The Geanus Usurer.

Observer, Volume XV, Issue 807, 16 June 1894, Page 2

The Geanus Usurer.

I have already dealt with the influences exercised by the pawn-broking, bill-broking, and mortgagee usurers. Just a few words

concerning that peculiar product of the nineteenth century, the millionaire, and then I shall have exhausted my subject. The millionaire is almost omnipotent. Bus unrequited servants are the teemin g millions of the earth, a considerable majority of whom commence the struggle for a bare existence with then* earliest breath and only end it with their latest. The millionaire is as a rule the result of aeverai generations of money-lenders. It may oe accepted as a foregone conclusion that few ot them have done anything to benefit the world at large either by their skill or benevolence. They have simply, by a system of masterly inactivity, allowed the accumulations of their ancestors toremain as mortgages on the nations to whom the gold was lent until, by the insidious operation of that debghtful leavening process known as ' compound interest,' the whole population of the civilized world are now the bond servants and vassals of the stock and bond-holders, and theii* only apparent use in the economy of the social system is to toil so that the accumulations of fche money-lender may be augmented.

And yet they have absolutely no compensating advantages. They are, in one sense, worse off than the hinds and gillies under the much-condemned feudal system which governed Britain for several centuries. The feudal lord had at least a personal interest in the well-being of his hinds or gillies, as he frequently came personally into contact with them, but the millionaire has no personal sympathy or communion with the gieat multitude who are day and night building up colossal fortunes for him. He deals with and influences statesmen and senators, and, by the uae of his omnipotent power gold, moulds legislation to suit his own ends. Nay, he even gives or withholds the power to make war as his caprice or interest may direct.

It is an undeniable fact that a combination of the Rothschild's, Montefiore's, De Hirsch's, Gould's Vanderbilt's, and Mackay's, with half-a-dozen others of the same kidney, could at any moment paralyze the whole commerce of the world, and produce such a social cataclysm as was never before possible. And this dangerous power is held, not by reason of the brilliant intelligence or noble character of the parties, but because they have traded in money and without effort or skill on their parts have acquired an undue share of the earnings of the great mass of the people. It is argued, and fairly so, that every man has a. right to the control and management of his own property to use and dispose of as he thinks fit. To restrict or limit the acquisition ol wealth of whatever sort by the individual would at once destroy the incentive to individual effort and thus retard national progress. But, although it is fair that individual skill or effort should enjoy the fruits thereof, yet it is unfair and detrimental that any individual or limited set of individuals should govern the actions and absorb the earnings of the great mass of the people in perpctuit;/.

Under existing conditions, it is possible for few people to amass enormous quantities of gold to the great detriment of the many and to the ultimate risk of great national disaster. Therefore, it is the duty of the State to step in and say, ' Mr Money-owner, the conditions which the people of this nation have created has enabled you to become immensely wealthy, and the State has protected you in the acquisition and enjoyment of this wealth, but as its disposition in the future must affect the interests of the commonwealth, we warn you that either in your lifetime or at your death you must distribute it in such proportions as will render it impossible for a few persons to menace the peace and security of the people simply by the accumulation of gold. This principle is being recognised in the British House of Commons by the progressive death duties to be imposed,* and it has only to be carried far enough to materially aid in allaying the spirit of unrest 'and revolution which is rampant over the continent of Europe and latent amongst the British race. One hundred persons having each £10,000 would do vastly more good to the world at large than one person having £1,000,000.

The phrase 'the greatest good for the greatest number ' has almost passed into an axiom. Woidd the most earnest advocate of the usurer claim that the moneylender in any grade is an advantage to the greatest number ? I think not. Inventors and explorers have conferred innumerable and lasting benefits on humanity, and yet it is rare that the inventive mind or adventurous spirit is bequeathed from father to son. But usurious instincts seem to intensify -with each succeeding generation, and therefore the bequests of vast sums by a money-trading father to a money-trading son has led to the enormous accumulations of gold which are a daily increasing menace to those ou whose shoulders the burden of the world's work rests.

There never was a period in the world's history when the necessaries of life were so abundant or so readily and rapidly interchangable from one country to another as they are now. And yet, perhaps, there never was a period when such vast numbers were struggling almost hopelessly to obtain a bare existence. It is asserted that

THE KOUNDATIOS-STONK OK WHICH WAS LAID ON MONDAY LAST

wage-earners are better paid and better prov!sed for now than at any previous time in the history of Britain,at least. And while this is to"some extent true, yet it does not disclose the real state of matters. Wages are, no doubt, higher than they were fifty years ago, but the difficulty lies in finding employment. Improvements in machinery and the universal employment of steam have rendered manual labour almost superfluous ; great and increasing numbers are compelled to lead comparatively idle lives, and one of the principal reasons for this state of things is that large sums of the medium of exchange are locked up in the hands of the usurer who employs his unearned gains in augmenting his wealth instead of using it for reproductive purposes as would be done if the State compelled a distribution of wealth into reasonable portions at the death of each usurer or accumulator. This whole question is one that demands immediate and effective legislation.