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Poverty

Poverty image
Parent Issue
Day
18
Month
July
Year
1846
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

lis I Ilegal Causes ünci LegalCnre. By Lysander Spooner, Boston : piiblished by Hela Marsh, No. 25, Cornhil!, 1836. Pnce25 cents. Thia is a pumphlet of' 108 pages, by the uuthor of' the "Unconstutionality of Slavery," and is characterized by the same traitsol' m ind displayed in that workrThe writer lays down several principies to begin with : that every nïahj as far as pnssible, should bc allowed to have uil the profits of liis own labor : that to effect this, it is important, ás a general rule, that every man should Vork dircctly for himself, and not for anothör for Wages : that each man rr.ay be hisown employer, if he have malerials or capital upon which to bestow it : that if a man have not capital, he should bé üllowed to obtain it on credit at such a rute of interest as will iiiduce a person having surplus capital to loan it to him: that to enable the laborcr to obtain this capital at the lowest rate of in terest,free banking should be allowed: thüt creditors should have hens upon the property of theii' debtors, in the order in which thcir debtsare contracted : and that the legal, and in most cases, the moral obligation of the debtor, is extinguishcd by tho debtor's making payment to the eitent of his means when the debt becomes due. NoW, without going into an investigation of these topics, we will just remáVjb in our opiuidta, causes disconnected from legal enactmenls have more to do with the prevalence of poverty than legal acts or decisions. Property of immense aniount is annually destroyed, wasted, or lostby the most ignorant classes for the want, not of industry, but of care and judgmrnt in preserving it. How common it is for a man to raise a erop of poiatoes. and tlien let fhem freeze in the gröUnd without digging, or bury them so that they Will (reeze bcforë spring. Look through the detailsofa poor man's business, and if hc be ignorant, you will find usually a great want of carö and judgment. You may give to one of these the best farm in the toVn, and how soon will it run (o waste ! The sources of wcalth, after all lie in the mind. The savage who ence huntcd over the splendid farms in this country was as streng and athletic as the farmer : büt hc was wretchcdly poor, and always must bc, unless you could impi'ove his mind. So you find among the farmers and mechan ics : those of the best knowlcdge and judgment, other things being equal, are the most prosperoUs and wcalthy. To increasethe wealth of the laborer, you must enlighten and elévate him intellectually. But we are not disposed to deny that the tendèncy of much of our legislation is to makc the rich richer, and the poor poorer. Mr. Spooner contends that this is most efTectually done, by that provisión of law which forbidsthe poor man to hire capital at more than six per cent. The consequence is, that none but those of the best credit and wealth can make loansat all, and all the rernainrier of commünity are shut out from making laws as eflectually as thoUgh the law positivcly prohibited all poor laboring mdn fi'om hiring capital. Takcthe case of a shoémakér. Could he hire -$'500, he could buy stock and employ himself: but not being able to give such security as Will induce the capitalist to ioan to him at six per cent he cannol obtain a loan at all, althougl did not the law interiore, the capitalis would loan to the laborer ut nine per cent The poor man having no employ, applie to a large shoe dealer to set him to work This dealer applies to the same capitalist obtains the $500 at 6 per cont, sets the poor man at Work at such prices, tha the laborer earns for him not only hi wages, but one hundred dollars more; - Now, the diÖerence to the laborer is, that had there been no legal limitation of interest, he would have obtained the loan at 9 per cent, and deducting the addi tional three per cent from the 8100 profit on his labor, he would have put into his own pocket 85 dollars, instead of .$100 into the pocket of his employer! Thus in consequence of the law, the loanable capital of society is almost cntirely monopolizsd by a few, who are called "enterprising business" men, who can ofTer bette r security for loans than the laborers, and are thereby enabled to malee fortunes out of the profits of their indüstryi The profits of the poor man's labor, although only from 50 to 100 dollars a year, if savcd by him and judiciously applied, would soon place him in comfortable circumstances : while if these same profits are lost to the laborer, he will be always poor.(tRepeated atttítnpts have been made to set A time for the adjournment of Congress but without successi It is Baid that the steamer expected from Ëngland about the Öth of August, may biing the news of the exchango of the treaty ; if so, Congress will havo to make provisión for the settlers in Oregon, by the organization of the Oregon Territory; ftTThe papers are publishing a story hat the principal inhabitants of Chihuahua; Tarnaulipas, &c, have appliöd for ihcortoration into our Union. All stui? ve )rcsu:ne - broached to make money for he fabricator by tickling the national vanty.