse of the good
+time coming, when righteousness should completely triumph. "He shall
+teach us of His ways and we shall walk in His steps." "With
+righteousness shall He judge the poor." "Righteousness shall be the
+girdle of His loins."</p>
+
+<p>No prophet has fixed a date for the suppression of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>usury, yet no
+intelligent man of faith, familiar with the reforms of the past, when
+as thoroughly entrenched and as giant evils were attacked and
+overthrown, need be in despair.</p>
+
+<p>We were enslaved by superstitions. Haunted houses were numerous and
+the bewitching of people was frequent. Two hundred arrests for
+witchcraft were made in a single year, 1692, and twenty of these
+persons were put to death. These persecutions were urged and defended
+by Cotton Mather, a representative of the highest intelligence and
+culture of the times. His mother was a daughter of John Cotton, and
+his father the President of Harvard College. Now black cats and
+epilepsy inspire no fear, and ghost stories do not now terrify and
+unnerve our children.</p>
+
+<p>Duelling prevailed among men of honor. Public opinion made it
+compulsory that personal differences between gentlemen should be
+settled in this way. Persons were branded as cowards who would not put
+their lives in jeopardy. Few had the courage to resist. Duels were
+common among the political leaders at Washington. Many a shot rang out
+at sunrise in the little valley at Bladensburg, the noted duelling
+ground. Jackson and Benton and Clay and De Witt Clinton were
+duellists. After the killing of Alexander Hamilton by Aaron Burr, in
+1804, the whole country was aroused and an agitation began against the
+custom, but it yielded slowly. In 1838 and 1841 there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>were duels
+between distinguished congressmen. But now public opinion is so
+transformed that the "honorable and brave" duellist is a moral coward.</p>
+
+<p>Gambling was a common sin. There were lotteries organized for the
+raising of funds for state and municipal expenses. There were raffles
+at church fairs to support the ordinances in the sanctuary. The rules
+of the games were protected by the laws of the state. No one who had
+lost in a game could recover by law unless he proved that the rules of
+the game had not been followed. The rules for gambling were regarded
+as legitimate as the regulations of any business. The gambler was only
+a law-breaker when he "cheated." Now gambling is unlawful in every
+state and territory, and any newspaper advertising a lottery is shut
+out of our mails. Even an "honest" gambler is now classed among
+robbers.</p>
+
+<p>Intemperance was rampant through the eighteenth century and more than
+half the nineteenth. Whisky was king. Through a false physiology it
+became the almost universal opinion that in the great portion of the
+United States the climate required the use of "ardent spirit."
+Ministers and all classes of the people were thus deluded, and almost
+every person, adult or child, was a consumer.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon rising in the morning a glass of liquor must be taken to give an
+appetite for breakfast. At eleven o'clock the merchant in his
+counting-room, the blacksmith at his forge, the mower in the hay
+field, took a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>dram to give them strength till the ringing of the bell
+or the sounding of the horn for dinner. In mid-afternoon they drank
+again. When work for the day was done, before going to bed, they
+quaffed another glass. It was the regular routine of drinking in
+well-regulated and temperate families. Hospitalities began with
+drinking. 'What will you take?' was the question of host to visitor.
+Not to accept the proffered hospitality was disrespectful. Was there
+the raising of a meeting house, there must be hospitality for all the
+parish: no lack of liquor; and when the last timber was in its place a
+bottle of rum must be broken upon the ridge-place. In winter men drank
+to keep themselves warm; in summer to keep themselves cool; on rainy
+days to keep out the wet, and on dry days to keep the body in
+moisture. Friends, meeting or parting, drank to perpetuate their
+friendship. Huskers around the corn-stack, workmen in the field,
+master and apprentice in the shop, passed the brown jug from lip to
+lip. The lawyer drank before writing his brief or pleading at the bar;
+the minister, while preparing his sermon or before delivering it from
+the pulpit. At weddings bridegroom, bride, groomsman, and guest
+quaffed sparkling wines. At funerals minister, friend, neighbor,
+mourner, all except the corpse, drank of the bountiful supply of
+liquors always provided. Not to drink was disrespectful to living and
+dead, and depriving themselves of comfort and consolation. In every
+community <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>there were blear-eyed men with bloated, haggard faces;
+weeping women, starving children." (Building of a Nation. Page 271.)</p>
+
+<p>While "temperate" men were grieved at the tide of wretchedness and
+protested, they did not think it possible to get on without whisky.
+Dr. Prime, for so many years editor of the New York Observer, told of
+the meeting of the family physician and the pastor at his father's
+home in a case of severe illness. When the physician took his leave
+the pastor followed him into the yard, where they had a long
+consultation. The pastor was anxiously seeking advice. Three drinks
+made his head swim, and the problem was how he could make more than
+three calls and not become unsteady. The doctor gave directions and
+Dr. Prime said that neither the minister nor the physician thought of
+the simple remedy, "not drinking."</p>
+
+<p>It has taken two generations, but the transformation is marvelous. The
+minister can now call in every home in his parish and never once have
+an opportunity to drink. If Rev. John Pierpont was yet living, who was
+put out of his pulpit in Boston by an ecclesiastical council because
+he publicly protested against the use of the basement of his church as
+a storeroom for whisky, he would see every minister losing his pulpit
+who would not publicly protest against such a desecration. Rev. George
+B. Cheever, the dreamer, in 1830, woke up the stupid consciences of
+the fuddled men and women; he wrote out his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>dream and published it,
+"Deacon Giles' Distillery," and went to jail for it, but even he never
+dreamed of the greatness of the temperance reform that has followed.</p>
+
+<p>The overthrow of chattel slavery is complete and the human rights of
+the inferior peoples are recognized. Human slavery was of old, as
+ancient as history; it was widespread over the world; there was an
+immense and profitable commerce in human flesh; luxurious wealth and
+ease was secured by appropriating labor without compensation; it was
+thought that the Scriptures in both Testaments approved the holding of
+bondmen; there was a consciousness of superior gifts; there was a firm
+belief that the negroes, especially, needed the care of the superior
+race; that they were better off and happier than they would be in
+freedom; there was a deep-seated race prejudice that remains
+unyielding till this day. Yet the slave trade has ceased, stopped by
+armed vessels patroling the seas. The slaves, eight hundred thousand,
+in the West Indies were set free; the shackles were stricken off by
+the sword in the United States; Brazil adopted gradual emancipation,
+and chattel slavery disappeared forever from the civilized world.</p>
+
+<p>The reform battles fought and won are assurances that victory shall
+also reward those who contend against this sin of usury. There are
+also other good grounds for confidence.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>1. They are seeking only a return&mdash;a reform: "a restoration to a
+former state;" they are not seeking for the establishment of some new
+and untried theory, but they are seeking a return to the faith and
+conduct of the righteous from the beginning and up seventeen centuries
+of the Christian era. The race is but temporarily deflected to the
+worship of the golden calf.</p>
+
+<p>2. There is coming forward a great army of intelligent, virtuous young
+people. They are made intelligent by our high schools, seminaries and
+colleges. They are made students of the Bible and stimulated in
+righteousness by Sunday Schools, Christian Associations, Endeavors,
+Leagues and Unions. From these there shall rise up defenders of the
+truth, free from the burden of debt and unbiassed by life-long
+association with conditions familiar to those older. The reformers in
+all ages have been young, and this reform will be no exception. There
+is a rashness in youth that needs direction, but there is also a dash
+and hope and confidence that is necessary to break away from old
+customs. One generation of intelligent, virtuous young people could
+give this evil its fatal blow.</p>
+
+<p>Usury cannot flourish among the vicious and the unreliable. Other
+evils may flourish among the idle, the indolent, the treacherous, the
+deceitful and the dishonest, but industry and economy and integrity
+and faithfulness and honor and even God-fearing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>piety are desirable
+qualities in the usurer's victims. The higher the civilization, yes
+Christian civilization, the more is produced and the richer the
+harvest. The usurer has no use for a savage. This worm thrives in the
+living body and sucks its vitality. It cannot flourish in putrid
+flesh. Let the highest types of our young manhood avoid this sin and
+its death knell is sounded.</p>
+
+<p>3. Present conditions stimulate an interest in this question. The
+unequal distribution of the vast wealth now being produced: the
+earnings of the many turned into the coffers of a few; the struggles
+between the employers and their employees; organized labor and
+combinations of wealth; lead to a closer study of this and allied
+economic questions than they have ever received before. The solution
+of these questions will expose the fraud of usury.</p>
+
+<p>4. The patriotic spirit has not decayed in our people and rulers. They
+are as strongly attached to our free, popular institutions as were the
+patriots of '76. There is alarm at the tendency to slip away from the
+early traditions, at the centralization of power, at class
+legislation. The influence of usury is so strong to promote a favored
+class and to concentrate power, that it must be resisted as an enemy
+to our republican institutions. It gradually undermined and then
+destroyed the republic of Venice, and it is now doing its first work
+with us. It must soon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>emerge from its cover. Then our people will
+arouse with their patriotic fervor and fell it with one blow, and then
+bury it with the other enemies of the government that have from time
+to time arisen.</p>
+
+<p>5. In the studies in sociology there is now a strong current toward
+Socialism. There is a desire to preserve the individual's interests
+and yet a stronger disposition to merge him in the general welfare.</p>
+
+<p>There is a conviction that the privileges of individuals have been
+unduly guarded while the rights of the public were neglected, that the
+rights of individuals have received an excess of protection while the
+welfare of the great mass of the people has been sacrificed. The
+present problem of the student of sociology is, How can the rights of
+individuals be adjusted, yet so as to maintain the superior interests
+of all the people? This can be accomplished largely, if not
+completely, by the abolition of usury.</p>
+
+<p>Let the Government receive on deposit the surplus wealth of the
+individuals for safe keeping and subject to their orders. Let the
+Postal Savings Bank be established. The Government is the best
+possible security. The certificates of deposit would be as good as
+Government bonds. They could take the place of the National Bank
+currency. The Postal Department now transfers money and in a manner
+receives deposits and issues postal notes.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>These deposits as they accumulated would lift from the people the
+burden of the interest bearing debt. As they increased the Government
+could invest them in public utilities to be operated for the general
+welfare. The Government thus caring for the surplus wealth the people
+are entitled to any benefits that may accrue from its use. All would
+have an interest in preserving and all would share in the advantages
+of the property thus cared for by the State, while each would have his
+individual earnings subject to draft for his personal needs or
+pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>This would preserve the rights of the individual and secure to him
+perfectly his surplus earnings, and at the same time the whole people,
+through the Government, would have the use of this accumulated wealth
+for its safe-keeping. This will preserve the stimulating incentives of
+individualism and also gain, practically, the blessings of Socialism.
+This will be the natural conclusion in the balancing and adjustment of
+the present sociological discussion.</p>
+
+<p>6. The prohibition of usury would be to the material advantage of the
+great mass of our people. It would be a blessing to all, though it
+might hinder the material gain of a few, but the hindered would not be
+a tithe of our people. It is not easy to forsake the wrong when
+appetite or passion or selfish interests plead for it. The martyrs who
+will stand by the right "though the heavens fall" are not a majority
+of our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>people. The paths of righteousness are easy, broad and smooth,
+and crowded with enthusiastic shouters when self-interest can walk
+hand in hand with a reform. Opposition to usury is self-defense to the
+poor, the pensioners, the producers, and they form a mighty,
+irresistible army.</p>
+
+<p>7. Reason remains. The laws of logic have not changed nor has the
+human mind lost its power of tracing premises to their conclusion. The
+custom of usury was never reasoned into practice, but was permitted to
+creep in while reason was diverted to abstract, abstruse, scholastic
+subjects by those who claimed to be scholars. Had the fathers reasoned
+more about practical subjects, and scolded less, this sin would never
+have appeared in Christian society and claimed respectability. When
+the people begin to think and to turn their reasoning powers to this
+subject, as light dispels darkness, this gross error will flee away.</p>
+
+<p>8. The conscience is yet alert to condemn the wrong and to approve the
+right. The public conscience was never more tender nor more delicately
+adjusted, but it is wanting in intelligence in this matter. The eye
+cannot see to determine the nature of an object without light, so the
+conscience must be enlightened, or made intelligent by the reason, to
+enable it to give a right decision. Conscience is the same in all ages
+among all peoples, and when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>informed by investigation and reasoning,
+the condemnation of usury will be as unanimous as in the centuries of
+the past.</p>
+
+<p>Prayer is also a means to this righteous end. God is still on His
+throne. His ear is not heavy. He hears the cry of the raven and
+sparrows and lions. He hears the cry of His suffering children and
+will not fail to come to their relief. In all the past, man's
+extremity has been God's opportunity. Relief has come at unexpected
+times and by ways that were not known. Sometimes by means that were
+insignificant and inadequate in order to show that it was not by human
+might or power; sometimes by the faith of one humble believer.</p>
+
+<p>This writer has been familiar with the story of David and Goliath from
+his infancy. To him, Mammon, whose head is usury, is the giant
+Philistine who now stalks forth to defy "the armies of the living
+God," and with a grain of David's faith, he flings this stone.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>INDEX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+<br />
+
+<ul><li>Abstinence, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
+
+<li>Agar&mdash;Prayer of, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+<li>American Revision, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+
+<li>American Statesman, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+
+<li>Aristotle, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+
+<li>Average Interest, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Bank of England, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>Bank of Venice, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li>Bank, First in U.S., <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
+
+<li>Banks and Brokers, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li>Bacon, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
+
+<li>Banking, Claim for, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+
+<li>Barriers Broken Down, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li>Borrower, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Borrowing, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li>
+
+<li>Benton, Thomas H., <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+
+<li>Bankruptcy, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+<li>Basil, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+
+<li>Beza, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li>Bible and Nature, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+<li>Bible Encyclopedia, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+
+<li>Block Stone, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+
+<li>Brotherhood&mdash;Christian, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+
+<li>Bush, Prof. Geo., <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+<li>Bureau of Engraving, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Capital Combines, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
+
+<li>Catechism, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+
+<li>Cato, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+
+<li>Car Fares, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+
+<li>Calvin, Institutes of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+<li>Calvin, Letter of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+
+<li>Calhoun, J.C., <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+
+<li>Capital Demands, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+<li>Cretan Bonds, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+<li>Chalmers, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Charlemagne, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Changed Conditions, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+
+<li>Chattel Slave, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+<li>Character in Fathers, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+
+<li>Cheever, Rev. Geo., <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li>Creeds, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
+
+<li>Croesus, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li>Covetousness, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li>
+
+<li>Cooper Anecdote, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+
+<li>City Debts, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Criminal in Court, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+<li>Coachman, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+<li>Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+
+<li>Christ-like Soul, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Council of Ten, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>Cyrus, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>David, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li>Debts, Discharged, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Debts, Stimulated, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+
+<li>Debts, Church, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li>Debts, National, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+
+<li>Decay, Limits, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+<li>Deposit or Loan, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
+
+<li>Diligence, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+
+<li>Disciples, Practice of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
+
+<li>Deacon Giles' Distillery, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li>Dives, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li>Doge, The, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li>Dueling, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Edward III, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+
+<li>Edward VI, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li>
+
+<li>England, History, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+
+<li>English People, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
+
+<li>Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li>
+
+<li>Esau's Abstinence, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
+
+<li>Equality Impossible, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+
+<li>Ethics in Bible, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+
+<li>Equity Between Thieves, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+<li>Exchanges, <a href="#Page_56">56</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Express Company, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
+
+<li>Extravagance, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+<li>Ezekiel's Protests, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
+
+<li>Ezra, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Family Economy, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Farm Preserved, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+
+<li>Farm Consumed, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+
+<li>Faithful Steward, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+<li>Fathers, Apostolic, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+<li>Fathers, Later, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+<li>Financial Slavery, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li>Force in Abstract, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li>Fishers' Catechism, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+<li>Freight Rates, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>"Golden Book", <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li>Gambling, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+
+<li>Giving, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li>Gravity Levels, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+
+<li>Great Enterprises, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
+
+<li>Greek Artist, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+<li>Greece, History, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li>Guile, Taken by, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Hebrews in Egypt, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+
+<li>Henry II, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+
+<li>Henry III, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+
+<li>Henry VII, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+
+<li>Henry VIII, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li>
+
+<li>Hindoo Widow, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li>Honesty Hindered, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+
+<li>Hodge, Dr. Charles, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+
+<li>Home Wanted, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+<li>Horace, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+
+<li>Human Nature, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+
+<li>Hume, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Incorporated Properties, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+
+<li>Industry Discouraged, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+
+<li>Indians, Omahas, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Injustice, Submitted, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li>Interest Defined, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Insurance Company, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+
+<li>Interest, Compound, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+
+<li>Installment Plan, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+
+<li>Intemperance, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Jackson, Andrew, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+
+<li>Jefferson, Thos., <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+
+<li>Jennet, M., <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+<li>Jeremy Bentham, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+
+<li>Jeremiah Protests, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li>Jubilee, Year of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li>Justinian Code, <a href="#Page_261">261</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>King Alfred, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+
+<li>Khedive, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Land Question, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+
+<li>Lombards, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>London Tenants, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+
+<li>Luther, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Macauley, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+<li>Machinery, Improved, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+
+<li>Mammon, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+
+<li>Melancthon, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li>Messiah's Character, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Moral Law, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
+
+<li>Milton, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+
+<li>Minuits, Peter, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+
+<li>Middle Classes, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
+
+<li>Mons Sacer, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li>
+
+<li>Money Barren, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+
+<li>Moses, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li>Mosaic Laws, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+<li>McCullough, Sec., <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Nature and Bible, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+<li>Nehemiah, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li>Nile Worship, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Obsolete Words, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+
+<li>One Cent Loaned, <a href="#Page_182">182</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Ottoman Empire, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+
+<li>Over-production, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Panics, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+<li>Paul to Timothy, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Paulist Fathers, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+
+<li>Pounds, Parable of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li>Peel, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+<li>Physicians' Charges, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+<li>Poor Richard, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
+
+<li>Poor, Oppressed, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Poor, to the Spirit, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+
+<li>Popes, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+<li>Polygamy, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+<li>Production, Limited, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+
+<li>Promoter, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li>Prime, Dr., <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Rates, Differ Why, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+<li>Rentals of Land, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+
+<li>Revolution, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+
+<li>Ridpath, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li>Rich Fool, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Rights, Personal, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+
+<li>Rights, Equal, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+
+<li>Risk, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+<li>Robe, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+<li>Rome, History, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+
+<li>Ruskin, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Sands, Bishop, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+<li>Sabbath of Rest, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+
+<li>Schaff-Herzog, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+
+<li>Scripture Passages:
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>Genesis 21:26, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li>Exodus 32:1, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li>Exodus 22:25, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+  <li>Leviticus 19:33, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+  <li>Leviticus 22:22, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+  <li>Leviticus 23:23, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+  <li>Leviticus 34:10, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span></li>
+  <li>Deut. 5:14, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+  <li>Deut. 25:19, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+  <li>Deut. 15:7-9, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+  <li>Numbers 15:15, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+  <li>Joshua 9:23, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+  <li>Psalm 15, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+  <li>Psalm 92, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li>Psalm 112:1-3, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+  <li>Proverbs 22:4, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+  <li>Proverbs 28:20, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+  <li>Jeremiah 31:29, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+  <li>Isaiah 10:15, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+  <li>Ezekiel 24:15-18, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
+  <li>Ezekiel 22:7-12, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
+  <li>Ezekiel 18:117, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+  <li>Matthew 5:17, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+  <li>Matthew 6:12, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+  <li>Matthew 13:22, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+  <li>Matthew 19:24, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+  <li>Matthew 25:14, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+  <li>Luke 6:35, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+  <li>Luke 51:52, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+  <li>Luke 19:12, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+  <li>John 15:12, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+  <li>John 13:34, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+  <li>Romans 1:13, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li>Romans 13:8, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+  <li>Acts 3:17, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li>Acts 2:44, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
+  <li>1 Corinthians 1:27, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
+  <li>1 Corinthians 13, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+  <li>Ephesians 4:28, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+  <li>1 Thess. 4:15, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li>1 Timothy 5:8, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+  <li>James 5:1-6, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Slaves, Happy, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+
+<li>Slaves, Chattel, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li>Self Reliance, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Strangers, Three Classes, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+
+<li>Shoe Plant, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+<li>Shylock, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>Slot Machines, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+
+<li>Solomon and Usury, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+<li>Solon, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+
+<li>Socialism, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+<li>Spirituality Destroyed, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+<li>Stevens, Thadeus, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li>
+
+<li>Strikes, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+
+<li>Sultan, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+
+<li>Sun Worship, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+<li>Superstitions, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Taxes Off the Poor, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Tenantry, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+
+<li>"The Hague", <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+
+<li>Talents, Parable of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+<li>Thrift, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+<li>Time, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+
+<li>Temptation to Upright, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Timon of Athens, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
+
+<li>Tools, Not Productive, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+<li>Trade, Profits in, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li>Trusts, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Usury, Definition, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+
+<li>Usury and the Stranger, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Valet, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
+
+<li>Venice, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li>Vienna, Council of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>War, Evils of, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+<li>Webster, Definition, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Wealth Decays, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+
+<li>Wealth, Barren, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+<li>William and Mary, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+<li>Wilson's Catechism, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+
+<li>Wrong Laws, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Young Reformers, <a href="#Page_187">187</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Zaccheus, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+<li>Zerubbabel, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h2>The Anti-Usury League</h2>
+<br />
+
+<div class="block"><p>The object, the purpose and work of the Anti-Usury League is to
+expose the evils, the oppressions, the fraud and the sin of
+usury or interest, by publications, by lectures, by conventions
+and by every other practical method.</p>
+
+<p>All persons in sympathy with this object, and who can in any way
+co-operate by distributing its literature or by other
+publications or by lecturing or by arranging for lectures or
+conventions, are requested to enter into correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>Also all persons who have become interested by reading the
+preceding pages and who seek further information and who desire
+to keep in touch with the work of this League should send their
+names and addresses for enrollment.</p>
+
+<p class="right">THE ANTI-USURY LEAGUE,<br />
+Millersburg, Ohio.</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p>
+<br />
+Page &nbsp; 39: &nbsp;coveteousness replaced with covetousness<br />
+Page &nbsp; 54: &nbsp;ponds replaced with pounds<br />
+Page &nbsp; 61: &nbsp;Sabbaoth replaced with Sabbath<br />
+Page &nbsp; 61: &nbsp;weap replaced with weep<br />
+Page &nbsp; 64: &nbsp;bankrupty replaced with bankruptcy<br />
+Page &nbsp; 70: &nbsp;degredation replaced with degradation<br />
+Page 113: &nbsp;opportunites replaced with opportunities<br />
+Page 119: &nbsp;employes replaced with employees<br />
+Page 145: &nbsp;degredation replaced with degradation<br />
+Page 211: &nbsp;forbodings replaced with forebodings<br />
+Page 225: &nbsp;mutally replaced with mutually<br />
+Page 228: &nbsp;neighors replaced with neighbors<br />
+Page 294: &nbsp;Dicharged replaced with Discharged<br />
+Page 297: &nbsp;Shoff, Herzog replaced with Schaff-Herzog<br />
+Page 299: &nbsp;Zacheus replaced with Zaccheus<br />
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Usury, by Calvin Elliott
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USURY ***
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Usury, by Calvin Elliott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Usury
+       A Scriptural, Ethical and Economic View
+
+Author: Calvin Elliott
+
+Release Date: May 27, 2007 [EBook #21623]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USURY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Irma Spehar, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file made using scans of public domain works at the
+University of Georgia.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved.                                           |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this  |
+    | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this     |
+    | document.                                                 |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+USURY
+
+A Scriptural, Ethical and
+Economic View
+
+BY
+
+CALVIN ELLIOTT
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+THE ANTI-USURY LEAGUE
+MILLERSBURG, OHIO
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHTED 1902
+BY
+CALVIN ELLIOTT.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                            Page.
+Chapter I--Definition                                           7
+
+Chapter II--The Law by Moses                                   11
+
+Chapter III--Usury and "The Stranger"                          18
+
+Chapter IV--David and Solomon                                  26
+
+Chapter V--Denunciation of Jeremiah and Ezekiel                30
+
+Chapter VI--Financial Reform by Nehemiah                       36
+
+Chapter VII--Teachings of the Master                           42
+
+Chapter VIII--Parables of the Talents and the Pounds           52
+
+Chapter IX--Practice of the disciples                          58
+
+Chapter X--Church history                                      69
+
+Chapter XI--Calvin's letter on usury                           73
+
+Chapter XII--Permanency of the prohibition                     79
+
+Chapter XIII--Our changed conditions                           81
+
+Chapter XIV--The American Revision                             87
+
+Chapter XV--Duty learned from two sources                      93
+
+Chapter XVI--Rights of man over things                         97
+
+Chapter XVII--Equal rights of men                             102
+
+Chapter XVIII--A false basal principle                        108
+
+Chapter XIX--The true ethical principle                       115
+
+Chapter XX--Wealth is barren                                  121
+
+Chapter XXI--Wealth decays                                    132
+
+Chapter XXII--The debt habit                                  138
+
+Chapter XXIII--The borrower is servant to the lender          144
+
+Chapter XXIV--Usury enslaves the borrower                     146
+
+Chapter XXV--Usury oppresses the poor                         154
+
+Chapter XXVI--Usury oppresses the poor--continued             160
+
+Chapter XXVII--Usury oppresses the poor--continued            168
+
+Chapter XXVIII--Usury oppresses the poor--concluded           174
+
+Chapter XXIX--Usury centralizes wealth                        180
+
+Chapter XXX--Mammon dominates the nations                     189
+
+Chapter XXXI--Effect on character                             206
+
+Chapter XXXII--Ax at the root of the tree                     219
+
+Chapter XXXIII--Per contra; Christian Apologists              233
+
+Chapter XXXIV--Per contra; Land Rentals                       243
+
+Chapter XXXV--Per contra; Political Economists                253
+
+Chapter XXXVI--Usury in History                               258
+
+Chapter XXXVII--Francis Bacon                                 266
+
+Chapter XXXVIII--Why this truth was neglected                 272
+
+Chapter XXXIX--Crushed truth will rise again                  281
+
+Index                                                         293
+
+
+
+
+TO MY READERS.
+
+
+I beg the sincere and thoughtful consideration of this book by all its
+readers. Please follow the argument in the order in which it is
+presented. This is the way it developed in my own mind and led me,
+step by step, irresistibly to its conclusions. Do not read the closing
+chapters first, but begin with the "_Definition_." I believe every
+candid reader doing this, and having a logical mind, will fully and
+heartily concur in the condemnation of usury.
+
+I hope these arguments will be fairly treated and justly weighed even
+by those whose interests seem in conflict. I have simply sought the
+truth, believing that "the truth shall make you free." It cannot be
+that this or any truth is in real conflict with the highest welfare of
+any man.
+
+If any sincere friends of this truth are grieved that the argument is
+so crudely and roughly stated, I can only say in excuse, that, so far
+as I know or can learn from the great librarians I have consulted,
+this is the first attempt ever made to fully present the anti-usury
+argument, and I sincerely hope that others, profiting by my effort,
+may be able to make it more effective.
+
+                                                      THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+DEFINITION.
+
+
+In the evolution of the English language, since the making of our King
+James version of the Bible, many new words have been introduced, and
+many old ones have changed their meanings.
+
+In the nearly three hundred years the Saxon word "let," to hinder, has
+become obsolete. It was in common use and well understood when the
+version was made, but is now misleading. Thus we have in Isaiah 43:13:
+"I will work and who will let (hinder) it?" Paul declared that he
+purposed to go to Rome, "but was let (hindered) hitherto." Rom. 1:13.
+Again we have in II Thess. 2:7: "Only he who now letteth (hindereth)
+will let (hinder), until he be taken out of the way."
+
+"Wot," to know, has become obsolete. Gen. 21:26: "I wot (know) not who
+hath done this thing." Ex. 32:1: "As for this Moses, we wot (know) not
+what hath become of him." Acts 3:17: "I wot (know) that through
+ignorance ye did it."
+
+"Prevent," from its derivation and use, meant, "to go before;" now it
+means to hinder. Ps. 59:10: "The God of my mercies shall prevent (go
+before) me." Ps. 92:2: "Let us prevent (go before) his face with
+thanksgiving." I Thess. 4:15: "We who are alive shall not prevent (go
+before) them who are asleep."
+
+Charity, which now means liberality to the poor, and a disposition to
+judge others kindly and favorably, was at that time a synonym of love,
+and used interchangeably with love in the translations of the Greek.
+This is especially noted in the panegyric of love, in the thirteenth
+chapter of First Corinthians, and faithfully corrected in the Revised
+Version, though some have felt that the beauty and especially the
+euphony of the familiar passage has been marred. But the word charity
+is no longer equivalent to love, in our language, and could not be
+retained without perverting the sense.
+
+Usury, when the version was made, meant any premium for a loan of
+money, or increase taken for a loan of any kind of property.
+
+Theological Dictionary: "Usury, the gain taken for a loan of money or
+wares." "The gain of anything above the principal, or that which was
+lent, exacted only in consideration of the loan, whether it be in
+money, corn, wares or the like."
+
+Bible Encyclopedia: "Usury, a premium received for a sum of money over
+and above the principal."
+
+Schaff-Herzog: "Usury, originally, any increase on any loan."
+
+This was the usage of the word usury by the great masters of the
+English language, like Shakespeare and Bacon, in their day, and is
+still given as the first definition by the lexicographers of the
+present.
+
+Webster, 1890 edition: "Usury, 1. A premium or increase paid or
+stipulated to be paid for a loan, as for money; interest. 2. The
+practice of taking interest. 3. Law. Interest in excess of a legal
+rate charged to a borrower for the use of money."
+
+Interest is comparatively a new word in the language meaning also a
+premium for a loan of money. It first appeared in the fourteenth
+century, as a substitute for usury, in the first law ever enacted by a
+Christian nation that permitted the taking of a premium for any loan.
+The word usury was very odious to the Christian mind and conscience.
+
+Interest was at the first a legal term, used in law only, and it has
+always been applied to that premium or measure of increase that is
+permitted or made legal by civil law.
+
+In modern usage usury is limited in its meaning to that measure of
+increase prohibited by the civil law. Thus the two words interest and
+usury now express what was formerly expressed by the one word usury
+alone. Interest covers that measure of increase that is authorized in
+different countries, while usury, with all the odium that has been
+attached to it for ages, is limited to that measure of increase that
+for public welfare is forbidden by the laws of a state.
+
+The distinction is wholly civic and legal. That may be usury in one
+state which is only interest in another. The legal rates greatly vary
+and are changed from time to time in the states themselves. If a
+state should forbid the taking of any increase on loans, then all
+increase would be usury, and there could be no interest; or if a state
+should repeal all laws limiting the exactions of increase, then there
+would be no usury in that state. Usury is increase forbidden by civil
+law. Separated from the enacted statutes of a state the distinction
+disappears. There is no moral nor is there an economic difference.
+
+Blackstone says: "When money is lent on a contract to receive not only
+the principal sum again, but also an increase by way of compensation
+for the use, the increase is called interest by those who think it
+lawful, and usury by those who do not."
+
+The moral nature of an act does not depend on the enacted statutes of
+human legislators, and the laws of economics are eternal. We must not
+permit our views of divine and economic truth to be perverted by this
+modern division of increase into legal and illegal. In order that the
+whole truth may be now expressed in our language we must combine with
+the old word usury the new word interest; then only will we have the
+full force of the revealed truth. "Wherefore then gavest not thou my
+money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own
+with usury or interest?" It is rendered interest in the Revised
+Version.
+
+Throughout this discussion usury is used in its full old classical
+meaning for any increase of a loan, great or small, whether authorized
+or forbidden by the civil state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE LAW BY MOSES.
+
+
+God determined to deliver his enslaved people from the bondage in
+Egypt, and to lead them out to the land he had promised to their
+fathers. They had been strangers in Egypt; now they should have a land
+of their own. To them liberty was but a tradition; they should now be
+freemen. They had been a tribe; they should now be a nation.
+
+God raised up Moses to be his special servant and the mouthpiece to
+declare his will. He ordered his marvelous deliverance from the river,
+and his training in court as a freeman. He then gave him direction to
+lead his people out of their slavery, and also divine authority to
+announce to his people the code of laws by which they were to be
+governed in their free state. Some of these laws were ceremonial, to
+conserve their religion, that they might not forget their God. Some
+were civil and politic, to promote the moral, intellectual and
+material welfare. All were in accord with the moral and religious
+nature of man, and with sound economic principles. All were suited to
+promote their highest good, and to secure them forever in their
+freedom and national independence.
+
+The great basal principles of law are found in concrete form.
+
+Human life is sacred as we find from the explicit laws for its
+protection. The owner of an ox was made responsible for the life taken
+by "an ox that was known to push with its horns."
+
+A battlement or balustrade was required on the houses, very like our
+laws requiring fire escapes. The principle is the same.
+
+The laws forbidding marriage within certain degrees of kinship have
+been copied into the laws of every civilized people. The laws for the
+preservation of social purity have never been surpassed.
+
+The rights of property were sacred. Each had a right to his own. Theft
+was severely punished. "If a thief be found breaking up, and be
+smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him."
+
+Each must assist in the protection of the property of others; even the
+enemy's property must be protected. "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or
+his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again."
+
+The laws for the relief of the poor were kinder and more encouraging
+to self-help and self-reliance than our modern poorhouses. Deut.
+15:7-11: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren
+within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth
+thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
+poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt
+surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
+Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The
+seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil
+against thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught, and he cry unto
+the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give
+him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him:
+because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all
+thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor
+shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying,
+Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to
+thy needy, in thy land."
+
+These divinely given laws never wrought injustice. They protected
+life, purity and property, and required mutual helpfulness. They were
+given by the divine mind, in infinite love, to promote the highest
+good of this chosen people.
+
+These laws of God, given by Moses, positively forbade usury or
+interest, and this prohibition was so repeated that there was no
+mistaking the meaning. Ex. 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my
+people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer,
+neither shalt thou lay upon him usury."
+
+This law is more fully presented in Lev. 25:35, 36, 37: "And if thy
+brother be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then thou
+shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that
+he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase; but
+fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give
+him thy money upon usury, or lend him thy victuals for increase."
+
+Prof. George Bush makes the following note upon this passage: "The
+original term '_Neshek_' comes from the verb '_Nashak_' (to bite),
+mostly applied to the bite of a serpent; and probably signifies biting
+usury, so called perhaps because it resembled the bite of a serpent;
+for as this is often so small as to be scarcely perceptible at first,
+yet the venom soon spreads and diffuses itself till it reaches the
+vitals, so the increase of usury, which at first is not perceived, at
+length grows so much as to devour a man's substance."
+
+An effort is sometimes made to limit the application of these laws by
+placing special emphasis on the poverty of the borrowers and to
+confine the prohibition of usury to loans to the poor to meet the
+necessaries of life; and it is claimed that the laws are not intended
+to prohibit usury on a loan which the borrower secures as capital for
+a business.
+
+In reply it can be said:
+
+1. There may be more benevolence in a loan to enable a brother to go
+into business than in a loan to supply his present needs. It may be
+less benevolent and less kind to lend a dollar to buy flour for
+present use than to lend a dollar to buy a hoe with which to go into
+business and earn the flour. The highest philanthropy supplies the
+means and opportunities for self-help.
+
+2. A desire for capital to promote a business to gain more than is
+necessary to nourish the physical and mental manhood is not justified
+nor encouraged anywhere in the Word. There is just a sufficiency of
+food necessary to the highest physical condition. There is just a
+sufficiency of material wealth necessary to the development of the
+noblest manhood. More decreases physical and mental vigor and degrades
+the whole man. To seek more is of the nature of that "covetousness
+which is idolatry." Prov. 23:4: "Labor not to be rich." Prov. 28:20:
+"He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."
+
+Riches are a gift of God and a reward of righteousness.
+
+Prov. 22:4: "The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are
+riches and honor and life." Psalm 112:1, 3: "Blessed is the man that
+feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. * * *
+Wealth and riches shall be in his house."
+
+"In the fourth petition of the Lord's prayer (which is: Give us this
+day our daily bread) we pray, That of God's free gift, we may receive
+a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy his
+blessing with them."
+
+3. If the prohibition is applicable only when the borrower is poor it
+would be difficult to properly apply it by drawing the line between
+the rich and the poor. Many who are rich feel that they are poor and
+there are many high spirited poor who will not admit their poverty.
+Many rich live in conditions that some poor would call poverty. The
+line must be vague and indefinite and always offensive. If any one
+should endeavor to clearly mark and emphasize such a division in any
+modern community he would receive the contempt of all right thinking
+people.
+
+4. The laws of the Hebrews did not discriminate classes except in
+their ceremonial and forms of worship. There was but one law and that
+applicable to all alike. Even the stranger was included in the
+uniformity of the law. Num. 15:15, 16: "One ordinance shall be both
+for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth
+with you, * * * one law and one manner shall be for you and for the
+stranger that sojourneth with you."
+
+5. In the Hebrew community the man of independent resources did not
+compromise his freedom by becoming indebted to another. Debt was a
+sure indication of some embarrassment or strait. The mention of the
+poverty of the possible debtor is not to limit the application of the
+law but describes the borrower. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to the
+poor unfortunate fellow who is compelled to ask a loan.
+
+6. The laws of the Hebrew state were for the promotion of equity
+between man and man and also for the protection of the weak and the
+helpless. With these objects all good governments must be in harmony.
+They can only be secured by general laws. It would be very imperfect
+protection to the helpless poor if it was permitted to charge usury to
+the covetous, greedy fellow who having much, yet desired to gain more
+and was bidding urgently for the very loan the unfortunate brother
+needed. Also even equity between the borrower and the lender would
+work a hardness in the conditions of the poor man. Full protection
+requires a law of general application.
+
+7. Independence, self-reliance, self-support, was the condition aimed
+at and encouraged in the Hebrew state. Borrowing was only in time of
+sore need. The man who went a-borrowing was second only to the man who
+went a-begging. The brother who, through misfortune became dependent,
+was able the sooner to repay his loan and return to independence and
+to self support.
+
+8. In the repetition of the law in Deut. 23:19, 20, there is no
+reference to the poverty of the borrower and it cannot by fair
+interpretation be limited to the poor. "Thou shalt not lend upon usury
+to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything
+that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury;
+but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy
+God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to do in the
+land whither thou goest to possess it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+USURY AND "THE STRANGER."
+
+
+Deut. 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury
+of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon
+usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy
+brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy God may
+bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither
+thou goest to possess it."
+
+While there is no reference to poverty in this passage and the
+prohibition cannot fairly be limited to loans to the poor, a shadow of
+permission to exact usury is found in the clause: "unto a stranger
+thou mayest lend upon usury."
+
+Hebrews, who have been anxious to obey the letter of the Mosaic law,
+while indifferent to its true spirit, have construed this into a
+permission to exact usury of all Gentiles. Christian apologists for
+usury, who have not utterly discarded all laws given by Moses as
+effete and no longer binding, have tried hard to show that this clause
+authorizes the general taking of interest. To do this it is wrested
+from its natural connection, and the true historic reference is
+ignored.
+
+Three classes of persons, that were called strangers, may be noted for
+the purpose of presenting the true import of this passage.
+
+1. Those were called strangers who were not of Hebrew blood, but were
+proselytes to the Hebrew faith and had cast their lot with them. They
+were mostly poor, for not belonging to any of the families of Jacob,
+they had no landed inheritance. The gleanings of the field and the
+stray sheaf were left for the fatherless, the poor, and these
+proselyted strangers. But they were to be received in love, and
+treated in all respects as those born of their own blood. Ex. 12:48,
+49: "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the
+passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcized, and then let
+him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the
+land: for no uncircumcized person shall eat thereof. One law shall be
+to him that is home born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among
+you."
+
+Lev. 24:22: "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the
+stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God."
+
+Num. 9:14: "And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep
+the passover unto the Lord; according to the ordinance of the
+passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye
+shall have one ordinance both for the stranger, and for him that was
+born in the land."
+
+Num. 15:15, 16: "One ordinance shall be both for you of the
+congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an
+ordinance forever in your congregations: as ye are, so shall the
+stranger be before the Lord. One law and one manner shall be for you,
+and for the stranger that sojourneth with you."
+
+Of these strangers it is explicitly said they are to be treated
+precisely as brethren of their own blood.
+
+Lev. 25:35, 36: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay
+with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a
+_stranger_, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no
+usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live
+with thee."
+
+2. There was also another class of strangers, including all the
+nations that were not of Hebrew blood, by which they were surrounded.
+These traded with them and often sojourned for a more or less extended
+period among them for merely secular purposes, but never accepted
+their faith. For this reason they were often called sojourners. With
+us, in law, the former strangers would be known as "naturalized
+citizens," these as "denizens," residents in a foreign land for
+secular purposes. These denizens were to be dealt with justly, to be
+treated kindly and even with affection, remembering their long sojourn
+as strangers in Egypt. Ex. 22:21: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger,
+nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
+
+Ex. 23:9: "Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the
+heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
+
+They were "denizens," but not citizens of Egypt four hundred years.
+
+Lev. 19:33, 34: "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye
+shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be
+unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself;
+for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
+
+This class of denizens or sojourners was also to be treated with the
+same kindness as their own blood.
+
+Lev. 25:35, 36: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay
+with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger,
+or a _sojourner_; that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of
+him, or increase: but fear thy God: that thy brother may live with
+thee."
+
+The sojourner or denizen is here distinguished from the stranger who
+had been naturalized, adopting their faith.
+
+3. There was another class called strangers. This class was limited to
+the inhabitants of their promised land.
+
+Robinson's Bible Encyclopedia says, on this clause: "'Unto a stranger
+thou mayest lend upon usury.' In this place God seems to tolerate
+usury toward strangers: that is the Canaanites and other people
+devoted to subjection, but not toward such strangers against whom the
+Hebrews had no quarrel. To exact usury is here, according to Ambrose,
+an act of hostility. It was a kind of waging war with the Canaanites
+and ruining them by means of usury."
+
+God withheld his chosen people from taking possession of the promised
+land until "their iniquity was full" and the divine sentence of
+condemnation had been pronounced against them. They were to be rooted
+out of the land and utterly destroyed for their sins, and their land
+given to the chosen people. God declared that he would execute his
+sentence, driving them out before them, as his people should increase
+and be able to occupy the land. Ex. 23:23, 28-32: "For mine angel
+shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the
+Jebusite, and I will cut them off. And I will send hornets before
+thee, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanite, and the
+Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee
+in one year; lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field
+multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from
+before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. And I will
+set my bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines,
+and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants
+of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
+Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods."
+
+Ex. 34:10-12: "And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy
+people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth,
+nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see
+the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with
+thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive
+out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and
+the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself,
+lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither
+thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee."
+
+They were in no way to covenant with this people and interfere with
+the execution of divine judgment. They were commanded, willing or
+unwilling, to be in a measure the executioners of those under
+sentence. These people of Canaan were deprived of all rights by the
+divine sentence and the Israelites were not to grant any. To do so was
+direct disobedience, and yet most of the tribes failed to obey the
+command, permitting many of the inhabitants to remain.
+
+When the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and secured a pledge, the pledge
+of their lives was kept, but they were made slaves, doomed to drudgery
+forever, "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Josh. 9:23.
+
+This compromise was contrary to the divine command for their utter
+destruction. To condone the guilt of these people, or to interfere
+with their execution, was as flagrant a violation of law as that of a
+modern community that seeks to protect criminals, or that interferes
+with the execution of those convicted of capital crimes.
+
+This class of strangers had no rights that Hebrews were permitted to
+respect. They were not to be given any privileges. They were to be
+treated as Hindoo widows are treated, "accursed of the gods and hated
+of men." Debts were not to be forgiven them. The year of Jubilee did
+not affect them. They remained enslaved forever. The Sabbath's rest
+was only incidental, that there might be a complete cessation of all
+activities.
+
+In the fourth commandment Deut. 5:14, "thy stranger" is mentioned
+after the ox, ass, and cattle, and was given rest for the same reason
+the beasts are permitted to rest: "That thy man-servant and
+maid-servant may rest as well as thou." They had not the rights of a
+common servant or slave. The carcass of the animal that died of itself
+could be given them to eat, and they could be charged usury.
+
+Yet this clause has been seized upon by avaricious Jews as permission
+to exact usury of all the nations not of Hebrew blood, ignoring the
+fact that when given it was limited to those peoples under the curse
+of God for their iniquities. It can not justly be made to mean that
+the Hebrews have a right to treat other nations with less
+righteousness than they treat their own people.
+
+It is an unwarranted broadening to make it a permission to exact usury
+from all the human race except from Hebrews.
+
+It was chiefly the acting upon this false interpretation, classing
+all Gentiles with these strangers, accursed of God, that had no rights
+they were permitted to respect, that set every Gentile Christian's
+hand against the Jews for fifteen hundred years.
+
+Nothing more clearly marked the line between Christian and Hebrew
+during fifteen centuries than this one thing, that the Hebrews exacted
+usury or interest of the Gentiles while the Christians were unanimous
+in its denunciation, and forbade its practice.
+
+Gentile Christian apologists for the taking of usury or interest, to
+overcome the force of this prohibition, are compelled to grant that
+Christians may be less brotherly than Hebrews: that the borrowers
+whether Christian or not are "strangers" to those who make them loans
+upon increase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DAVID AND SOLOMON.
+
+
+Devout Hebrews during the period of the Judges obeyed the Mosaic
+prohibition of usury or interest. It was also recognized as binding
+and obeyed during the reigns of David and Solomon. This was a greatly
+prosperous period when commerce flourished and trade was extended to
+the ends of the earth.
+
+David was weak before certain temptations and his falls were grievous,
+but his repentance was deep and his returns to God were sincere. He
+never failed to regard God as supreme over him and the bestower of all
+his blessings. He is called the man after God's own heart, and it is
+also said that his heart was perfect before God. His spirit of devout
+worship has never been surpassed. His Psalms, in all the ages, have
+been accepted as expressing the true yearning after righteousness and
+a longing for closer communion with God.
+
+David, in the fifteenth Psalm, expresses the thought of the earnest
+and reverent worshippers of his time. This Psalm declares the
+necessity of moral purity in those who would be citizens of Zion and
+dwellers in the holy hill.
+
+"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy
+hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
+speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
+tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
+against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he
+honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and
+changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh
+reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be
+moved."
+
+The description, "He that putteth not out his money to usury," is
+direct and unqualified. There could be no mistaking its meaning. Those
+who were guilty could not claim to be citizens of Zion. There is no
+qualifying clause behind which the usurer could take refuge and escape
+condemnation.
+
+This Psalm, prepared by the king, was chanted in the great
+congregation, and was a prick to the consciences of the sinners and a
+public reproof of all the sins mentioned. He that putteth out his
+money to increase received thus a public reproof in the great
+worshipping assembly.
+
+Solomon, endowed with unequaled wisdom and able so clearly to discern
+the right, places among his proverbs a direct denunciation of this
+sin.
+
+Prov. 28:8: "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his
+substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor."
+
+In this proverb the gain of usury is classed with unjust gain that
+shall not bless the gatherer. This is in entire harmony with other
+proverbs in which those who practice injustice and oppression are
+declared to be wanting in true wisdom and receive no benefit
+themselves.
+
+"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but
+transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."
+
+"As righteousness tendeth to life; so he that pursueth evil pursueth
+it to his own death."
+
+"Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall
+fall himself into his own pit; but the upright shall have good things
+in possession."
+
+"Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted
+in the gate: for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul
+of those that spoiled them."
+
+Usury and unjust gain are joined by Solomon as sins of the same
+nature. It is also implied that they are necessarily connected with
+want of sympathy and helpfulness toward the poor. They are presented
+as an oppression that shall not bless the oppressor.
+
+This proverb does not confine the evil to the borrower like the
+proverb, "The borrower is servant to the lender." The wrong is not
+confined to those of the poor to whom loans may be made. The
+oppression of usury is upon all the poor though they are not
+borrowers. They are the ultimate sufferers though the loan may be
+made by one rich man to another to enable him to engage in some
+business for profit. Usury is so bound up with injustice that its
+practice cannot fail to result in increasing the hard conditions of
+all the poor.
+
+Solomon's reign was brilliant, and the ships of his commerce entered
+every port in the known world, yet usury was not necessary and was not
+practiced in that prosperous age.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DENUNCIATION OF JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL.
+
+
+The Hebrew nation reached its summit of power and glory during the
+reign of King Solomon, but corruption crept in and disintegration
+followed, and a series of conflicts between portions of the kingdom.
+The laws given by Moses were neglected, and a long period of gross
+sinning followed. They were warned by the faithful yet hopeful prophet
+Isaiah that the overthrow of their nation was certain, and that their
+people would be carried captive to a strange land unless they forsook
+utterly their sins and turned to righteousness. They did not heed and
+the predicted calamities came upon them.
+
+In the midst of these calamities the contemporary prophets Jeremiah
+and Ezekiel ministered. They differed greatly in their dispositions.
+
+Jeremiah was a complainer. Always bemoaning his own and his people's
+hard lot. The Lamentations are recognized as the best extant
+expression of unmitigated grief. He lamented his birth because he was
+treated as a usurer and oppressor, when he had never exacted usury,
+nor had business with usurers. Jer. 15:10: "Woe, is me, my brother,
+that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the
+whole earth. I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on
+usury; yet every one of them doth curse me."
+
+Ezekiel was always patient, faithfully proclaiming his messages, and
+suffering in silence. The completeness of his self-control and patient
+suffering is shown in the short but pathetic description of the death
+of his beloved wife, yet at the divine command he repressed his grief
+and delivered his message the following morning. Ezekiel 24:15-18:
+"Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I
+take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet
+neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
+Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thy
+head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover up thy
+lips, and eat not the bread of men. So I spake of people in the
+morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was
+commanded."
+
+These prophets were familiar with the same scenes. They met the same
+sins. Some have thought they exchanged messages, sending them
+respectively to Jerusalem and Chaldea for encouragement and
+confirmation. This was the opinion of Jerome.
+
+In a catalogue of the sins prevailing in Jerusalem, for which the
+judgment of God came upon them, this prophet places "Usury and
+increase." Ezekiel 22: 7-12: "In thee have they set light by father
+and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with
+the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
+Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. In
+thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon
+the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. In thee have
+they discovered their father's nakedness: in thee have they humbled
+her that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed
+abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled
+his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his
+father's daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou
+hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy
+neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God."
+
+It would not be easy to give a list of more gross and flagrant sins
+than those associated with usury in this passage. They are all, always
+and everywhere, sinful. In no condition can they be lawful and right.
+
+One of the answers familiar to both Jeremiah and Ezekiel when the
+people were reproved for their sins and exhorted to forsake them, that
+the divine judgments might be removed, was this, that their sufferings
+were not on their own account, but for the sins of their fathers. They
+thus met the charge of personal sins and claimed their sufferings were
+inherited and unavoidable. Their fathers had indulged in sin and they
+must reap the consequences. They complained that this was hardness in
+God. They expressed this murmur by a proverb. Jer. 31:29: "The
+fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on
+edge."
+
+The answer of the prophet Jeremiah briefly is, that every one shall
+answer for his own sin. Jer. 31:30: "But every one shall die for his
+own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be
+set on edge."
+
+This same proverb was repeatedly given to Ezekiel, as an excuse for
+continuing in sins, even when the judgments of God were upon them. The
+word of the Lord came more fully and explicitly to him.
+
+Ezekiel declares that the sins of the fathers were visited on the
+children only when they continued in their father's iniquity. That
+those who forsook the sins of their fathers and were righteous, were
+free from the punishment of the unrighteous parents.
+
+Ezekiel 18:1-17: "The word of God came unto me again, saying, What
+mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel,
+saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
+are set on edge.
+
+As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion to use this
+proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the
+father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it
+shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and
+right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up
+his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his
+neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
+(_i.e._ neither hath committed a rape,) and hath not oppressed any,
+but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by
+violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the
+naked with a garment. He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither
+hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity,
+hath executed true judgment between man and man. Hath walked in my
+statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he
+shall surely live, saith the Lord God."
+
+"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
+doeth the like to any one of these things; and that doeth not any of
+those duties but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his
+neighbor's wife, hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by
+violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted his eyes to
+the idols, hath committed abomination, hath given forth upon usury,
+and hath taken increase: Shall he then live? He shall not live: he
+hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall
+be upon him. Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's
+sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like:
+that hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his
+eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his
+neighbor's wife, neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the
+pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to
+the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, that hath taken
+off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury or increase,
+hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not
+die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live."
+
+It will be noticed that usury or increase is here mentioned among the
+grossest and foulest sins of which that people were guilty. They are
+placed by the prophet in the worst possible company. He classifies
+them among those things that can never be right. There is no
+qualification of "increase" great or small, nor of "usury" whether the
+loan be domestic or commercial, whether for personal need, or to go
+into business, whether the borrower be poor or rich.
+
+Usury is mentioned as "_malum per se_." "Usury and increase" are
+treated as sinful in themselves, just as fraud, violence, impurity,
+and idolatry are sinful, and can never be innocent unless their very
+natures are reversed. When there is fraud without dishonesty, and
+violence without injury, and adultery without impurity, and idolatry
+without false worship, then may there be "usury and increase" without
+injustice and oppression. "Some sins in themselves and by reason of
+several aggravations are more heinous in the sight of God than
+others," the prophet Ezekiel places "usury or increase" in the list of
+"abominations."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FINANCIAL REFORM BY NEHEMIAH.[1]
+
+
+After seventy years of captivity of the Hebrews in Chaldea an edict
+was issued by Cyrus the king permitting their return to Judea. The
+most earnest and devout had been restless and homesick in the strange
+land. The restoration was led by Zerubbabel who accompanied by about
+five thousand of the most devout men from the various families, made
+their way over the long return to their former home. This was only
+about one-sixth of the captive population. Many preferred to remain in
+the land they had now adopted, and where some had been prospered, and
+some were perhaps less fervent in their religious zeal. This fraction
+of the people, however, determined to re-erect their temple and to
+cultivate the fields again that were given to their fathers and to
+rebuild the nation, the tradition of whose glory never failed to stir
+their hearts.
+
+Eighty years later another company under the priest and scholar, Ezra,
+authorized by Artaxerxes, joined the first colony that had returned to
+re-occupy their own land.
+
+A few years later another company was led by the patriot, Nehemiah.
+Nehemiah was in an honorable and lucrative position in the first court
+upon earth, yet he grieved over the misfortunes of his own people,
+and especially over the reported distress of the returned exiles. He
+sought leave of absence and a commission to return and co-work with
+his brethren for their complete re-establishment at Jerusalem.
+
+The leave of absence was cheerfully granted and a broad commission
+given to take with him any who wished to return. The revenues of the
+king were placed at his disposal and the governors of the provinces
+were ordered to assist and further his work. A large company of the
+earnest and devout returned with him, confident of his protection and
+in sympathy with his mission. He deliberately reviewed the work to be
+done, made careful plans and was greatly successful.
+
+The people were obedient. They cheerfully endured the privations and
+dangers in their devotion to their country, and in the hope of
+retrieving the fortunes of their depressed people.
+
+Enemies appeared, who threatened to estop their work, but some worked
+while others watched, with arms in hand, ready to defend. Some wrought
+with one hand and held a weapon for ready defence in the other.
+Nehemiah and his aides, and many of the people, did not take off their
+clothes, but were on duty constantly--so devoted were they to the
+cause in which they were engaged, regaining their homes and
+re-establishing the worship of their fathers and rebuilding the
+nation.
+
+But there was a strange interruption in this patriotic work. A sordid
+covetousness possessed their nobles and rulers. While the people were
+absorbed in their patriotic service, these persons were planning
+successfully to despoil them.
+
+A cry of distress came to the ears of Nehemiah. The people found, now
+that they had made the sacrifice and suffered deprivations and
+cheerfully given their labors for the common good, they were deprived
+of their blessings and enslaved.
+
+This enslavement was not to foreign rulers, but to those of their own
+blood. A division had grown up among their own kindred. Some had grown
+rich and become their masters. Others were in hopeless poverty. The
+distinctions came gradually or grew up among them, possibly
+unobserved: the rich becoming richer and the poor poorer, until the
+nobles held their lands and were selling their sons and daughters as
+chattels.
+
+This condition was hopeless, after all their struggles for nearly a
+hundred years to re-establish their institutions. Neither they nor
+their children could, under those conditions, enjoy the fruit of all
+their efforts. This was no fault of theirs. There had been times of
+dearth and harvest failure, when some with large families were in
+need. The king's tribute, too, was heavy upon them and some were not
+able to pay and they were compelled to borrow, but had to give
+mortgages upon their land as security. Now lands, homes and all, had
+passed to the creditors and they were despondent and helpless.
+
+This cry caused Nehemiah great distress, but Nehemiah was not like
+Ezra, a devout and learned priest, but without executive power, who in
+a like position gave way to unmitigated grief. Nehemiah was equally
+patriotic and conscientious, but he was also a strong leader and an
+independent commander. He did not call together the nobles and rulers
+charged with oppression and ask them what he should do. He had none of
+their counsel. He took counsel with himself, his own conscience, his
+own judgment, and worked out an independent, individual policy which
+he should pursue.
+
+His sympathy was with the suffering people, and he determined to
+espouse their cause and to correct their wrongs. He then called the
+nobles and rulers and charged them to their face with oppression. He
+laid "the ax at the root of the tree" and charged the fault to their
+covetousness, to the exacting of usury or interest. It was this, he
+declared, that had brought them to wealth, but driven others to
+poverty. He demanded reparation. When they were slow to yield, he
+called a convocation of the people and aroused them to a due sense of
+the wrong they had been enduring, and laid bare the sins of the rulers
+and nobles. He showed the oppression by comparing their sordid and
+greedy conduct with the unselfish, self-sacrifice of himself and
+others for the common good. While he and the patriotic people were
+busy with hand and brain in rebuilding the nation and fighting the
+enemies, these usurers were busy getting in their work of ruin,
+gathering the property into their own hands and enslaving the
+patriots.
+
+The usurers were not able to withstand this onslaught of the chief
+commander and the aroused people, and they made no reply. Their
+conduct had so evidently been contrary both to the letter and spirit
+of their own law, they were compelled to yield and to say meekly, "We
+will do as you have said."
+
+Then he stated the terms and conditions of the reform he would
+institute.
+
+1. They must return the pledges they had taken for debts, without
+reserve. The people must not be deprived of their land, tools, or
+instruments of production. The foreclosure of mortgages must be set
+aside and the people again given possession of their lands.
+
+2. Interest must be returned or credited upon the debts. If the
+interest equaled the debt, then the debt was fully discharged. If more
+than the principal had been paid, then it must be returned in money or
+in the product of lands taken in foreclosure, the wine or oil or
+fruits and grains must be returned. Thus only could the wrongs be
+corrected and righteous adjustment be made.
+
+There then followed a general restoration of pledges and a cancelling
+of debts that had been paid once in interest, and a repaying of any
+surplus.
+
+3. They must take a solemn vow that this sin shall henceforth be
+unknown among them. The law against usury or interest must henceforth
+be carefully obeyed. These distinctions that had grown up among them
+must disappear forever, and the cause of the poverty of the many and
+the wealth of the few must be shunned.
+
+To these conditions the usurers assented, made ashamed by the conduct
+of the noble patriot in contrast with their own selfishness, though
+they had not yielded until awed and compelled by the indignation of
+the people, which Nehemiah had enkindled against them.
+
+This positive enforcement of the law against the taking of increase on
+any loan, makes unmistakably clear the interpretation of the law by
+the devout, earnest, sincere, God-fearing Hebrews, down to the close
+of the Old Testament Canon.
+
+[1] References: Ezra, Nehemiah, Bible Dictionaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER.
+
+
+Psalmist and prophets had sung of the exalted character of the coming
+Messiah. "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured
+into thy lips." "And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
+The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
+
+At his coming he lifted to a higher plane, by his precepts and
+example, the ideal of a true, noble and worthy human life. By his
+teachings and by his life of utter unselfishness he revealed clearly
+the exalted character and conduct that conformed to the Divine will.
+
+1. Our Lord's character forbids that we should think of him for a
+moment as devoted to the gathering of worldly wealth. He came to
+minister unto, not to serve himself. Self-seeking was foreign to his
+nature. A great truth was spoken by the scoffers. "He saved others,
+himself he cannot save."
+
+He who strives to follow in his footsteps cannot serve himself.
+
+The whole drift of a great unselfish Christ-like soul must be for
+others. The whole current of his thought and effort during his life
+must be, to be helpful to others. Studying and striving to help
+others, he cannot seek wealth. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
+
+It is out of harmony with the whole life and all the teachings of the
+Master that he should encourage or permit a means of increasing wealth
+forbidden by the laws given by Moses and classed among the vilest of
+sins by the prophets.
+
+2. Again: He did not undo the teachings of the prophets, but enlarged
+their scope. He showed by word and example how the true spirit of the
+teachings of the old dispensation led to self-sacrifice for the
+welfare of others. Matt. 5:17: "Think not that I am come to destroy
+the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill."
+
+Fulfill, here, is more than to obey. It is in antithesis with destroy,
+and means to perfect and complete.
+
+The old ceremonial forms of religious worship, pointed to the advent
+of one who should be a perfect sacrifice for sin, typified by the
+daily sacrifice of bulls and rams. The sacrifice typified, was
+completed in Him.
+
+The moral enactments were not set aside, but they were given a
+completed meaning; that is they were made to reach beyond the external
+to the hidden desires and affections of the heart. He taught that mere
+external compliance was not sufficient in the All Seeing Eye. The
+affections and desires of the soul must be in agreement.
+
+Thus we have the explanation of the law of chastity, completed,
+requiring purity of the soul. So murder is not merely the external
+act, but the law for murder, completed, forbids enmity or hatred
+hidden in the heart.
+
+The requirements for mutual helpfulness were also perfected or
+completed.
+
+The old law required the helping of a brother in need.
+
+Deut. 15:7, 8: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy
+brethren within any of thy gates in the land which the Lord thy God
+giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine hand from
+thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and
+shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he
+wanteth."
+
+This was completed so as to extend the help to all sufferers, though
+not kindred nor friendly, and though they may not be able nor willing
+to repay. Luke 6:35: "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend,
+hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall
+be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful,
+and to the evil."
+
+The old law permitted the lender to take a pledge to secure the return
+of "as much again," that is, the loan without interest. The Master
+enjoins being helpful though the principal should never be repaid. To
+take a pledge or mortgage and add the interest would greatly harden
+the conditions for the borrower. It would be a step backward and not
+forward in the way of helpfulness to others.
+
+Again, the year of Jubilee was a kind of legal time limit to debts.
+All obligations were then cancelled. No debt could be collected. The
+selfish Hebrew feared to make a loan shortly before Jubilee lest it
+should not be repaid promptly and his claim would become worthless.
+Deut. 15:9: "Beware that there be no thought in thy wicked heart,
+saying, The seventh year, the year of release is at hand; and thine
+eye be evil toward thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught; and
+he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee." In his
+heart the old Hebrew might have a desire to press his claim but the
+law protected the debtor. This law for the release of the debtor from
+the payment of principal without interest is completed so as to
+require sincere and hearty forgiveness.
+
+Our Lord taught his disciples to ask for forgiveness of God only as
+they forgave their debtors, Matt. 6:12: "And forgive us our debts, as
+we forgive our debtors." The commercial terms here used show this to
+be the completion of the law as touching the creditor and his released
+debtor.
+
+3. Again, he broke down the artificial barriers, the distinction of
+Hebrew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, bond and free.
+
+The love and sympathy and helpfulness among men was no longer to be
+limited to such narrow bounds, but must be wide as the race. "Who is
+my neighbor?" is so answered that every man must be neighbor to every
+other man, and the object of his care and help. All are of one blood,
+and all God's children. He gave one law for all classes and conditions
+in all times. He so expounded the old commandments and so condensed
+them, that they became the one law of love. Whosoever is governed by
+supreme love to God, and loves his neighbor as himself, has fulfilled
+the law. He would thus bind all men together, and all to the throne of
+God, by the one bond of love.
+
+But he further intensified the obligations of love, by his own special
+command. John 15:12: "This is my commandment, that ye love one
+another, as I have loved you." And he adds it to the decalogue, John
+13:34: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as
+I have loved you that ye also love one another." This new command
+requires that men shall love their brethren above themselves and be
+ready to sacrifice for their welfare. As he gave his life, so also he
+commanded that men should sacrifice for their fellows.
+
+Those who hear his voice and have the spirit of obedience go to the
+ends of the earth, and make any sacrifice that may be required for the
+uplifting of fallen men.
+
+The law forbidding the Hebrews exacting usury of their brethren, of
+the stranger who had accepted their faith and kept the passover, of
+the stranger, sojourner who dwelt among them, of everybody except the
+Canaanite who was under the condemnation of God, could not have been
+annulled or suspended by the divine Master who thus draws together and
+embraces as one family the whole race. The ties of Christian
+brotherhood are not less strong than the ties of Hebrew blood. The
+converts from heathen to Christian faith are not less dear to the
+missionary than the proselytes to the Hebrew faith were to the
+Pharisees. The foreigner who comes into a Christian community must not
+be treated with less justice and kindness than the wandering Arab who
+strolled into Jerusalem for a trade. It cannot be that the relation
+between Christians is like that between the Hebrew and the criminal
+Canaanites who were convicted of capital crimes and under sentence of
+death. As usury was repugnant to that spirit of justice and brotherly
+love that obtained in the Hebrew State, much more is it repugnant to
+that closer brotherhood into which we are drawn by the divine Lord.
+
+4. Again, He was a friend of the poor and lowly. This was foretold by
+the song of the virgin, when assured that she should be the mother of
+the Savior. Luke 51:52, 53: "He hath put down the mighty from their
+seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
+good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away."
+
+The prophets foretold that He should be the friend of the poor. He
+pointed John to the fulfilment of these prophecies in proof of his
+Messiahship.
+
+In his first address in the explanation of the new dispensation he
+began by saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The literal
+rendering would be, "Blessed are the poor, to the Spirit." This is the
+dative singular with the definite article. He is speaking of external
+conditions as contrasted with spiritual blessings, and those
+conditions thought wretched in the world were especially favorable for
+the development of grace. The poor, humble, mourning, suffering, and
+persecuted were especially blessed in his kingdom.
+
+The word rendered poor does not mean pauper. There is a great
+difference. The poor may be industrious, self-reliant and
+self-supporting. There is no hint of dependence.
+
+In Luke he says, "Blessed are ye poor." When at the rich man's table,
+he told his host that he would be more blessed if he should make the
+next feast to the poor and defective, that could make him no return.
+
+He was uncompromising in his denunciation of the rich. Luke 6:24: "But
+woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation." He
+showed the danger of riches in the parable of the sower. Matt. 13:22:
+"He also that received seed among thorns is he that heareth the word;
+and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the
+word, and it becometh unfruitful."
+
+Where grace is to be cultivated and flourish, the "greed of gain" must
+not enter. The young man who came to him, whom he loved for his sweet
+disposition and excellent character, he turned away by the answer that
+his wealth was incompatible with his salvation. He must part from his
+riches. When the disciples were surprised, he made it more emphatic,
+Matt. 19:24: "And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go
+through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
+of God." And when they felt that this made salvation impossible, he
+declared it could only be possible by the exercise of omnipotent,
+divine grace.
+
+Zaccheus, the one rich man whose conversion is recorded, surrendered
+his ill-gotten gain fourfold and gave away half of the remainder
+before salvation came to his house. The temptation to trust and lean
+upon riches is irresistible.
+
+Our Lord did not make wealth more dangerous than under the Mosaic
+dispensation by removing the restraint that was there put upon it. As
+a friend to the poor he did not give wealth an advantage it did not
+have before.
+
+5. The whole drift of his teachings limited and restrained
+accumulation of wealth. The parable of the rich fool is a forcible
+presentation of its human folly on the earthly side.
+
+"Whose shall these things be?"
+
+"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
+doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up
+for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
+corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: For where
+your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
+
+The result is irresistible; when engaged in storing earthly treasure,
+the heart will be earthly; or if laying up treasures in heaven, the
+heart will reach heavenward. He who labors for a heavenly reward, will
+be heavenly minded.
+
+Treasures are stored for eternity, when used for the bringing out of
+that which shall survive the grave; for the bringing out the highest
+divine type of manhood and womanhood, in ourselves, in our children,
+and in all the children of men.
+
+Treasures expended in the development of immortals shall be found when
+the earthly and temporal scenes have passed away. That which is
+expended in the uplifting of the race shall be our eternal reward.
+
+Giving, giving, not hoarding is commended. Productive industry he
+enforced by his example, the carpenter that wrought for his daily
+bread. He chose workmen to be his followers. He taught economy in the
+command to take up the fragments of the food miraculously created
+"that nothing be lost," yet unreserved giving was the lesson he
+inculcated and illustrated in his life. To follow his example, we must
+produce and produce much, yet what we gain is to be expended, so as
+to promote the highest welfare of all mankind. We must not store the
+fruits of our labor, but expend, not as a spendthrift who wastes, but
+judiciously and wisely for God and man. Our giving is only limited by
+the ability and facility to produce. Our Lord did not greatly add to
+the temptation to hoard by delivering the earthly treasures from the
+decay by "moth and rust" and instead permitting their increase. Our
+hoarding of earthly treasures must be limited, because of our
+disposition to trust in them. We must always be so dependent that we
+shall pray truly with the spirit of dependence, "Give us this day our
+daily bread." "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food
+convenient for me."
+
+Thrift does not require that we shall hoard an amount that will
+support us through life, much less that we shall lay up a fortune,
+that shall free our children from the necessity of productive labor.
+The spirit of the Master's teachings is, that each age shall produce
+and spend its product for its own advancement, then each succeeding
+age shall be better fitted to produce and care for itself and so
+advance the coming generations. "Go work today in my vineyard." Now is
+the time to give and do for the generation yet unborn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+PARABLES OF THE TALENTS AND THE POUNDS.
+
+
+Our Lord mentions usury by name only in the parables of the talents
+and pounds. Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27. Usury is mentioned in these
+passages incidentally to meet the excuses of worthless servants, but
+in both as the unjust and oppressive act of a hard and dishonest man.
+These references to usury are in entire harmony with the expressions
+of David and Solomon, and of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
+
+These servants in the parables were slaves, who owed their service to
+their master and for whom he was responsible.
+
+The lesson in both parables is the necessity of faithfulness. The
+faithful servants are rewarded and the unfaithful punished in both.
+Yet there is a special lesson in each.
+
+The parable of the talents shows that an equal reward shall be given
+all who are equally faithful, though the means and opportunities
+afforded one may far exceed those granted another. One was given five
+talents and another but two; one gained five and the other two, yet
+both equally faithful, are directed to enter into the joy of their
+lord.
+
+The unfaithful servant brings his talent with an excuse, which is a
+charge against the character of his master, "I knew thee that thou
+art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where
+thou hast not strewed," "so there thou hast which is thine."
+
+The master in reply showed the inconsistency of the excuse by assuming
+that he bore the hard character charged upon him by his slave, "Thou
+wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
+not, and gather where I have not strewed: Thou oughtest therefore to
+have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should
+have received mine own with usury." It is "interest" in the Revised
+Version.
+
+This interview may be paraphrased as follows:
+
+The unfaithful servant said: "I know the kind of a man you are. You
+are dishonest. You take what does not belong to you. You reap what
+other people sow, and you take up what others earn. I was afraid of
+you: Here is all that you gave me and all that belongs to you."
+
+The master said: "You are merely excusing yourself. You are a lazy
+faithless slave. If I am the hard man you say I am, taking what does
+not belong to me and gathering the sowings and earnings of others, you
+could have met that condition without trouble to yourself, by giving
+my money to the usurers and then at my coming I could have received my
+unjust gain. Your excuse is inconsistent, you condemn yourself. You
+are an indolent and worthless slave. Begone to your punishment."
+
+It is clearly implied that unearned increase, reaping and gathering
+without sowing, could be gained through the exchangers. If this was
+what was demanded, the servant could have secured this with no effort
+on his part. His charge against the master was a mere pretence to
+excuse his own want of personal faithfulness, and the master's reply
+was fitted to this pretense.
+
+This is in entire harmony with the opinion our Lord expressed of the
+exchangers when he called them thieves and drove them out of the
+temple. It would be wholly inconsistent for him to advise an honest
+and faithful servant to place any portion of the property in their
+hands. His advice can only come from the standpoint of a dishonest
+master such as his servant called him.
+
+The parable of the pounds shows the degrees of faithfulness in those
+who have equal opportunities. With the same opportunities one may far
+surpass another, because more faithful to his trust, his reward is
+proportionately greater.
+
+In this parable each servant received the same, but the gains and
+rewards differ. By diligence one gained ten pounds and is commended
+and given authority over ten cities. Another gained five pounds. He is
+also commended and given authority over five cities.
+
+Another, who had given no service, came with his pound but without
+increase. This was a proof of his unfaithfulness. He endeavors to
+shield himself like the servant with the talent, by charging injustice
+and oppression on his master. "I feared thee because thou art an
+austere man: thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest
+that thou didst not sow."
+
+His master turned on him because his own reason was inconsistent with
+his conduct and a mere shield for his indolence and worthlessness.
+"Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou
+knowest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and
+reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore gavest thou not my money into
+the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with
+usury."
+
+This interview may also be paraphrased.
+
+The unfaithful slave came and said: "Lord I have carefully kept all
+that thou gavest me. I knew that thou wast an exacting master, taking
+what did not belong to you and gathering what others sow."
+
+The master says: "Now stop right there and I will judge you by your
+own excuse out of your own mouth. You say you knew me to be exacting
+and dishonest, taking more than belonged to me. Now, knowing this, why
+did you not serve me by giving my money to the bank, and then at my
+coming you could have brought me my money with my unjust gain and that
+would have pleased a hard man like me, without effort on your part.
+You are only giving this as an excuse for your own unfaithfulness. You
+are a wicked slave."
+
+The master admits that he would be a hard man, if he reaped what
+another sowed, or took up what belonged to another, but assuming that
+this was his character, even this could have been met without trouble
+to the slave through the bank. This is a clear recognition of usury as
+unjust gain.
+
+Exchangers were little more than the pawn-brokers of today and a bank
+was a pawn-shop where pledges were stored. The money loaned upon any
+pawn was much less than its full value. The increase of the loan soon
+made it more than the value of the pledge which was then forfeited,
+and the pawn was sold by the broker.
+
+These parables are here dwelt upon, for they are so frequently
+misunderstood and misapplied. In a large volume on "Banking," the
+writer found the words of the master quoted, "Wherefore then gavest
+not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have
+required my own with usury." And they were quoted as a solemn
+direction of the divine Master to deposit money in the bank.
+
+To quote from these parables in the defense of usury is as flagrant a
+perversion of the truth as the famous quotation to prove that Paul
+encouraged theft. "Let him that stole, steal."
+
+The lessons of these parables are in entire harmony with the law of
+Moses and the teachings of the prophets and Nehemiah. In these
+parables the usurer is presented as a hard man, exacting that which he
+has not earned and to which he has no right.
+
+The teachings of the Master did not permit what had been forbidden in
+all the ages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+PRACTICE OF THE DISCIPLES.
+
+
+The conditions in the very early church were not such as to make
+prominent the sin of usury. Many of the disciples were very poor and
+from the humblest walks of life. I Cor. 1:27-28: "But God hath chosen
+the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
+chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
+mighty; and the base things of the world, and things which are
+despised, hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring
+to nought things that are."
+
+The practice of the disciples was, however, in entire harmony with the
+teachings of Moses and the Master, and in accord with the prohibition
+of usury. Later, in the time of the apostolic fathers when the church
+came face to face with this sin, there was but one voice and that in
+the denunciation, for the fathers were unanimous in its condemnation.
+
+(1) The first disciples did not loan, but gave to their needy
+brethren. The early converts held their property so subject to a
+general call that some have thought they had a community of goods.
+
+Acts 2:44, 45: "And all that believed were together, and had all
+things common; * * * and sold their possessions and goods, and parted
+them to all men, as every man had need."
+
+It is evident they did not assist their brethren with "loans," but
+with gifts; much less did they take the opportunity to secure increase
+on loans.
+
+The suffering poor were their especial care. They gave of their
+poverty for the relief of the suffering. Many called by the Spirit
+were in want, and many came to want through the severe persecutions to
+which they were subjected. This was especially true of the converts in
+Jerusalem. For these large collections were received from the churches
+in Macedonia and in Corinth.
+
+They were commanded to care for the needy of their own house. I Tim.
+5:8: "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of
+his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an
+infidel." Paul, in giving directions to Timothy, as to the care of
+their poor, requires aid to be given to "widows indeed," those who
+have no children; but those who have children or nephews are to look
+to them and be supported by them, and if any person refuses to care
+for his widowed mother or grandmother or dependent aunt, "he hath
+denied the faith and is worse than an infidel."
+
+(2) They were diligent in business. They provided things honest in the
+sight of all men.
+
+Paul set the example during his itinerate ministry by working at his
+trade to secure his support and his dictum has been accepted as both
+divine and human wisdom ever since. "If any will not work neither
+shall he eat."
+
+Diligence was enjoined for self-support, and that others might be
+helped. Eph. 4:28: "Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let
+him labor, working with his hands, the things which is good, that he
+may have to give to him that needeth." The effort was first by labor
+to be independent and then also to come to the relief of the feeble,
+the sick, the poor, and the needy. That a man could honestly secure a
+livelihood without productive labor was foreign to their way of
+thinking. If any did not work he did not deserve a living, nor was he
+an honest man. No one was at liberty to be idle. Productive effort
+must not be relaxed. There was no retiring for the enjoyment of a
+competency.
+
+There was no thought of such a provision to free them from the effort
+for the daily bread. The surplus product was given for the aid of
+others, to those who had claims of kinship first, then to all who had
+need.
+
+The instant a man failed to produce he began to consume. There is no
+hint anywhere that it entered any of their minds that they could stop
+production and live in ease from the increase of what they had
+produced and the supply grow no less; that the meal and oil should not
+fail, but be handed down unimpaired to their children.
+
+(3) Covetousness was hated and denounced and classed with the most
+flagrant violations of the moral law.
+
+Covetousness is an inordinate regard for wealth of any kind. This may
+be shown in the greed of seeking it, without proper regard for the
+rights of others; or in parsimony or stinginess in holding it, when
+there are rightful claims upon it.
+
+James 5:1-6: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries
+that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
+are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them
+shall be witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were
+fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.
+
+"Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
+which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
+which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
+
+"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have
+nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and
+killed the just, and he doth not resist you."
+
+Covetousness may also be shown in undue respect for wealth when in the
+hands of others. This is reproved in James 2:1-7. "My brethren, have
+not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
+respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a
+gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile
+raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing,
+and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor
+man, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then
+partial in yourselves, and become the judges of evil thoughts?
+Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this
+world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised
+them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men
+oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they
+blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?"
+
+Covetousness was a secret sin often indulged when the outward forms of
+righteousness were observed. Usurers were the open representatives of
+flagrant covetousness in all the ages. Usury was not named among them
+as becometh saints.
+
+(4) The early disciples kept out of debt. The early Christians were
+not borrowers. In both dispensations borrowing was only resorted to in
+hard necessity. The borrower was second to the beggar. The borrowing
+was but for a short time, and the loan was returned as soon as
+absolute wants were supplied.
+
+The doctrine and practice of the early church was to owe no man
+anything. Rom. 13:8: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:
+for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
+
+Indebtedness was to be avoided as compromising the faith in the eyes
+of others and detrimental to the development of grace in the
+disciples.
+
+This was the direct command of Paul. This commandment required the
+payment of all honest obligations. The Christian then as now who
+failed to acknowledge his obligations and meet them in full as he was
+able was wanting in the spirit of righteousness and unfaithful to his
+own convictions of right and duty.
+
+The payment of a debt was the return in full of the loan received.
+
+Any Christian conscience at that time would have been satisfied with
+the settlement approved and commanded by Nehemiah. The debt was fully
+discharged when payments equaled the loan by whatever name those
+payments were called.
+
+This text also required that they keep out of debt. By no distortion
+of the text can it be made to mean less. Chalmers on this passage
+comments as follows: "But though to press the duty of our text in the
+extreme and rigorous sense of it--yet I would fain aspire towards the
+full and practical establishment of it, so that the habit might become
+at length universal, not only paying all debts, but even by making
+conscience never to contract, and therefore never to owe any. For
+although this might never be reached, it is well it should be looked
+at, nay moved forward to, as a sort of optimism, every approximation
+to which were a distinct step in advance, both for the moral and
+economic good of society. For, first, in the world of trade, one can
+not be insensible to the dire mischief that ensues from the spirit
+often so rampant, of an excessive and unwarrantable speculation--so as
+to make it the most desirable of all consummations that the system of
+credit should at length give way, and what has been termed the
+ready-money system, the system of immediate payments in every
+commercial transaction, should be substituted in its place. The
+adventurer who, in the walks of merchandise, trades beyond his means
+is often actuated by a passion as intense, and we fear too, as
+criminal, as is the gamester, who in the haunts of fashionable
+dissipation, stakes beyond his fortune. But it is not the injury
+alone, which the ambition that precipitates him into such deep and
+desperate hazards, brings upon his own character, neither is it the
+ruin that the splendid bankruptcy in which it terminates brings upon
+his own family.
+
+These are not the only evils which we deprecate--for over and above
+these there is a far heavier disaster, a consequence in the train of
+such proceedings, of greatly wider and more malignant operation still,
+on the habit and condition of the working classes, gathered in
+hundreds around the mushroom establishment, and then thrown adrift
+among the other wrecks of its overthrow, in utter helplessness and
+destitution on society. This frenzy of men hasting to be rich, like
+fever in the body natural, is a truly sore distemper in the body
+politic. No doubt they are also sufferers themselves, piercing their
+own hearts through with many sorrows; but it is the contemplation of
+this suffering in masses, which the sons and daughters of industry in
+humble life so often earn at their hands, that has ever led me to rank
+them among the chief pests and disturbers of a commonwealth."
+
+To this may be added an extract from "Short Instructions for Early
+Masses by the Paulist Fathers." "The fact of the matter is, dear
+brethren, that there is too much laxity of conscience among our people
+on this question of contracting debts, of borrowing money, of running
+up bills with little or no hope of ever paying them. We have all of us
+no doubt come across people who consider themselves quite religious
+who owe money to their neighbors for years, and never make an effort
+to pay what they owe or even to offer an excuse for their negligence
+in such important matters.
+
+There are some professional debtors who think the world owes them a
+living, and who spend a good part of their time figuring out how much
+they can get out of the land and from those who dwell thereon. To have
+to pay rent is their greatest grievance, and after being trusted for a
+few months, they find it much cheaper to move to other quarters than
+to pay what they owe.
+
+Then there are others who must dress extravagantly, no matter what it
+costs, and in consequence have nothing left to pay for the things
+they eat or drink. Do they on this account deny themselves any of the
+good things of this life? Not at all; on the contrary, every business
+man will tell you the same story--these people want the best and are
+the most exacting in their demands.
+
+Now, I repeat, there is too much laxity about contracting debts and
+too little conscience about the necessity of paying for what we use.
+St. Paul's warning should ring in the ears of every debtor: "Owe no
+man anything." It will not do for such people to come to confession
+and say they contracted debts and are not able to pay what they owe.
+Confession will not relieve them of their obligation, and they must
+begin at once and make an effort to lessen the debts they owe in the
+past and learn a lesson in economy and strive against contracting new
+burdens. This will help us to clear off the old ones.
+
+It is not edifying, nor is it conducive to good fellowship, nor does
+it help to make our religion better known and better loved, to find
+people, dressed in the finest, coming Sunday after Sunday to mass
+while they are heavily in debt to their grocer or butcher or landlord,
+who may be in the very same pew with them. This is certain, it
+convinces such men in business that the debtor's religion is not very
+sincere.
+
+In a word, brethren, it is far better to live in less pretentious
+dwellings, dress more soberly and eat more sparingly than to owe any
+man anything. Pay what thou owest, and then you may walk honestly
+among all men."
+
+Freedom from debt is necessary to the independence of the man who does
+right and answers only to God. Struggle as he may the man is not free
+who is under obligations to others. He is hindered in his conduct; he
+is not always conscious of it, but nevertheless there is a real
+binding or fettering of his actions. It influences his gifts, for what
+he holds is not his own and the owner may criticize his benevolence.
+
+An easy conscience and sound sleep is the portion of the man who is
+under no obligations to another. He looks the whole world in the face,
+who owes no man a cent.
+
+He is free from distracting business relations with his brethren and
+brotherly love may abound. The exhortation of Paul is in connection
+with brotherly love, and of all external relations, debt hinders the
+free flow of sympathy among brethren.
+
+The early disciples endeavored to avoid all debt. Much less did they
+pay a premium for the privilege. They only borrowed in hard necessity;
+but borrowing on usury to make a profit by it was as repellant to the
+Christian conscience then as complicity with theft or fraud. It marked
+a man as anxious to share in unrighteous gain. His own conscience
+placed him among those who are discontented with their lawful estate
+and guilty of that covetousness which is idolatry. I Tim. 6:6-11:
+"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
+into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And
+having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that
+will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
+and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For
+the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted
+after, they have erred in the faith, and pierced themselves through
+with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and
+follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
+meekness."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+CHURCH HISTORY.
+
+
+The Church, from the time of the apostles, was emphatic in its
+denunciation of usury.
+
+Schaff-Herzog says: "All the apostolic fathers condemned the taking of
+usury." The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge declares the same.
+
+Chrysostom said: "Nothing is baser in this world than usury, nothing
+more cruel."
+
+Basil describes a scene so real that we can scarcely realize that he
+wrote over fifteen hundred years ago. After stating the usurer's
+protestations of having no money, to the victim, who seeks a loan
+without interest, he says: "Then the suppliant mentions interest and
+utters the word security. All is changed. The frown is relaxed; with a
+genial smile he recounts old family connections. Now it is 'My friend,
+I will see if I have any money by me. Yes, there is that very sum
+which a man, I know, has left in my hands in deposit for profit. He
+named a very heavy interest. However, I will certainly take something
+off and give it to you on better terms.' With pretenses like this he
+fawns on the wretched victim and induces him to swallow the barb."
+
+Of the man who has borrowed on interest, he says: "At first he is
+bright and joyous and shines with another's splendor * * * now night
+brings no rest, no sun is bright. He hates the days that are hurrying
+on, for time as it runs adds the interest to its tale."
+
+The fathers unanimously condemned the taking of interest, Tertullian,
+Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome can be quoted against it. The
+popes followed the teachings of the fathers and forbade it under
+severe penalties. The priests guilty of this sin were degraded from
+their orders. The laymen found guilty were excommunicated. Interest
+paid could be reclaimed, not only from the usurer but from his heirs.
+A bargain, though confirmed by an oath never to claim back the
+interest paid, was declared not binding. This action of the popes was
+confirmed by councils.
+
+Charlemagne, in France, forbid the taking of usury either by priests
+or laity.
+
+A council at Westminster (1126) approved the degradation of all
+clergy, who were guilty of this practice.
+
+Archbishop Sands said: "This canker (usury) hath corrupted all
+England."
+
+A council in Vienna (1311) reaffirmed the denunciations of previous
+popes and councils, and then adds: "If any shall obstinately persist
+in the error of presuming to affirm that the taking of usury is not a
+sin, we decree that he shall be punished as a heretic."
+
+There is no record of the repeal of any of these edicts.
+
+The leaders of the Protestant reformation also denounced usury.
+
+Luther was violent in his opposition, using the strongest language he
+could command. "Whoever eats up, robs and steals the nourishment of
+another, commits as great a murder, as he who carves a man or utterly
+undoes him. Such does a usurer, and he sits the while on his stool,
+when he ought rather to be hanging from the gallows."
+
+Melancthon, Beza and others are accounted against usury.
+
+The decisions of Ecclesiastical Councils were numerous and emphatic
+until the seventeenth century. Since that time interest taking has
+become common, all but universal, but there is no record found
+anywhere of its direct approval by any ecclesiastical body. The Church
+has come to tolerate it but has never given it official approval.
+
+Usury has not been included in any creed or confession of faith, nor
+has it been directly approved by any council or general assembly.
+
+The truth has not been left in any age without its witness. There have
+always been those more or less prominent in the Church who contended
+that it was unjust and oppressive. Some of them have been of
+world-wide distinction. The writer has a letter written him by John
+Clark Ridpath, the historian, expressing his agreement with the views
+presented in these pages. Another of these is brilliant John Ruskin,
+recently deceased. Quotations from him will close this review.
+
+"I have not so perverted my soul nor palsied my brain as to expect to
+be advantaged by that adhesion (usury). I do not expect that because I
+have gathered much to find Nature or man gathering more for me; to
+find eighteen pence in my box in the morning instead of the shilling
+as a reward of my continence, or to make an income of my Koran by
+lending it to poor scholars. If I think he can read it and will
+carefully turn the leaves by the outside, he is welcome to read it for
+nothing."
+
+"Thus in all other possible or conceivable cases, the moment our
+capital is increased by having lent it, be it but the estimation of a
+hair, that hair-breadth of increase is usury, just as much as stealing
+a farthing is theft no less than stealing a million."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CALVIN'S LETTER ON USURY.
+
+
+A mere hint of encouragement to the usurer came from Calvin. In a
+letter, to a friend, he hesitatingly expressed opinions that have ever
+since been quoted in defense of the practice. He alone of all the
+reformers took a doubtful stand. He has often been referred to and
+given great credit for his opinion, even by those who utterly reject
+all the doctrines he most earnestly advocated. The fear that he
+expressed near the opening, that some word might be seized to take
+more license than he would allow had reason, for this letter has been
+the basis for all the apologies for usury that have ever been
+attempted. In these last days all who have tried to present fully the
+moral law as comprehended in the ten commandments have felt called
+upon to make some apology for the prevailing practice of usury in
+connection with the eighth command. They all refer to this letter.
+Sometimes there is a brief quotation, given in Latin and left
+untranslated, to convince the ignorant, for Calvin wrote in Latin.
+
+Letter of Calvin: _De Usuris Responsum_.
+
+"I have not yet essayed what could fitly be answered to the question
+put to me; but I have learned by the example of others with how great
+danger this matter is attended. For if all usury is condemned tighter
+fetters are imposed on the conscience than the Lord himself would
+wish. Or if you yield in the least, with that pretext, very many will
+at once seize upon unlicensed freedom, which can then be restrained by
+no moderation or restriction. Were I writing to you alone I would fear
+this the less; for I know your good sense and moderation, but as you
+ask counsel in the name of another, I fear, lest he may allow himself
+far more than I wish by seizing upon some word, yet confident that you
+will look closely into his character and from the matter that is here
+treated judge what is expedient, and to what extent, I shall open my
+thoughts to you.
+
+"And first, I am certain that by no testimony of Scripture is usury
+wholly condemned. For the sense of that saying of Christ, 'Lend,
+hoping for nothing again' (Luke 6:35), has up to this time been
+perverted; the same as another passage when speaking of splendid
+feasts and the desire of the rich to be received in turn, he commands
+them rather to summon to these feasts, the blind, the lame, and other
+needy men, who lie at the cross-roads and have not the power to make a
+like return. Christ wished to restrain men's abuse of lending,
+commands them to lend to those from whom there is no hope of receiving
+or regaining anything; and his words ought to be interpreted, that
+while he would command loans to the poor without expectation of
+repayment or the receipt of interest, he did not mean at the same
+time to forbid loans to the rich with interest, any more than the
+injunction to invite the poor to our feasts did not imply that the
+mutual invitation of friends to feasts is in consequence prohibited.
+Again the law of Moses was political and should not influence us
+beyond what justice and philanthropy will bear.
+
+"It could be wished that all usury and the name itself were first
+banished from the earth. But as this cannot be accomplished it should
+be seen what can be done for the public good. Certain passages of
+Scripture remain in the Prophets and Psalms in which the Holy Spirit
+inveighs against usury. Thus a city is described as wicked because
+usury is practiced in the forum and streets, but as the Hebrew word
+means frauds in general, this cannot be interpreted so strictly. But
+if we concede that the prophet there mentions usury by name, it is not
+a matter of wonder that among the great evils which existed, he should
+attack usury. For wherever gains are farmed out, there are generally
+added, as inseparable, cruelty, and numberless other frauds and
+deceits.
+
+"On the other hand it is said in praise of a pious and holy man 'that
+he putteth not out his money to usury.' Indeed it is very rare for a
+man to be honest and yet a usurer.
+
+"Ezekiel goes even further (Ezek. 22:12). Enumerating the crimes which
+inflamed the wrath of the Lord against the Jews, he uses two words,
+one of which means usury, and is derived from a root meaning to
+consume; the other word means increase or addition, doubtless because
+one devoted to his private gain takes or rather extorts it from the
+loss of his neighbor. It is clear that the prophets spake even more
+harshly of usury because it was forbidden by name among the Jews, and
+when therefore it was practiced against the express command of God, it
+merited even heavier censure.
+
+"But when it is said, that as the cause of our state is the same, the
+same prohibition of usury should be retained, I answer that there is
+some difference in what pertains to the civil state. Because the
+surroundings of the place in which the Lord placed the Jews, as well
+as other circumstances, tended to this, that it might be easy for them
+to deal among themselves without usury, while our state today is very
+different in many respects. Therefore usury is not wholly forbidden
+among us unless it be repugnant both to Justice and to Charity.
+
+"It is said, 'Money does not beget money.' What does the sea beget?
+What does a house from the letting of which I receive a rent? Is money
+born from roofs and walls? But on the other hand both the earth
+produces and something is brought from the sea which afterward
+produces money, and the convenience of a house can be bought and sold
+for money. If therefore more profit can be derived from trading
+through the employment of money than from the produce of a farm, the
+purpose of which is subsistence, should one who lets some barren farm
+to a farmer, receiving in return a price or part of the produce, be
+approved, and one who loans money to be used for profit be condemned?
+And when one buys a farm for money does not that farm produce other
+money yearly? And whence is derived the profit of the merchant? You
+will say from his diligence and his industry. Who doubts that idle
+money is wholly useless? Who asks a loan of me does not intend to keep
+what he receives idle by him. Therefore the profit does not arise from
+the money, but from the product that results from its use or
+employment. I therefore conclude that usury must be judged, not by a
+particular passage of Scripture, but simply by the rules of equity.
+This will be made clearer by an example. Let us imagine a rich man
+with large possessions in farms and rents, but with little money.
+Another man not so rich, nor with such large possessions as the first,
+but has more ready money. The latter being about to buy a farm with
+his own money, is asked by the wealthier for a loan. He who makes the
+loan may stipulate for a rent or interest for his money and further
+that the farm may be mortgaged to him until the principal is paid, but
+until it is paid, he will be content with the interest or usury on the
+loan. Why then shall this contract with a mortgage, but only for the
+profit of the money, be condemned, when a much harsher, it may be, of
+leasing or renting a farm at large annual rent, is approved?
+
+"And what else is it than to treat God like a child, when we judge of
+objects by mere words and not from their nature, as if virtue can be
+distinguished from vice by a form of words.
+
+"It is not my intention to fully examine the matter here. I wished
+only to show what you should consider more carefully. You should
+remember this, that the importance of the question lies not in the
+words but in the thing itself."
+
+Those acquainted with Calvin's "Institutes" will not fail to notice
+the timid manner in which he treats the subject, as if uncertain of
+his ground and endeavoring to excuse usury to please his friend. This
+letter is wanting in that positive air of assured certainty that
+breathes inspired authority and lends a charm to his "Institutes." He
+is nearest himself when he bursts out, "It could be wished that all
+usury and the name itself were banished from the earth."
+
+The letter is here given in full because often more force is carried
+by the reference to a great name than by the study of his argument. A
+careful reading of this letter does not reveal a positive approval of
+usury. He merely excuses it by suggesting other evils that he thinks
+worse; for instance, that land rentals may be worse than the usury of
+money. He does not mention the necessary oppression of the poor
+tenants by the loan upon a mortgage.
+
+It is proof of the weakness of the case when this letter is the most
+favorable that can be presented from any ecclesiastic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+PERMANENCY OF THE PROHIBITION.
+
+
+It is sometimes urged that the law of Moses with regard to usury was
+not intended to be permanent but was only a wise and beneficent
+regulation for that people in their peculiar condition; that as the
+ceremonial was done away by the incoming of the New Testament
+dispensation, so this prohibition was annulled and should be reckoned
+among the effete laws of the ancient Hebrews.
+
+In answer to this contention it may be replied:
+
+(1) This prohibition is not ceremonial. It has no connection with the
+rites and forms of their religion. It touches their character and
+conduct but has no place in their forms of worship.
+
+(2) Nothing can be presented from the Mosaic laws to prove that this
+prohibition was only of a temporary character. It is in entire harmony
+with the spirit of helpfulness and especially the protection of the
+weak, that is so characteristic of the Mosaic order.
+
+No induction from any of the Old Testament writers can be fairly made
+to limit its application. The prophets place usury in the catalogue of
+sins that are always and everywhere offensive to God. Nehemiah
+condemns it as destructive to personal and civic freedom.
+
+(3) There is no hint of its discontinuance in the new dispensation.
+The Master gave a spiritual completeness to this law as he did to all
+enactments requiring external moral character. He classed the usurers,
+in his parables, among the dishonest, who took up what they had not
+laid down.
+
+The disciples, in their poverty and persecutions, were not specially
+tempted by this sin, and it is not therefore prominent in their
+history. But there is nothing in their teachings or practice that is
+not in entire harmony with the binding continuance of the Mosaic
+prohibition, and their practice and teaching are just such as we
+should expect from Christian people in their condition and
+circumstances who recognized the prohibition as permanent.
+
+(4) The apostolic fathers, as the church grew and came into contact
+with the world and was beginning to share in the business of the
+world, to a man, regarded the prohibition as in full force and its
+observance as one of the marked characteristics of the Christian,
+distinguishing him from the worldling and the Jew. Conditions in the
+apostolic age did not make this prominent but when the conditions were
+changed and the church came in conflict with this sin, it is clearly
+seen that the law was in a continuous binding force through the whole
+period.
+
+The later fathers were of the opinion, unanimously, that it was in
+full force, not temporary or provincial, but binding for all time and
+upon all people. That it is suspended is a modern idea, a suggestion
+of the world to the church within the last few hundred years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OUR CHANGED CONDITIONS.
+
+
+The changed conditions of the race in these last years are urged as a
+sufficient reason for annulling this law. It is admitted that it was
+righteous and beneficent in ages long past but with the new light and
+new conditions of the present it is effete, inapplicable and unjust.
+They call attention to the vast extension of commerce, to the
+marvelously increased facilities for travel, transportation and
+intercommunication; to the innumerable and wonderful inventions that
+in their application have brightened our civilization. They exalt
+present conditions and they belittle the long past conditions and
+thought.
+
+The prohibition of usury belonged to the past, the practice of usury
+is all but universal in the present, therefore they argue that usury
+is a part and a necessary part of our civilization and to revive the
+old prohibition would turn the world's civilization backward and be as
+absurd as to now dispense with steam or electricity.
+
+In reply it may be said that the changes are not universal, that there
+are some things that abide, that the changes are trifling when
+compared with those things that remain and are permanent.
+
+1. Human nature remains the same. Man, in body and mind, in
+physiology and psychology, has not changed in these thousands of
+years. That which in ages past promoted the health and vigor of his
+body, will secure its best development now. That discipline, culture
+and mental exercise that secured the highest intellectual strength in
+ages past will do the most for its best development now. Many things
+that now give splendor to our civilization do not promote either the
+best physical or mental manhood.
+
+2. Family ties remain. The relation of husband and wife, of parents
+and children, and the duties of their several positions in the home
+have not changed. The family remains the social unit as it has been in
+all ages. Sociology, the science of social and political organization,
+is a permanent science. It does not change with the shifting temporal
+conditions of the people. Those things which made for the general
+welfare of ages ago are for the public weal now, and those things that
+endangered the state then are to be avoided now.
+
+3. The moral law remains unchanged and unchangeable, with all the
+brilliant present there is no amendment to the ten commandments. The
+ethical nature remains and the voice of conscience, approving the same
+right and condemning the same wrong, is identical with the voice of
+conscience in the time of Moses.
+
+4. The laws of nature have not changed. The relation between a cause
+and its sequence remains. Like causes produce like effects.
+
+No living thing has changed its nature. A lion now is of the same
+nature that it was in the time of Samson. So with every savage beast
+that roams the jungle. Even the domesticated animals, with all the
+effort and skill of intelligent man, have only been smoothed or
+speeded a little. The horse, cow, sheep, or dog have held their old
+forms and dispositions.
+
+Seed time and harvest come and go and we are dependent for the same
+shower and sunshine that gave Adam his first harvest.
+
+We know some things they did not know and we have bettered our tools,
+but the natural world has shown no signs of change.
+
+5. The relation of things to each other have not changed. Plants must
+have soil to grow in, animals must have vegetation to feed upon. Fish
+must have water. And so with the thousands of relations of climate,
+elements, soils, plants, animals, fishes, birds and insects, they are
+the identical relations sustained ages and ages ago.
+
+6. The nature of money has not changed. Its material and form and
+denominations have been modified but the functions of money as a
+storage of values and as a measure of values and as a medium of
+exchange remain the same. Our gold and silver and paper money may be
+more convenient and more exact, but its functions are just the same
+as the Indians' wampum.
+
+The law of supply and demand and the equity in commercial
+transactions, great or small, are unchanged. Money could always be
+used to make or gather more money in business. It is no more true now
+than in the times of David or Nehemiah. If this had not then been
+possible; if there had not been tempting opportunities, there would
+have been no sin of usury for them to reprove.
+
+Man's changed conditions are but trifling and incidental, relating to
+himself. They do not affect a single natural or moral or economic law.
+
+The changed conditions, which are urged as a reason that the
+prohibition of usury is no longer binding, are only the conditions
+brought about by the violation of that law.
+
+The prohibition of usury is systematically violated. The neighbor in
+the smallest transaction with his neighbor exacts usury, though it be
+but a few cents. The credit system has become universal. It is the
+rare exception now to "own what you have" and to "pay as you go."
+Interest bearing bonds are issued by the smallest manufacturing plant,
+by the great corporation and by the empire. These conditions do not
+prove usury right. They only show how far true business, commercial,
+and political principles have been perverted by this practice.
+
+If violating a law annuls it, then any law can be pushed aside. Let
+the claims of the Sabbath day be ignored. Let the houses of worship
+remain closed upon that day. Let work be planned for seven days of the
+week. Let the hum of the mills and the roar of commerce go on. Take no
+note of the Sabbath day, either in business or recreation or worship,
+and conditions will soon be upon us, such that we may urge as
+plausibly, that the Sabbath is effete, possible to our slow going
+fathers but inconsistent with the necessary rush of our day.
+
+If the systematic violation of a law annuls it then we can quiet the
+conscience and be dishonest while dealing with a Turk in
+Constantinople and we may lie while dickering with a Chinese merchant
+in Canton.
+
+If violating a law annuls it, even the seventh commandment, the
+violation of which is so offensive to decency and its observance so
+necessary to the purity of the home, may in this way be ruled out as a
+binding obligation. Let polygamy be the order, supported by the
+example of Jacob and David and Solomon, and the families be
+constituted along that line, then enforced monogamy would seem to be a
+sundering of tender ties and hardness toward the cast off Hagars that
+is inconsistent with the Christian spirit. An earnest, Godly man, a
+missionary friend of the writer, under whose ministry a heathen chief
+was converted, was misled by the plausibility. The chief had a number
+of wives; he had children by them; he was much attached to his wives
+and was fond of his children, and they all seemed to love him and
+clung to him. The missionary in the kindness of his heart did not
+interfere with the family, permitting the chief to keep his wives and
+placed his name on the church roll of the Mission. For this act he was
+reproved by the ecclesiastical authorities above him. Let polygamy
+become as universal as usury and even the seventh commandment in its
+strictness will seem impracticable and unkind if not positively cruel.
+
+It will not do to claim freedom from the prohibition of usury because
+we have organized commerce and the state and all society in violation
+of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+AMERICAN REVISION.
+
+
+The Revision by the American Committee is the latest effort of
+scholarship to bring King James' Version up to date by eliminating
+effete terms and using words in their modern sense.
+
+The references to usury are here collated so as to give a general view
+of the question from the translations of the passages in this the
+latest Revision. The reader will notice that the modern word
+"interest" is substituted for "usury" in nearly every passage.
+
+Exodus 22:25: "If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that
+is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay
+upon him interest."
+
+Leviticus 25:35-37: "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his hand
+fail with thee, then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a
+sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him or
+increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou
+shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals
+for increase."
+
+Deuteronomy 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy
+brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything
+that is lent upon interest: unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon
+interest, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest,
+that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand
+unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it."
+
+Nehemiah 5:7-10: "Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the
+nobles and rulers and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his
+brother. And I held a great assembly against them. And I said unto
+them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews that
+were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and
+should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace and found
+never a word. Also I said, The thing ye do is not good: ought ye not
+to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the
+nations, our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do
+lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury."
+
+The interest exacted by the princes and nobles was no doubt so
+extortionate that it could be called usury in the modern legal sense.
+
+Psalm 15:
+
+    "Jehovah, Who shall sojourn in thy tabernacles?
+    Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
+    He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness,
+    And speaketh the truth in his heart;
+    He that slandereth not with his tongue,
+    Nor doeth evil to his friend,
+    Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor;
+    In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
+    But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah;
+    He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not;
+    He that putteth not out his money to interest,
+    Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
+    He that doeth these things shall never be moved."
+
+Proverbs 28:8: "He that augmenteth his substance by interest and
+increase, gathereth it for him that hath pity on the poor."
+
+Jeremiah 15:10: "I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet
+every one of them doth curse me."
+
+King James reads: "I have neither lent upon usury, nor have men lent
+to me upon usury." As Jeremiah was protesting his innocence of any
+wrongdoing the early translators inserted what was evidently implied
+while these latest revisors have omitted what was not in the original
+text.
+
+Ezekiel 18:1-18: "The word of Jehovah came again unto me saying, What
+mean ye that ye use this proverb, concerning the land of Israel,
+saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
+are set on edge? As I live saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall not have
+occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are
+mine, as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine:
+the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just and do that
+which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains,
+neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
+neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to a
+woman in her impurity, and hath not wronged any, but hath restored to
+the debtor his pledge, hath taken naught by robbery, hath given his
+bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment: he
+hath not given forth upon interest, neither hath taken any increase,
+that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true justice
+between man and man, hath walked in my statutes and hath kept my
+ordinances, to deal truly: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the
+Lord Jehovah.
+
+"If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that
+doeth any one of these things, and that doeth not any of those duties,
+but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and denied his neighbor's
+wife, hath wronged the poor and needy, hath taken by robbery, hath not
+restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath
+committed abomination, hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken
+increase; shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all
+these abominations: he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
+
+"Now, lo, if he beget a son which seeth all his father's sins which he
+hath done, and feareth and doeth not such like; that hath not eaten
+upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of
+the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbor's wife, neither
+hath wronged any, hath not taken aught to pledge, neither hath taken
+by robbery, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered
+the naked with a garment; that hath not withdrawn his hand from the
+poor, that hath not received interest nor increase, hath executed my
+ordinances, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the
+iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As for his father,
+because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which
+is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity."
+
+Ezekiel 22:6-12: "Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according
+to his power have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they set
+light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by
+oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they wronged the
+fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things and hast
+profaned my sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood;
+and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee
+they have committed lewdness. In thee have they uncovered their
+fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in
+her impurity. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor's
+wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another
+in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have
+they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and
+increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression
+and hast forgotten me saith the Lord Jehovah."
+
+Matthew 25:26-27: "But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou
+wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
+not and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to
+have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have
+received back mine own with interest."
+
+Luke 19:22, 23: "He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I
+judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I am an austere man
+taking up that I laid not down and reaping that I did not sow; then
+wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank, and I at my coming
+should have required it with usury."
+
+Luke 16:13-15: "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will
+hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and
+despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees
+who were lovers of money heard all these things and they scoffed at
+him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the
+sight of men but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted
+among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
+
+It is not easy to understand how an honest, godly man, who has even
+medium intelligence, unclouded by prejudice, and who has confidence in
+the highest scholarship of the age, can deny that the revealed Word of
+God, in both Testaments, condemns usury or interest. It is just as
+difficult to explain how any one, not glaringly inconsistent, can
+claim that interest taking is not a sin, who bows to the divine
+authority of the revealed Word and who defines sin as "Any want of
+conformity unto or transgression of the law of God."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+DUTY LEARNED FROM TWO SOURCES.
+
+
+In this discussion we learn our duty from two sources. Two authorities
+are recognized. One is the revelation of God in his written Word. The
+other is the book of nature; this includes the ethical nature of man,
+his social relations, and the laws that govern material things.
+
+The author of the Bible is the God of nature. They are but two volumes
+from the same mind and hand. They must speak in harmony when both are
+understood. Truth found in the inspired Word cannot be contradicted in
+nature; and no facts in the works of God can be found in conflict with
+the Word He has spoken. A truth found in either is always consistent
+with the truths made plain in the other.
+
+Familiarity with one prepares us to better understand the other. The
+devout student of the Word has his mind aroused, and his
+susceptibility so quickened that he is able to read more clearly the
+lessons in the volumes of nature open before him. The student of
+nature, who has searched its mysteries and taken in its beauty and
+designs of infinite wisdom everywhere appearing, must be the more
+ready and competent to appreciate the revealed love and grace.
+
+The Bible is not a treatise on natural science, nor does natural
+science teach revealed religion, yet they do not conflict. The special
+student of either may have perfect confidence that whatever he has
+found true in his chosen field will be found consistent with truth in
+other fields of special study.
+
+Chemistry, biology and all studies of nature, are found only to give a
+higher conception of the God of all grace. The same wisdom and power
+shine out in His works that are revealed in His Word.
+
+Again, the laws of God, whether fixed in nature or revealed in His
+Word, are for the highest interest of the physical, mental and
+spiritual man. Every truth in the Word works for the welfare of man's
+body and soul. The laws of nature, physical and psychological, obeyed,
+promote man's bodily and mental vigor. Strict obedience to the laws of
+God, as revealed in both Word and nature, produces the completest
+physical and mental manhood.
+
+God had the highest welfare of every man at heart when He prepared the
+earth for his abode and gave him dominion over it. And He yearned for
+his deliverance from a fallen estate when He gave him a revelation of
+His infinite redeeming love. The eye of God is upon each individual of
+the race, as upon every sparrow. He has in thought, in word and in
+works, not the favoring of one of an hundred, while the ninety and
+nine are crushed or neglected, but the happiness and highest good of
+every one of the hundred.
+
+The ethics of the Bible and the ethics of nature, as wrought out by
+the earnest heathen philosophers, mainly agree. It is an astonishment
+to some that there is so much agreement in the systems of heathen
+morals and the revealed moral law. The moral law is written on men's
+hearts, and can be read there by the diligent and careful student; but
+the consciences of men, enlightened and quickened by the revealed
+Word, produce the highest ethical types the world knows.
+
+The Bible is not a work on political economy, yet there is nothing out
+of harmony with the most perfect political institutions. When we find
+political principles clearly revealed, we shall find the same truths
+when we study the most orderly relations of men in their social
+organization.
+
+The Bible is not a work on economics, yet it advances no economic
+principles that work a hardness or injustice to any. When we find
+economic principles clearly stated, we shall surely find the same
+truths confirmed in a careful study of the nature of things.
+
+As the written Word forbids usury or interest, it can be presumed that
+the nature of things and man's highest good also forbids it; that it
+is not an arbitrary prohibition, but is given in love because it is in
+its very nature a ruinous evil. As we find a positive prohibition of
+taking usury or interest in the old dispensation and the confirmation
+of it in the new, both by the words of the Master and the
+understanding and practice of the disciples and fathers, we may
+confidently expect that it will be confirmed by a correct and careful
+study of ethics and of the relation of man to things.
+
+We may learn duty from either or both sources. To some men the Bible
+comes with the greatest clearness and the utmost force of authority.
+Others find in nature their highest conception of the Infinite, and
+their best directions for a correct life. If usury or interest is
+found to be a sin from the Word, there is no need for those to enter
+into the economic proof who have no taste for this character of study
+or reasoning. If it is found to be "_malum per se_" from the nature of
+things, even those who reject the divine revelation must array
+themselves against it. If it is shown to be evil by both revelation
+and economic law, then all peoples, Christian and heathen, should
+combine against it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+RIGHTS OF MAN OVER THINGS.
+
+
+Man was the last and the crowning work of the Creator. God made man in
+his own image and gave him dominion over all creatures.
+
+"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast
+crowned him with glory and honor.
+
+"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou
+hast put all things under his feet:
+
+"All the sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
+
+"The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
+through the paths of the seas."
+
+This high position is in entire harmony with man's innate
+consciousness of his superior powers, and of his nobler spiritual
+nature, and of his rightful dominion over all the other material
+creations. Man is a person, a thinking intelligent being, and is
+conscious of his personality, and from his lofty height he calls all
+else the lower and the inferior creatures. Wherever man is found over
+the whole earth, of whatever faith or grade of civilization, he claims
+this universal dominion.
+
+Man was commanded to subdue the earth and bring it into subjection as
+his servant and he is conscious of his right to use all things to
+promote his comfort, convenience and welfare. Anything he can make of
+service to himself he has a right to appropriate.
+
+A tree is a thing which he may prepare for his own purposes, for fuel,
+for tools, or for a dwelling, as he pleases.
+
+Isaiah ridiculed the idolater in his time, who made an idol of wood
+and worshiped it, while with another part of the same tree he built a
+fire and warmed himself. A part he served and a part served him. The
+whole tree was subject to him; in itself it had no rights.
+
+Rights belong to persons, and not to things, and personality cannot be
+transferred to a thing. If there is no personal owner the question of
+rights is never raised. The tree, or any thing whatever, has no rights
+in the matter. Rights belong to the owner, the person, not to the
+thing he owns.
+
+The game in the mountain forests and the fish in the rivers are things
+with no owner and whosoever will may take and use them.
+
+Land is a thing, and any person may make it into a farm or garden and
+build upon it his home. The land has no rights and makes no protest.
+The whole earth is subject to man and is to be subdued by him. If no
+owner appears his rights are not disputed. Our fathers found an
+unowned continent, with all its rich resources of soil and forests and
+mines. It was to them free, and with the labor of a few generations
+they transformed it into farms and plantations and built it over with
+magnificent cities.
+
+Even that which formerly was the property of another has no rights.
+The deserted hunter's hut in the mountains can be appropriated. The
+abandoned farm does not resist a new tenant. A derelict vessel, still
+afloat but driven before the winds, whose officers, crew and owners
+are at the bottom of the sea, can be appropriated, for there is no one
+to dispute the claim.
+
+Even force or labor in the abstract is but a thing and has no rights.
+The wind is unowned and any one who will may harness it to do his
+work. The electric forces of nature are unowned, whoever will may
+gather and direct them to do his purpose. The waterfall may be made to
+do man's work and will not resist. The animals have no rights against
+man. The broncho, horse, ox, mule, or animal of any kind, may be
+turned to man's service. All the forces of nature were made for man.
+They have no rights to be regarded, when his interests can be served.
+
+It is man's high privilege to stand above all things, to call them to
+his feet and to compel their service. It is the reversion of the order
+for him to take the subordinate place and serve the inferior creation.
+Things subdued, such as wealth secured, is to minister to his highest
+good and to promote his noblest manhood. The order is reversed when
+this wealth commands his service and sacrifice. The miser both
+reverses the divine order and violates common sense by giving the love
+and service of his shriveling soul to a thing.
+
+The usurer and the borrower on usury, both, reverse the true order by
+assuming that a thing can claim man's service. Both grant that a thing
+has rights to be respected. The usurer takes the service as due to the
+thing he owns. It is his property that is exalted, and for which he
+claims the service must be rendered, and if the borrower will think
+closely, he will find that in paying usury he is serving a thing.
+
+A man reverses the divine order and degrades himself, and becomes a
+gross idolater, when he serves things unowned instead of commanding
+their service, "stocks and stones." He reverses the true order when he
+becomes a miser and serves that which is his own, "which his own
+fingers have made," instead of compelling it to serve him. He is not
+less degraded when he exalts over himself a thing owned by another and
+serves it. The ownership of another does not change the nature of the
+thing. One can serve his neighbor's idol as truly as he can his own.
+
+There is nothing above man but God. His fellow man is by his side, his
+equal, and all other material creations are beneath his feet, and he
+is not to permit his fellow man to lift up the inferior thing and
+place it above him. If he does he must step down from the pinnacle on
+which he was placed by his God and which his own consciousness demands
+he shall occupy.
+
+"Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall
+the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod
+should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff
+should lift up itself, as if it were no wood." Isaiah 10:15.
+
+If he serves the borrowed ax and saw for the claim that the ax and saw
+have against him, he admits his debt to things and Isaiah's ridicule
+of an idolater can be turned against him and he steps down from the
+position of conscious inborn dignified lordship and becomes a servant
+of the inferior things.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+EQUAL RIGHTS OF MEN.
+
+
+All men have sacred rights that must be regarded. That these rights
+are equal is so familiar and stale an expression that it hardly need
+be spoken. "All men are created equal," each having rights, that are
+inalienable, and each having the right to resist the encroachment on
+his rights by another. To protect these rights governments are
+instituted.
+
+The vital energy of a man is his own and his right to it must be
+regarded. Since the abolition of chattel slavery this has been
+indefeasible except for crime.
+
+He has a right to his own vital energy and to all that his own vital
+force produces. He has a right to his property inherited, earned, or
+however secured, except by fraud. He has no claim against the vital
+energy of his fellow man, nor has he any claim whatever against the
+property of another.
+
+The working man needs capital. His vital energy must waste unless
+there is material upon which it may be expended. There must be the
+tree, land or material in some form, upon which he can work. But give
+him the world raw and unsubdued and he can transform it again as he
+has. He can build again everything on land and sea, the farms, towns,
+and cities, and the floating palaces. He can again dig out the mines
+and refine the silver and gold, mould the clay, smelt the ore and
+shape the iron. His needs and his power, however, give him no claim to
+the property of another.
+
+The man of property is dependent upon the laborer. He may be the owner
+of farms, forests and mines, of horses, flocks and herds, of railroads
+and oil wells, yet these will not minister to him nor serve him
+without the laborer. His coffers may be filled with gold, and his
+barns bursting with grain and his stalls filled with fatlings, yet all
+this wealth is useless and lost, unless touched with the vital energy
+of an intelligent laborer. But his dependence and losses give him no
+right to the labor of another.
+
+He has no right, no just claim, to the services of another man, his
+equal. All his wealth cannot confer the right. Wealth is but a thing,
+in itself without rights, and can therefore add nothing to the rights
+of its owner.
+
+He may however use his wealth to command service by might, but not by
+right. A club is but a thing having no will and no rights, yet in the
+hands of a savage it adds greatly to his power and may be used by him
+to oppress another of his tribe. A ruffian with his gun meeting a
+defenseless man may so command him, that he is ready for the most
+abject obedience. An armed highwayman may compel a brave man "to stand
+and deliver." So a man may use his property to secure the service of
+another but it gives him no right to that service.
+
+The usurer, who has himself no rights against his fellows, uses a
+thing, his property, as an instrument or weapon to command service.
+
+He may place his hand upon every material thing another must have, and
+withhold it, and the other is shut up and compelled, he has no
+alternative. He must yield to the demands or suffer. Many men are
+driven to the last extremity before they will borrow.
+
+But if the borrower is very willing and urgent for the loan, this does
+not change the nature of the act. The game may be shot upon the wing
+as it is endeavoring to escape, or it may be snared in a trap by a
+tempting bait. The wild broncho may be captured in chase, or beguiled
+into the corral.
+
+The voluntary sacrifice of others to the usurer does not make his
+gains just. The foolish ones are now willing to invest in lottery
+tickets, yet that does not make the lottery lawful. Slot machines are
+being put out of the cities, because so many are ready to part with
+their nickels. If there were none ensnared by them, they could stand
+harmless.
+
+The borrower may be greatly elated with the hope of gain, but the
+injustice is the same, whether the services be secured by compelling
+force, or by guile, or by the folly of the victim.
+
+If we admit the supremacy of man over the material creation, all
+subordinate to him, and no right to be, except to serve him, and also
+admit the equal rights of all men, there is no escape from the
+conclusion that the usurer can have no rightful claims to any portion
+of the labor of the borrower, without surrendering to him some portion
+of his property as compensation for the services received. He must
+have less property when the service is rendered and the borrower must
+have more property if the rights of both are regarded.
+
+A false impression prevails, that the lender in some way gives the
+loan to the borrower; that the borrower becomes somewhat the owner of
+the property. The borrower is encouraged in this illusion and it
+becomes a plausible basis for the claim upon his services.
+
+When a loan is made to a bank it is called a "deposit" and rightly,
+for it is only placed in the banker's hands and does not in any part
+become his. This is true of any amount, great or small, whether the
+deposit draws interest or not. The lender never loses his sense of
+ownership of the whole amount, nor does the banker encourage the
+fiction that he has become part owner.
+
+Every loan is but a "deposit." The ownership of no part passes to the
+borrower. It is seldom that the loan or "deposit" is not safer in the
+keeping of the borrower than in the hands of the owner himself, when
+secured by mortgages or personal sureties. The usurer gains the
+earnings of the borrower but parts with no property. He receives the
+service but gives nothing.
+
+Two usurers, A and B, are neighbors. A has a garden he wishes dug. He
+has an ax but no hoe. B has wood that he wishes cut. He has a hoe but
+no ax. The laborer appears and wishes to do their work. Usurer A
+agrees to lend him his ax to cut B's wood on the condition that he
+shall return it unimpaired and work his garden for its use.
+
+He cuts the wood, but has no hoe to dig A's garden for the use of the
+ax. Usurer B now lends the laborer his hoe to dig the garden, but
+takes the cutting of the wood for the use of the hoe. The confused
+borrower knows he is defrauded of his work, though each seems to have
+a plausible claim upon him.
+
+A does not give the hoe to the laborer. He retains the full ownership
+but deposits it in the workman's hands to be returned unimpaired. B
+does not give away his ax, he only places it in the laborer's hands
+also to be returned unimpaired. The full hoe and full ax is returned
+and they have taken the services without compensation.
+
+The result is just the same as if A and B had traded tools and A had
+given the laborer a hoe to dig the garden, "the tool and the material
+with which to work," and B had given him an ax to cut his wood, "the
+tool and the material with which to work," without a pretence of a
+payment for his labor.
+
+Taking only a part of the borrower's or laborer's services does not
+relieve it of injustice. The nature of the oppression is the same,
+only less heinous and flagrant. He who took a penny belonging to
+another is a thief as truly as the man who took a pound. Petit larceny
+and grand larceny differ only in the amount stolen. The man who takes
+three per cent. of the labor of another wrongfully defrauds as the man
+who takes fifty per cent. The nature of the wrong is the same; they
+only differ in degree.
+
+It is a well known fact, however, often repeated, that ninety-five out
+of every hundred who go into business with borrowed capital, that is,
+who pay interest on "their material and tools," do give the vigor of
+their lives to the service of usurers and at the end have nothing.
+
+The element of time is only a figment that clouds the question of
+right and deceives the borrower. In order that the labor of another
+may be appropriated it is necessary to give him time to work. The
+laborer may dig in A's garden a day or all summer and he may chop wood
+for B a day or all winter. The result is the same. It is necessary
+that the borrower be given time to earn something before it is or can
+be appropriated. The question is, how rapidly can he earn, and how
+soon can his earnings be collected? Long time loans with the frequent
+payments of the earnings of the victim are the ideal conditions of the
+usurer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A FALSE BASAL PRINCIPLE.
+
+
+That usury or interest must be held under the restraints of law is
+recognized in nearly all countries. It is treated as a necessary evil
+that cannot be abolished, and therefore must be controlled. Bacon
+said, "It is permitted on account of the hardness of men's hearts."
+
+The laws differ in the various states. The rate of interest authorized
+by a particular state is not invariably fixed, but is changed as the
+condition of the people seems to demand.
+
+That which determines the rate, of any particular people, at any
+particular time, is the productive ability of the borrower. The rate
+now in England is about three per cent. The conditions being such that
+the productive power of the borrower is very limited. In the United
+States, where the natural resources are not all occupied, and the
+avenues for successful effort more numerous, the average is seven per
+cent. In the western states of the United States the rates are higher
+than in the eastern, for the material resources lie so open and
+undeveloped that the productive power of the borrower is far greater
+than in the older eastern states.
+
+The basal for the rate of interest is the benefit or the advantage of
+the loan to the borrower. What can the borrower do or make with this
+capital? How great a benefit can he gain by it? The rate is based on
+the earnings of the borrower.
+
+The transfer from R. R. station to R. R. station across this city is
+twenty-five cents. That I may make my train and meet my appointment,
+that prompt and rapid transfer is of greater value to me, but that
+does not give the hackman the right to an increased charge.
+
+The fare to the distant city is ten dollars, but to me, with important
+business waiting and suffering, it is worth an hundred. The conductor
+does not ask me what my profits are to be from this trip. He collects
+the same fare of all for the same service, whatever their interests
+may be in the passage.
+
+The letter which is freighted with a proposition that affects my
+future life is two cents. Because of great value to me the postal
+service is no more than a letter of idle gossip.
+
+Railroad freight rates are at times arbitrarily fixed on the basis of
+the benefit to the patron. The rates of freight from a coal mine are
+sometimes made by a railroad on the basis of the profits of operating
+the mine. The rates to a quartz mine in the mountains are often so
+regulated. A contractor, dependent on a transportation company, must
+often share his profits. Such rates are regarded as unjust and
+oppressive and efforts are made to correct the evil by law.
+
+A is crossing the city and can without inconvenience carry a note to a
+party for B. That accommodation without sacrifice or inconvenience on
+the part of A is no basis for a charge upon B, though the delivery of
+the message was of value to B, but if A discovers that in delivering
+that note he can make it a matter of business gain to himself, that
+would not justify B in claiming a part of the profits A secured for
+himself. While A served his own business he also favored B. It would
+be unreasonable and unjust for B to forget the favor and make a charge
+against A, because in the delivery of the note A managed to gain a
+profit.
+
+Two farmers are without barns. It will require the labor of a number
+of years to secure the requisite amount of lumber and other material
+to enable them to erect their barns. One of the farmers undertakes to
+shelter and protect from decay the lumber of both, until the requisite
+amount can be secured. This is a real favor to the other and is
+accepted readily. He even offers to pay him for the care and
+liability. But he discovers afterward that his neighbor, by wise,
+careful and skillful piling, has made from this lumber a shelter for
+his stock and grain. That he has so managed as to gain for himself a
+benefit. Then, with the false principle of usury he makes a charge for
+the keeping of the very thing for which he was willing to pay a
+price.
+
+A gentleman not wanting his coach for a time, but wishing it to be
+kept in perfect repair, and his team fed and exercised, to be kept
+sleek and strong, leaves it in his coachman's care. The coachman
+agrees to keep from decay, and to replace should one die, and at the
+end of the term, return the coach in perfect condition, no mar or
+wear, and the team sleek and strong from good care, feed and daily
+exercise. But the coachman discovers that in the daily exercise of the
+team he can carry a party of business men to and from their offices,
+and secure for himself a gain. He, at the end of the term, returns the
+carriage and equipage complete as he received it. The owner has had
+his property perfectly cared for during the term he could not use it.
+But the owner learning of the benefit to the keeper, which would not
+have been possible without his equipage, demands a portion of the
+benefit which cost him nothing, nor in the least diminished his
+property.
+
+A gentleman has a warm, rich and beautiful robe, but is about to
+travel a number of years among the countries of Cuba, Porto Rico, and
+the Philippines, where he will not need it, and afterward visit
+Siberia, where he will need and use it. Another undertakes to relieve
+him of all care of it during these years and deliver it to the
+Siberian home ready for his use. He protects it from the moths in
+summer, and guards it against all touch or taint, and delivers it in
+the perfect condition in which it was received. In justice he
+deserves a reward from the owner, and if he received no benefit, would
+receive it, but it is found that he needed it for his comfort by the
+way, and that without it he should have perished. Then the owner
+demands a reward for the benefit the carrier received. The owner did
+no service. He received a positive benefit, but the porter, who
+carried the burden all the way, must pay interest or rental because he
+was kept from perishing by it.
+
+The surprise or discovery feature is introduced into the above
+illustrations to emphasize the false basis upon which the rates of
+interest rest. In the actual practice of usury the lender may have
+full information as to the use of the loan and its advantages to the
+borrower. If we eliminate this feature the basis still remains
+untenable. By no tortion of ethics can I demand that he, who does me a
+favor, shall pay me for the privilege.
+
+A man has one thousand dollars of money he is not using. He gives it
+to another to keep or place in a drawer in his vault. To care for this
+and be responsible for it, a commission is allowed, for it is no
+benefit to the keeper. Even an amount is asked for the drawer in the
+vault, without responsibility. To care for this a term of years is
+deserving of a reward. But now keeping the property equally safe, and
+returning every dollar when the owner calls for it, is not
+satisfactory to the usurer. If this money has in any way proved a
+benefit to the keeper, through his wisdom and energy and skill, he
+demands an increase. What is this loan worth to you? is the question
+of the usurer to the borrower.
+
+The basis of legal interest rates is the amount of benefit the
+borrower gains by the loan. If his opportunities in a state are
+favorable, and he may by diligence make a large gain, the rates are
+high. If in another state his opportunities are so limited that,
+strive as he may, he can make little gain, the legal rates will be
+low.
+
+The basis is so absurd that many have urged the repeal of all laws
+regulating the rates of interest. "Why should the laws presume to
+level the rates for a whole state? The possibilities and opportunities
+of gain are infinitely varied. Every borrower knows his own conditions
+and the amount of advantage the loan is to him and he should be
+permitted to pay for money whatever he is willing to pay."
+
+One writer thus expresses it, "No man of ripe years and of sound mind,
+acting freely, and with his eyes open, ought to be hindered, with a
+view to his advantage, from making such bargains in the way of
+obtaining money, as he thinks fit; nor anybody hindered from supplying
+him upon any terms he thinks proper to accede to."
+
+Jeremy Bentham is often quoted to prove the absurdity of all laws
+regulating the rates of interest, and yet all his elaborate arguments
+are based on this false principle.
+
+If usury is wrong only when the borrower can make no profit, and is
+right whenever the borrower can make a gain by it, and the rate of
+interest is to be measured by that gain, then all laws are illogical
+that limit the rate, and may be classed among those restraining
+trade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE TRUE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE.
+
+
+The true ethical principle that should govern the relation between the
+owner of property and the person holding that property as a loan, does
+not differ from the principle that is recognized as prevailing in all
+the other relations of life. The party to whom the service is rendered
+is under obligation. The party served is the one who must pay for the
+service. The party served must pay in proportion to the amount of
+service rendered him. If that service is great, then the payment must
+be large. If the service is slight, then the payment is small, and
+when there is no service then no payment can be claimed.
+
+This principle is recognized in all worthy and upright transactions.
+It is the service rendered that is rewarded in a court of justice. An
+employe recovers his wages from his employer for his services
+rendered. The condition of the employer's business does not enter into
+the count. It may have been unprofitable or a great success but that
+cannot affect the claim either way.
+
+A physician charges for the services given a patient. The recovery or
+death of the patient can neither increase nor diminish them.
+
+In service we always surrender something of ourselves or of our own,
+and each knows the sacrifice or effort he has made; he cannot know the
+value of this to the other, and he need not know. Full compensation is
+due from the party served but no compensation is due when no service
+is given nor property surrendered.
+
+The usurer's whole claim is for the service of his property. But he
+does not surrender a particle of his wealth. He does not become poorer
+in making his loan. He holds all his wealth as fully as before,
+whether it be a loan of money or grains or tools. There has been no
+outgo of property for which, in any other relation, he could claim a
+reward or compensation from his fellow. He simply deposits his
+property with his fellow and takes security for its safe keeping. It
+must be preserved perfectly and restored fully.
+
+When we consider the true principle, that compensation is due always
+for services rendered, the obligation is upon the lender for the care
+and preservation of his property. The borrower in any and every case
+gives a real and valuable service in preservation and restoration at
+the end of the term, while the lender renders no personal service nor
+does he part with a particle of his wealth.
+
+There is always a service rendered in caring for and preserving the
+property of another. It may be very great or it may be very small. It
+may be so great that no one would undertake it though the property
+should be freely given him.
+
+In 1800 the "Faithful Steward" was wrecked in Delaware bay near the
+shore. It had on board a large number of passengers, emigrants, who
+nearly all perished. Few lives were saved and all the property was
+lost. One young man, of the kin of the writer, swam ashore through the
+breakers. Before he left the vessel an old man offered him a stocking
+full of gold if he cared to try and save it. Though young and vigorous
+he would not undertake to try to save it for it. This was an extreme
+case of risk and danger.
+
+In another extreme case the service may be very small, reduced to the
+minimum, for instance, caring for the gold of another by locking it up
+in a fire and burglar-proof safe. For this simple service a
+comparatively small charge is made. But caring for the property of
+another is always some service that earns a reward great or small.
+
+The nature of the service is not changed and the principle still holds
+when the deposit is made with a person who gives ample pledges for its
+full return; the principle still holds when the deposit is made in a
+farm and secured there by mortgage, making it safer than in the iron
+vault.
+
+The true ethical principle, equity between man and man, requires that
+the holder of the property of another shall be compensated by the
+owner of the property for his services in caring for and preserving
+it. The amount of compensation depends on the difficult or favorable
+conditions attending its care. These conditions greatly vary, perhaps
+in no two cases are exactly alike, and so there can be no fixed price
+or rate at which one will receive and care for the property of
+another. The extreme limit of liberality permitted is that he may care
+for the property of another for nothing. He is not permitted to pay a
+price for the privilege. The revealed divine law, true ethics and
+equity and duty of self preservation forbid him. Perfect preservation
+of any amount, large or small, for any time, long or short, whatever
+the incidental advantages to the borrower, is the highest compensation
+a borrower is permitted to give for any loan. The demand for more than
+this by the owner is to be resisted as unjust and oppressive.
+
+An express company receives a package of money for which it receipts
+and becomes responsible and agrees to deliver to the owner at some
+distant point. For this service it receives compensation in accordance
+with the amount of service. If the conditions are dangerous and the
+distance great the charge is large. If the conditions are very
+favorable and safe the charges are small.
+
+If the amount of service is reduced to the minimum, in rare cases, no
+charge may be made. But that a price should be paid for the privilege
+of caring for and conveying it, is inconsistent with the management
+of an honest business. The purpose would be either to rob the owner of
+his wealth or to rob the employes of their services.
+
+An insurance company undertakes to protect a property for a term of
+years, to a distant date. A rate is given for protection from a single
+element, as fire. If all destructive agents are included the rate is
+higher. The rate is higher for a long than a short period. All the
+business world recognize the value of this service and nearly every
+kind of property may now be insured. The premium is cheerfully paid by
+the owner of the property for the service rendered him. It is a real
+and valuable service to have his property protected, preserved, or
+restored, so that it cannot be lost before the distant date. It is
+conceivable that a property might be so indestructible that the risk
+would be practically nothing and a policy might be issued without a
+premium, but that a price should be paid for the privilege of
+protecting any property is utterly inconsistent with rational
+insurance.
+
+Now usury presumes to reverse this ethical order and requires that the
+insurance company shall pay the owner of the property for the
+privilege of protecting it. Under usury the property given into the
+care of another, and called a loan, must be perfectly protected and
+preserved by the borrower, restored if lost, and returned in full to
+the owner at the agreed distant date, and a price paid for the
+privilege of performing the service.
+
+The true ethical principle and equity in the relations between the
+owner of a property and the one who holds, protects and preserves it,
+require that the owner shall render to the holder a just compensation.
+This will vary in different conditions, it may be very small, it may
+in rare cases be entirely eliminated; but they also utterly forbid
+that the party rendering the service shall pay for the privilege of
+serving.
+
+One may submit to an injustice in order to gain an advantage. He can
+do better for himself by submitting than by resisting. His employer
+may be hard and oppressive but this is the best job he can get and he
+holds on, but that does not justify the oppressions of the employer up
+to the breaking point. It may be to the advantage of a borrower to
+submit to the exactions of usury, that is, he may gain more wealth by
+borrowing upon interest than not, but that does not relieve usury of
+its oppression up to the breaking point when it can no longer be
+endured. There is no better ethical basis for low interest than high
+interest. Low rates of interest are oppressions that may be suffered
+or endured for a possible gain, but high rates are intolerable. The
+principle is the same whatever the rate of interest, whether it be low
+or high. They only differ in the degrees of their severity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+WEALTH IS BARREN.
+
+
+That wealth can produce wealth is the assumption of Shylock.
+
+Shylock--"When Jacob grazed his Uncle Laban's sheep--
+          This Jacob from our holy Abraham was
+          The third possessor; ay, he was the third."
+
+Antonio--"And what of him? Did he take interest?"
+
+Shylock--"No, not take interest; not as you would say,
+          Directly interest. Mark what Jacob did." * * *
+
+Antonio--"This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;
+          A thing not in his power to bring to pass--
+          But swayed and fashioned by the hand of Heaven.
+          Was this inserted to make interest good?
+          Or is your gold and silver, ewes and rams?"
+
+Shylock--"I can not tell; I make them breed as fast."
+
+                           --_Merchant of Venice._
+
+It is only intelligent energy that can produce wealth. Even the
+natural resources must be subdued and shaped by intelligent energy to
+be of service to man. Trees do not betake themselves into the form of
+houses. Land does not transform itself into farms and gardens. Coal
+does not come to our fires without hands. Ore is not iron, nor is clay
+pottery. They must be carefully manipulated by the intelligent
+laborer.
+
+Nothing man can make has the power of self propagation. All wealth is
+as barren as silver and gold, though Shylock claimed he could make
+them breed like ewes and rams. Life alone is productive, and the
+secrets of life man has not touched.
+
+A tree or animal grows by the life that is in it, but the accretions
+of wealth are from the efforts of intelligent energy outside of
+itself. Wealth is an effect, a result. The vital energy of a person,
+of "a willing intelligent being" produces wealth, but it does not
+follow that it has the qualities of its cause. It has no intelligence,
+nor has it self-determining power, nor is it vital, nor has it energy,
+it has not in itself the force to overcome its inertia, the energy
+must be applied. It has no power to increase or grow. A fortune is
+built, as a building is built, brick after brick is added by
+intelligent hands.
+
+All wealth must have the living hands applied to cause it to increase
+even the smallest amount. There is no such thing as "productive"
+capital. It is so called when it is used to gather and appropriate the
+earnings of others, but wealth in none of its forms has the quality or
+power of producing.
+
+Money, the most familiar form, is barren. A bag of dollars stored for
+ages will not have increased a single coin. No one holds or handles
+money on the assumption that it will increase in his hands. Money is a
+care, and the broker who holds or handles it relies for his
+compensation, not on the increase of the dollars in his hands, but on
+the increase from some producer to whom he lends it. If there is no
+borrower he takes a direct commission from the amount itself, as
+trustee or administrator or custodian.
+
+Money is readily exchanged for any other property. Money has a number
+of functions but in exchange it is a medium by which the value of
+articles is conveyed. It takes the place of the bags which conveyed
+the wheat, of the crates which contained the potatoes, of the baskets
+which carried the peaches, and the wrapping which held the cotton or
+the wool.
+
+Col. Irish, who was chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at
+Washington, when he died, and under whose administration the present
+building was erected, at one time sent to the wife of the writer a ten
+dollar bill, wrapped up so that it looked like a picture, cabinet
+size; this was accompanied by a note, to be opened first. In this note
+he said he took pleasure in sending her an excellent likeness of our
+late lamented president, which he would be pleased to have her accept.
+If she should prefer it in some other form, it was a peculiarity of
+this likeness that it would change instantly at the will of the holder
+into any form desired; that this was the peculiarity that troubled
+him, as he had been unable to decide what would please her best, and
+had finally decided to send it in this form, and let her change it
+into any other she might like better.
+
+Money is a peculiar medium which will hold and carry the value of
+anything. You pour in your wheat and take it to the merchant, who
+empties your wheat and fills it with clothes, he carries it to the
+dealer in any article needed and the vessel is instantly emptied and
+refilled.
+
+The values of the products of laborers in the various occupations of
+life or the products of the various climates are thus readily
+exchanged by money, but the gain is not in the money. The art in trade
+is to study and know the products and needs of the laborers of one
+class or country, and the varied products and needs of the producers
+of another class or local community. The skill in trade is in
+supplying the needs of one from the products of the other.
+
+The profit in trade is the gain from securing for an article a greater
+portion of the product of those whose needs are supplied, than was
+given to those who produced it. The harvester cost the manufacturer
+twenty days' work. The farmer, who needs and purchases it, pays forty
+days' work for it. The farmer may produce one hundred bushels of wheat
+with twenty-five days' work, but the mechanics in the city, who need
+it for bread, may give twice that amount of labor for that quantity of
+wheat. There is a wide field for skill and profit in trade, when the
+products and needs of all classes and all lands are considered. But
+money does not add to wealth in trade. There is nothing produced by it
+in trade. It is but the tool by which values are conveyed, and no more
+productive than baskets or crates or sacks. Intelligent energy
+produces all the profits that are secured by trading.
+
+Modern apologists for usury, knowing that money is unproductive
+itself, call it a tool for production, and as it can be readily
+transformed into any tool, they try to avoid the logical conclusion
+that the taking of interest on money is unjust and oppressive to the
+producer.
+
+But no tool is productive. All tools are but the reaching out of man
+for the better control and mastery of material things.
+
+The tool is but dead matter; the productive efficiency is in the vital
+energy of the intelligent laborer. The most complicated and ingenious
+tool ever made is useless without the operator. It is as helpless as
+the wire without the electric current; as helpless as the body without
+its life, for the body is but man's tool, preserved, and kept
+efficient, and made productive, by the living energy alone.
+
+Tools are but the reaching out of the vital energy beyond the body.
+Tools are but the means, invented and constructed, by which the man
+can overcome his physical limitations and accomplish wonders, the
+impossible to a creature wanting in his intelligence.
+
+These glasses enable dim eyes to see clearly. There is no ability in
+the glasses to see; they would be of no use on blind eyes. I see,
+these spectacles cannot see. Enlarge and so place these lenses that I
+can see bacteria, or the mountains of the moon, yet this microscope or
+this telescope has no more life nor sight than this single lens. I,
+with it, see the minute creation or examine the distant planet. It is
+but the extension of my eye.
+
+This pen and paper and this book are but the means by which I reach
+and reason with my fellow-men. They are but my tools to convey my
+thought. I am reasoning with you, not this paper and ink.
+
+My hand is the natural tool with which I labor. I may work in the
+garden and plant the seed and destroy the weeds with my hand alone,
+and there is no dispute but that I do the work. I take a small weeder
+in my hand and greatly increase my efficiency. I take a hoe and reach
+out further and greatly add to my efficiency. I am the efficient
+agent. There is no power in the weeder or the hoe. I take my plow, as
+my tool, and I tear up the soil and prepare it for my harvest. I take
+the complicated harvester and gather it into my barn. In every part of
+that process the tool is but the reaching out of my energy beyond my
+body. There is no place where that tool becomes vitalized and
+productive.
+
+I am a porter, I carry packages in my hands. To increase my efficiency
+I build me a cart, and smooth a roadway, by which I am able to carry
+more and heavier packages with ease. I construct a roadway across the
+continent, and with the power which I employ I carry the commerce of
+the nation. I build ships and direct them from continent to continent
+and handle the commerce of the world. Now there is no place from this
+simple carriage in the hand, to the complicated and stupendous system
+of transportation, where the tool is not wholly dependent on the vital
+intelligent energy.
+
+When the vital principle leaves this body, then hands, eyes and the
+whole body is helpless. Withdraw the vital energy from these means by
+which man extends his power beyond the body, and all the implements of
+agriculture will not produce a harvest, and the wheels of commerce on
+land and sea would instantly stop.
+
+There is no place in the most complicated machine where it begins to
+produce. The machine may show the greatest ingenuity in its invention
+and the perfection of skill in its construction, and the intelligence
+necessary to its operation may be reduced to the minimum, yet no where
+and at no time can it produce of itself.
+
+When a criminal is arraigned in court the responsibility is placed
+upon the person, the intelligent energy, always. It matters not by
+what tools the burglary or other criminal act was committed. The man
+who handled the tools is held accountable for the results. His tools
+may show the greatest ingenuity and the highest skill in their
+construction but they do not share his guilt. He is the efficient and
+responsible cause. If this were not so justice could be so perverted
+that the preservation of the order and the security of society would
+be impossible.
+
+Every tool is itself produced, and its maker must be rewarded or paid
+once, but there the claim for the tool ends. The laborer who
+constructs the machine cannot demand repayment over and over. The
+skilled mechanic who produced this pair of lenses must be paid, but he
+has no claim for second payment. To secure repayment he must make
+another pair. The maker of this pen and this paper must be paid, but
+that ends his claim. The maker of the hoe or cart or engine must have
+the reward he has earned, but can prefer no second claim.
+
+There is no question when the laborer makes and owns his own tool. The
+labor of constructing the tool must be rewarded as well as the laborer
+in its operation.
+
+When the tools are complicated and require the skill of many, the
+makers of the machine are usually different persons from the laborers
+who operate it. In this case the payment of all must come from the
+finished product. Those who constructed the machine and those who
+operate it must be paid by the consumers.
+
+If the shoe plant is built and operated, then from the shoes produced
+must come the payment for all. The workmen who built the plant and the
+engines and machinery for the manufacture of the different parts of
+the shoe, must be paid by the consumer of shoes. The workmen who built
+the plant must be as fully compensated as those who operate it, but
+being compensated, they have no claim for recompensation for the same
+work. To be paid again they must build a new plant. The operators must
+be compensated for every shoe they make, but they can not reclaim
+payment over and over again. To receive more pay they must make more
+shoes.
+
+Both classes of laborers have a right to full compensation for all the
+labor performed. Neither party has a right to demand a second payment
+for the same labor.
+
+It would be manifestly as unjust for the constructors of the plant to
+compel the operators to pay them over and over again, as it would be
+for the operators of the machine, having supplied the community with
+shoes, to demand payment over and over without making another shoe.
+The shoes will wear out, so will the machines. It is as unreasonable
+for the first class of laborers to compel the operators of their
+machinery to keep the same in repair, as for the operators to compel
+their customers to keep their shoes in perfect condition. For the
+first laborers to receive a new payment they must build a new plant,
+and for the operators to receive a new payment they must make new
+shoes.
+
+The confusion of ideas comes in when there intervenes a third party
+between these two classes of laborers. This third party meets the
+demands of the class of laborers who build the plant and machines,
+from hoarded wealth, and then exacts payment from those who operate
+it. This is then called productive capital, but it is no more
+productive than the money in the bank vault. The producing, so called,
+is but the exacting of a part of that which the operators produce. It
+is the exacting of payment that never pays. The operators are
+compelled to be forever buying, yet the plant is never bought. The
+capitalist is forever selling, yet the plant is never sold.
+
+Usually, the usurer is a fourth party that stands yet behind the third
+party, taking no risks, demanding complete security for his loan and
+also an increase out of the products of the operators. The third party
+assumes all care and guarantees against all losses and depends for his
+compensation on a portion of the product after the demands of the
+fourth party are satisfied. This third party may be an active
+producer. All that he receives may be fully earned in care, oversight
+and management of the business of the plant.
+
+But the fourth party can have no claim for his services, he has no
+part in the production. The absurdity, the figment that his capital is
+productive, is introduced to cover the evident fraud of appropriating,
+without compensation, a portion of the products of the operators. He
+has no more claim to an increase of his capital year by year and a
+doubling in a term of years, than the laborers who built it have to
+the same plant, perfect and unworn at the end of a term, and in
+addition, another plant equal in every respect. They built but one,
+they have no claim upon a second. For the usurer, who takes their
+place, to double his wealth, and yet the debt be undischarged, is a
+flagrant fraud.
+
+The underlying falsehood is that wealth changes its nature when put in
+the hands of a live man and becomes productive. It is acknowledged
+that wealth lying in the vault is barren and at the same time it is
+claimed that it produces in the hands of an intelligent agent. But it
+is the same dead, helpless, barren thing wherever it may be found and
+whatever form it may be made to take. The dollar taken from the vault
+and exchanged for a hoe does not receive this new quality. The hoe is
+as dead as the dollar. When this hoe is in the hands of the workman it
+is the same barren thing is was before he picked it up. These glasses
+are precisely the same when astride my nose as when lying on the
+table. It is not true that wealth in any form, though it be that of a
+useful tool, takes on this new quality or attribute when in the hands
+of a live man.
+
+A man's labor is more productive with suitable tools than without
+them. The same energy will secure far greater returns. If it were not
+so he would not trouble to make tools or use them. But to call tools
+productive agents and so reward them is to rob intelligent energy,
+skill and inventive genius of that which they alone can produce. This
+degrades the man to the level of the tool or exalts the tool to the
+height of its maker.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+WEALTH DECAYS.
+
+
+All man-made wealth is subject to inevitable decay. Aristotle said,
+"Labor produces all wealth," but the product has no sooner left the
+laborer's hands than it begins to perish. The vital energy that
+produced it must follow to preserve it from the ravages of time.
+
+Take the life, the vital part, from the body, and corruption begins.
+So with all that has been produced, withdraw the vital force and ruin
+immediately follows. The vital energy must ever be present and active
+to preserve it.
+
+Fruits and grains and provisions of all kinds for human food rapidly
+perish. The laborer must be continually active, producing and
+preserving, or the race would be starving in a fortnight. Even the
+miraculously bestowed manna became corrupt in a night. It had to be
+gathered day by day.
+
+Flocks and herds need the shepherd's care. They are subject to disease
+and natural enemies and are short lived, so that however large and
+strong, and healthy the herd of cattle, or the flock of sheep, it
+would be soon scattered and lost to the owner without watchful care.
+
+Tools and instruments of production, great or small, if used, soon
+need to be renewed, or if unused perish even sooner. Neglected they
+speedily decay. The locomotive left unattended on the track would soon
+be utterly useless from the destructive elements of rain and heat,
+frosts and sunshine.
+
+The palace, that floats on the ocean, would be a prey to barnacles, to
+winds and waves, to shoals and rocks, and would soon disappear,
+without the constant hand of intelligent vital energy to direct and
+preserve it. Houses untenanted and uncared for soon decay. Leaks
+unstopped, broken windows unrepaired, and vermin unrestrained, soon
+make them unfit for habitation. Farms and plantations go back speedily
+to weeds and wilderness when uncultivated. Great cities like Babylon
+and Nineveh are soon so covered with dust that we have to dig to find
+their ruins.
+
+Decay is written over every form of man-made wealth. There is needed
+constantly the touch of the laborer for its preservation.
+
+Gold, silver and precious stones are the least subject to decay. They
+are not, however, made, but found, and simply refined and polished.
+The indestructibility of silver and gold have made them the money
+metals of the world, quite as much as their rarity, their beauty and
+malleability. In them wealth could be stored and moth and rust would
+not corrupt.
+
+But even gold and silver will disappear. The thief will break through
+and steal. They must be, therefore, carefully guarded. The tax or levy
+of the government for its part in the protection must be met, so that
+even gold and silver must also gradually slip away.
+
+Decay is upon all wealth and the hand of the laborer must be ever
+present for its preservation.
+
+This law is universal. Even the Divine Creator must continue to uphold
+his creation. His sustaining hand cannot be withdrawn. He must
+preserve by his power and ever guide and direct, or disorder and chaos
+will ensue.
+
+Usury or interest presumes to ignore this order of nature and demands
+not only that the borrower shall resist this tendency of capital to
+decay, but shall also pay a price for the privilege.
+
+That any one should undertake to care for and preserve the property of
+another without compensation is unreasonable, but that any one should
+voluntarily pay a premium for the privilege can only be explained by
+misguided judgment or a perverted moral sense.
+
+No one would be responsible for, and care for and pay tax upon the
+money of another and himself get from it no return. Trustees and
+administrators receive, and feel they earn, a commission for this
+caring for the property of others.
+
+When this wealth is in the form of a tool, or manufacturing plant, the
+responsibility is greater. The owner asks that it be preserved
+perfectly. There must be no decline in value, from new improved
+machinery, and all accidents must be made good; if destroyed by fire,
+it must be rebuilt. To take this for a year or term of years, is a
+responsibility no one would feel justified in assuming in justice to
+himself. He would be using his own vital force to preserve the
+perishable property of another.
+
+A man has a farm, fertile and well improved, and well stocked. He is
+to be absent for a time. He asks as a favor that another watch it with
+care, preserve the stock in condition, if any die, replace them, and
+in short, so preserve that he shall have the farm at his return, just
+as fertile, the stock just as young and valuable, the implements
+unworn and no signs of decay on the buildings; if any burn, rebuild
+them. This would be a favor only the kindest and weakest of neighbors
+or friends would undertake, and what no man would be justified in
+asking of another. This is loaning without interest and this is the
+borrower, who pays only the principal and no increase.
+
+The usurer says, Care for my property and pay me for the opportunity.
+Keep it intact. Make good every loss and return to me an increase
+which you by your energy and effort may produce.
+
+The rates of interest greatly vary. The average in the United States
+is about seven per cent., by statistics of the government only
+recently issued. At seven per cent., interest paid annually or added
+to debt for ten years, the debt is doubled.
+
+The usurer or interest taker says, You take this hundred dollars and
+care for it for me for ten years and then bring me two hundred
+dollars. Take this wheat and this corn and in ten years bring me back
+just twice the amount. Take these horses and these sheep and cattle
+and care for them for ten years and return them just as good as they
+are now, and other horses, cattle and sheep in equal number, which you
+have produced in these ten years.
+
+Take this shop with all its tools and implements and care for it so
+that in ten years you can return it to me in as perfect order as now,
+and also build me with your labor and energy another shop, just like
+it, and equip it in every way just as complete as this, and on my
+return give both to me. Take this farm, fertile as it is, with its
+buildings and animals and implements, and preserve them perfectly, not
+a thing shall decay or decline in value; make good every loss, and at
+the end of ten years return it to me and also another farm which you
+have earned during these ten years, of equal acreage and fertility,
+equally improved with live stock and implements.
+
+The usurer gains the preservation of his own perishable property, and
+he gains also the product of the vital force of his victim.
+
+This law of decay is a natural limitation to the accumulation of any
+producer. As decay begins at once, a part of the vital energy must be
+expended in the preservation of that already produced. As the
+accumulations increase, more energy is required for its preservation,
+and less remains for active production. Time does not relax his work
+of ruin, and the resisting energy must be constant. The tendency to
+decay is such that soon the energy required to preserve that already
+gained leaves none to produce, and the accumulations must cease.
+
+To this point the rich fool in the parable had come. He had abundance
+accumulated and the problem was to preserve it, until he could consume
+it. "This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and
+there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my
+soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine
+ease, eat, drink, and be merry."
+
+The usurer hands his goods to another to build the barns and keep for
+him, while he is free from its care; and, more, he requires of his
+victim not only that he shall preserve, resisting all decay, but that
+he shall actually pay him for the privilege.
+
+Had the rich fool not lived in his day, when usury was a crime, but in
+this age of folly, he would have apportioned his goods among his
+foolisher neighbors upon interest, to keep for him, and then not only
+he, for "many years," but his posterity forever, could be at ease,
+eating, drinking, and making merry. The silly borrowers would supply
+all the needs of his endowed family, for the privilege of caring for
+the goods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE DEBT HABIT.
+
+
+The debt habit of mind is the disposition or tendency to look to
+things we have not as necessary to our success: To yearn for other
+opportunities and other means than those we have in our hands: To feel
+helpless without them and willing to incur debt to secure them. The
+independent, self-reliant disposition takes account of its own powers
+and opportunities and means, and plans with these to accomplish the
+very most. This old self-reliant, independent spirit, that scorned
+debt, has largely passed away. To incur debt is now the common habit
+and has become respectable.
+
+All evil-doers encourage and stimulate the particular fashion or habit
+or appetite or passion on which they thrive. Usury thrives on debt. If
+no one was in debt then usurers would be harmless. It is this debt
+habit that gives them the large field for their operations and secures
+to them their harvest.
+
+The agreement to pay interest preserves for a time the feeling of
+independence that would be wounded by receiving a loan as a favor.
+There is usually a feeling of joy and elation in the borrower that
+confidence in him is so great, and his credit is so high, that he can
+be entrusted with a loan.
+
+By incurring a debt there seems to promise the opening up of
+opportunities that have been denied, and a possible field for the
+successful exertion of his pent up energies.
+
+The present intended use of the loan, too, seems so attractive and
+profitable, and the buoyant, hopeful spirit does not doubt that the
+loan can be easily and promptly repaid.
+
+The temptations to debt do not come to the vicious and idle and
+worthless, but to the most worthy, industrious, talented, reliable and
+enterprising, those who will be the most productive in their fields of
+effort. Its very approach is flattering and therefore so hard to
+resist.
+
+A bright, intelligent, noble young man with high aims and worthy
+purposes yearns for an education, but the opportunities seem to be
+denied him; but there is a fund at low interest at his service.
+
+A lively, energetic young man, with industrious and economical habits,
+is anxious to engage in business; his youth, character and energy
+bring the loan to his feet.
+
+The young man with pure yearning for domestic life and a home, with a
+reputation that is above reproach and of commendable energy and
+thrift, has a home pressed upon him, to be paid for in long-time
+payments. He can fill it with furniture "on the installment plan."
+With intellectual taste, he can fill his library with just the books
+he desires "on the installment plan." Is he musical in his taste, he
+can fill his parlor with musical instruments "on the installment
+plan." His needs and tastes can all be gratified at once by incurring
+debt. To avoid debt there must be a determined and unremitted effort
+to resist. Few have been able to escape. The aggregate of private
+indebtedness can not be told.
+
+Few manufacturing plants are free from debt. They are usually carrying
+all the load their credit enables them to secure. Railroads and other
+corporations are under bonded debts that tax their trade to the utmost
+to sustain.
+
+Counties and municipalities have caught the contagious habit. Bonds
+are issued to build school houses, town halls, viaducts, water-works,
+and pave streets.
+
+There lies on this table a list of all the cities in this great land,
+the United States, with their number of inhabitants and their bonded
+debts. There are but six small cities in the long list without debt.
+In some the amount is enormous, the city debt in cases running up to
+one hundred and one hundred and fifty, and two hundred dollars per
+inhabitant. That is, there is a city debt on each man, woman and child
+of two hundred dollars. On this amount interest must be paid, twelve
+dollars per year, one dollar per month for every man, woman and
+child.
+
+There lies also on the table a report of the financial condition of
+the nearest great city. It is rendered in a cheerful mood and declares
+the city's credit "tip top." The indebtedness is eight millions, but
+the assessed valuation of the city is so high that two million more
+bonds can be issued before the limit of indebtedness is reached as
+established by the general law. This is regarded as a most favorable
+showing and the assurance is given that all the contemplated public
+improvements can be pushed without interruption. There is no thought
+of stopping until the extreme limit is reached.
+
+This habit extends to the churches and benevolent enterprises. There
+is scarcely a church that is not paying interest on some debt. Local
+societies are often greatly hindered in their work. A benevolent
+agency of one of the largest and richest denominations issued a
+piteous appeal to their constituents for help, declaring that the
+interest on their debts amounted to one thousand dollars per week.
+
+The debt habit has seized the nations and the most enlightened. This
+is so true that debts are, in pleasantry, spoken of as a sign of a
+nation's progress. These aggregate billions are rapidly increasing.
+
+The Chancellor of the Exchequer says the debt of England was reduced
+five hundred millions in twenty years. To the astonishment of all the
+world, the United States began to pay her debt, eighteen hundred
+million, in thirty years. But these stand alone among the nations.
+The national debts do not grow less, but are rapidly increasing. Both
+the United States and England are now increasing their indebtedness
+each year.
+
+The world has gone debt mad. It has become a great harvest field, ripe
+for the usurers.
+
+Debts may at times be unavoidable. They may at times be positively
+beneficial. There may be times when the system is in such a condition
+that it is necessary to take arsenic in small doses, but arsenic has
+no place in the menu of a healthy man. So debts may be necessary to
+those who have fallen into decay or have been unfortunate, but they
+should find no place in the normally healthy financial conditions of
+an individual or incorporation or nation.
+
+Debts make no man the richer. A man is no richer when he has secured a
+loan, than he was before. Paying debts makes no man poorer. He but
+relieves himself of the property of another.
+
+Paying a national debt destroys no wealth. If owed at home, it is but
+a transfer from one hand or pocket to another.
+
+Adjusting the world's debts, private, corporate, municipal, or
+national, the world would remain as rich and productive. Not a
+material thing would perish. No man would suffer the loss of any right
+or of any property, but it would be the destruction of the device by
+which the usurers appropriate to themselves the productions of
+others.
+
+Freed from this debt habit of mind, and the independent, self-reliant
+disposition replaced, this anomalous condition would disappear; the
+producer would receive again his full earnings and the great army of
+parasites, that has grown up, and that feed so richly on the labors of
+others, would be compelled to turn producers or perish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE BORROWER IS SERVANT TO THE LENDER.
+
+
+Solomon's declaration that, "The borrower is servant to the lender,"
+was spoken without reference to usury. Loaning upon increase was not
+lawful in his day, and was condemned by him in his proverb, "He that
+by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it
+for him that will have pity on the poor."
+
+A loan binds the borrower to the lender though he pay no increase.
+There comes a sense of subserviency and subordination that can not be
+thrown off.
+
+He becomes steward of another's goods, and frees the owner of their
+care, but they remain subject to the owner's order. The preservation
+of goods hinder any great accumulation by any single producer, but if
+he can be freed from its care, then all his energies can be used to
+continue production. Many find it as hard to keep property as it is to
+earn it.
+
+The hunter or fisherman takes with him his lackey to carry his game.
+If game is plentiful and the hunter successful, he would, otherwise,
+soon be compelled to discontinue his hunt from the burden of fish and
+game. But, freed from that care and burden, he can continue his hunt
+indefinitely. So, the borrower, even when he pays no interest, as a
+lackey, without wages, cares for the earnings of the lender, leaving
+him free to continue his earning unhindered.
+
+A valet cares for the clothes of his master until he calls for them.
+The borrower, without interest, as a valet, without pay, cares for the
+goods of the lender until he needs them.
+
+The independent spirit of the borrower is not immediately lost. The
+servile spirit and conscious sense of bondage may not be felt at once.
+Likely the first sensation on receiving a loan is an elation bordering
+on ecstasy.
+
+The poor man who is offered a loan is usually greatly delighted. There
+is hope of relief from the limitations and restraints that have been
+as a wall round about him. The loan seems to throw down these walls
+and give him an opportunity to secure greater results and achieve
+success. But the delight is transient and the sense of greater liberty
+is brief. The prison walls are down, but the debt holds him like a
+ball and chain. He has only exchanged one restraint for another worse;
+he has leaped from the pan into the fire. The spirit loses its
+hopefulness and independence and becomes servile and cringing.
+
+Milton represents our first parents, after their first sin, as
+intoxicated in delight, but the consciousness of their degradation and
+shame soon followed. So the first sensation from a loan is of relief
+and hope; the future looks bright, but the sense of subjection to the
+lender is sure to follow.
+
+He forfeits the free, independent, self-reliant spirit that scorns
+dependence upon any man. He only looks the whole world in the face,
+who owes no man a cent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+USURY ENSLAVES THE BORROWER.
+
+
+Timon of Athens said, "No usurer, but has a fool for a slave."
+
+The borrower without usury loses his free and independent spirit and
+becomes cringing and servile, but when interest is paid it increases
+the severity of the servile service.
+
+The lackey must not only care for the game taken, but he must add to
+the bag from his own hunting. He not only cares for the fish his
+master caught but must add to the basket from his own catching. The
+valet must not only perfectly preserve the clothes of his master, but
+must add to his wardrobe.
+
+The borrower of the usurer must protect and preserve every farthing in
+value of the property or goods, and must also increase the amount.
+
+The estimate put upon the mental condition of the person who will
+submit to such an imposition, by "Timon of Athens," must be admitted
+as fairly just, for a heathen. From the almost universal practice of
+usury, and the vast numbers enslaved, we must also admit that Solomon,
+the wisest man that ever lived, knew what he was saying, when he slyly
+called us all fools in his proverb, "A wise man's heart is at his
+right hand but a fool's heart is at his left."
+
+The object of the usurer in making a loan is to secure the service of
+the borrower; it may be called a favor, an opportunity, an
+accommodation, but that is its purpose and its effect. It may be
+called capital or a tool for production, but the appropriation of the
+service of the borrower is the result sought and secured.
+
+To secure the service of a horse, there must be an outgo of wealth in
+its purchase price and in its harness and the vehicle. The service
+received is the return, the compensation for the payment made. That is
+money invested and repaid in service. The price was in accordance with
+the service the animal would be able to render. For more and better
+service a higher price must be paid.
+
+There must be an expenditure to secure the service of a chattel slave.
+The purchase price must be paid and the tools and material or
+plantation must be supplied before his services are available. The
+price paid is in accordance with a reasonable estimate of the service
+the slave will be able to render during life. The outlay is made in
+consideration of an equivalent in service.
+
+A loan is made for the same purpose and secures the same result. The
+price of the horse or slave must be paid before the service can be
+claimed. The loan must be made before there can be a pretext of a
+claim upon the services of the borrower.
+
+There is this difference, however, that the purchaser pays for the
+services he expects to receive; he makes a real outlay for what is to
+be given him. The usurer pays nothing, he does not give a farthing; he
+makes no outlay; he merely changes the deposit from the bank vault, or
+his strong box, to his victim, and requires from him such an ample
+security that it is as safe in his hands as remaining in the vault.
+That he has bought the service of the borrower as another bought the
+service of the horse or chattel slave is untrue. He has given no
+equivalent. He retains every farthing of his wealth safely deposited
+with his victim. The service he receives does not diminish the value
+of his property nor discharge any portion of his claim.
+
+The usurer, like all those who appropriate the labors of their slaves,
+claims that he is a real benefit to his borrower. He has given him an
+opportunity of advancement that he could not otherwise have had. He
+points to him possibly with some degree of pride, especially if he
+seems greatly prospered. The owner of colored slaves pointed to his
+well-fed and well-clothed and happy people, merry in their cabins, and
+made a claim that was equally plausible; that these people are far
+better off and far happier than they could be in freedom.
+
+Their well-kept, happy, care-free condition did not make them freemen.
+They were slaves, though they may have been happy. They were slaves,
+though they preferred bondage to being their own masters. The
+usurer's prosperous victim is not therefore a freeman. Though he
+should prefer debt to independence, that does not make him free.
+
+No one prefers to be in debt. Debts are chosen as the least of the
+evils. The natural resources are occupied and the opportunities of
+life are denied. Lands and all tools of production are withheld and
+the horns of the dilemma are debt or privation. The independent spirit
+shrinks from debt until the struggle of life becomes desperate, when
+he turns to the other evil and is enslaved.
+
+This is not a temptation that comes to the idle and vicious. They
+could not secure a loan though they tried. An indolent, dissipated and
+vicious chattel slave would not find a purchaser in the market.
+
+It is the industrious, virtuous and economical young man that is of
+value to the usurer, and the better his character, the greater his
+worth. For this reason their virtues are cried up to the usurers, as
+the favorable qualities of the chattel were presented in the slave
+marts. To secure a loan is an evidence of confidence in his business
+ability, and an evidence of the appreciation of his character. It is a
+flattering compliment, and promising relief to a condition that seems
+hopeless, he permits the yoke of bondage to be fastened upon him.
+
+The usurer's slave is cheaper than the chattel. It requires less
+wealth to secure an equal amount of service. A loan of five thousand
+dollars at the prevailing rate of seven per cent. will bring to the
+usurer more than one dollar, clear gain, for every working day. That
+is as much as any one man, not professional or specially skilled, can
+hope to produce with that amount of capital, after caring for himself
+and his home. The borrower secures the lender from all loss, he
+largely relieves him from oversight, he directs his own labors,
+supports himself wholly; if sick, he supplies a substitute that the
+service does not stop, and when from the infirmities of age he is no
+longer able to give the required amount of service, one dollar per
+day, he returns the loan in full, which may be bound upon another
+victim, and thus continued forever.
+
+In the days of chattel slavery labor was not so cheap. The price of a
+strong, faithful young colored slave, and the value of the tools for
+him to use, and the proportionate part of the plantation necessary for
+him to work, was about equal to the above loan. Then he must be
+clothed and fed; his work must be directed; if sick his labor was
+lost, and he must receive medical and other care; all risks of harvest
+from drouth or flood must be incurred by the owner, and the slave's
+term of service was limited by his death, when his purchase cost was
+lost, and there must be an outlay by a new purchase. One chattel slave
+could not bring his master such enormous returns.
+
+Not only does financial slavery exact more labor for the amount
+invested, but it is more heartless than chattel bondage. The master
+had a personal interest in the slave he bought. His health and
+strength was an object of his care and his death a great loss. There
+was also often a mutual affection developed, as is sometimes found
+between a man and his horse or affectionate dog. There was sometimes
+real unfeigned mutual love. The master had a tender care over his
+slaves in their sicknesses and in their decrepit age, and sorrowed at
+their graves. The slaves were inconsolable in their grief at the death
+of their master.
+
+The usurer has no personal interest in his slave. He has no care for
+his health or his life; they are of no interest to him. He may live in
+a distant state and has no anxiety about those who serve him. Their
+personal ills give him no concern. When they die, there is no loss nor
+any additional outlay required; the bonds are simply transferred to
+others, and the service is not interrupted.
+
+Many faithful, industrial and honest borrowers are unable to return
+the loan. It is as difficult to retain property as it is to earn it.
+New inventions, new processes, new methods, new legislation and the
+changing fashions and customs, often sweep property from the shrewd
+and careful. "Riches make themselves wings; they fly away." If for any
+cause the borrower fails there is scant sympathy from the usurer. He
+charges him with being deficient in business management and
+thriftless. If the yoke of bondage galls and becomes so painful that
+in his distress the debtor turns from the struggle in one direction to
+struggle in another in hope of relief, he calls him fickle; and if at
+last, after a long and hard service, he is unable to return the loan
+in full, he calls him dishonest. His ear is deaf to the voice, "Is not
+this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to
+undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free."
+
+There are those in debt yet struggling against hope to be free. They
+are slaving at work, but making no progress toward relief. The crisis
+must come. In the race with biting usury that knows no rest, night nor
+day, year in and year out, that knows no sickness nor delay, that
+keeps step with time, there is but one possible result. There can be
+but one final result, though the debtor may have a start far in
+advance, but if in the race it has become neck and neck, the end is
+near. Usury will sweep on with full wind, and unslacking pace, when
+the debtor falls exhausted. There is comfort, however, though the race
+be lost, for the distress of poverty is less than the agony of
+hopeless debt.
+
+The old and ruined, who have lived honorable and industrious lives,
+who have endeavored to do their part in all the relations of life, yet
+have been in the slavery of debt all their days, and when their powers
+began to fail were stripped of the earnings of years, and besides, are
+compelled to bear the name of dishonorable debtors, are the most
+worthy of sympathy of any the world knows. The decrepit old chattel
+slave had hope of a home until the end, and a decent burial, but the
+debtor has nothing, not even an honorable name.
+
+The young, who are yet free from personal debt, should be warned, and
+should not permit themselves to be beguiled by any of the allurements
+held out, nor by flatteries. As one prizes his independent spirit and
+freedom from the dictation of others, as he desires a successful life
+and a peaceful old age, he should avoid debt. As a Christian, who
+desires unrestrained Christian fellowship, whose benevolence will be
+from the kindness and love of his own heart, as one who wishes to
+bless all he meets, and to leave a name associated only with hallowed
+memories, he should avoid debt.
+
+"Owe no man anything, but love one another."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR.
+
+
+Moses, Solomon and the prophets connect usury with the oppression of
+the poor. For this reason many have thought the divine prohibition of
+usury applied only to loans to the poor. By careful attention we will
+find that its evils are not confined to the immediate participants in
+the transaction. In the natural operation of economic laws the
+ultimate burden rests upon the poor. It is clear that when each member
+of a community contributes his portion to the common welfare the
+burdens are equally distributed. When any one fails to contribute his
+proportion the burdens are made heavier for the other members, and the
+burdens increase as the number increases of those who for any cause
+fail to contribute their part.
+
+This is true in the family home life. When every member of the
+household is able, and with cheerful willingness does his full part
+for the family support and comfort, the burden is equally distributed.
+Let one member of the family be in any way disabled and his duties
+must be performed by others. If several are disabled the burdens upon
+the others may be greatly increased. If any are indolent the burdens
+are made heavy upon those who are industrious.
+
+The same is true in the larger family, the community and the state,
+for political economy is but enlarged home economy. The burdens are
+lightest when every one contributes his full share to the general
+welfare. When any are idle the duties become heavier upon those who
+are faithful.
+
+Usury makes it possible for many to live upon incomes from their
+property. They are not classed, nor do they class themselves, among
+those who are personally productive. This makes it necessary for the
+poor, those who have no property, to produce more in order to house
+and clothe and feed the community.
+
+But those non-productive persons are consumers and are the most active
+consumers. They make heavy drafts upon the energies of others. They
+become extravagant in their habits and the spendthrifts of the world;
+while in proportion to their extravagant habits there must be severity
+and simplicity in the habits of the industrious and productive, on
+whom the support of the community rests.
+
+The world does not grow richer nor are the conditions of life for one
+class eased by the extravagance of another class.
+
+It is sometimes said that the idleness and the wasteful habits of some
+are for the benefit of others because they make a demand for more
+work. It would give the lumberman and nail-cutter and carpenter and
+glazier and plasterer and painter more work to call back the fire
+department and let the house burn, but that is not the way to house
+the houseless. Extravagance is wasteful destruction of property.
+
+"It is insisted upon both moral and economic grounds that no public
+benefit of any kind arises from the existence of a rich idle class.
+Their incomes must be paid, though inconsistent with the public good.
+To illustrate, the London and Southwestern railroad contemplated a
+reduction of fares in cars of the third-class. It was defeated because
+it might reduce the dividends. The poor could not be relieved lest it
+should reduce the incomes of the idle."--Ruskin.
+
+That family is happy and prosperous in which every member contributes
+personally his portion to its support and comfort. That condition
+affords the highest measure of relief for all. It is unfortunate if
+there should be an idler in the home who, as a parasite, feeds on the
+industry of the others; it is a double misfortune if that idler proves
+a spendthrift to waste the thrifty gatherings of the diligent. The
+same economic principles make it necessary for the highest good of
+every individual in the community that each shall contribute his
+personal part. "If any will not work neither shall he eat." If any
+insist upon eating and yet will not work, it imposes an oppressive
+burden on others to compel them to supply his table.
+
+Again: The limiting of production is a hardness to the poor. Their
+welfare requires the largest possible product along every line of
+human needs. Over-production is a term of the trade and means only
+that the supply has become so great that it cannot be sold at prices
+satisfactory to the trade. But as the prices fall the market broadens.
+Consumption increases with the increasing abundance, and that which it
+was not possible for certain classes to enjoy now comes within their
+reach and may become possible to even the poorest. There never can be
+an over-supply of fruits and vegetables and grains and meats and shoes
+and clothes and salt and oil and fuel and houses until the wants of
+the poorest are supplied. Their welfare requires that there shall be
+no restraining of the supply until they come out of their huts into
+houses; until they can shed their rags and dress in clothes both
+comfortable and attractive; until their tables are supplied with
+nutritious food; until they have the means of discovering and
+cultivating their aesthetic nature by shaking off the repellant
+conditions in which they are mostly compelled to live.
+
+The practice of usury restrains the supply by freeing so large a part
+of the people from the necessity of active productive effort by the
+incomes from their properties. Many born to wealth have never felt the
+necessity, and have never made an effort nor turned a thought along
+productive lines. The world has lost all that they might have added to
+the world's supply for human needs. Many, who have been successful in
+accumulation early in life, retire from active work while yet in full
+vigor, because they are relieved of the necessity by the income of
+usury or increase, and the most valuable portion of their lives is
+lost to the world.
+
+Production is further limited by the demand that it shall yield an
+increase on the property employed. The shop is shut down when the
+goods cannot be sold at such a price as to pay a satisfactory profit
+on the investment. The shop stands idle until the stock is depleted
+and the demand raises the price of the goods and then the shop is
+again opened. The workmen could go on with their work, supplying the
+world with their goods, bringing the price down until within the reach
+of the poorest, but it is the owner of the shop that holds the key and
+demands that the supply shall be so far restrained that the price
+shall yield a satisfactory increase on the property.
+
+Inventions and improved tools are a blessing to the poor when they
+make labor so productive that they can enjoy results of labor that
+could not be enjoyed by them before. They are not a blessing when used
+to gain an increase on wealth by employing less labor. Their proper
+use is to make labor more productive; their perverted use is to make
+property more profitable.
+
+There is a natural restraint by the law of supply and demand when all
+needs are so supplied that there is no longer a sufficient
+compensation to the producer; but it is a perverted and unrighteous
+restraint to place property between productive labor and human needs
+and demand a reward for it before these human needs shall be
+satisfied. There is an utter want of pity for the poor in permitting
+them to go unhoused, unfed and unclothed, unless there shall be a
+profit by increase in supplying their wants. True benevolence requires
+that labor shall be made so effective as to fill every human need, but
+pure selfishness uses property to supply the need for a gain. This
+restraint for an increase on property is oppression of the poor for a
+price.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Continued.
+
+
+The influence of any act is not limited to the person acting. The
+righteous act of a righteous man blesses himself and his generation
+and generations yet unborn. So the influence of a wrong act is not
+limited to the wrong-doer, but extends to others and is harmful to
+those who had no voluntary part in the act. Though the wrong be a
+personal habit and the sinner be himself the greatest sufferer, yet it
+is impossible to avoid causing distress to others who are themselves
+innocent.
+
+Equity between those who participate in a wrong does not make a wrong
+act righteous. Thieves may be just among themselves, in the division
+of the spoils secured from others, but that does not make them upright
+men, nor does it make their business honest. If it were possible to
+preserve equity between the borrower and the lender upon usury, yet
+that would not justify the act nor remove the evil. The collection of
+their profits, which they divide equitably among themselves, imposes a
+burden upon others who have no part in the transaction. Their
+satisfactory agreement does not make the transaction less detrimental
+to the general good. It may the rather partake of the nature of a
+conspiracy against the public welfare.
+
+The promoter of an enterprise on borrowed capital is practically but
+the agent of the lender. He may be the director and manager but he so
+conducts his undertaking as to gather the usury from others. When the
+opportunities for profitable investments become rare, and money
+accumulates and is lying idle, such promoters with their schemes are
+encouraged in order to gain a profit on the investment, though others
+suffer by it.
+
+There lies upon this table a booklet, written in 1841, which charges
+and proves complicity between the bankers and brokers of New York at
+that time. The bankers loaned the brokers the money which they
+reloaned at very high rates. The banks refused accommodations to those
+in pressing need, compelling them to go to the brokers and to submit
+to their extortionate demands.
+
+Though there may be an equitable arrangement between the owner of
+property and his broker and between the broker and his promoter, yet
+in the last analysis it will be found that this equitable arrangement,
+in its ultimate result, is of the nature of a conspiracy to compel the
+innocent poor to pay the profits of both; their consent is not first
+secured nor do they gain a single advantage and they are helpless to
+resist.
+
+Though the transaction may have been between the rich, a rich lender
+and a rich borrower, yet the final result is that the interest is paid
+by the poor. In Calvin's letter of apology he supposes a case of
+equity between a rich land owner who is in need of ready money and the
+man who has money to buy a farm, but instead lends to his rich
+landlord and takes a mortgage. In this case the tenants of the
+borrower must pay the interest and finally the principal also. This
+increases the hardness of their hard lot. Though Calvin seems to
+appreciate the severe conditions of the ordinary tenant in his day,
+yet he fails to recognize that the very illustration he gives would
+result in greater oppression.
+
+When one entrusts his money to a broker for investment he does not
+come in contact with those who earn the interest. It may pass through
+a number of agents and the source from which the interest is drawn is
+not regarded. When one entrusts his money to the "Security Co." in
+their great building, surrounded by all appearances of unlimited
+wealth, it is not realized that the interest returned is wrung from
+the poor. Money does not lie in the vaults. It is loaned to others who
+as agents do collect or gather from the poor. A loan is made to a
+milling company and the interest is gathered from all who buy their
+flour. A loan is made to a landlord and he collects the usury from his
+tenants. A loan is made to a street car company and increase is
+collected from the employes and from every rider. A loan is made to a
+merchant and he collects from his customers.
+
+It is easy to see who pay the interest when we make a common
+pawnbroker our agent and see in his dingy rooms the evident distress
+and needs of his callers. Many shrink from his oppressions who are
+deceived by the splendid surroundings of the "Security Co." But the
+interest is exacted from the same class as truly by one as by the
+other.
+
+Usury oppresses the poor by raising the price of all that he consumes.
+Without being consulted and without the power of resistance he must
+pay tribute to property for the very necessities of life.
+
+He lives in a rented house. The owner has placed a mortgage on this
+house and the tenant must pay the interest and more in his rental or
+be ejected. The bread he must have is from wheat raised on mortgaged
+land and the interest must be met in the price of wheat. The mill is
+mortgaged in which it is ground and the interest must be paid in the
+increased price of flour. The railroad is bonded and the interest on
+the bonds must be paid in the price of its transportation, and the
+merchant has a loan to enable him to do business and the interest on
+this loan must be met in the increase of the profits on flour and all
+other goods he handles. By usury a tribute is levied on his bread from
+the wheat in the field until it reaches his tables.
+
+In the same way he pays interest in the price of his meat, which is
+raised on a mortgaged farm, transported over a bonded railroad,
+dressed in a mortgaged abattoir and sold by a dealer doing business
+on borrowed capital.
+
+The same is true of his clothes; a first tribute must be paid to
+property by the raw cotton or wool, then the transportation and the
+factory and the merchant, in addition to the compensation for their
+services, must meet also the interest upon their loans, and the whole
+is summed up in the price the poor man must pay. He has no option in
+the matter; he has no alternative, no method by which he can escape.
+The same is true with regard to his fuel and his light.
+
+The same is true with regard to car fares. In every ride he pays an
+enormous tribute to invested wealth. The writer made a careful
+estimate of the accounts of a car line in a small city where the
+number of riders bore small comparison with the crowded cars of any
+metropolis. When the cost of maintenance of the plant, including the
+wear and tear and all repairs, and the cost of operation, covering all
+current expenses, including taxes, were compared with the receipts
+from the patrons of the road, it was found that less than two cents
+per passenger was necessary to pay these charges and that three cents
+had gone to pay the interest on the enormous bonded indebtedness and
+dividends on the inflated stock.
+
+The wage-earner, the pensioner and every person living upon an annuity
+or fixed income from any source, must thus pay usury or interest on
+obligations they never incurred. A large portion of their living is
+thus taken from them, and under a system of general usury they have no
+way of avoiding it. They must pay an enormous tribute to property in
+providing the common necessaries of life.
+
+Usury lowers the poor man's wages. The owners of property forbid its
+use until such a concession is made by the laborer as they may demand
+for the material and tools of production. Those who will use them and
+give the owner the highest return for their use secure the work,
+_i.e._, those who will bid the labor the lowest, who will use the
+tools and work up the material the cheapest.
+
+The demand of capital has come to absorb a large portion of the
+produce of labor. In 1890 the wage-earners created a value of
+$3,579,168,172 and received out of it wages amounting to
+$1,981,228,321, leaving in the hands of the employers $1,687,939,851.
+Labor thus received a little less than 53 per cent. of its product. In
+1900 the wage-earners created a value of $4,640,784,931 and received
+out of it wages amounting to $2,323,407,257, leaving in the hands of
+employers $2,317,377,674. The employers and employes divided labor's
+product so evenly that the difference does not amount to one-eighth of
+one per cent.
+
+The decade 1890 to 1900 has been of unprecedented prosperity to
+capital, but the advantages to labor have not appeared. When the
+number of laborers at the beginning and the close of the decade are
+considered the annual income of the wage-earner at the close of the
+decade is actually $7 per year less than ten years ago.
+
+The tribute to property must first be gained, the wages are secondary.
+If the tribute is not paid the enterprise is regarded as not
+successful and the industry closes.
+
+There is no protection for the laborer except the selfishness of
+capitalists themselves in competition to secure the services of labor.
+But the selfish strife has rather resulted in the combination of their
+capital to dispense with labor or to cause the same labor to produce
+more by the employment of more capital. The effect is to give
+employment to capital rather than to labor. If labor can be dispensed
+with by borrowing more capital, then a loan is secured and the laborer
+is dismissed. Thus capital is made to crowd out the laborer and gains
+for itself his reward. This diminishes the call for labor and
+increases the number of the unemployed and they become competitors for
+the privilege of working. The opportunities for labor becoming fewer,
+the strife for work becomes fiercer. The laborer is helpless to
+resist, as his wants do not stop; his family must be fed and clothed
+and housed. The struggle is unequal between "flesh and blood" and a
+material thing that, by a false economy, is given not only the power
+of self-support but also continuous increase. For this reason
+combinations of laborers never have been and never can be successful
+in a conflict with capital. So long as the false principle is
+admitted, all efforts must fail. So long as it is granted that
+property has earning power, the effort will be made by the owners of
+property, and always successfully made, to have property receive the
+larger portion of the reward. The true order will be reversed; the
+laborer will be given a mere subsistence while the increase will be
+claimed for the capital; the very opposite of the true order, the mere
+preservation or subsistence of the capital, while all the increase
+belongs to the laborers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Continued.
+
+
+Usury makes it possible to impose on the poor the principal burden of
+taxation. Though taxes are levied upon property it is a delusion to
+think that those who own no property pay no taxes. By usury the taxes
+are easily slipped upon the poor.
+
+If the tax levy is one per cent. on property then in a year the one
+hundred dollars has been decreased by one dollar and is but
+ninety-nine, unless that dollar has been supplied from other earnings
+of the owner. Thus vacant lots, jewels and hoarded stores are a burden
+to their owner. But when the property can add to itself an increase,
+then there need be no diminution of the amount, and no sacrifice is
+necessary on the part of the owner. If the wealth is placed in the
+form of a loan on mortgage on a house, the tenant in his rental pays
+the interest on that mortgage, which meets the tax and also yields a
+revenue to the owner, and leaves the wealth undiminished. The tenant
+earned the tax, and both property and owner are relieved. The mortgage
+may be upon a manufacturing plant, when the operatives pay the tax
+from their earnings.
+
+The bonded debt of a city or state, in the ultimate result, is
+collected from the productive labor. To pay the interest and
+principal of the bonded debt of a city the tax levy is increased, and
+a greater proportionate amount of labor is appropriated. Laboring
+people without property are often amazed at the indifference of
+property holders when a great bonded debt is incurred, as both
+interest and principal are to be paid by a tax upon property. Those
+who make the loan to the city, and all who hold mortgages and dividend
+paying properties, are complacent because the taxes of a hundred years
+would never diminish their property a dollar, though the tax levy
+should be doubled. It would raise the interest on money, diminish the
+price of labor and raise the price of goods, but those who profit by
+the gain of usury are untouched by it.
+
+Recently complaints were made by the tenants of one of the poor
+districts of London because their rentals had been greatly increased.
+The reply of the landlord was direct and clear: "You have voted for
+public improvements and now you must pay for them."
+
+The same is true of the interest and principal of the national debt.
+The revenue is raised from a levy upon importations, as, for example,
+tea, the tax on which is ten cents per pound. The tax is collected
+from the importer and by him attached to the price for which it is
+sold to the wholesale dealer and by him attached to the price he
+charges the retail dealer and by him the amount is collected from the
+consumer. Sufficient notice is usually given that the importer and
+the dealers may dispose of all their goods before the tariff is
+removed. A public announcement of such a purpose was recently made in
+reference to the tax upon tea.
+
+The tax collected from the consumer is far heavier than the mere levy
+of the government. The importer demands a profit on the amount of
+revenue tax he has paid as well as on the amount he pays for the
+goods. This results in greatly increasing the burdens of the poor. The
+revenue tax recently imposed by Great Britain of three pence per cwt.
+on wheat and five pence per cwt. on flour resulted immediately in the
+addition of one penny to the price of the four-pound loaf to the
+consumers.
+
+Again: This attributing to property the quality of self-perpetuation
+and increase has led to its incorporation and in a manner separation
+from those who own it. Property must always have an owner.
+
+Personality must always come in else there are no rights to be
+considered. Labor apart from a person laboring and property apart from
+a person owning are impersonal and no ethical or moral laws can be
+applied to them. They are only physical forces and material things.
+The wind may push against a tree and overcome its resistance and the
+tree falls. That is merely an abstract force against a material thing.
+But when my energy is exerted against your tree and destroys it, then
+personal responsibility and personal rights must be considered. A
+righteous adjustment between labor and capital can never be arrived at
+without the consideration of the personal elements on both sides. The
+moral and ethical laws must be applied as well as the physical and
+economic.
+
+Incorporated property, however, has eliminated from it the ethical and
+moral responsibility of personality and is regarded as possessed only
+of economic and physical qualities and restrained only by legal
+statutes.
+
+Incorporated properties are not generally managed by those who own
+them. The managers are employed by the owners, who are ready to pay
+large compensation to those who have the tact and brain and nerve
+power and peculiar quality of conscience to gain for them a
+satisfactory increase. It is their work to press this irresponsible
+material body up against "flesh and blood."
+
+The incorporation employs the laborer when his labor earns a
+satisfactory dividend on the capital, and lays him off or discharges
+him whenever it seems most to the advantage of the investment. A plant
+is built and operated for a time and then the plant is closed, or the
+location is changed without the slightest regard to the sacrifices of
+the poor laborers who have gathered around and are left stranded.
+
+Laborers everywhere throughout Christendom need and beg for a Sabbath
+of rest, but neither physical needs nor conscientious scruples are
+regarded when a greater dividend can be gained in seven days than in
+six.
+
+On the part of the workman, resistance is useless. He can do nothing
+but yield to the economic and physical force managed by those in whom
+human sympathy and pity for the suffering and helpless are not
+permitted. The dividend must be gained though it be necessary to grind
+the poor.
+
+The owner of this steel plant is in a distant city. All employes, from
+the manager down to the porter, must so serve that he shall receive
+the dividend. This mercantile house is owned by a woman on a pleasure
+trip round the world. All who are connected with this business must so
+serve and sacrifice that she shall receive her income regularly. This
+railroad is owned by those who have gone a-yachting in southern seas.
+It must be so managed that the revenues shall not fail whatever the
+sacrifice required of others.
+
+The writer once heard an American statesman, who afterward became
+President of the United States, deliver an elaborate and carefully
+prepared oration on a great occasion, in which he discussed the
+growing power and controlling influence in state and national affairs
+of incorporations. He did not formulate a remedy but said, "The
+problem to be solved by the next generation is, how shall the people
+be protected against the encroachments of incorporated wealth?" It
+need scarcely be said that there was no discussion of that question
+during the campaign which closed with his election to the presidency.
+
+Usury is both the basis of the incorporation and the instrument of its
+oppression. Incorporated wealth must not be permitted to claim
+personal rights and yet escape personal responsibility. It must be
+held to the same ethical and moral laws as the individual. Personal
+responsibility must not be eliminated from property. It must not be
+divested of personal responsibility and then pressed as a mere
+material thing up against "flesh and blood."
+
+No instrument of oppression ever surpassed in severity the usury of
+incorporated wealth and retained the pretense of respectability. It is
+sucking the blood of the poor every hour, yet they cherish and pet the
+vampire, not realizing that it is their blood upon which it feeds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Concluded.
+
+
+Usury increases its burdens in proportion to the poverty. It is the
+most oppressive upon the poorest. Property in any measure is a relief.
+However small the amount may be, to that degree it assists in bearing
+the burden. Those who have a home are relieved of the burden of usury
+by rent. Those who own their shops or farms on which they can employ
+their labor are relieved of the usury of tools and material. From the
+conditions now prevailing the burden of usury rests on all those, the
+half of whose income is the product of their own labor. The one who
+receives one-half his income from the interest on property and
+one-half from his own labor has no advantage from usury. The income of
+his labor would bring him as many of the comforts of life as his labor
+now does, plus the income from his property. There is no advantage
+until a greater part of the income is derived from property. A small
+savings account, adding a few dollars annually to the income, is a
+very small offset to the constant drain from usury in all that we buy
+and upon all our earnings. The full burden however is upon those who
+have nothing but their own productive energy; who receive only wages
+and must buy in the market. As the relief afforded by property
+decreases, the oppressive burden of usury in present conditions
+increases.
+
+It is a fair estimate that usury is oppressive until relieved by the
+income from property to the amount of one-half of the entire income
+received. When less, the oppression begins and leans its full weight
+and without pity upon the poorest and most helpless.
+
+He that has no property is dependent upon others for employment and in
+his wages must give a part of his product as tribute to the capital he
+uses. This, in the case of the average wage earner in this country, is
+not less than one-third, that is, he who earns one dollar and a half
+will receive as wages one dollar, the other half dollar is retained by
+the employer as due for the capital invested. Then having no home he
+must pay tribute to property in shelter for himself and family. The
+rent will be higher in proportion to the poverty of the apartments.
+The poorest tenement returns the highest rate of interest to the
+landlord.
+
+His decreased wages do not make the necessities of life
+proportionately cheap to him. He pays usury in the price of the fuel
+which he burns, of the oil, gas or electric light in his home. In the
+price of vegetables, bread and clothes and shoes. There is an
+increased outgo at every turn which he cannot avoid. He is helpless to
+resist.
+
+He can but struggle staggering along while work is given and his
+health and strength remain. When these fail he falls and must become
+entangled in debt, from which there is no hope of being able to
+extricate himself.
+
+The state recognizes the hopelessness of the poor man who is in debt
+and has provided a relief by bankruptcy, by which he may again arise
+and struggle on. This discharge in bankruptcy is an act of mercy but
+the relief from the oppressions of usury would be an act of justice.
+Grinding the helpless poor between low wages and high prices and then
+relieving them by the act of bankruptcy is only pulling them out of
+the mill to throw them into the hopper again, for the wage earner who
+has no protection from any property is between these upper and nether
+mill stones.
+
+Those who defend the fraud of usury always take to cover behind the
+widow and the fatherless. They plausibly pretend to be zealous for
+their protection while endeavoring to hide their own greed. Their
+pleas are often touchingly pathetic. "A thrifty loving father was
+taken away by death from a dear wife and sweet little ones. They had
+always leaned on his strong arms. He was their joy, their protector
+and their support. This widow and her fatherless children are left
+with nothing to support them except the saved hard earnings of this
+husband's life. As these earnings are their only support they are
+deposited with care with the 'Security Co.' for safety and that the
+regular interest dues may be received without fail. If there should be
+one failure they would suffer. The 'Security Co.' loan their deposits
+as opportunity offers. They take some local mortgages and also some
+mortgages on western lands. They buy some bonds of a milling trust and
+also of a railroad and street car line and some national bonds and
+loan on personal security to local merchants and traders. From all
+these sources the interest is regularly collected and regularly paid
+to this widowed mother, without which she and her little fatherless
+dear ones must suffer. 'Certainly,' they say 'usury is not oppressive
+to the widow and the fatherless. Usury comes to the help of the
+helpless.'"
+
+Another faithful industrious father was taken away from his wife and
+his little ones. He had been their stay and support. He was sober and
+thrifty but sickness and untoward conditions made accumulations
+impossible. When he, the head of the home, was taken away there was
+nothing for the support of these helpless little ones and their
+widowed mother but her own arms and head and heart. There was no time
+for sentiment and tears. These little ones must be sheltered and their
+hungry mouths must be fed. Restraining her grief, she bravely
+undertakes the heavy task.
+
+She rents a room but the rental is high, for the interest must be paid
+on a mortgage held by the Security Co. She finally finds a shop where
+she secures employment but the wages are low, for the shop is heavily
+mortgaged to the Security Co. and the interest must be paid or the
+shop will be closed and even this opportunity for scant wages will be
+lost. The distance requires that she shall ride to her work but the
+round trip costs two nickels and one of them goes to the Security Co.
+for interest on their bonds and stock. She buys a loaf of bread but
+the wheat was raised on a western farm mortgaged to the Security Co.
+and the interest was charged up against the wheat. The wheat was
+floured in a trust mill and the interest on the Security Co. bonds
+were charged up against the flour. It was transported by a railroad
+that charged up against it the interest on the bonds held by the
+Security Co. It was baked in a mortgaged oven and handled by a local
+dealer doing business on capital he had borrowed of the Security Co.
+How much of her bread money went for interests is an intricate
+problem. She only notices that her loaf is small.
+
+The same oppressive tribute must be paid on all that she buys to feed
+and clothe herself and her little ones.
+
+The first widow does not live upon the earnings of her husband. They
+are untouched at the end of a year nor diminished as the years pass.
+By the operation of usury she has lived upon the hard earnings of this
+poor widow. The laborers on the western farms contributed to her
+support in decreases of wages; the operatives of the railways, the
+workmen in the mill, the baker and merchant all contribute a portion,
+but it cannot be denied that the heaviest burden comes upon the
+poorest. The rich widow has fed her children with the bread which the
+poor widow earned.
+
+The flaunting sympathy for the poor of those who themselves feed upon
+them, is rank hypocracy. Nor can those who have grown fat by the
+practice of usury, condone the crime by tossing back to them a portion
+of the unjust gain.
+
+"Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his
+soul?... Is not this the fast that I have chosen?... To undo the heavy
+burdens and to let the oppressed go free?... Is it not to deal thy
+bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to
+thy house?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+USURY CENTRALIZES WEALTH.
+
+
+The dictum of Bacon that "Usury gathers the wealth of the realm into
+few hands" is readily proven and fully verified in the experience of
+these times. The tendency to centralization under a system of usury or
+interest-taking is so strong, and the modern result so apparent that
+the statement only is necessary.
+
+Usury not only enslaves the borrower and oppresses the poor who are
+innocent of all debt, but it also affects the rich by gathering the
+wealth of the wealthy into fewer and fewer hands. There is a
+centralizing draft that threatens and then finally absorbs the smaller
+fortunes into one colossal financial power. It is as futile to resist
+this as to resist fate. Wealth cannot be so fortified and guarded as
+to successfully resist the attack of superior wealth when the practice
+of usury is permitted. The smaller and weaker fortune, using the same
+weapon as the larger and stronger, must inevitably be defeated and
+overcome, and ultimately absorbed.
+
+Rates of interest do not affect the ultimate result. Under a high rate
+the gathering is rapid, under a low rate the accretions are slower,
+but the gathering into few hands is none the less sure. Rates of
+interest only place the convergent center at a nearer or more remote
+period.
+
+If any interest is right, compound interest is right. When simple
+interest is due and paid, it may be loaned to another party, and thus
+the usurer secures interest upon his interest, though not from the
+same debtor. When the interest is to be paid annually, it is to be
+assumed, if not paid, that the debtor takes it as a loan in addition
+to the face of the note of his obligation. This saves the care of
+receiving and re-loaning to another. The custom of usurers, however,
+is to renew the note, adding the interest to the face, if unpaid. The
+mass of bank paper is renewed each ninety days: Compounded four times
+a year, whether to the same or to another debtor, the result in
+accretion is the same.
+
+Few realize the rapidity at which a loan increases, accelerating in
+geometrical progression as time passes. Any loan will double itself at
+three per cent. in twenty-three and a half years; at seven per cent.
+in ten and a fourth years, and at ten per cent. in seven and a third
+years. One dollar loaned for one hundred years, at three per cent.,
+would amount to nineteen dollars; at seven per cent. one thousand
+dollars, and at ten per cent. thirteen thousand.
+
+The island upon which New York stands was bought from the Indians for
+the value of twenty-four dollars by Peter Minuits in 1626. Yet, if the
+purchaser had put his twenty-four dollars at interest, where he could
+have added it to the principal at the rate of seven per cent., the
+accumulation would now exceed the total value of the entire city and
+county of New York.
+
+M. Jennet quotes the elaborate calculation of an ingenious author to
+show that 100 francs ($20) accumulating at five per cent. compound
+interest for seven centuries, would be sufficient to buy the whole
+surface of the globe, both land and water, at the rate of 1,000,000
+francs ($200,000) per hectare (nearly four square miles). From this we
+can gather that $20 at five per cent. compound interest for 700 years,
+would buy all the earth, mountains, and swamp lands, and water, at $80
+per acre.
+
+Another mathematical genius says, had one cent been loaned on the first
+day of January A.D. 1, interest being allowed at the rate of six per
+cent. compounded yearly, then 1895 years later--that is on January 1,
+1895--the amount due would be $8,497,840,000,000,000,000,000,000,
+000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (8,497,840,000 decillions). If it were
+desired to pay this in gold, 23.2 grains to the dollar, then taking
+spheres of pure gold the size of the earth, it would take
+610,070,000,000,000,000 to pay for that cent. Placing these spheres in a
+straight row, their combined length would be 4,826,870,000,000,000,000
+miles, a distance which it would take light (going at the rate of
+186,330 miles per second) 820,890,000 years to travel.
+
+The planets and stars of the entire solar and stellar universe, as
+seen by the great Lick telescope, if they were all in solid gold,
+would not nearly pay the amount. A single sphere to pay the whole
+amount, if placed with its centre at the sun, would have its surface
+extending 563,580,000 miles beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune,
+the farthest in our system.
+
+It may be added that if the earth had contained a population of ten
+billions, each one making a million dollars a second, then to pay for
+that cent it would have required their combined earnings for
+26,938,500,000,000,000,000,000 years.
+
+Anyone can figure on this and see if it be correct.
+
+Had Peter only thought to put one cent at interest, there would be no
+call now for Peter's pence.
+
+With any accretion allowed, the concentration of wealth is
+irresistible. However small the amount of capital, if permitted to
+grow at any rate of increase it will ultimately absorb everything. Any
+finite quantity permitted any finite rate of increase, will, in finite
+time, gather all that is less than infinite.
+
+The only difficulty in this accretion is to secure debtors that will
+not die. We inherit the property of our fathers, but fortunately we do
+not inherit their personal debts. This difficulty is being overcome by
+bonds of corporations and nations that live on, though the individuals
+composing them may, age after age, pass away. This makes the increase
+perpetual. Generations may come and go, but the concentration of
+wealth goes uninterruptedly on.
+
+This is not visionary theory, but is shown in the practical results
+everywhere apparent.
+
+The usurers of England, a little over two hundred years ago, secured a
+charter for a bank on the condition that they loan the crown or
+government 1,200,000 pounds sterling, about six million dollars.
+
+This was a perpetual loan, never to be repaid, but annual interest at
+eight per cent. was to be paid by the government forever. This
+constant annual interest paid to this bank has made it such a
+financial power that it reaches and draws to itself of the resources
+of all lands. The aggregated wealth of the institution, if the
+accretions were continuous, would now be $25,165,824,000,000. The
+wealth of the United Kingdom is estimated at fifty billions, and all
+Europe two hundred billions, the United States seventy billions, and
+the whole world's wealth at five hundred billions.
+
+Were the accretions of the bank at eight per cent. undisturbed and
+unconsumed, it would now take fifty worlds as rich as ours to pay that
+debt. It is sometimes wondered how there can be such an accumulation
+of wealth in one institution as to control the finances of the world.
+
+It is often attributed to superior wisdom or some profound, occult
+manipulation. It is but the natural operation of the principle of
+interest--accretion from age to age.
+
+The managers may be stupid dolts, only so they do not interfere with
+the usurious principle in its eternal pull on the resources of
+mankind.
+
+The interest bearing debt of the United States, at this date, is about
+one thousand millions. This in one hundred years at six per cent.
+would amount to $340,000,000,000; five times the whole present wealth
+of the nation.
+
+The smallest national bank organized, by the deposit of $25,000 of
+bonds yielding two per cent. interest, and permitted to re-loan the
+same funds to its private customers at eight per cent., could gather
+to itself in one hundred years, $345,225,000.
+
+The wealth of an individual or of a family may also grow with the
+years as they pass. The property may be in public bonds or that of
+incorporations, requiring no care or effort on their part, yet it may
+be continually increasing. A usurer in any community in one life comes
+to absorb the wealth of that community, though the amount loaned at
+the beginning was small.
+
+The accretions are the irresistible result of the principle of usury.
+
+The wealth is more and more centralized as the years pass. Great trees
+in the forest shadow the smaller, and rob them of the sunshine and
+moisture until they perish. Great fish in the crowded pond feed upon
+the smaller. Individual manufacturers are absorbed by the great
+combinations called trusts. The stockholders of a railroad are
+absorbed by those who have large and controlling interest. But the
+railroad is itself absorbed by another yet greater corporation, and
+this again by a great combine that eliminates the influence of all but
+the chief control, and tends to a complete centralization of all the
+systems.
+
+There is no escaping from this centralizing draft upon all resources,
+when the system of interest-taking is as general as now. Freedom from
+personal debt does not deliver us. The farmer, the most independent of
+men, in his own home, free from personal debt, yet must contribute to
+this centralizing by paying interest on bonds in every shipment of
+produce, and every mile of railroad travel. He pays tribute also in
+all the tools that he buys, in the food that he eats and the clothes
+that he wears.
+
+This centralizing draft is constant, though not always equally
+apparent. Certain favorable conditions may hold in check, for a time,
+the adverse influence and cause a temporary distribution of wealth to
+the producers. Its force is not, however, destroyed, but only
+restrained for a time, and then draws with accumulated power.
+
+Times of industrial depression and commercial disasters are occurring
+over and over again. Some economists attribute them to the peculiar
+industrial and monetary conditions of the periods in which they
+occur; but they have seldom agreed as to the causes of any particular
+panic. They are so regular in their recurrence that some economists
+have thought they must be produced by some constant cause; like the
+moon causing the tides of the ocean. Both are true. There is a general
+and there is also a secondary or superficial cause.
+
+The times of greatest commercial disasters in this country were in the
+years 1809, 1818, 1837, 1873, 1893.
+
+The political economists can assign as reasons some peculiar
+conditions prevailing in each of these periods, but the wisest have
+never gone deep enough to discover the general cause; this constant
+centralizing draft of usury.
+
+In these periods of commercial disaster there is no destruction of
+property. There is only a general shake up and redistribution. All the
+wealth of the country remains, but after the disaster wealth is always
+found to be in fewer hands. Some have become rich, many who were
+thought to be wealthy are ruined, and the number of the poor has been
+multiplied.
+
+A patient may be afflicted with some deep-seated, chronic disease that
+makes him very easily affected by a change of the weather, by a change
+of his diet or of his bed, and these may be assigned as the causes of
+his frequent relapses, and they are the immediate or secondary
+causes, but the real cause is the deep-seated, chronic disease. Cure
+that disease and the changes in conditions, now so serious, would not
+be noticed by the healthy man.
+
+The real and constant cause of our recurring financial disasters is
+this centralizing usury that directly opposes the distribution of
+wealth that is natural, when the producers of wealth are permitted to
+receive and enjoy it. Root out this evil, and then the trifling
+differences in our harvests, changes in our tariff laws, currency
+legislation, and the score of other things that now affect us, would
+be unfelt by the healthy body politic.
+
+If this centralizing power is destroyed then the natural distribution
+would be undisturbed, and these, so-called, panics would be unknown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+MAMMON DOMINATES THE NATIONS.
+
+
+The debt habit has been diligently cultivated and encouraged, until
+the nations are enslaved. Public bonds imply bondsmen, and the nations
+are no longer free. There is a mortgage upon the inventive genius,
+industry and productive energy of the world.
+
+Usurers greatly prefer an organized government as a debtor. The
+individual may die, but a nation's debts bind from age to age, are
+bequeathed by the fathers to the children, and thus descend from
+generation to generation. The bonds of no corporation, however great
+and rich, can be so secure. They embrace special industries, while
+national debts are a claim upon every industry and a mortgage upon
+every foot of soil, and every dollar of present personal property, and
+of all that may be produced in the whole realm.
+
+If we express the world's indebtedness, the national debts, in the
+terms of our currency, as nearly as we can reduce the currency of
+other nations to such an expression, we find the national debts as
+follows, in 1890:
+
+  Denmark                           $   33,004,722
+  Great Britain                      3,848,460,000
+  United States                        915,962,112
+  Germany                            1,956,217,017
+  Austria-Hungary                   $2,666,339,539
+  France                             4,446,793,398
+  Russia                             3,491,016,074
+  Italy                              2,324,826,329
+  Spain                              1,251,433,096
+  Netherlands                          430,539,653
+  Belgium                              360,504,099
+  Sweden                                64,220,807
+  Norway                                13,973,752
+  Portugal                             490,493,599
+  Greece                               107,306,518
+  Turkey                               821,000,000
+  Switzerland                           10,912,925
+                                   ---------------
+    These debts aggregate          $22,955,386,008
+
+Hundreds of millions have been added to these national debts in the
+last ten years. Nearly every nation has increased its indebtedness,
+possibly no nation has decreased it, and others, like China, with its
+recent great loan, and little Korea, with its twelve millions, must be
+added to the list. The debts of the nations of Europe have been
+increased until they now amount in the aggregate to twenty-three
+billions. The debts of the nations of all the world have increased
+one-half since 1890, and now aggregate thirty-three billions.
+
+These great national debts are practically perpetual, and though they
+may be at so low a rate of interest as three per cent., they absorb
+the energies of the people, and, like a glacier grinding over the
+earth, crush all beneath them.
+
+Public debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the burden
+of present duty. Debts place the whole burden on producers of the
+future. They relieve those who hold the wealth now, but are a draft
+upon those who make the wealth that is to be.
+
+An individual incurring debt places a mortgage upon his productions;
+by a pledge of future production he relieves himself of the strain of
+the present.
+
+A family incurs debt; a part of the members of the house are strong
+and capable of productive labor, and a part are not; the whole burden
+of the payment comes upon the productive members of the home. The weak
+and helpless and the indolent, though strong, bear no part of the
+burden. This family has a home, and a mortgage is placed upon it to
+secure the present needs. The burden of paying the interest on this
+mortgage, and the final payment of the principal, is wholly on the
+capable and industrious members of the family.
+
+National debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the
+burden of present government calls and obligations, and to roll it
+upon those who shall produce wealth in the future. So the debt of a
+city, state, or nation is a present relief to property holders, by
+placing the producers under future obligations.
+
+A street in a city is to be paved; no additional tax is levied; but
+bonds are issued running twenty years.
+
+This relieves the present wealth of the burden, placing it upon those
+who shall produce the wealth that shall be in twenty years.
+
+The expenses of a great war must be met. Present taxes may be slightly
+increased, but to meet the burden consols or public bonds are issued
+to be paid at a distant date. This relieves the present wealth, but
+binds it upon those who shall be the producers of wealth in the
+generations to come. Hume says, "The practice of contracting debts
+will almost invariably be abused by every government. It would
+scarcely be more imprudent to give a prodigal son a credit with every
+banker, than to empower statesmen to draw bills in this manner on
+posterity."
+
+These public bonds are the golden opportunity of the usurers. Not only
+is their wealth relieved of all burden, but it affords an opportunity
+of profitable investment with the best possible debtor. They can pose
+as enterprising citizens, and urge great public improvements, and at
+the same time gain a most sure and profitable investment. They can
+pose as patriots in time of war, and urge that it be pressed with
+energy at whatever cost of treasure and blood. It is not their blood
+that is shed, nor their wealth that is wasted. It gives them the
+opportunity of binding their burdens on the nation for the producers
+of the coming generations to carry.
+
+Usurers never wish public debts paid. They wish them issued for as
+long time as possible, and then reissued, or the time extended before
+they are due. This is done by the figment called refunding, as if it
+were a concession and favor to a poor debtor. It is but a device to
+keep the burden on the public back. It is not a financial feat and
+triumph for the chancellor of the exchequer to refund a public debt.
+He but yields himself as a tool to the usurers to continue their
+loans. They resist the payment when due, but when an officer is found
+willing to extend them before they are due all trouble is avoided and
+the accretions of interest are not interrupted for a day.
+
+Those who hold the bonds of a nation direct its destinies. The nation
+borrowing is servant to the lender, just as an individual. The nation
+compromises its freedom and becomes the slave of its bond-holders. The
+usurers use their power for the advancement of their own material
+interests, and hold all other purposes of government as inferior to
+their own ends. This subordination of a people, to the creditors, is
+fatal to republican and constitutional governments; the form may be
+preserved for a time, but the substance of free government has
+departed.
+
+The concentration of wealth carries with it the concentration of
+power, and is inimical to republican institutions. A proper
+distribution of wealth and power must be preserved or popular
+government is put in jeopardy.
+
+The first bank of deposit and discount was the Bank of Venice, in the
+republic of Venetia. It continued its existence for six hundred years,
+until the government that gave it life itself perished. From its long
+continuous business, and its success as a bank, it has been spoken of
+in every work on banking as a model. It began its association with the
+republic in 1171, and dominated it, sapping its life, and assuming
+its functions, until the bank practically ruled the state, and when
+one fell both perished in 1797. The usurers received their hold on the
+state in a time of the greatest need. The republic had been
+impoverished by the crusades, and was in dire financial straits.
+Advantage was taken of this by the usurers to so bind the bank and
+state together that when one lived the other must, or both must die
+together. Stock in the bank was a loan to the state at four per cent.
+annual interest. The union seemed to promise great prosperity for a
+time, but really absorbed all the republic's vitality during the last
+hundred years of their life.
+
+Venetia was at the first a pure democracy. The Doge was elected by the
+people and administered the government, himself being the responsible
+head. He, later, chose advisers, or a cabinet, to be associated in the
+responsible duties. After this, and about the time of the association
+with the bank, a representative council was elected by the people, and
+the government was administered by the Doge and this council. This was
+gradually transformed from a government of the people to an oligarchy;
+and as the years passed there were no steps taken toward a return, but
+the authority and power was more and more centralized. The ruling
+class was, in a hundred years, limited to those families enrolled in
+the "Golden Book." In another hundred years the government was in
+control of the "Council of Ten." Later the secret tribunal of three
+was the terror of the people and the instrument of their oppression.
+The republic was only such in name, the people were deprived of all
+voice in the government, and the Doge became a puppet to obey the
+ruling cabal.
+
+Shakespeare went to Venice to find his typical usurer in Shylock the
+Jew. He found there also his typical Christian, Antonio. Antonio was a
+benevolent great soul, who loved his friends, supported all
+benevolences, and hated the usurers. Shylock hated him because he
+would lend without interest, and was constantly reproving him for his
+usurious practice.
+
+The contest between the usurers and the people of the Venetian
+republic was a struggle for the life, but the usurers never relaxed
+their hold. They dominated until the end.
+
+Another great triumph of the usurers was in England at the time of
+great need. William and Mary had been placed upon the throne by the
+Protestants, but were in need of money to carry on the struggle for
+its complete establishment. This was the usurers' opportunity. Former
+kings, in like straits, had confiscated the wealth of the usurious
+Jews, Lombards and Goldsmiths, and appropriated their property as a
+penalty for their unchristian practice, but William and Mary entered
+into a contract with them to gain their assistance, giving them
+special privileges to secure a permanent loan. They were to loan the
+crown 1,200,000 pounds sterling. This was never to be repaid, but
+interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum was to be paid
+forever. This loan was a marvel of success. There was a great rush of
+usurers to place their money with the crown as a perpetual loan at
+that rate of increase. Their usuries, which had hitherto been counted
+dishonest gain, were henceforth to be honorable, and they esteemed as
+patriots.
+
+Thus, the first Protestant power in the world was established in the
+hands of usurers, and bound to continue associated with them forever.
+The story, by Macauley, of the establishment of the Bank of England,
+is familiar to all students of English history.
+
+This bank is a great corporation; the Board of Directors is composed
+of twenty-six members, who elect their own successors, and thus it is
+entirely independent. It makes laws for its own direction in the name
+of the people or defies their control. In 1797 it secured an order
+from the privy council ordering itself to suspend specie payment. It
+obeyed its own order promptly, and at the same time announced their
+strength and that the order would be temporary; but for one excuse and
+another it was continued for twenty-five years.
+
+Sir Robert Peel, in 1844, having become convinced of the dangerous and
+disastrous influence, expanding and contracting its loans, secured the
+enactment of a law to regulate and limit its circulation. This law
+was distasteful to the bank, and was, upon its enactment, defied by
+open disobedience. It has not only dictated the laws for its own
+regulation, but directed both the domestic and the foreign policy of
+the government. It has subordinated the public weal to financial
+profit. This corporation of usurers manage all the finances of the
+kingdom, and has more influence than Crown and Parliament combined. As
+a great uncrowned king it dictates the diplomatic policies of the
+United Kingdom. Its influence has not been extended to promote
+Protestant Christian faith, Jews are not zealous for any Christian
+sect; nor for the purpose of lifting up the degraded and enlightening
+them; nor in the east has it exercised its power to relieve human
+suffering, but its diplomatic policy has been mercenary greed always.
+
+It should be noted that the enlightened Christian people of the United
+Kingdom are not the English government. There has been, for two
+hundred years, a power behind the Throne, behind Parliament, behind
+the people, essentially selfish and commercial. This has controlled
+India for profit, while the benevolent people were anxious to
+christianize and uplift. It has befriended the Turk while England wept
+over the Turkish barbarities. It forced opium upon China while the
+Christian people sent missionaries. The people of England love
+freedom, yet the government has endeavored to crush it in the American
+colonies and everywhere throughout the world, when in conflict with a
+selfish commercial policy. The English people cry out against human
+slavery, yet in the struggle in the United States, when slavery was in
+the balance, the English government earnestly espoused the cause of
+those who upheld slavery. The English people rejoiced that the slave
+trade in Africa was abolished, yet the government enacted the hut tax,
+and compels now the service of the young and vigorous blacks in the
+mines, sending them back to their people when their strength declines.
+
+In the establishment of the republic of the United States there was a
+strong resistance to any debt or subordination to usurers. The history
+of banks in the United States shows a struggle at the birth of the
+nation between the usurers, who demanded the management of the
+finances, and the people who resisted. This struggle continued for
+half a century, when the people triumphed, and for thirty years there
+was no hint of a purpose to overthrow what was regarded as the settled
+policy of the nation.
+
+The first bank was incorporated in 1791. Its establishment was
+strongly resisted, but being urged by the Secretary of the Treasury, a
+charter was granted for twenty years. When that charter expired by
+limitation in 1811, there was a struggle by the usurers to secure its
+renewal, but they were defeated. They did not, however, abandon their
+effort. In 1816 they secured the charter of the second bank of the
+United States. This charter was also limited to twenty years,
+expiring in 1836. There was a tremendous struggle for its renewal, but
+the chief executive, backed by a strong political party, so completely
+defeated it that the usurers for the time yielded, and for thirty
+years the settled policy of the government forbade the alliance with
+usurers and the making of any public debt. Many of the leading
+statesmen of that period were very pronounced in their opposition.
+
+"The banking system concentrates and places the power in the hands of
+those who control it.
+
+"Never was an engine invented better calculated to place the destines
+of the many in the hands of the few, or less favorable to that
+equality and independence which lies at the bottom of our free
+institutions."--J.C. Calhoun.
+
+"I object to the continuance of this bank because its tendencies are
+dangerous and pernicious to the government and the people. It tends to
+aggravate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer, and the
+poor poorer; to multiply nabobs and paupers, and to deepen and widen
+the gulf that separates Dives from Lazarus."--Thomas H. Benton.
+
+"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous
+than standing armies. I am not among those who fear the people. They
+and not the rich are our dependence for continued freedom. And to
+preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with
+perpetual debts."--Thomas Jefferson.
+
+"Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
+people, that the mischief and dangers which flow from a national bank
+far overbalance all its advantages."--Andrew Jackson.
+
+The usurers were compelled to remain under public condemnation during
+thirty years, as sentiment was strongly against them and conditions
+were not in their favor, but they did not relax their watchful effort
+nor abandon hope of ultimate success. When the nation was struggling
+to prevent its dissolution in 1861-5, and unusual war measures seemed
+necessary to meet the great emergency, the usurers saw their
+opportunity and came forward, as they did in Venice and England; they
+would loan the government the funds necessary to carry on the war, if
+the government would comply with their conditions and grant them the
+privileges demanded. They asked that their loan be perpetual, like the
+English loan; that they should be freed from the burdens of the
+government; that their loan should be free from taxation; that they
+should receive their interest semi-annually, and not in the common
+legal tender, but in coin; that they be permitted to issue their own
+notes as currency to be loaned to their customers; that the government
+discredit its own issues and endorse theirs; and that they be given a
+monopoly by taxing out of existence all opposition.
+
+These were great demands, and were regarded as extortionate and
+oppressive. The struggle was severe, but the enemy in the field was
+threatening the life of the nation, while the usurers were urgent and
+posing as patriots, that they might accomplish their ends. True
+patriots, anxious to defeat the enemy in arms, regarded these usurers
+at home as equally the enemies of freedom. They were in a strait
+betwixt two foes.
+
+Secretary McCullough said, "Hostility to the government has been as
+decidedly manifested in the efforts that have been made in the
+commercial metropolis of the nation to depreciate the currency as has
+been by the enemy."
+
+The opposition to the usurers was very strong and bitter, but the
+conditions were in their favor and they gained a decided advantage. In
+the Senate the vote stood twenty-three yeas to twenty-one nays. It was
+carried only as a war measure. There was an effort to limit the
+usurers' privileges to the war and one year after its close. This was
+not successful, but their loan was confined to the war debt, and their
+time to its payment, limited to twenty years.
+
+This action caused great distress and dark forebodings of evil to many
+of the thoughtful. It was setting aside the policy of the nation,
+which had been generally acquiesced in as wise and judicious and safe
+for many years. The old patriot Thadeus Stevens, in the opening of a
+speech in a preliminary skirmish between patriotism and usurers,
+said: "I approach the subject with more depression of spirits than I
+ever before approached any question. No personal motive or feeling
+influences me. I hope not, at least. I have a melancholy foreboding
+that we are about to consummate a cunningly devised scheme, which will
+carry great injury and great loss to all classes of people throughout
+the Union, except one." Later he said, in excuse of the action, "We
+had to yield, we did not yield until we found that the country must be
+lost or the banks gratified, and we have sought to save the country in
+spite of the cupidity of its wealthier classes."
+
+The usurers have never relaxed the hold they secured by this victory,
+and have since been continually increasing their power. They obtained
+an extension or "refunding" of the war debt, and a renewal of their
+charters by the general laws, so their hold is indefinitely extended.
+Bonds are no longer limited to the covering of war expenses, but are
+issued freely in times of peace. The traditions of the fathers have
+been cast to the winds, and their fears derided and their policy
+changed. The usurers have been firmly in the saddle for many years,
+and have defeated every effort that has been made to unseat them.
+
+The great debts of the nations have brought all mankind into
+subjection to the usurers. Those who hold the bonds have the destinies
+of the race in their hands. They pervert the ends of government; the
+protection of life, liberty and the highest good of all the people;
+they make governments their tools to gather and appropriate the
+earnings of the many.
+
+They have exalted Mammon upon the throne of the world, and scoff at
+the God of heaven, who seeks the poor and needy, and who would in love
+lift up every son and daughter of the whole race.
+
+Milton presents Mammon as one of the devils cast out of heaven with
+Satan, and as saying in the council of the demons, "What place can be
+found for us within heaven's bound, unless heaven's Lord we
+overpower?... How wearisome eternity so spent in worship paid, to one
+we hate."
+
+The reign of Mammon subordinates character and virtue and liberty and
+human life to sordid gain, yet he holds the scepter of power.
+
+He elects legislators and senators. He elects governors or directs
+their arrest if they refuse to obey him. He elects presidents and
+dictates their policies. He places kings on their thrones and holds
+them there while they do his bidding. He strips a Khedive of power,
+and yet retains him as a collector of revenue. He steadies the
+Sultan's tottering throne, and compels six great Christian powers to
+stand by in silence while humanity is outraged. The Armenian's blood
+must be permitted to flow because the persecution is by a great
+servant, the Sultan, who pays interest on bonds, and his victims are
+only freemen. The murder of one hundred thousand Armenians meant
+nothing to Mammon. But when the Cretans were persecuted by the same
+Sultan, the suffering and bloodshed was soon ordered stopped by these
+same six powers, at Mammon's command. The Cretans were servants of the
+common master; the Cretan bonds were endangered. The cry of suffering
+humanity came up to deaf ears, but the cry of endangered bonds was
+heard from afar by this reigning god of wealth.
+
+The little republics of Africa were freemen, and therefore Mammon sees
+them strangled with indifference. Mammon gathers the civilized nations
+around China and demands that she shall be enslaved by all the bonds
+she can safely carry or submit to vivisection and distribution.
+
+This enslavement of the race is not by the destroying of intelligence,
+nor by denying the first principles of civil liberty, nor by crushing
+the aspirations for freedom, but by producing conditions that make the
+application of these principles and the exercise of freedom
+impossible. Though the race may increase in intelligence and
+theoretically have correct views of personal freedom and civil
+liberty, yet the conditions produced necessarily by usury utterly
+prevent their realization. The intelligence and aspirations of the
+race never were higher than at present, their subjection and
+subordination to material wealth was never more complete.
+
+The scepter wherein lies Mammon's power to sway the nations is usury.
+When bonds bear no increase his sovereignty is gone. All motive to
+involve the nation in debt at once disappears, and the power to
+control is lost. Moses' law was divinely wise that forbade interest,
+that his people could not be enslaved and might remain a free people
+forever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+EFFECT ON CHARACTER.
+
+
+The greatest factor in life in all ages is not material wealth, nor
+social position, nor genius, nor education, but character. Since man
+is above things, the highest purpose is not the gathering of that
+beneath him, but the developing of the best and noblest that is in
+him.
+
+The highest possible purpose and work is the developing of virtuous
+manhood.
+
+This was the thought of our fathers when they came to these shores and
+built their homes and established the free institutions which we now
+enjoy. They sacrificed material advantages that they might be free men
+and secure for themselves and for their children the opportunity to
+reach in faith and practice the ideal manhood.
+
+No material advantage can be regarded with favor that is detrimental
+to the characters of men. Position, wealth, education, are worse than
+worthless when associated with a corrupted manhood.
+
+    "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
+    Where wealth accumulates, and men decay."
+
+The test of truth is its developing of the virtues and graces.
+Falsehood is detected by its quickening the vices that degrade and
+destroy. "By their fruits shall ye know them."
+
+Virtues are linked together so that the promoting of one gives
+strength to the others. All vices are also so linked that the
+stimulating of one quickens other vices.
+
+Virtues and vices are opposite, so that the encouraging of a vice or
+fault discourages the opposing virtue. When you discourage a virtue,
+you encourage a vice.
+
+The old-fashioned virtues which our fathers prized, and which they
+regarded essential elements of worthy manhood, were industry, and
+honesty, and self-reliance, and brotherly sympathy, and the devout
+recognition of God's divine sovereignty.
+
+1. Usury discourages industry and encourages idleness. The laborer is
+stirred to diligence when he gets good wages. When his wages are
+meager he becomes discouraged, relaxes his efforts and may abandon his
+work altogether. When he knows that he is receiving less than he is
+earning, and that a part of his earnings are appropriated by another,
+he is embittered and becomes indifferent. When he receives all he
+earns, and the more diligent he is in his work the more he receives,
+he is stimulated to the utmost.
+
+This will be especially true if it is made impossible to secure a gain
+without earning it. The benefit of full wages may be largely lost by
+the knowledge of persons who, without productive effort, are
+appropriating the earnings of others. The influence of their easy,
+indolent lives may destroy or counteract the beneficent influence of
+good wages. The laborer may be led to despise his well-paid tasks and
+yearn for their ease, and thus become indolent.
+
+One is encouraged to idleness when he discovers that he can secure his
+bread by the sweat of another's face. He is likely to relax his
+efforts if he does not forsake all personal productive occupations. He
+may give great care and the closest attention to the management of his
+wealth, loaning to others and collecting the increase, but not to
+productive industry.
+
+There are activities that look like virtues, but they are perverted
+efforts. The slave-driver may work as hard as the slave in his efforts
+to appropriate the earnings of others. The thief may work in the night
+and endure more hardness to secure the property of another than would
+be necessary to honestly earn it. The usurer may give his thought,
+night and day, to the placing of his wealth the most securely and at
+the best rates of interest, and at the same time abandon all effort in
+the direct management of useful productive enterprises.
+
+The complete result of usury upon the habit of industry can be
+realized in those who have grown up under its influence; those who
+have an income secure from invested funds. When there is no need,
+present nor prospective, there is no motive to active industry, and
+the love of ease and pleasure grows and drives out all heart for
+productive effort.
+
+The industrious habit coupled with economy is called thrift. It is not
+parsimony or unwillingness to give, but a disposition to save. Our
+Lord, who was the prince of givers and inculcated unlimited giving
+among his followers, gave a lesson in thrift when he said after his
+miracle, "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost."
+
+Enforced industry and economy is not thrift. When by low wages or
+grinding conditions the necessities of life are with difficulty
+secured, the very opposite disposition may be cultivated. When the
+external restraints are removed, the wildest extravagance may be
+indulged in. This is sometimes given as an excuse for low, grinding
+wages; that "the workmen and their wives have no idea of saving;" that
+higher wages would be wasted in foolish extravagance.
+
+No one in normal conditions will be wasteful of that which has cost
+him hard labor. His care for it will naturally be in proportion to the
+effort that was necessary to secure it. Those who waste the wealth of
+the world are not those who by the sweat of their faces have produced
+it. The habit of thrift comes from the knowledge of the value of a
+thing, learned by earning it. Only that which comes without effort
+will be spent without thought. Those who have livings secured from the
+increase or interest of "productive" capital, having no need of
+industry, are wholly occupied with the spending; but in spending only,
+the value of the thing spent is not appreciated, the habit of
+extravagance grows and they become the idlers and the spendthrifts of
+the world.
+
+2. It prevents open and frank honesty. When the thought is turned to
+an endeavor to secure a dollar that is not earned, there is
+secretiveness of purpose and inward guile. No person doing business on
+borrowed capital advertises the number and amount of his loans nor
+does he welcome inquiry by others. In a column of advertisements by
+money lenders in a newspaper lying on this table every one promises
+"privacy" or "no publicity." No one can be so open and frank as the
+one who earns every dollar that he receives or seeks.
+
+The possibility of speculation is ruinous. The first step in the wreck
+of integrity in a young man's character is when he becomes absorbed in
+some scheme by which he can secure gain without honestly earning it.
+Lotteries are outlaws not only because they defraud but they undermine
+integrity and honest industry.
+
+When property earns property, and the gain is secured with no struggle
+on his part, the temptation is presented and the disintegration of his
+character has begun. When there is no gain except by production, the
+whole thought and energy of the man is directed to that end, and his
+desire to secure that earned by another is restrained. The frank,
+open disposition is preserved. Honest productive toil drives out the
+spirit of speculation. Under usury, both lender and borrower are in
+the attitude of expectants of unearned gain.
+
+3. It discourages the spirit of self-reliance.
+
+Usury causes a broad separation between a man of property and the man
+of mere muscle or brain. It makes such large combinations of capital
+possible in immense shops and department stores and other enterprises,
+that the individual workman is belittled. Under the principle of
+usury, property can produce as well as brain or muscle. One having
+property can control both.
+
+His property places him in a position as a superior. He comes to
+forget the relations he bears to men as equals, and requires that
+those who have only their natural gifts shall be cringing supplicants
+before him or be denied his favor. The borrower or the laborer who
+asserts his rights is endangered by the man controlling property, who
+has him in his power.
+
+That independent, self-reliant spirit, that looks every man in the
+face as an equal yet lingers in the country among the hills and
+mountains, but is fast disappearing from the city. There has come to
+the laborer in the town or city a feeling of dependence upon others
+and a desire to secure their favor. They almost feel that they must
+apologize for being laborers, and beg for an opportunity to earn a
+living in some one's employ. One of the saddest facts, and most
+threatening of disaster in these present commercial conditions, is the
+common desire to be employed, to get a job, dependent on the whim of
+another, instead of a determination to direct one's own labor and be
+the manager of one's own business. The sound educational development
+is wanting in the daily occupation of the hired laborer, and there is
+a loss of manhood that has no compensation.
+
+The independent spirit slips away so gradually that its going is
+scarcely noticed, but when once gone the degradation is complete.
+
+A family of free Hebrews went down into Egypt, and for a long time was
+in favor with the rulers, but they gradually lost their independence
+and became more and more servile and cringing until the Egyptian
+masters dared to go into their homes and pick up their boy babies and
+take them out and drown them as if they were worthless puppies.
+
+The hopelessness of the Ottoman Empire today is more in the cringing
+subordination and broken spirit of the people than in the oppression
+of the Sultan. His government might be overthrown in a day, but it
+would take ages to lift up that empire of prostrate slaves and to
+cultivate in them the self-assertion and self-reliance necessary to a
+free people.
+
+Every man who loves his country and his race must view with alarm this
+growing feeling of subordination and cringing disposition. It is the
+very reverse of that democratic spirit or consciousness of equality
+that must prevail to secure the permanency of our republican
+institutions.
+
+4. It destroys fraternal sympathy. Two classes are found in every
+modern community. The one is the laborers with muscle or brain, the
+other class, those whose property produces for them. Between these
+classes there is a great wall fixed. It cannot be expected that they
+will mingle harmoniously and be in sympathy in civil and social
+relations. Producing and non-producing classes can never be
+congenially associated.
+
+The question is frequently discussed in church circles, "How can the
+laboring man be attracted to the churches?" The discussion often
+presumes that the non-laboring man does find the church congenial. If
+he does, all efforts to win the other class will be in vain. The
+church itself needs to correct its teachings and reform its spirit.
+
+The moral law commands "Six days shalt thou work," and there is no
+release because a man has property. So long as a man has brain or
+brawn he is bound by that law. If he is not, he is not a moral man,
+and has no rightful place in the church of God. Honest, upright,
+industrious Christian men, engaged in all lines of production for
+human needs, may be congenial and co-operate most harmoniously, but
+they never can be made comfortable in association with those who are
+unproductive and idle, yet living in luxury.
+
+5. Usury promotes that "Covetousness which is idolatry."
+
+"As heathens place their confidence in idols, so doth the avaricious
+man place his confidence in silver and gold. The covetous person,
+though he doth not indeed believe his riches or his money to be God,
+yet by so loving and trusting in them, as God alone ought to be loved
+and trusted in, he is as truly guilty of idolatry as if he so
+believed."
+
+Idolatry is the act of ascribing to things or persons properties that
+are peculiar to God. The principal objects of worship are those things
+which bring to men the greatest good.
+
+The sun has been the most general object of idolatrous worship in all
+the ages. It is the most conspicuous object, and is the source of
+light and heat, and rules the seasons. Its worship was so general that
+the Hebrew people, when they lapsed from the worship of God, turned to
+the worship of the sun or Baal. No natural object is more worthy of
+worship. Job declaring his integrity and freedom from idolatry, said
+that he had not kissed his hand in salute of the sun in his rising.
+
+The river Nile was an object of idolatrous worship for ages. Its
+source was a mystery, and its annual rise in its rainless valley was
+so beneficent, that it was given the worship which belonged to the
+Divine alone. All the hope of the harvest depended on its annual
+overflow. It moistened and fertilized and prepared the ground, and
+then receded until the harvest was grown and gathered. Moses showed
+the Egyptians the impotence of their idols by making this chief idol,
+and the things that came out of it, a curse. The cow was worshiped
+because it was the most useful and necessary of their animals. A real
+or supposed power to give or withhold favors has been from the
+beginning the source and spring of idolatry.
+
+Riches, property, as the means of supplying our needs, is an object
+more coveted than any other. The principle of usury greatly aggravates
+this tendency. The principle of usury makes it imperishable; it can be
+perpetuated, unimpaired from year to year and from age to age; it is a
+constant source of benefit; it is productive of all that is necessary
+to supply human needs.
+
+It supplies, too, without effort on the part of the recipient. The
+sun, with his light and heat, makes the labor of the farmer
+successful. The rising Nile moistening and fertilizing the land,
+prepares the way for the sower. The cow draws the plow and the harrow,
+and threshes the grain, but usury makes property bring all needed
+material good without effort on the part of the owner. It brings him
+the matured fruits of the farm, though he neither plows or sows nor
+reaps. No labor on his part is needed. His property clothes and feeds
+him, and yet does not grow less, but is endowed with perpetual youth,
+ever giving yet never exhausted or diminished. He may die, but his
+idol knows no decay, and may continue to bless his children through
+the generations. This quality of riches makes them a greater source of
+blessing than the sun or any other object of idolatrous worship. This
+leads to unlimited self-denial and sacrifice to gain and retain
+property. The devotees subordinate their own ease and physical
+comfort, their own intellectual development, to secure it, they will
+themselves shrivel in body and soul; like other idolaters they will
+even yield the highest interests of their children, when this idol
+demands their sacrifice.
+
+6. It destroys spirituality. Property is matter and not spirit. With
+the thought and heart and effort directed to a material thing, the
+spirit is neglected. The heathen Greek artist directed his whole
+attention to the material part of man. The symmetry of the human
+physical form was his study. The perfect man was the most
+symmetrically developed specimen of physical form. His thought of man
+was matter. The Christian directs his thought to the spirit, his mind
+and heart, his noble purposes, and all the qualities of true manhood.
+The material part is subordinated to the spiritual.
+
+The tendency now is to appreciate a man for what he has rather than
+for what he is, to ignore both symmetry of form and the graces of the
+noble character, and to worship what he holds in his hands. The truly
+spiritual loves true manhood and is indifferent to the possessions.
+
+If a noble soul is found in a Lazarus, the true child of Abraham will
+take him to his bosom. A perverted manhood will receive no favor
+though clothed and surrounded with all material splendor.
+
+It destroys spirituality, too, because it holds the mind to a material
+thing as the source of all good. The spiritual man rises to the true
+source of our blessings, the author of all temporal good, from whose
+hand every living thing is fed.
+
+This, as all idolatry, leads to a breaking away from the restraints of
+the moral law. The devotion to the material leads, logically and
+practically, to a neglect of the restraints of the spiritual, and a
+preponderance of subserviency to the material. Practices that will
+promote the material are indulged though the moral law may be broken.
+The material is not held subject to the needs of the higher nature,
+nor subject to the promotion of the kingdom of God, but man's noblest
+gifts and the worship of God are all made, if possible, to minister to
+the material interests.
+
+To break this idol's power, the true nature of property must be shown.
+It is not immortal, but perishable. It can not preserve itself, but
+must be carefully preserved by man's own effort. It can not protect
+him, but he must protect it. It is but a thing which man has himself
+made. It must be shown absurd, as Isaiah ridiculed it, "They worship
+the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made."
+
+Other forms of gross external idolatry are exposed by the advancing
+light of these progressive years, but this musty old form has taken
+new life and now receives the service of the race. The whole world is
+running pell-mell after this idol. It stands in the market places, it
+is not a stranger in the courts of justice, and is in high favor in
+legislative halls. Solon is relegated and Croesus is elected.
+
+It is given a high place in the temple of God. Pious Lazarus is
+neglected but Dives is promoted.
+
+"What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?"
+
+Until this idol is cast out the church will and must languish.
+Spiritual life will be low and fervor impossible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+AX AT ROOT OF THE TREE.
+
+
+It is easier to cut down an evil tree than to climb up and lop off it
+branches; besides the branches will grow again if the stock is left
+undisturbed. It is easier to destroy the mother of vipers than it is
+to chase after, catch and kill her poisonous progeny. The reptiles
+will not become extinct while the mother is left to breed without
+restraint. There are a large number of industrial and financial evils
+that derive their strength from usury, which have received the close
+attention of benevolent reformers, but they have not exposed the
+cause, nor have they suggested a sufficient remedy. That the evils
+exist is apparent to them all, but they seem too high to reach or too
+swift to be caught.
+
+It is only possible to hint at the prevailing evils in one chapter. It
+would require a volume to discuss them in detail and to apply the
+remedy.
+
+1. There is a tendency to divergence in the material and financial
+conditions of men. Some are growing richer, while others are growing
+poorer.
+
+The prayer of Agur, "Give me neither poverty nor riches," is the
+prayer we should offer and the prayer we should try ourselves to
+answer. We are to seek freedom from poverty on the one hand and from
+ensnaring riches on the other. This is the condition we should try to
+secure in the community and in the commonwealth. We should discourage
+excess of riches and we should endeavor to relieve all of distressing
+poverty. We should hedge about accumulation with such conditions as to
+make it very difficult to gain great wealth, and at the same time we
+should so ease the conditions of accumulation that only gross
+indolence or great misfortune could cause dependent poverty.
+
+The so called middle class are those who neither have great riches nor
+yet are they in fear of want. The great mass of our people belonged to
+this class until very recent times. Now we find the excessively rich
+have multiplied and a vast number of our industrious, honest and
+virtuous population are struggling for life's necessities. The middle
+class is less numerous while both those in opulence and those in
+poverty have been increasing.
+
+We should level up and level down to the medium which is best for the
+development of the highest manhood and best also for the strength and
+perpetuity of our republican institutions.
+
+The rich should be limited in their accretions while the poor are
+lifted out of their poverty; but how can this be accomplished without
+interfering with individual liberty and our personal rights? The
+problem is not easily solved. While usury remains, which is an ever
+active centralizing force adding wealth to wealth, no remedy can be
+found. Do away with usury, and the evil is overcome.
+
+(_a_) When it is recognized that vital energy alone produces all
+wealth, no great fortune can be gathered in the life time of one man.
+The earnings of any life, however long, or the earnings of a
+succession of industrious, energetic ancestors, could not amass a
+fortune to interfere with the rights and activities of others.
+
+One may inherit a large fortune from wealthy kindred; he may discover
+a fortune; he may draw a grand prize in a lottery; he may as a Turk
+seize the properties of others and then bribe the courts to confirm
+his claims; or a people may be "held up" by law and one, selfish and
+conscienceless as a ghoul, may jump at the opportunity and appropriate
+their earnings and their property and yet the robber keep out of the
+penitentiary; but no one, however great his skill or brilliant his
+genius, can earn one million dollars, nor the tenth of it, in his
+natural life. To gain one million dollars one must earn twenty
+thousand dollars each year for fifty years and save it all. He must
+spend nothing for pleasure nor benevolence. He must spend nothing for
+food nor for clothes.
+
+(_b_) Wealth decays unless cared for and preserved. As wealth
+increases, the task of protecting and preserving it increases. There
+comes a time when production must cease, and all energy will be
+required to preserve that already gained. When others preserve and
+pay a price for the privilege, as in usury, the vital energy can
+continue production, indefinitely.
+
+(_c_) Abolish usury and the instant one ceases to produce he begins to
+consume that which he has earned. He can not live upon the increase of
+his earnings, but he must begin at once to diminish the supply.
+Exacting usury he may consume only the increase and preserve the
+principal untouched. He may not consume all the increase and add the
+remainder to his capital and thus grow richer in decrepit age. Many of
+those who have not inherited wealth, have not been wealthy until
+advanced age. It came to them by the accretions of interest after the
+productive period of life was past.
+
+(_d_) It is not possible to secure perfect equality of conditions. If
+all wealth was equally distributed today differences would begin to
+appear tomorrow. This has seemed to some disheartening and they
+abandon all hope of correcting the evil. They should look deeper and
+promote the natural and God-ordained remedy.
+
+The natural force for the preservation of the level of the ocean is
+gravity. But the surface is seldom smooth. The winds lash it into fury
+and pile high its waves, but gravity pulling upon every drop of water
+tends to draw it back to its place and smooth down the surface again.
+The wind cannot build permanently a mountain of water in the ocean.
+
+The consumption and decay of wealth tends unendingly to equalize the
+conditions of men. In the wild rush of the struggle for supremacy and
+gain, like a whirlwind in the affairs of men, with their diverse gifts
+and tastes and plans, there will be inequalities appearing, but
+consumption and inevitable decay are ever present leveling powers.
+Usury suspends this beneficent law and aggravates the evil, making the
+differences in condition permanent and increasing them.
+
+Do away with usury and there is a natural limitation to riches. The
+rich will find that he can not grow constantly richer; not because he
+is by statute deprived of any personal rights, but he is hindered by
+the natural law embedded in things by the Creator.
+
+Do away with usury and the problem of poverty is solved. If we credit
+vital energy with the increase of wealth and give the laborer all he
+earns, he has a fair and equal chance, and equity requires no more. It
+is justice and opportunity, a fair chance, that the poor need, not
+pity and gifts of charity.
+
+2. Great combines of capital in business and especially in industrial
+trusts are receiving the closest attention of the thoughtful. Some
+regard them as the necessary result of successful and enlarging
+business. Many others regard them as hostile to the public good and
+are anxiously seeking a means of restraining their great and
+increasing power.
+
+These were at the first associations of manufacturers who co-operated
+to maintain prices. In the competitive system there is a constant
+pressure on the part of the consumer for lower prices. The
+manufacturer who is conscientious and a model employer, seeking to
+maintain prices sufficiently high to afford him a profit and living
+wages for his employes, must ever be resisting this pressure. They
+united for this purpose and were benevolent and just in their design.
+But the manufacturers were paying tribute on borrowed capital. They
+must meet the demands of interest on their debts and also the wages of
+their workmen. Between these two they struggled to secure for
+themselves comfortable wages. The capitalists, seeing the advantage of
+this co-operation and the resultant profits, undertook and
+accomplished the combination of their capital to secure for themselves
+the profits at first sought for the operators and their employes.
+
+These great combines are the natural result of successful business
+with the practice of usury. They threaten evil.
+
+The purpose and plan of the present trust is to increase the increase
+of the capital; to make the capital more productive; to bring larger
+returns for the wealth invested.
+
+(_a_) They are not organized for the benefit of the laborer. The
+object is to decrease the cost by producing with less labor. The less
+the labor, other things being equal, the greater the returns for the
+capital invested.
+
+(_b_) They are not organized for the benefit of the consumer. When
+they do favor the consumer it is only incidental and generally
+temporary to meet competition. They make no pretence of being
+benevolent in their purposes. They are organized for the purpose of
+business gain.
+
+(_c_) These capitalists combine their interests because they can
+thereby secure a greater return from their investments than they can
+by operating separately. They combine that they may mutually increase
+the rate of interest or dividends on their capital. This is the motive
+that draws them into cooeperation.
+
+The learned and benevolent statesmen, teachers of economy and
+reformers, have not suggested an adequate remedy. The remedy is not
+far to find. Do away with usury and they will fall apart like balls of
+sand; the cohesive power will be gone; the centralization will cease
+and the wealth will speedily return to the various individuals from
+whom it was gathered. This remedy may seem heroic, but it is a
+specific and is the simplest of all possible methods.
+
+3. How to secure a just distribution of the great advantages from
+improved machinery, new inventions and new discoveries, is a problem
+that is engaging the best thought of many of the wise and good. That
+the present distribution is inequitable and unfair; that it gives the
+capitalist an undue advantage over the laborer; that it aggravates the
+difference in conditions, seems generally admitted.
+
+An improved machine, owned by a capitalist, enables one man to do the
+work that formerly required ten. One man is employed and the nine are
+in competition for his place and there is no advance over the wages
+before the machine was introduced. The owner of the machine secures
+the gain. His wealth is greatly increased while the laborer plods on
+with his old wages. With the new machine the one man produces what ten
+men did before, but the product of the nine are credited to the
+machine and becomes the capitalist's gain.
+
+(_a_) The falsehood on which this claim rests must be seen and
+rejected before the evil can be overcome; that the machine is
+productive. It is but a tool in the hands of the one man, who now with
+it produces as much as ten men did without it. If one does the work of
+ten he earns the reward of ten. Because by this machine he multiplies
+his strength, and adds to his efficiency, he can not justly be
+deprived of his full reward.
+
+(_b_) "But the machine is owned by another." His not owning the
+machine does not change its nature and make it a productive force.
+Whether it belongs to him or to another, it is his intelligent vital
+energy that produces all that is produced. The machine is but his tool
+with which he works.
+
+(_c_) "But the machine must be paid for." Certainly, the inventors and
+skilled mechanics, who produced this wonderful tool, should be fully
+compensated, but once paid they have no claim upon it or on what
+another may produce with it. No honest workman objects to paying a
+good price for good tools. It is not the purchase of tools by one set
+of workmen of another that causes the unequal conditions.
+
+(_d_) It is the usurer or interest taker that perverts the conditions.
+
+He lays hold of those great inventions and discoveries, like railroads
+and telegraphs and telephones, and demands a perpetual compensation.
+He asks that the laborer shall be forever buying his tool, yet it
+shall be never bought, that the public shall be forever paying for
+privileges and the obligation remain forever unmet. This is but one of
+the forms of usury, by which wealth is heaped from the earnings of the
+many.
+
+4. The difficulties between employers and their laborers do not cease.
+The continued strikes and lock-outs show how general and deep the
+trouble is. Laborers organize into unions to protect themselves from
+discharge and to promote their interests. They ask for better wages
+and shorter hours. They urge their petition with forceful arguments;
+they make demands with an implied threat; they stop work or "strike."
+Then follows a test of strength and endurance in which both parties
+greatly suffer and both are embittered and neither is satisfied.
+
+The correction of this common evil has received close study from those
+who have the welfare of all classes at heart and wish to be
+benefactors of the race. The remedies have not been thorough but
+superficial, and the benefits temporary. The branches have been cut
+off but they grow again.
+
+(_a_) The complaint of too small wages implies that more is earned
+than is received; but there is no standard recognized by which what a
+man does earn can be measured. The capitalist claims the output as the
+earnings of his capital and his claim is allowed by the workmen. The
+workmen may claim that wages are too small for a comfortable living.
+This is not a plea of free workmen, but of slaves begging to be better
+fed.
+
+(_b_) They may complain of too many hours of labor; but the number of
+hours of labor is arbitrarily fixed. There is no valid constant reason
+why one should wish to work less. In the management of one's own work,
+and the collection of his own earnings, there are times when long
+hours, of the strain of labor, are necessary, and there are other
+times when ease can be taken. With no standard of earnings or time, it
+is impossible to arrive at a just and satisfactory settlement.
+
+The reasons given sound to the employers like the pleadings of
+servants for richer food and more play.
+
+(_c_) The laborer should find a solid basal reason for his demands.
+That will be found only in the utter rejection of the theory and
+practice of usury.
+
+The selfishness of human nature will remain; conflicts between men in
+all conditions and all businesses will remain; feuds and rivalries
+will remain; but when employer and employe are enabled to see that
+capital is dead, and decaying, and that all the earnings above its
+preservation belong to the laborers, there will be a recognized and
+true basis upon which the rightful claims of each can be adjusted.
+
+(_d_) In a co-operative shop, where the workmen are the owners, each
+receives his share of the gains. With usury done away it is possible
+for workmen, who are poor, to ultimately become the owners, by the
+accumulation of earnings, but under the pull of the usurers,
+continually appropriating the earnings, they are doomed to hopeless
+poverty.
+
+5. There is a widespread determination to overcome the evil of war.
+Non-combatants are numerous and peace societies are organized in all
+lands. Their literature is widely distributed and their petitions, for
+the preservation of peace, are poured upon every "power" that is
+thought to have an occasion, or a disposition, to engage in warfare.
+The waste of treasure and blood, the cruelties and suffering that are
+a military necessity, are pleaded in favor of peace. The shame of
+intelligent rational men settling differences with brute force is
+presented.
+
+The unchristian spirit, that in this age of light and saving grace
+should be so wanting in brotherly love as to wish to destroy those who
+harm us, is deprecated.
+
+When differences do arise between nations, they urge a just settlement
+or mutual concessions. Or if one is found to be unreasonable, unjust
+and oppressive, it is better and more christian-like, they claim, to
+endure hardness, submitting under protest, than by force, which the
+Master forbade, attempt to establish righteousness.
+
+Rulers of the greatest nations on the earth have become conscious of
+the cruel burdens upon their people, in the support of their great
+armaments. On the invitation of the Czar of Russia, peace
+commissioners from many nations recently met in The Hague, to devise
+means by which the burdens of armaments might be diminished and actual
+warfare avoided. This peace council advised that differences be
+submitted to arbitration, but while it was yet speaking two Christian
+powers, began open war, without having so "decent a regard to the
+opinions of mankind" as to make known to the world the cause of their
+conflict. Wars continue, and among the most highly civilized and
+enlightened and christianized, in the face of the arguments and advice
+and pleadings of non-combatants and peace societies and peace
+commissions.
+
+Mammon, a sordid greed of gain, is now on the world's throne and
+directs the movements of the nations in peace or war.
+
+His purposes may be often accomplished in peace by purchases of
+territory for which interest bearing bonds are issued. The irritation
+or hurts between peoples may be molified and healed by indemnities,
+which also serve his purpose because they necessitate the incurring of
+a bonded debt, interest bearing. But the history of the world for
+centuries proves that a condition of war is Mammon's opportunity to
+foist a debt upon a free people and to increase the burden of those
+whose bonds he already holds.
+
+His ears are deaf to advice and reason, when material and commercial
+advantages are to be secured. He cares not for human suffering and
+shed blood, if riches can be increased. When concessions can be
+secured, and mortgages placed, and a people exploited with profit, the
+cry of suffering, the pleading for pity and the call for justice are
+all in vain.
+
+To stop these modern wars they must be made unprofitable to Mammon.
+When they are made to deplete his treasury and to waste his wealth,
+instead of increasing it, he will call a halt in strife, and the
+gentle spirit of peace will be permitted to hover over the nations.
+
+Away with national debts and interest bearing bonds, which are the
+delight of the usurers. Make present wealth bear the burden of present
+duty. Try the patriotism of the usurers by making war a real
+sacrifice of their wealth, while the blood of others is being poured
+upon the field. Do not permit war to be an advantage to the rich to
+increase his riches. A patriot's life is given and it goes out
+forever, let wealth be no more sacred than life; let it not be
+borrowed but consumed. Let the rich grow poorer as the war goes on,
+let there be a facing of utter poverty, as the patriot faces death on
+the field.
+
+While Mammon is permitted this usury, his chief tool, he will use it
+for the oppression of the world. He will direct the movements among
+the nations to further his ends, although it may require a conflict
+between the most christianized and enlightened of the earth. The
+nations will be directed in peace or put in motion in war to make
+wealth increase.
+
+Give wealth its true place as a perishable thing, instead of a
+productive life, and wars will cease in all the earth. The holders of
+the wealth of the world will never urge nor encourage war, when the
+property destroyed is their own and not to be replaced. When wars are
+no longer the usurer's opportunity, but the consumption of his wealth,
+Mammon himself will beg that swords may be beaten into plow-shares and
+spears into pruning-hooks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+PER CONTRA; CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS.
+
+
+Every argument favoring the continuance of the practice of usury can
+be met from the propositions established in the preceding chapters.
+Indeed, there are no true arguments to be presented in its favor.
+Truth is consistent with truth. We are not placed in a dilemma and
+compelled to decide which are the strongest of the arguments arrayed
+against each other. We are not deciding which is the greater of two
+blessings nor which the less of two evils, but this is a question of
+evil or good, of sin or righteousness. If usury is wrong then every
+argument brought forward to support it is a falsehood, though it may
+be covered with a very beautiful and attractive and plausible form in
+its presentation.
+
+1. The old Wilson Catechism published in Dundee in 1737 is perhaps the
+most familiar defense.
+
+    "Q. Is the gaining of money by usury unlawful?
+
+    "A. Yes, Prov. 28:8. Psalm 15:5.
+
+    "Q. What is usury?
+
+    "A. The taking unlawful profit for money that is lent out.
+
+    "Q. Is it lawful to take any interest or gain for money lent?
+
+    "A. Yes, when it is taken according to the laws of the land, and
+    from these who make gain by it, by trading or purchasing of
+    lands; seeing it is equally just for the owner of money to ask a
+    share of the profit which others make by it, as for the owner
+    of the land to demand farm from the tenant of it, money being
+    improvable by art and labor as well as land.
+
+    "Q. What is the unlawful profit for money, which may be called
+    usury?
+
+    "A. The taking profit for money from the poor who borrow for
+    mere necessity, or taking needful things from them in pawn for
+    it; or the taking more profit for any than law allows, as these
+    who take ten, fifteen, or twenty in the hundred. Exod. 22:25,
+    26. Deut. 24:12, 17. Ezek. 18:7, 8.
+
+    "Q. But were not the people of Israel discharged to take any
+    usury or profit for lent money from their brethren? Deut. 23:19.
+
+    "A. This law seems to have been peculiar to the Jewish state,
+    and that in regard of their estates being so divided, settled,
+    and secured to their families by the year jubilee, and their not
+    being employed in trading or making purchases like other
+    nations, so that they had no occasion to borrow money but for
+    the present subsistence of their families. But for strangers,
+    who had another way of living, the Israelites were allowed to
+    lend upon usury, and to share with them in their profits, Deut.
+    23:20, which shows that the taking of interest is not oppressive
+    in itself; for they are frequently prohibited to oppress a
+    stranger, and yet allowed to take usury from him. Exod. 22:21,
+    and 23:9."
+
+The reader will notice that the definition of usury is defective. The
+reader will also notice that there are no Scripture references given
+to prove that any interest can be taken. This is singular, since
+throughout the Catechism Scripture references are profuse in
+confirmation of the answers. If a single passage had been found that
+could be twisted into an approval the reference would have been given.
+He rests the permission to take usury wholly on human reason, though
+in direct opposition to the Scripture references he had first given
+to prove that the gaining of wealth by usury was unlawful. He does not
+claim to get this answer from the Bible. He rests this answer on the
+law of the land and the purposes of the borrower, and says it is not
+worse than taking a rental for land anyway.
+
+The questions with regard to the customs of the people of Israel are
+completely met in the Second and Third Chapters of this book.
+
+Fisher, also, we find from his catechism published in 1753, thought it
+necessary to make some excuse for the custom in his time. High
+interest he finds condemned, but moderate interest he tries to defend.
+
+    "Q. 32. What is it to take usury, according to the proper
+    signification of the word?
+
+    "A. It is to take gain, profit, or interest, for the loan of
+    money.
+
+    "Q. 33. What kind of usury or interest is lawful?
+
+    "A. That which is moderate, easy, and no way oppressive. Deut.
+    23:20, compared with Ex. 22:21.
+
+    "Q. 34. How do you prove that moderate usury is lawful?
+
+    "A. From the very light of nature, which teaches, that since the
+    borrower proposes to gain by the loan, the lender should have a
+    reasonable share of his profit, as a recompense for the use of
+    his money, which he might otherwise have disposed of to his own
+    advantage. 1 Cor. 8:13.
+
+    "Q. 35. What is the usury condemned in scripture and by what
+    reason?
+
+    "A. It is the exacting of more interest or gain for the loan of
+    money, than is settled by universal consent, and the laws of the
+    land. Prov. 28:8. 'He that by usury, and unjust gain,
+    increaseth his substance, shall gather it for him that will pity
+    the poor.'
+
+    "Q. 36. How do you prove from scripture, that moderate usury, or
+    common interest, is not oppression in itself?
+
+    "A. From the express command laid upon the Israelites not to
+    oppress a stranger, Ex. 23:9; and yet their being allowed to
+    take usury from him, Deut. 23:20; which they would not have been
+    permitted to do, if there had been an intrinsic evil in the
+    thing itself.
+
+    "Q. 37. Is it warrantable to take interest from the poor?
+
+    "A. By no means; for, if such as are honest, and in needy
+    circumstances, borrow a small sum towards a livelihood, and
+    repay it in due time, it is all that can be expected of them;
+    and therefore the demanding of any profit or interest, or even
+    taking any of their necessaries of life in pledge, for the sum,
+    seems to be plainly contrary to the law of charity. Ex.
+    22:25-28. Ps. 15:5.
+
+    "Q. 38. Were not the Israelites forbidden to take usury from
+    their brethren, whether poor or rich? Deut. 23:19: 'Thou shalt
+    not lend upon usury to thy brother.'
+
+    "A. This text is to be restricted to their poor brethren, as it
+    is explained, Ex. 22:25, and Lev. 25:35, 36; or, if it respects
+    the Israelites indifferently, then it is one of the judicial
+    laws peculiar to that people, and of no binding force now."
+
+In the answer to the 34th question he appeals to the light of nature.
+That light, as he interprets it, may be applied as follows. We follow
+his language closely and his argument perfectly.
+
+From the very light of nature which teaches, that since the borrower
+of the hoe purposes to dig his own garden with it, the lender should
+have a reasonable amount of his garden dug, as a recompense for the
+use of the hoe, which he might otherwise have used himself to dig his
+own garden.
+
+Fisher confirms his conclusion with a Scripture reference but it is so
+irrelevant that it would seem Wilson was wiser in omitting Scripture
+reference altogether. 1 Cor. 8:13, "Wherefore, if meat make my brother
+to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my
+brother to offend."
+
+The only explanation the writer ever saw or heard of, that was
+seriously made was this: "If using my brother's money without interest
+offends him, then I will never while the world standeth accept his
+money without interest lest I make my brother to offend." If this is
+the intended application then it may be further applied. If using a
+brother's money at six per cent. offends him then I will surely give
+him ten per cent. lest I cause my brother offence. Could there be a
+more absurd application of a Scripture passage?
+
+The later theologians have seldom mentioned usury and none have
+discussed it at any length, and no divine to our knowledge has
+undertaken a defence. The "Systematic Theology" of Dr. Charles Hodge
+is perhaps the most elaborate and exhaustive. He does not more than
+refer to usury; he does not even mention it by name. But in his
+discussion of the violation of the eighth commandment, he ridicules
+the idea that "a thing is worth what it is worth to the man who
+demands it." He says: "If this be so, then if a man perishing from
+thirst is willing to give his whole estate for a glass of water it is
+right to exact that price; or if a man in danger of drowning should
+offer a thousand dollars for a rope, we might refuse to throw it to
+him for a less reward. Such conduct every man feels is worthy of
+execration."
+
+He closes the discussion of the eighth commandment with this
+significant and emphatic sentence: "Many who have stood well in
+society and even in the church will be astonished at the last day to
+find the word 'Thieves' written after their names in the great book of
+judgment."
+
+2. "To prohibit usury is revolutionary."
+
+Revolutions are not necessarily evil. They have been justified in all
+the ages to overthrow tyranny and oppression and to secure freedom and
+establish justice. Oppressors and evil-doers in power have ever been
+anxious to maintain the "statu quo": that is, to be let alone. The
+"Man of Galilee" is the prince of revolutionists. He has overthrown
+and turned down the civilizations of the world and has brought in his
+own, called by his name, Christian civilization. His followers were
+revolutionists. The idolatrous craftsmen of Ephesus, not wishing to be
+disturbed in their profitable business, in order to defeat the work of
+Paul and his associates, raised the cry of revolution. "These that
+have turned the world upside down have come hither also."
+
+The things that are wrong side up must be revolved. When material
+things are found superior to true manhood and womanhood, they must be
+reversed. When the works of men's hands are given a place above the
+hands that formed them, when the results of labor are given a place
+above the vital energy of the laborer, there is call for revolution.
+
+But this revolution should be the most peaceful the world ever saw.
+This need not require the destruction of any property nor the shedding
+of one drop of blood. It need interfere with no man's rights nor
+enforce upon any man a burden he should not be willing to bear. A man
+is not interfering with the rights of another when he is paying his
+debts, and a man should not feel that there is placed upon him a
+burden he is unwilling to carry, when his own property is returned to
+him. Yet that is the ultimate, the extreme goal, to be reached by the
+abolition of usury; every man free from debt and every man caring for
+his own property.
+
+3. "If usury is not permitted, the great modern enterprises are
+impossible."
+
+A great modern enterprise that is not for the general good has no
+right to be. Splendid enterprises are often made possible by the
+sacrifice of the welfare of the many for the interests of the few. The
+splendid plantations of the southern states flourished in time of
+slavery, when the labor of many was subordinate to the welfare of one.
+They are not now possible; yet the present and future general good is
+better secured by the sacrifice of the splendid past. A splendid
+military campaign is only possible by the complete subordination of
+the many to the will and order of the commanding head. One hundred
+thousand in an army is now receiving the attention of the world. One
+hundred thousand in happy homes are commonplace. The pyramids are
+splendid monuments, but they were not a blessing to the slaves, who
+built them.
+
+Splendid enterprises in which the few command the many may be an
+unmitigated curse.
+
+    "Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey
+    The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay;
+    'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand,
+    Between a splendid and a happy land."
+
+No enterprise, however brilliant, can be in the model state, that
+blesses the few by the losses of the many.
+
+Great and benign enterprises are possible without usury. There is no
+greater enterprise than the postal system in this land and extending
+to all the nations in the postal union. You owe it nothing; like poor
+Richard, "you pay as you go." It owes nothing, pays no interest and
+renders a great service for the small amount you pay. It is a standing
+illustration of the success of a strictly cash business.
+
+The great benevolent missionary enterprises, that send their
+messengers to all lands, over the whole earth, receive and disburse
+the gifts of the benevolent. Their work is not interrupted, but
+continues from age to age.
+
+The commerce of the world can be carried on just as effectively
+without usury. A mortgage does not make a farm more productive nor
+does a bonded debt make a railroad or a navigation company more
+efficient. The railroads and express and telegraph and telephone and
+other enterprises are greatly hindered in the service of the public by
+the tribute they are returning to the usurers. Had this farmer not
+this mortgage he could improve his farm and bring from his land better
+results. Were it not for the unceasing drain upon the income of great
+enterprises to meet the interest on bonds, the properties could be
+improved and the public better served at greatly reduced rates. Indeed
+the most successful enterprises are now operated by the owners.
+
+4. "It will be hard to borrow, if you will not pay interest."
+
+It would be a happy condition if no one should want to borrow except
+in urgent need from an accidental strait; if that old independent,
+self-reliant spirit that refused to be indebted to any man could be
+universal, that preferred frank and honest poverty in a cabin, to a
+sham affluence in a mortgaged palace.
+
+It should be hard to borrow, but easy to pay. Usury makes it easy to
+borrow, but hard to repay. Usurers even make it attractive and entice
+the victim into the trap of debt and then it is all but impossible to
+find a way out. An honest, industrious man of good habits must be ever
+on the alert or he will be entangled, sooner or later, with debts.
+
+It will not be harder for an honest man, who is in need, to borrow.
+He will not be able to borrow more than his need requires. The debt
+will not increase during the period of disability, and it will be
+easier to repay without increase. The usurer requires more than
+honesty for the security of his loan. The loan to him is precious
+seed, that must be planted where it will grow. To merely have the loan
+returned without increase does not meet his claim. To remit the
+increase, to make it easier for the poor debtor to pay, he would
+regard as a positive loss to himself and a gift to his victim. The
+usurer prefers rich debtors, who have abundant property to secure the
+loan and its increase.
+
+There is a despised class of pawn usurers who prey upon the poor. They
+are regarded as robbers of the poor in their distresses, but their
+business would be impossible, were it not that all avenues of relief
+are closed by usury; "interest must be paid anywhere; why not borrow
+of them though the rates are high?" The moral quality of the act is
+the same; the difference is wholly in the degree of turpitude.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+PER CONTRA; LAND RENTALS.
+
+
+"If no interest should be charged on money, then no rents should be
+collected."
+
+The early Christian apologists for usury, who felt it imperative to
+explain why it was permitted and practiced among Christians, found few
+arguments. They all agreed that the letter and spirit of the
+Scriptures forbade lending to the poor, upon interest. They also found
+it impossible to show from reason the right of money to an increase,
+but as money can readily be changed into other forms of property, as
+lands, they reversed the arguments; beginning with the assumed premise
+that it is right to charge rental for lands, and as money may
+represent lands, it is therefore right, they say, to charge interest
+on money.
+
+"It seems as lawful for a man to receive interest for money, which
+another takes pains with, improves, but runs the hazard in trade, as
+it is to receive rent for our land, which another takes pains with,
+improves, but runs the hazard of in husbandry."
+
+True logic would have led them to reason forward from the truth they
+had determined; that there is no valid reason justifying interest on
+money. Resting on this truth, and then discovering that money may
+represent lands, the necessary conclusion must be, that land rentals
+are without justice. Reversing the order of their argument, they
+assumed a false premise, and from it attempted to prove true the very
+proposition they had found to be false.
+
+There is the usury of lands as well as of "money or victuals."
+
+Forty years ago the Omaha Indians went across the river and cut some
+fine grass growing on open land, and carried it to their reservation.
+The owner of the land, living in a distant state, learning of this,
+claimed pay of the Indians and brought suit against them before the
+agent to recover it. The Indians admitted that they had cut and taken
+the grass; they also admitted its value. Their defense was that this
+man had no right superior to theirs. This was a natural growth that
+had cost him no labor, and they had not injured the land. Their
+speaker said, "If the man had dug the land and planted it in corn and
+hoed and tended the corn, the corn would have been his; but the Great
+Spirit made the grass grow and this man gave it no labor nor care; the
+buffalo or the cattle could eat it. Have we not the rights of the
+cattle? This man has no right to it."
+
+The agent decided against them and compelled them to pay the man. They
+were much dissatisfied and felt they were unjustly treated and
+oppressed, because they had to pay that which the man had never
+earned. The red men were not versed in legal statutes nor educated in
+the tutelage of usury, but it can not be denied that they interpreted
+very accurately the law written in the reason and conscience: that no
+man has any especial claim to that which he has not earned.
+
+The convictions of white men, and their method of compelling absentee
+owners to pay for the increase in value of their lands, came under the
+writer's observation in a new settlement near the Indians'
+reservation. He found three poor families in a district. They had
+little land and extremely plain homes, but there was a good
+school-house and a good school and an expensive bridge had been built
+across a stream to enable one of the families to reach it. Enquiring
+how they could afford to erect such improvements and support such a
+school, they replied that the lands all around them were owned by
+absentees, speculators in the east, who were holding the lands for the
+advance in value, which they, in their struggling poverty, should make
+by the improvement of the country, when they would gather in an
+"unearned increment." They said they had the power to levy taxes for
+bridges and for schools and they had determined to make the absentees
+in this way compensate them, in part, for the increment they were
+earning for them.
+
+The conviction of right and justice in the white settler did not
+differ from the innate and untutored argument of the Indian. The
+Indians felt oppressed because they were compelled to pay the man for
+what that man had never earned. The white settlers determined to
+thwart the purpose of the absentee owners to gain an increment from
+their sacrifice and labor.
+
+The landlord has a right to all that he has produced. When he has
+cleared away the forest or broken up the land; when he has planted the
+vineyard and builded the winepress, he has a right to let this out to
+husbandmen to gather the fruits of his preparation and planting and to
+share with them in the proportion each has contributed to the
+production, but to hold all that he himself has produced and yet claim
+a part of the product of another, is usury. A farmer retires from his
+farm because no longer able or willing to continue its cultivation. He
+has an undisputed right to a full reward for all his own labor, and
+for all he has purchased from others that he leaves in the farm. There
+must be a compensation for the transformation of the wilderness into a
+farm at the first, for the fertility that may have been added to the
+soil, for the orchards, vineyards, houses, barns and every improvement
+he may have made and left on the farm. He has an undisputed right to
+all the labor remaining in the farm. If he sells he expects
+compensation for all this.
+
+But if he sells, he must begin at once to consume its price, unless he
+becomes a usurer and is supported by the interest. If he does not
+sell, but retains his farm, he must also begin at once to consume the
+farm.
+
+For him to demand of his tenant that the farm shall remain as valuable
+as when he left it, the soil not permitted to become less fertile,
+the buildings to be kept from decay and restored when destroyed, the
+orchards to be kept vigorous and young by the planting of new trees
+and vines; in short, the farm to be preserved in full value and yet
+pay a rental, is usury in land.
+
+The preservation of a farm or land and its restoration to the owner
+unimpaired after a term of years involves far more than persons not
+informed suppose. It seems to them unreasonable to farm a field and
+only return the unimpaired field to the owner.
+
+While land is stable and possibly the most easily preserved of all
+forms of property, at least a thief cannot carry it away, yet the
+preservation of land involves great care and risk.
+
+The taking of any crop from any land reduces its fertility. On the
+virgin, western fertile lands the farmers laughed at the thought that
+they should ever need to return fertilizers, but it was only a few
+years until they yearned for the fertility they had extravagantly
+wasted. Buildings inevitably decay and they may be destroyed by fire
+or storm. Orchards may be overturned by a cyclone or be destroyed by
+blight or by the thousand enemies of the various varieties of fruit
+trees. The land may be injured by washing that may require years to
+repair. A single storm has destroyed fields in this way that never can
+be restored. Noxious weeds take possession of land that can only be
+eradicated by infinite pains. In this state certain weeds are
+declared outlaws and must be destroyed by the farmer for the
+protection of his neighbors. The farmer in this locality must have an
+alert eye for Canada thistles and oxeye daisy. It often causes more
+labor to eradicate them than the land is worth on which they are
+growing.
+
+If the annual renter was required to give bond for the return of the
+farm unimpaired, returning that which the crops and time must consume
+and destroy, taking all risks of every character upon himself, a
+thoughtful man, though poor and needing the opportunity, would
+hesitate. It might involve him in an obligation he could not discharge
+in his whole life through conditions and providences over which he has
+no control.
+
+Practically in this country the owner renting a farm from year to year
+does consume it. It begins at once to decline in fertility, the
+improvements begin to fall into decay, weeds take possession, washes
+occur and are not repaired, and in a few years the half of the value
+is gone. The owner is fortunate if he has received in rentals
+sufficient to restore its former value.
+
+Under a system of perpetual tenantry the case is different. If the
+fertility declines it is the tenant's loss. The improvements are his
+and may be sold as one could sell ordinary farm tools, but not to be
+removed. If they are impaired or destroyed it does not affect the
+annual rental.
+
+The landed proprietor in city or country, who has permanent tenants,
+who are required to make every improvement and keep up perfectly the
+fertility, and who pay an annual rental, is in the same class as those
+who are receiving annual interest. The landlord practically holds a
+perpetual mortgage, and the rental is the interest or increase exacted
+generation after generation.
+
+The debtor working under a mortgage is cheered by the hope that he may
+be able, some day, to lift it, but the perpetual tenant on entailed
+lands knows that he is doomed to hopeless tenantry. He can never own
+the land and he is in the power of the landlord, who is often
+oppressive.
+
+Calvin, in his letter of apology for usury of money, speaks of the
+injustice of the landlords in requiring a rental for "some barren
+farm" and of the "harsher" conditions imposed upon the tenants. Indeed
+his whole argument, when summed up, is, that the usury of lands is
+more cruel and oppressive than the usury of money.
+
+While it is not yet true in America, yet considering the landlordships
+of Ireland and Great Britain and the older countries, with their
+unremitted exactions, grinding the life out of their tenants for a
+mere subsistence, it is likely that the race is today suffering more
+from the injustice and oppression of usury of land than from the usury
+of money.
+
+The land question is too large for one short chapter or for one small
+book. It requires more and deeper study than the subject has ever yet
+received. The ownership of lands cannot be absolute; it must be
+limited by the rights of those who live upon them, but the limitations
+have never yet been clearly defined. If a man has a right to live he
+must have a right to a place to live. If a child has a right to be
+born it must have a right to a place to be born. It cannot be that the
+mass of our race only touch the earth by the sufferance of those who
+claim to own it.
+
+The unprecedented rapidity of the development of this country is owing
+more to its wise and beneficent land laws than to anything else. They
+are not perfect but the most favorable to the landless that the world
+has ever known. No landlordism, no binding up lands by entail to make
+it forever impossible to gain a title to a portion of the soil, but
+our land laws, wisely devised, gave hope of a home to the homeless
+everywhere. The result was that our people from the eastern part of
+our own country, and the landless from across the seas, swarmed over
+the mountains and filled the Ohio valley and pushed on to the great
+Mississippi and Missouri valleys, and in three generations have
+transformed this waste into happy homes. The possession of land, of a
+home, ennobles the character, produces a patriotic love of this
+country and stimulates devotion to her institutions. The landless
+foreigner who makes here a home of his own is unwavering in his
+loyalty to the country of his adoption. Those foreigners, who do not
+fall in love with our institutions and do not become assimilated with
+our people, are tenants here as they were before they came here. They
+are not attached to our soil; they do not secure homes of their own
+and are therefore restless and a menace.
+
+A dangerous tendency has been developing throughout our whole land in
+these later years. The usury of lands is on the increase. Tenantry is
+becoming more common on the farms in the country, while the mass of
+our city populations are living in rented houses or flats or crowded
+tenements.
+
+The yearning for a home of one's own is deeply imbedded in human
+nature. To be denied the privilege of living in one's own house is one
+of the greatest trials of a life. This tendency to tenantry is not
+because our people have come to care less for a home of their own, but
+the conditions are not such as to make a purchase of a home
+profitable; the interest on the purchase price is greater than the
+usury of the land or rental. The natural and desirable state is for
+every family to own and occupy their home, and those conditions should
+be encouraged which make it unprofitable for any one to own real
+property he does not himself occupy, and which make it easy and
+profitable for every family to own their own home.
+
+When all lands are owned by those who occupy them, the prophet Micah's
+picture of the millennial dawn will be realized. Every man shall sit
+under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one shall molest
+him or make him afraid, by demanding a rental or by serving a writ of
+ejectment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+PER CONTRA; POLITICAL ECONOMIST.
+
+
+The students of political economy are not always reformers. It is not
+their purpose nor the object of their studies to transform society.
+They only endeavor to explain why things are as they are. They find
+the taking of usury all but universal, and they endeavor to give the
+reasons for the prevailing custom. The subject is usually but slightly
+touched upon and dismissed with a few sentences.
+
+Few economists claim that interest or rental is a part of the cost of
+production. They mostly affirm that it is no part of production; that
+it is merely the price paid for the opportunity to produce. The lender
+of money makes a loan to the borrower and thus gives him a better
+opportunity to produce than he had before. The landlord for the rental
+withdraws his hand from over his land and gives the renter the
+opportunity to produce a harvest.
+
+In justification, or at least in explanation of this exaction for an
+opportunity, three reasons are usually given. These may be briefly
+stated as risk, time and abstinence.
+
+1. There is some risk in every investment. There is a possibility that
+the most honest, industrious and careful debtor may by some
+misfortune not be able to return the loan and it would therefore be
+lost. To guard against this the usurer requires the rate of interest
+to be graded by the measure of risk.
+
+This is claimed to be of the nature of insurance, the borrower paying
+the premium. The profits of insurance are secured by collecting a
+larger premium than necessary to pay all losses. On this theory, the
+gain of usury is in the excess that can be secured of increase over
+the amounts lost.
+
+This is the reverse of insurance. Insurance is the payment by an owner
+of property to a company who guarantees its preservation. Usury is the
+payment by the company to the owner for the privilege of guaranteeing
+that he shall not suffer loss.
+
+Business involves a risk usually covered by insurance, but no honest
+man expects to make a profit out of his insurance.
+
+2. A loan is made for a more or less extended time. Time is therefore
+claimed to be a ground for usury charges.
+
+This claim rests on the assumption that time will increase wealth. But
+time is the great destroyer; time does not make gardens and farms, but
+covers them with weeds and sends them back to a wilderness; time does
+not erect a house, but pulls it down; time does not build a city, but
+causes it to crumble and a few ages buries it under the dust; time
+does not "incubate eggs, but turns them putrid; it does not transform
+into fowls. If eggs are developed into chickens the difference between
+eggs and chickens is the reward of the incubator."
+
+Aside from the spirit of benevolence and sympathy with the needy there
+are three selfish reasons why a time loan may be made. First, the
+owner has no present need of it and wishes to be rid of its care.
+Second, the owner shall need it at a distant date and he wishes it
+preserved intact against that time. But these afford no ground for a
+charge of increase. He who stands and resists the ravages of time
+until the day it is needed does a positive service and deserves a
+reward. Third, the lender wishes to appropriate the earnings of
+another during the period of time given. This is the usurer's reason,
+and were it not for this time would lose its importance as an element;
+it is certain that long time loans would not be so attractive.
+
+3. "The reward of abstinence" is a reward for refraining from
+consuming one's own wealth.
+
+"You can not have your cake and eat it. If you do not eat it, you have
+your cake, but not a cake and a half. Not a cake and a quarter
+tomorrow, dunce, however abstinent you may be, only the cake you have,
+if the mice do not eat it in the night."--Ruskin.
+
+The usual illustration is that of Jacob. He practiced abstinence in
+refraining from eating the bowl of pottage and giving it to his
+hungry brother. The reward of his abstinence was his brother's
+birthright.
+
+If I do not take my soup now it is a great favor to have it preserved
+for me and served later, not cold and stale, but fresh and hot. If I
+deny myself now, for any cause, I can ask no more than that my meal
+shall be served, perfectly, later. This was all that Jacob could in
+justice demand of Esau.
+
+It should be remembered, that because Jacob took Esau's birthright, as
+a reward of his abstinence, he was accounted a robber, was compelled
+to flee from his home, and not for twenty years see his father's face;
+that the consciousness of this sin and of the merited vengeance of the
+brother, whom he thereby defrauded and whom he thought was on his
+track, caused that night of struggle when he could not let the angel
+go, until he had his promise of deliverance.
+
+Abstinence, to be benevolent, must be an act of personal loving
+self-sacrifice for another. Benevolent abstinence is its own reward
+and asks no more. Abstinence in hope of gain, denying himself while
+another is using his wealth, cannot be regarded as an act of
+benevolence, but of a selfish grovelling greed; more gratified to see
+his wealth increase than to himself enjoy its use. That is the spirit
+of the miser and receives the contempt of all right thinking people.
+
+That the political economists are right in their analysis of the
+common thought of usury; that risk, time and abstinence are the
+elements of its basis in the popular mind, may not be denied, but if
+these are in fact the elements, then usury has no standing in equity
+and must be condemned by every enlightened conscience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+USURY IN HISTORY.
+
+
+It would require volumes to fully present the history of usury. A very
+brief summary must suffice in this place. Yet this synopsis may serve
+as a guide to those who may wish to pursue the investigation further
+and who have access to any considerable library of general and
+ecclesiastical history.
+
+The exacting of usury has always been more or less practiced, and
+there has always been a contention against it as impolitic and wrong.
+In heathendom the philosophers and economists and common people were
+usually arrayed against it, and the voice of christendom has been
+practically unanimous in its denunciation until the 17th century. (For
+History of Usury in the Church, see Chapter X.)
+
+Greece: Greece had no laws forbidding usury. The trade in money was
+left, like the trade in every thing else, without legal restraint. The
+law declared that the usurer should not demand a higher rate than that
+fixed by the original contract; it also advised "Let the usury on
+money be moderate." One per cent. per month was the usual rate.
+
+There were among the Greeks at various times thoughtful men, who
+violently opposed the taking of increase. Solon, of aristocratic
+blood, but with strong sympathies for the oppressed classes, led a
+Nehemiah-like reformation. Solon was wise and patriotic. His name is a
+synonym for unselfish devotion to the public good. He was given
+authority in Greece in times of great financial distress. Debts were
+increasing. Mortgage stones were erected at the borders of each tract
+of land, giving the name of the creditor and the amount of his claim.
+The interest could not be paid. Interest taking had concentrated the
+wealth and power of the state in a few hands. The farmer lost all hope
+and was only a laborer on the farm he once owned. The debtor who had
+no farm to work for his creditor was yet in a worse condition; he was
+the mere slave of his creditor and could be sold by him. The free
+farmers were fast disappearing. The most of them were struggling with
+miserable poverty. Solon at once came to the relief of this suffering
+class. He released those who were enslaved and brought back those who
+had been sold abroad. The great work of Solon for this oppressed class
+has caused his name to be revered by all who have studied the history
+of his times.
+
+Plato opposed usury, but he does not give extended reasons. Also the
+philosopher, Aristotle. His name is yet illustrious in the departments
+of natural and moral science and economics. With regard to usury he
+said: "Of all modes of accumulation, the worst and most unnatural is
+interest. This is the utmost corruption of artificial degeneracy;
+standing in the same relation to commerce that commerce does to
+economy. By commerce money is perverted from the purpose of exchange
+to that of gain; still this gain is occasioned by the mutual transfer
+of different objects; but interest, by transferring merely the same
+object from one hand to another generates money from money, and the
+product thus generated is called offspring (toxos) as being precisely
+the same nature as that from which it proceeds."
+
+Rome: In the early ages of Rome there were no laws regulating the
+loans of money. The practice was common and was one of the most
+frequent subjects of popular complaint. In the celebrated secession of
+the lower classes of the people to Mons Sacer, when civil strife and
+fraternal bloodshed was threatened, the loudest outcry was against the
+oppression of exhorbitant interest exacted by wealthy citizens of
+those who were obliged to borrow. The common rate was twelve per cent.
+per annum. This is inferred from the fact that six per cent. was
+called half interest and three per cent. one-fourth interest.
+
+The early records of Rome prove conclusively the odium attached to the
+business of money-lending for profit. In the codification of laws in
+the fifth century B.C. the rate of usury was fixed at one per cent.
+per month. This limitation of usury was enacted after a long and
+bitter contest between the rich lenders and the poorer classes.
+
+A compromise seems to have been made in the assigned punishments. The
+laws for the collection of debts and the punishment of exacting more
+than the law permitted were alike extremely cruel.
+
+The creditors of an insolvent debtor were given the power of cutting
+his body in pieces and the power of selling his children into slavery.
+The penalty of taking more than this legal interest was punished with
+more severity than theft. The thief must restore double, but the
+usurer must restore fourfold. This we learn from Cato's treatise on
+"Agriculture." Cato's own opinion of usury is shown in the answer
+which he made when he was asked what he thought of usury, his reply
+was, "What do you think of murder?"
+
+Nearly a hundred years later the Licinian law forbade all increase. A
+little later we find the one-half of one per cent. permitted by law.
+Then under Sylla the legal rate is made three per cent. In the time of
+Antony and Cleopatra it is four per cent. For a time there was utter
+confusion and intolerably oppressive rates prevailed. Horace, in his
+Satires, speaks of one lending at sixty per cent. In the reign of
+Tiberius Caesar, Rome was again shaken with another usury sedition, an
+uprising of the people against the usurers. The law was finally
+adjusted in the Justinian Code, by a compromise permitting six per
+cent. and severely restraining the exorbitant rates.
+
+Three hundred and twenty-three years B.C., Livy speaks of a creditor
+who kept his debtor in irons, claiming, besides the debt, the interest
+which he exacted with greatest severity. It was soon after decreed
+that this cruelty should end and that no citizen should be placed in
+irons or sold into slavery for debt.
+
+At the close of the republic the rate was twenty-four per cent.
+
+England: In the earliest periods of which we have any records we find
+that the doctrine, that letting money to hire was sinful, prevailed
+universally over the island of Great Britain. It was the prevailing
+opinion that interest, or usury, as it was then called, was unjust
+gain, forbidden by divine law, and which a good Christian could
+neither receive nor pay. In common law the practice of taking increase
+was classed among the lowest crimes against public morals. So odious
+was it among Christians that the practice was confined almost wholly
+to the Jews, who did not exact usury of Jews but of the Christians.
+
+The laws of King Alfred, about 900 A.D., directed that the effects of
+money-lenders upon usury should be forfeited to the king, their lands
+to the lords under whom they were held, and they should not be buried
+in consecrated ground.
+
+By the laws of Edward the Confessor, about 1050 A.D., the usurer
+forfeited all his property and was declared an outlaw and banished
+from England. In the reign of Henry II, about the close of the
+twelfth century, the estates of usurers were forfeited at their death
+and their children were disinherited.
+
+His successor, Richard I, was yet more severe, forbidding the usurers
+attending his coronation, nor would he protect them from mob violence.
+
+During the thirteenth century the severities against the usurers were
+not relaxed. King John confiscated their gathered wealth without
+scruple. It is recorded that he exacted an enormous fine of a Jew in
+Bristol for his usuries, and when the Jew refused to pay he ordered
+one of his teeth to be drawn daily until he should pay. The Jew is
+said to have endured the pulling of seven, but then weakened and paid
+the fine.
+
+Henry III was equally harsh and severe in his measures. He exacted all
+he could and then turned them over to the Earl of Cornwall. "The one
+flayed and the other emboweled." It is written in the chronicles of
+England, 1251 A.D., "By such usurers and licentious liurs as belong to
+him, the realme had alreadie become sore corrupted."
+
+In the fourteenth century, under the three Edwards, the taking of
+interest was an indictable offence and Edward III made it a capital
+crime.
+
+In the fifteenth century, under Henry VII, the penalty was fixed at
+one hundred pounds and the penalty of the church added, which was
+excommunication.
+
+Attorney General Noy, in the reign of James I, thought the taking of
+money by usury was no better than taking a man's life. He said:
+"Usurers are well ranked with murderers."
+
+In the sixteenth century, under Henry VIII, it was enacted that all
+interest above ten per cent. was unlawful. Less was not collectable by
+law, but was not a punishable offence.
+
+Edward VI revived the old laws condemning all interest.
+
+Mary I, next following, executed these laws with extreme severity.
+
+Elizabeth restored the laws of Henry VIII, in which usury less than
+ten per cent. was not a punishable offence. This edict of Elizabeth
+adds: "In the interpretation of the law it shall be largely and
+strongly construed for the repression of usury."
+
+This law of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, with the rate of interest
+reduced, was the statute law of England until 1854, when all the usury
+laws were repealed.
+
+In 1694 William and Mary II entered into a contract to secure a
+permanent loan and pledged the kingdom to pay interest on it forever.
+
+The loan marked the turning point in the popular mind with regard to
+usury. As it was approved in their necessity by the king and queen at
+the head of the Protestant world, ecclesiastics began to shift their
+ground and to apologize for, and excuse, that which had been formerly
+unequivocably condemned. As the crown was the head of both the church
+and the state, the condemnation of usury seemed tinged both with
+disloyalty and heresy. The courts too began to modify their decisions
+to bring them into harmony with the action of the crown.
+
+The change in the usury laws were not made by enactments of
+Parliament, but by the decisions of courts. The precedents were
+gradually accumulated and the statutes were merely made to conform to
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+FRANCIS BACON.
+
+
+From the short dissertation on usury found in the works of Bacon we
+learn that the taking of usury was a recognized evil and odious in his
+time.
+
+It will be noticed that he eliminates risk from usury and sees that
+"In the game of certainties against uncertainties" usury is sure to
+win. It will be noticed also that he mentions only economic arguments
+against usury. He does not give ethical and moral reasons. He does not
+mention the want of sympathy for the poor and their oppression.
+
+In his statement of the arguments in defence he implies that the
+usurer is less grasping than the man he knew who said "The devil take
+this usury."
+
+This is the very opposite of the picture of the usurer given by his
+contemporary, Shakespeare, in his character, Shylock.
+
+His specious argument for the regulation of the evil "For some small
+matter for the license" is familiar to modern reformers in connection
+with other sins. He speaks of the reduction of the usury rates as a
+general good and believes "It will no whit discourage the lender."
+Wrong-doers in all the ages have been ready to part with a portion of
+the profits of an unlawful business for the cover of the authority of
+the state.
+
+The following is his discussion in full
+
+
+OF USURY.
+
+"Many have made witty invectives against usury. They say that it is a
+pity the devil should have God's part, which is the tithe. That the
+usurer is the greatest Sabbath breaker, because his plough goeth every
+Sunday. That the usurer is the drone that Virgil speaketh of:
+
+"_Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent._
+
+"That the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for mankind
+after the fall, which was, _in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum;
+non in sudore vultus alieni_; (in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
+bread--not in the sweat of another's face.) That usurers should have
+orange-tawney bonnets, because they do Judaize. That it is against
+nature for money to beget money; and the like. I say only this, that
+usury is a _concessum propter duritiem cordis_; (a thing allowed by
+reason of the hardness of men's hearts): for since there must be
+borrowing and lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not
+lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have made suspicious
+and cunning propositions of banks, discovery of men's estates and
+other inventions. But few have spoken of usury usefully. It is good to
+set before us the incommodities and the commodities of usury, that the
+good may be either weighed out or culled out; and warily to provide,
+that while we make forth to that which is better, we meet not with
+that which is worse.
+
+"The discommodities of usury are, first, it makes fewer merchants. For
+were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie still,
+but would in great part be employed upon merchandising; which is the
+_vena porta_ of wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor
+merchants. For as a farmer can not husband his ground so well if he
+sit at a great rent, so the merchant can not drive his trade so well,
+if he sit at great usury. The third is incident to the other two; and
+that is the decay of customs of kings or states, which ebb or flow
+with merchandising. The fourth that it bringeth the wealth or treasure
+of a realm or state into a few hands.
+
+"For the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties, at
+the end of the game most of the money will be in the box; and ever a
+state flourisheth when wealth is more equally spread. The fifth that
+it beats down the price of land; for the employment of money is
+chiefly either purchasing or merchandising; and usury waylays both.
+The sixth, that it doth dull and damp all industries, improvements and
+new inventions, wherein money would be stirring, if it were not for
+this slug. The last, that it is the canker and ruin of many men's
+estates; which in process of time breeds a public poverty.
+
+"On the other side, the commodities of usury are, first, that
+howsoever usury in some respect hindereth merchandising, yet in some
+other it advanceth it; for it is certain that the greatest part of
+trade is driven by young merchants upon borrowing at interest; so as
+if the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will ensue
+presently a great stand of trade. The second is, that were it not for
+this easy borrowing upon interest, man's necessities would draw upon
+them a most sudden undoing; in that they would be forced to sell their
+means (be it lands or goods) far under foot; and so, whereas usury
+doth but gnaw upon them, bad markets would swallow them quite up. As
+for mortgaging or pawning, it will little mend the matter; for either
+men will not take pawns without use; or if they do, they will look
+precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel monied man in the
+country that would say: 'The devil take this usury, it keeps us from
+forfeitures of mortagages and bonds.' The third and last is, that it
+is a vanity to conceive that there would be ordinary borrowing without
+profit; and it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences
+that would ensue if borrowing be cramped. Therefore, to speak of the
+abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever had it, in one kind
+or rate, or other. So as that opinion must be sent to Utopia.
+
+"To speak now of the reformation and reiglement of usury; how the
+discommodities of it may be best avoided, and the commodities of it
+retained. It appears by the balance of commodities and discommodities
+of usury, two things are to be reconciled. The one, that the tooth of
+usury be grinded that it bite not too much; the other, that there be
+left open a means to invite monied men to lend to the merchants for
+the continuing and quickening of trade. This can not be done except
+you introduce two several sorts of usury, a less and a greater. For if
+you reduce usury to one low rate it will ease the common borrower, but
+the merchant will be to seek for money. And it is to be noted, that
+the trade of merchandise, being the most lucrative, may bear usury at
+a good rate: other contracts not so.
+
+"To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly thus: That there
+be two rates of interest; the one free and general for all, the other
+under license only, to certain persons and in certain places of
+merchandising. First, therefore, let usury in general be reduced to
+five in the hundred; and let that rate be proclaimed free and current;
+and, let the state shut itself out to take any penalty for the same.
+This will preserve borrowing from any general stop or dryness. This
+will ease infinite borrowers in the country. This will, in great part,
+raise the price of land, because land purchased at sixteen years'
+purchase will yield six in the hundred and somewhat more; whereas this
+rate of interest yields but five. This, by like reason, will encourage
+and edge industrious and profitable improvements; because many will
+rather venture in that kind than take five in the hundred, especially
+having been used to greater profit. Secondly, let there be certain
+persons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury at a higher
+rate; and let it be with the cautions following: Let the rate be, even
+with the merchant himself, somewhat more easy than that he used
+formerly to pay; for by that means all borrowers shall have some ease
+by this reformation, be he merchant or whosoever. Let it be bank or
+common stock, but every man be master of his own money. Not that I
+altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked in regard of
+certain suspicions. Let the state be answered some small matter for
+the license, and the rest left to the lender; for if the abatement be
+but small, it will no whit discourage the lender. For he, for example,
+that took before ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to
+eight in the hundred than give over his trade in usury, and go from
+certain gains to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in
+number indefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and
+towns of merchandising; for then they will be hardly able to color
+other men's monies in the country. So as the license of nine will not
+suck away the current rate of five; for no man will lend his monies
+far off, nor put them into unknown hands.
+
+"If it be objected that this doth in a sort authorize usury, which
+before was in some places but permissive; the answer is, that it is
+better to mitigate usury by declaration, than to suffer it to rage by
+connivance."
+
+(Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. 12, Page 218.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+WHY THIS TRUTH WAS NEGLECTED.
+
+
+That we may find the way of return, we must consider the reasons of
+our wandering. We must reverse our direction and retrace our steps.
+These reasons are not occult or hard to find.
+
+1. The departure had its root in man's depraved nature. The natural
+tendency is evil, while the graces must be cultivated with great
+diligence. Evils grow as weeds grow in the garden, as thorns and
+thistles and briers cover the untended fields. This evil has not been
+disturbed by any book exposing its harm for a hundred years, and it
+has been two hundred since it was treated as a violation of the Eighth
+Commandment. This evil, thus left undisturbed, has flourished and
+spread over all the world.
+
+2. Two and three hundred years ago the great doctrines were occupying
+the thought of Christendom. The doctrines of free grace, by repentance
+and an exercise of faith, were receiving close attention. The creeds
+of the denominations were being unfolded, and their defense and proof
+absorbed the thought of the wise and good. What shall we believe was
+the question?
+
+3. Other great evils stood before the faces of those who labored for
+the uplifting of the race. Practices attached to the ecclesiastics,
+and degrading the organized church, were flaunted before the eyes of
+those who stood for true faith and pure living. These were attacked
+with vigor, while this evil, which had been especially the sin of the
+Jew, crept in and entrenched itself.
+
+4. Covetousness is one of those secret sins that may lurk in the heart
+while there is maintained a fair outward life. Few will admit this
+sin. Priests declare that this is the one sin that is never
+voluntarily confessed. Usury is the common outward activity of this
+inward state, and when usury was made lawful by the statutes of the
+realm, the voice of conscience was silenced. The conscience that would
+cry out in protest against a rate of interest forbidden by law, will
+permit the same rate when the statutes of the state are changed.
+
+5. Early education and natural buoyancy have led the debtors to be
+less sensitive to the burdens of usury upon them.
+
+A large portion of our present arithmetic is taken up with percentage.
+The position of the student, in mind, is that of the creditor. This is
+presumed in the statements of the problems and lies in the thought of
+the student in all the calculations. If the statements of propositions
+and their conclusions were made to place the student on the debtor
+side, then the study of percentage would educate him to a horror of
+this sin.
+
+When a loan is made, the attention of the borrower is seldom called to
+the rapidity of increase and the dangers of accumulation. If this were
+done, and a prompt return of both principal and interest required, at
+the end of the term the borrower would soon be alarmed at the
+hopelessness of permanent gain through debt.
+
+Peter Cooper, it is said, taught this lesson to a friend who was
+talking of borrowing for six months at three per cent. We clip the
+following story:
+
+"Why do you borrow money for so short a time?" Mr. Cooper asked.
+
+"Because the brokers will not negotiate bills for longer."
+
+"Well, if you wish," said Mr. Cooper, "I will discount your note at
+that rate for three years."
+
+"Are you in earnest?" asked the would-be borrower.
+
+"Certainly I am. I will discount your note for ten thousand dollars
+for three years at that rate. Will you do it?"
+
+"Of course I will," said the merchant.
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Cooper. "Just sign this note for ten thousand
+dollars, payable in three years, and give me your check for eight
+hundred dollars, and the transaction will be complete."
+
+"But where is the money for me?" asked the astonished merchant.
+
+"You don't get any money," was the reply. "Your interest for
+thirty-six months at three per cent. per month amounts to one hundred
+and eight per cent., or ten thousand eight hundred dollars. Therefore,
+your check for eight hundred dollars just makes us even."
+
+There has come to this table, a letter recently sent by a wise uncle
+to his nephew, who sought from him his first loan. Usually the
+interest is minimized while the hopeful youth is permitted to indulge
+his dreams of fancied good, to be easily gained by a loan.
+
+"My Near Nephew:
+
+"I enclose a draft for forty dollars with a note for the amount to me,
+due in one year at six per cent., which please sign and return to me.
+This is probably the first note that you have ever given, and there
+are one or two things about a note that maybe you have never
+discovered. One striking peculiarity is, that they always come due,
+though they are drawn for a year. It may seem a long time, but when
+you have a note come due at the end of the year it seems altogether
+too short and has gone before you are aware of it. Another peculiar
+thing is, that while interest is a little thing apparently, yet it
+never works on the eight-hour system, but continues steadily through
+the whole twenty-four, and through the whole seven days in the week.
+Its about the most industrious animal of my acquaintance, working
+nights and Sundays as well, and apparently never becoming in the
+least fatigued, consequently, though it appears to be so slow, still
+if you do not watch it closely, the first thing you know you will be
+astonished at what an amount of work it has accomplished. There are
+other things equally striking about notes, but these two are the most
+important, and the ones I particularly wish to impress on your mind.
+
+                                               "_________________
+
+"P.S.--Don't think from the tone of this that I'm not willing to let
+you have the money. I merely want to impress on you what it means to
+go in debt."
+
+6. The evil was not hitherto so much felt. This, especially, is true
+in the United States. Great natural resources, unclaimed wealth, made
+the burden of a small debt unfelt. By appropriating the vast unbroken
+forests and untilled lands and unopened mines of precious metals, of
+coal and iron and gas and oil, there seemed such evident advantages
+from the borrowed capital that the evils were unnoticed, until these
+natural resources had been appropriated and were held in private
+hands, and the opportunities are found to be denied those who have
+come so closely after.
+
+This system made it possible for one generation to grasp a continent;
+to grasp all its natural resources and hold them, and compel tribute
+from all that came after. Taking only a limited and short-time view,
+the advantages seemed great and the evils small. But looking at the
+welfare of the generations its evils might have been clearly
+discerned.
+
+7. The evil was never before so great. The vast accumulations of
+wealth, so sure to follow the operation of usury, was hitherto
+unknown. Corporations, combinations for the handling of great
+interests, grasping the natural resources and monopolizing the natural
+wealth, gaining franchises covering a monopoly of privileges in
+transportation, light and communication by the telephone or telegraph,
+are comparatively recent.
+
+8. The first appearance of indebtedness is a seeming, but false,
+prosperity. The young man who takes possession of a tract of land and
+then, with borrowed capital, improves it, building his house and his
+barns and his permanent buildings, and stocking it with animals that
+please his taste, has the appearance of abounding prosperity, but as
+the unending grind of usury continues, these, he comes to feel, are
+but weights to which he is chained, and in an agony of sweat he is
+compelled to wear out his life.
+
+A city incurring debt is seemingly prosperous. Bonds are issued for
+the erection of attractive public buildings, for the paving of muddy
+streets, for the beautifying of public parks. These bond issues are
+signs of the prosperity of only one class, the usurers. The ultimate
+burden is upon the laborers, who must pay every bond, interest and
+principal.
+
+9. The opponents of usury have not always been wise. They have
+indulged in bitter invective rather than solid argument. The language
+of the fathers, especially, was unqualified in severity.
+
+When the absurdity and unmitigated evil of usury is seen, and one
+feels that adequacy requires superlatives, it is not easy to restrain
+language and use mild terms. The divine prohibition was so clear and
+the effects so oppressive, especially to the poor, that it did not
+appear to the fathers to require argument. The divine authority was
+not, therefore, followed up with the economic basis or reasons for the
+prohibitions.
+
+Usury crept in because it was not barred out by the sound reasoning of
+those who knew its evils. The vituperations were ignored as the
+rantings of ill-balanced minds.
+
+10. Like every other wrong, it feeds upon itself. The very conditions
+it produces fosters and promotes its growth. At first directing effort
+and thought along material lines, ultimately the ideals become
+groveling. The purposes of a worthy life and the characteristics of a
+noble manhood are perverted. There comes a wrong idea of true
+greatness. There arises a false measure of manhood. That measure is
+wealth, and of all the grounds of distinction among men, wealth is the
+most sordid. Success is accumulation of wealth. Prosperity is getting
+rich. Whatever else a man may accomplish in life, if he remains poor
+he is accounted a failure. Yet to this pass, such a pass, have we
+come, that our national and age characteristic is that of material
+gain, commonly called commercialism. This was not the thought of our
+fathers who subordinated material gain to the development of noble
+manhood. This is a perversion of our American traditions, and is a
+menace to better development of the individual and of the state.
+
+11. Wrong laws mislead the judgment and pervert the conscience. If
+there is a want of harmony between the moral and statute law when
+selfish interests are served, the moral law will be ignored. State
+laws ease the conscience that would be otherwise troubled. The rate of
+usury fixed by a state is used as a moral guide. When the legal rate
+is six per cent. it is wrong to take eight, but when the legal rate is
+ten per cent. then it is not wrong to take ten. The familiarity of our
+people with laws recognizing and enforcing interest rates has
+perverted their ideas of right and justice by substituting the statute
+for the divine moral law. But state laws can also trouble the
+conscience that is at ease and be a teacher of righteousness. Let the
+ancient laws forbidding usury be placed upon our statute books and
+enforced, and it would not be half a generation till the conscience
+and reason both approved.
+
+Nothing in history more shocked the conscience of Christendom than the
+compact of William and Mary with usurers in 1694. That was in direct
+conflict with the teachings and practice of all the ages among
+Christians. It has taken two hundred years for courts and states and
+financial institutions to first dull the Christian conscience and then
+secure its approval. The world now awaits the coming of some captain
+of righteousness, equal in authority and influence in church and
+state, who will organize a return to the faith and practice of the
+fathers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+CRUSHED TRUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.
+
+
+The practice of usury is so general, and it is apparently so fully
+approved and sanctioned by many of the most intelligent and virtuous
+of our people, that those who believe in its prohibition and are
+disposed to pessimism may be utterly discouraged.
+
+Truth must eventually prevail. Any custom or system built upon
+falsehood must sooner or later yield. The house built upon the sand
+must in time fall. It may be undermined by years of instruction and so
+gradually give way that the date of its overthrow can hardly be
+determined, or it may in its strength be taken in a storm and fall.
+The whole commercial credit system built on this monstrous falsehood
+must either crumble or tumble.
+
+The prophet Isaiah was hopeful and happy in the midst of the most
+unfavorable conditions of corruption and alienation from the truth,
+for he was able with his prophetic eye to catch a glimpse of the good
+time coming, when righteousness should completely triumph. "He shall
+teach us of His ways and we shall walk in His steps." "With
+righteousness shall He judge the poor." "Righteousness shall be the
+girdle of His loins."
+
+No prophet has fixed a date for the suppression of usury, yet no
+intelligent man of faith, familiar with the reforms of the past, when
+as thoroughly entrenched and as giant evils were attacked and
+overthrown, need be in despair.
+
+We were enslaved by superstitions. Haunted houses were numerous and
+the bewitching of people was frequent. Two hundred arrests for
+witchcraft were made in a single year, 1692, and twenty of these
+persons were put to death. These persecutions were urged and defended
+by Cotton Mather, a representative of the highest intelligence and
+culture of the times. His mother was a daughter of John Cotton, and
+his father the President of Harvard College. Now black cats and
+epilepsy inspire no fear, and ghost stories do not now terrify and
+unnerve our children.
+
+Duelling prevailed among men of honor. Public opinion made it
+compulsory that personal differences between gentlemen should be
+settled in this way. Persons were branded as cowards who would not put
+their lives in jeopardy. Few had the courage to resist. Duels were
+common among the political leaders at Washington. Many a shot rang out
+at sunrise in the little valley at Bladensburg, the noted duelling
+ground. Jackson and Benton and Clay and De Witt Clinton were
+duellists. After the killing of Alexander Hamilton by Aaron Burr, in
+1804, the whole country was aroused and an agitation began against the
+custom, but it yielded slowly. In 1838 and 1841 there were duels
+between distinguished congressmen. But now public opinion is so
+transformed that the "honorable and brave" duellist is a moral coward.
+
+Gambling was a common sin. There were lotteries organized for the
+raising of funds for state and municipal expenses. There were raffles
+at church fairs to support the ordinances in the sanctuary. The rules
+of the games were protected by the laws of the state. No one who had
+lost in a game could recover by law unless he proved that the rules of
+the game had not been followed. The rules for gambling were regarded
+as legitimate as the regulations of any business. The gambler was only
+a law-breaker when he "cheated." Now gambling is unlawful in every
+state and territory, and any newspaper advertising a lottery is shut
+out of our mails. Even an "honest" gambler is now classed among
+robbers.
+
+Intemperance was rampant through the eighteenth century and more than
+half the nineteenth. Whisky was king. Through a false physiology it
+became the almost universal opinion that in the great portion of the
+United States the climate required the use of "ardent spirit."
+Ministers and all classes of the people were thus deluded, and almost
+every person, adult or child, was a consumer.
+
+"Upon rising in the morning a glass of liquor must be taken to give an
+appetite for breakfast. At eleven o'clock the merchant in his
+counting-room, the blacksmith at his forge, the mower in the hay
+field, took a dram to give them strength till the ringing of the bell
+or the sounding of the horn for dinner. In mid-afternoon they drank
+again. When work for the day was done, before going to bed, they
+quaffed another glass. It was the regular routine of drinking in
+well-regulated and temperate families. Hospitalities began with
+drinking. 'What will you take?' was the question of host to visitor.
+Not to accept the proffered hospitality was disrespectful. Was there
+the raising of a meeting house, there must be hospitality for all the
+parish: no lack of liquor; and when the last timber was in its place a
+bottle of rum must be broken upon the ridge-place. In winter men drank
+to keep themselves warm; in summer to keep themselves cool; on rainy
+days to keep out the wet, and on dry days to keep the body in
+moisture. Friends, meeting or parting, drank to perpetuate their
+friendship. Huskers around the corn-stack, workmen in the field,
+master and apprentice in the shop, passed the brown jug from lip to
+lip. The lawyer drank before writing his brief or pleading at the bar;
+the minister, while preparing his sermon or before delivering it from
+the pulpit. At weddings bridegroom, bride, groomsman, and guest
+quaffed sparkling wines. At funerals minister, friend, neighbor,
+mourner, all except the corpse, drank of the bountiful supply of
+liquors always provided. Not to drink was disrespectful to living and
+dead, and depriving themselves of comfort and consolation. In every
+community there were blear-eyed men with bloated, haggard faces;
+weeping women, starving children." (Building of a Nation. Page 271.)
+
+While "temperate" men were grieved at the tide of wretchedness and
+protested, they did not think it possible to get on without whisky.
+Dr. Prime, for so many years editor of the New York Observer, told of
+the meeting of the family physician and the pastor at his father's
+home in a case of severe illness. When the physician took his leave
+the pastor followed him into the yard, where they had a long
+consultation. The pastor was anxiously seeking advice. Three drinks
+made his head swim, and the problem was how he could make more than
+three calls and not become unsteady. The doctor gave directions and
+Dr. Prime said that neither the minister nor the physician thought of
+the simple remedy, "not drinking."
+
+It has taken two generations, but the transformation is marvelous. The
+minister can now call in every home in his parish and never once have
+an opportunity to drink. If Rev. John Pierpont was yet living, who was
+put out of his pulpit in Boston by an ecclesiastical council because
+he publicly protested against the use of the basement of his church as
+a storeroom for whisky, he would see every minister losing his pulpit
+who would not publicly protest against such a desecration. Rev. George
+B. Cheever, the dreamer, in 1830, woke up the stupid consciences of
+the fuddled men and women; he wrote out his dream and published it,
+"Deacon Giles' Distillery," and went to jail for it, but even he never
+dreamed of the greatness of the temperance reform that has followed.
+
+The overthrow of chattel slavery is complete and the human rights of
+the inferior peoples are recognized. Human slavery was of old, as
+ancient as history; it was widespread over the world; there was an
+immense and profitable commerce in human flesh; luxurious wealth and
+ease was secured by appropriating labor without compensation; it was
+thought that the Scriptures in both Testaments approved the holding of
+bondmen; there was a consciousness of superior gifts; there was a firm
+belief that the negroes, especially, needed the care of the superior
+race; that they were better off and happier than they would be in
+freedom; there was a deep-seated race prejudice that remains
+unyielding till this day. Yet the slave trade has ceased, stopped by
+armed vessels patroling the seas. The slaves, eight hundred thousand,
+in the West Indies were set free; the shackles were stricken off by
+the sword in the United States; Brazil adopted gradual emancipation,
+and chattel slavery disappeared forever from the civilized world.
+
+The reform battles fought and won are assurances that victory shall
+also reward those who contend against this sin of usury. There are
+also other good grounds for confidence.
+
+1. They are seeking only a return--a reform: "a restoration to a
+former state;" they are not seeking for the establishment of some new
+and untried theory, but they are seeking a return to the faith and
+conduct of the righteous from the beginning and up seventeen centuries
+of the Christian era. The race is but temporarily deflected to the
+worship of the golden calf.
+
+2. There is coming forward a great army of intelligent, virtuous young
+people. They are made intelligent by our high schools, seminaries and
+colleges. They are made students of the Bible and stimulated in
+righteousness by Sunday Schools, Christian Associations, Endeavors,
+Leagues and Unions. From these there shall rise up defenders of the
+truth, free from the burden of debt and unbiassed by life-long
+association with conditions familiar to those older. The reformers in
+all ages have been young, and this reform will be no exception. There
+is a rashness in youth that needs direction, but there is also a dash
+and hope and confidence that is necessary to break away from old
+customs. One generation of intelligent, virtuous young people could
+give this evil its fatal blow.
+
+Usury cannot flourish among the vicious and the unreliable. Other
+evils may flourish among the idle, the indolent, the treacherous, the
+deceitful and the dishonest, but industry and economy and integrity
+and faithfulness and honor and even God-fearing piety are desirable
+qualities in the usurer's victims. The higher the civilization, yes
+Christian civilization, the more is produced and the richer the
+harvest. The usurer has no use for a savage. This worm thrives in the
+living body and sucks its vitality. It cannot flourish in putrid
+flesh. Let the highest types of our young manhood avoid this sin and
+its death knell is sounded.
+
+3. Present conditions stimulate an interest in this question. The
+unequal distribution of the vast wealth now being produced: the
+earnings of the many turned into the coffers of a few; the struggles
+between the employers and their employees; organized labor and
+combinations of wealth; lead to a closer study of this and allied
+economic questions than they have ever received before. The solution
+of these questions will expose the fraud of usury.
+
+4. The patriotic spirit has not decayed in our people and rulers. They
+are as strongly attached to our free, popular institutions as were the
+patriots of '76. There is alarm at the tendency to slip away from the
+early traditions, at the centralization of power, at class
+legislation. The influence of usury is so strong to promote a favored
+class and to concentrate power, that it must be resisted as an enemy
+to our republican institutions. It gradually undermined and then
+destroyed the republic of Venice, and it is now doing its first work
+with us. It must soon emerge from its cover. Then our people will
+arouse with their patriotic fervor and fell it with one blow, and then
+bury it with the other enemies of the government that have from time
+to time arisen.
+
+5. In the studies in sociology there is now a strong current toward
+Socialism. There is a desire to preserve the individual's interests
+and yet a stronger disposition to merge him in the general welfare.
+
+There is a conviction that the privileges of individuals have been
+unduly guarded while the rights of the public were neglected, that the
+rights of individuals have received an excess of protection while the
+welfare of the great mass of the people has been sacrificed. The
+present problem of the student of sociology is, How can the rights of
+individuals be adjusted, yet so as to maintain the superior interests
+of all the people? This can be accomplished largely, if not
+completely, by the abolition of usury.
+
+Let the Government receive on deposit the surplus wealth of the
+individuals for safe keeping and subject to their orders. Let the
+Postal Savings Bank be established. The Government is the best
+possible security. The certificates of deposit would be as good as
+Government bonds. They could take the place of the National Bank
+currency. The Postal Department now transfers money and in a manner
+receives deposits and issues postal notes.
+
+These deposits as they accumulated would lift from the people the
+burden of the interest bearing debt. As they increased the Government
+could invest them in public utilities to be operated for the general
+welfare. The Government thus caring for the surplus wealth the people
+are entitled to any benefits that may accrue from its use. All would
+have an interest in preserving and all would share in the advantages
+of the property thus cared for by the State, while each would have his
+individual earnings subject to draft for his personal needs or
+pleasure.
+
+This would preserve the rights of the individual and secure to him
+perfectly his surplus earnings, and at the same time the whole people,
+through the Government, would have the use of this accumulated wealth
+for its safe-keeping. This will preserve the stimulating incentives of
+individualism and also gain, practically, the blessings of Socialism.
+This will be the natural conclusion in the balancing and adjustment of
+the present sociological discussion.
+
+6. The prohibition of usury would be to the material advantage of the
+great mass of our people. It would be a blessing to all, though it
+might hinder the material gain of a few, but the hindered would not be
+a tithe of our people. It is not easy to forsake the wrong when
+appetite or passion or selfish interests plead for it. The martyrs who
+will stand by the right "though the heavens fall" are not a majority
+of our people. The paths of righteousness are easy, broad and smooth,
+and crowded with enthusiastic shouters when self-interest can walk
+hand in hand with a reform. Opposition to usury is self-defense to the
+poor, the pensioners, the producers, and they form a mighty,
+irresistible army.
+
+7. Reason remains. The laws of logic have not changed nor has the
+human mind lost its power of tracing premises to their conclusion. The
+custom of usury was never reasoned into practice, but was permitted to
+creep in while reason was diverted to abstract, abstruse, scholastic
+subjects by those who claimed to be scholars. Had the fathers reasoned
+more about practical subjects, and scolded less, this sin would never
+have appeared in Christian society and claimed respectability. When
+the people begin to think and to turn their reasoning powers to this
+subject, as light dispels darkness, this gross error will flee away.
+
+8. The conscience is yet alert to condemn the wrong and to approve the
+right. The public conscience was never more tender nor more delicately
+adjusted, but it is wanting in intelligence in this matter. The eye
+cannot see to determine the nature of an object without light, so the
+conscience must be enlightened, or made intelligent by the reason, to
+enable it to give a right decision. Conscience is the same in all ages
+among all peoples, and when informed by investigation and reasoning,
+the condemnation of usury will be as unanimous as in the centuries of
+the past.
+
+Prayer is also a means to this righteous end. God is still on His
+throne. His ear is not heavy. He hears the cry of the raven and
+sparrows and lions. He hears the cry of His suffering children and
+will not fail to come to their relief. In all the past, man's
+extremity has been God's opportunity. Relief has come at unexpected
+times and by ways that were not known. Sometimes by means that were
+insignificant and inadequate in order to show that it was not by human
+might or power; sometimes by the faith of one humble believer.
+
+This writer has been familiar with the story of David and Goliath from
+his infancy. To him, Mammon, whose head is usury, is the giant
+Philistine who now stalks forth to defy "the armies of the living
+God," and with a grain of David's faith, he flings this stone.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Abstinence, 255
+
+Agar--Prayer of, 219
+
+American Revision, 87
+
+American Statesman, 172
+
+Aristotle, 132, 259
+
+Average Interest, 135
+
+
+Bank of England, 184, 195
+
+Bank of Venice, 193
+
+Bank, First in U.S., 198
+
+Banks and Brokers, 161
+
+Bacon, 108, 180, 266
+
+Banking, Claim for, 56
+
+Barriers Broken Down, 45
+
+Borrower, 62
+
+Borrowing, 241
+
+Benton, Thomas H., 199
+
+Bankruptcy, 176
+
+Basil, 169
+
+Beza, 71
+
+Bible and Nature, 93
+
+Bible Encyclopedia, 8, 21
+
+Block Stone, 10
+
+Brotherhood--Christian, 47
+
+Bush, Prof. Geo., 14
+
+Bureau of Engraving, 123
+
+
+Capital Combines, 223
+
+Catechism, 233
+
+Cato, 261
+
+Car Fares, 164
+
+Calvin, Institutes of, 78
+
+Calvin, Letter of, 73, 162, 248
+
+Calhoun, J.C., 199
+
+Capital Demands, 165
+
+Cretan Bonds, 204
+
+Chalmers, 62
+
+Charlemagne, 70
+
+Changed Conditions, 81
+
+Chattel Slave, 147
+
+Character in Fathers, 206
+
+Cheever, Rev. Geo., 286
+
+Creeds, 272
+
+Croesus, 218
+
+Covetousness, 61, 214, 273
+
+Cooper Anecdote, 274
+
+City Debts, 140, 168
+
+Criminal in Court, 127
+
+Coachman, 111
+
+Chrysostom, 69
+
+Christ-like Soul, 42
+
+Council of Ten, 195
+
+Cyrus, 36
+
+
+David, 26
+
+Debts, Discharged, 63
+
+Debts, Stimulated, 138
+
+Debts, Church, 141
+
+Debts, National, 142, 189
+
+Decay, Limits, 136
+
+Deposit or Loan, 105
+
+Diligence, 60
+
+Disciples, Practice of, 58
+
+Deacon Giles' Distillery, 286
+
+Dives, 218
+
+Doge, The, 194
+
+Dueling, 282
+
+
+Edward III, 263
+
+Edward VI, 264
+
+England, History, 262
+
+English People, 192
+
+Elizabeth, 264
+
+Esau's Abstinence, 256
+
+Equality Impossible, 222
+
+Ethics in Bible, 94
+
+Equity Between Thieves, 160
+
+Exchanges, 56
+
+Express Company, 118
+
+Extravagance, 155
+
+Ezekiel's Protests, 31
+
+Ezra, 36
+
+
+Family Economy, 154
+
+Farm Preserved, 135, 247
+
+Farm Consumed, 246
+
+Faithful Steward, 117
+
+Fathers, Apostolic, 69, 80
+
+Fathers, Later, 70, 80
+
+Financial Slavery, 150
+
+Force in Abstract, 99
+
+Fishers' Catechism, 235
+
+Freight Rates, 109
+
+
+"Golden Book", 194
+
+Gambling, 283
+
+Giving, 51
+
+Gravity Levels, 222
+
+Great Enterprises, 239
+
+Greek Artist, 216
+
+Greece, History, 258
+
+Guile, Taken by, 104
+
+
+Hebrews in Egypt, 212
+
+Henry II, 262
+
+Henry III, 263
+
+Henry VII, 263
+
+Henry VIII, 264
+
+Hindoo Widow, 24
+
+Honesty Hindered, 210
+
+Hodge, Dr. Charles, 237
+
+Home Wanted, 251
+
+Horace, 261
+
+Human Nature, 81
+
+Hume, 192
+
+
+Incorporated Properties, 171
+
+Industry Discouraged, 207
+
+Indians, Omahas, 244
+
+Injustice, Submitted, 120
+
+Interest Defined, 9
+
+Insurance Company, 119, 254
+
+Interest, Compound, 180
+
+Installment Plan, 140
+
+Intemperance, 283
+
+
+Jackson, Andrew, 200
+
+Jefferson, Thos., 200
+
+Jennet, M., 182
+
+Jeremy Bentham, 113
+
+Jeremiah Protests, 30
+
+Jubilee, Year of, 45
+
+Justinian Code, 261
+
+
+King Alfred, 262
+
+Khedive, 203
+
+
+Land Question, 249
+
+Lombards, 195
+
+London Tenants, 169
+
+Luther, 71
+
+
+Macauley, 196
+
+Machinery, Improved, 226
+
+Mammon, 203, 221
+
+Melancthon, 71
+
+Messiah's Character, 42
+
+Moral Law, 82
+
+Milton, 145, 203
+
+Minuits, Peter, 181
+
+Middle Classes, 220
+
+Mons Sacer, 260
+
+Money Barren, 83, 122
+
+Moses, 57
+
+Mosaic Laws, 11, 14
+
+McCullough, Sec., 201
+
+
+Nature and Bible, 93
+
+Nehemiah, 36, 40, 57, 63
+
+Nile Worship, 214
+
+
+Obsolete Words, 7
+
+One Cent Loaned, 182
+
+Ottoman Empire, 212
+
+Over-production, 156
+
+
+Panics, 187
+
+Paul to Timothy, 59
+
+Paulist Fathers, 65
+
+Pounds, Parable of, 54
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, 196
+
+Physicians' Charges, 115
+
+Poor Richard, 240
+
+Poor, Oppressed, 154
+
+Poor, to the Spirit, 48
+
+Popes, 70
+
+Polygamy, 85
+
+Production, Limited, 158
+
+Promoter, 161
+
+Prime, Dr., 285
+
+
+Rates, Differ Why, 108
+
+Rentals of Land, 243
+
+Revolution, 238
+
+Ridpath, 71
+
+Rich Fool, 49, 137
+
+Rights, Personal, 98
+
+Rights, Equal, 102
+
+Risk, 253
+
+Robe, 111
+
+Rome, History, 250
+
+Ruskin, 72, 156, 255
+
+
+Sands, Bishop, 70
+
+Sabbath of Rest, 85, 171
+
+Schaff-Herzog, 8, 69
+
+Scripture Passages:
+  Genesis 21:26, 7
+  Exodus 32:1, 7
+  Exodus 22:25, 13, 20
+  Leviticus 19:33, 34, 21
+  Leviticus 22:22, 19
+  Leviticus 23:23, 22
+  Leviticus 34:10, 22
+  Deut. 5:14, 24
+  Deut. 25:19, 17
+  Deut. 15:7-9, 44
+  Numbers 15:15, 16, 19
+  Joshua 9:23, 22
+  Psalm 15, 26
+  Psalm 92, 7
+  Psalm 112:1-3, 15
+  Proverbs 22:4, 15
+  Proverbs 28:20, 15, 27
+  Jeremiah 31:29, 32
+  Isaiah 10:15, 101
+  Ezekiel 24:15-18, 31
+  Ezekiel 22:7-12, 31
+  Ezekiel 18:117, 33
+  Matthew 5:17, 43
+  Matthew 6:12, 45
+  Matthew 13:22, 48
+  Matthew 19:24, 49
+  Matthew 25:14, 52
+  Luke 6:35, 44
+  Luke 51:52, 53, 47
+  Luke 19:12, 52
+  John 15:12, 46
+  John 13:34, 46
+  Romans 1:13, 7
+  Romans 13:8, 62
+  Acts 3:17, 7
+  Acts 2:44, 45, 58
+  1 Corinthians 1:27, 28, 58
+  1 Corinthians 13, 8
+  Ephesians 4:28, 60
+  1 Thess. 4:15, 7
+  1 Timothy 5:8, 59
+  James 5:1-6, 61
+
+Slaves, Happy, 148
+
+Slaves, Chattel, 286
+
+Self Reliance, 211
+
+Strangers, Three Classes, 18
+
+Shoe Plant, 128
+
+Shylock, 121, 195
+
+Slot Machines, 104
+
+Solomon and Usury, 27, 144
+
+Solon, 218, 259
+
+Socialism, 289
+
+Spirituality Destroyed, 216
+
+Stevens, Thadeus, 201
+
+Strikes, 227
+
+Sultan, 203
+
+Sun Worship, 214
+
+Superstitions, 282
+
+
+Taxes Off the Poor, 168
+
+Tenantry, 250
+
+"The Hague", 230
+
+Talents, Parable of, 52
+
+Thrift, 51, 209
+
+Time, 107, 254
+
+Temptation to Upright, 149
+
+Timon of Athens, 146
+
+Tools, Not Productive, 135
+
+Trade, Profits in, 124
+
+Trusts, 186, 224
+
+
+Usury, Definition, 8
+
+Usury and the Stranger, 18
+
+
+Valet, 145
+
+Venice, 193
+
+Vienna, Council of, 70
+
+
+War, Evils of, 229
+
+Webster, Definition, 9
+
+Wealth Decays, 132
+
+Wealth, Barren, 131
+
+William and Mary, 195, 264, 279
+
+Wilson's Catechism, 233
+
+Wrong Laws, 279
+
+
+Young Reformers, 187
+
+
+Zaccheus, 49
+
+Zerubbabel, 36
+
+
+
+
+The Anti-Usury League
+
+
+    The object, the purpose and work of the Anti-Usury League is to
+    expose the evils, the oppressions, the fraud and the sin of
+    usury or interest, by publications, by lectures, by conventions
+    and by every other practical method.
+
+    All persons in sympathy with this object, and who can in any way
+    co-operate by distributing its literature or by other
+    publications or by lecturing or by arranging for lectures or
+    conventions, are requested to enter into correspondence.
+
+    Also all persons who have become interested by reading the
+    preceding pages and who seek further information and who desire
+    to keep in touch with the work of this League should send their
+    names and addresses for enrollment.
+
+                            THE ANTI-USURY LEAGUE,
+                                Millersburg, Ohio.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  39: coveteousness replaced with covetousness        |
+    | Page  54: ponds replaced with pounds                      |
+    | Page  61: Sabbaoth replaced with Sabbath                  |
+    | Page  61: weap replaced with weep                         |
+    | Page  64: bankrupty replaced with bankruptcy              |
+    | Page  70: degredation replaced with degradation           |
+    | Page 113: opportunites replaced with opportunities        |
+    | Page 119: employes replaced with employees                |
+    | Page 145: degredation replaced with degradation           |
+    | Page 211: forbodings replaced with forebodings            |
+    | Page 225: mutally replaced with mutually                  |
+    | Page 228: neighors replaced with neighbors                |
+    | Page 294: Dicharged replaced with Discharged              |
+    | Page 297: Shoff, Herzog replaced with Schaff-Herzog       |
+    | Page 299: Zacheus replaced with Zaccheus                  |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Usury, by Calvin Elliott
+
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