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.