INTEREST

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21581, 18 September 1935, Page 6

INTEREST

Sir,—Hitherto I have (evidently wrongly) regarded the Bible as the ' inspiration and source of Christian ethics. Dispensing therefore with its evidence, end referring to the omnions of eminent thinker# of antiquity, at the middle ages and others of rfetteat- times tsuehjis Aristotle, Cato, Luther, BusKin, and Carlyle, etc.), all men with nSads uneontamtnated with the profit SiOtive and commercial principles, theses men ,au emphatically condemned the institution of interest. Recollect iiso that it was for centuries prohibited by the Church, Ws frowned upon by public ©pinion, and was punifihnhiy in mediaeval times by death under tha-civll law '• , , A But judge of the tree by its fruits apart"&orA 6thical principles, Eng-j land BtMl Uiyß on Napoleonic war! loans (France-ineumd,,.: nodijbt on : j this accounts N^w^iitodg^son 80-yeaf-oid loans and owes »oif than when she started. New.Zetiurt will have P&M- for the battieshm Jrfew Zealand by 1&83 a teM M 3| mil Hen on a cost of ■ one silllion. .{xhfi ship has SH? SSU h a e^ 4 «U| much in interest as m® esent on publis works.- And so on and so on. The widows and orphans will be kept by the Stat* when saner finance obtains, when war# will toawaged and paid for as 4h«y 80, SB the last Ofae • betea. When high finance is roped and thrbWit wars will not occur. 'Usury provides th« motive for Wars.—Yours, 6te,> MAGNETO. September 17, 1935. SO ' Wt BDITOB O? Tfiß PRESS. Sir,—HvMently "Rothschild" has not given the subject much thought, for ft seems quite plain to the student that debt is the real source of our personal, national, and international miseries, Our governments are in debt, our primary producers are in debt, our people -ar® in debt to the banks, and the banks are in debt to the people; if either calls the other up there la insolvency. Debt bias a< long history, and a review of debt in the past may prove very enlightening. - In Babylon about 2000 8.C., Hammurabi had his code of laws inscribed On a column or siele. : A summary Shows that land and debt questions were as ihixed up together then as they are to-day. A tenant could be penalised for not cultivating his holding properly: the rent paid was a proportion fixed according to the average yield of the crop, Allowance was also made for poor harvests, and no interest was. paid for borrowed money If the Sim suffered from the deprethe tempest god; the money* Sender haoßl»S Sha» risks with the borrower. - In Egypt, about 1700 8.C., a whole people was enslaved by debt. Visited jy a great' famine, the people gave to Joseph, first their money and cattle for corn, then sold their land and themselves fof foedL Joseph, On Pharaoh's behalf, then redistributed th£ people throughout Egypt, and rented 1 the land to thein for one-fifth of the produce. Thus Egypt became fi slave country, the Israelites becoming bondslaves also during their sojourn there. In Greece, 504 8.C., the poor were In a grievous state, having borrowed at exorbitant rates upon the security of their- property and their persona, Solon found it necessary to cancel all existing debts, public and - private. Though he gave th© poorer classes the vote, ne made wealth the qualification for office, leaving the government in the hands of the wealthy.. In Rome, the laws were-very severe en the insolvent debtor—he might b« enslaved or slaughtered. However, when debt became very widespread the plebians went on strike. Russia Is the next country where debt proved a national disaster. Before 1600 A.D. the peasant was free, but gradually became enslfcved owing to economical indebtedness, coupled with the right to recover as general civst

right Cancelling their debts and removing their names from the roll of frep taxable neasants, they became sub%cfto personal bondage. Though emancipated in 1861, the peasants were not relieved of the burden of debt» • and even yet they apparently use a debt money as we do. . If we compare national histories, we find'that debt carries %vith it an everpresent danger, of enslavement. In England. Imprisonment for debt used to be common —read the novels of Dickens. Even to-day husbands who cannot pay maintenance are impris- . oped in Australia. We still see sellingUp, evictions, bankruptcies, reconstructions, doles, moratoriums, and so forth for debt. Even the extraordinarily advanced Mosaic economy did not provide a means of carrying on the work of the hation without debt, though it forbade usury and increase, and enjoined" gifts, not loans. It seems Clear enough that we have to choose between the courses adopted by ancient nations—demoralisation by doles and idleness, or slavery—and an entirely hew system. All nations have failed to solve the problem of achieve ins economic freedom because of their acdeptanCei of debt. We must do away With the d6bt September 17,1035u