California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



CajJtal and ^aboc. 



The Danger of Borrowing. 



"The borrower is servaut to the h'uder.'"— Holy Writ. 



BY JNO. D. SCuTT, MI). 



n — 



Ct^D Agricultueist: — I have been inform- 

 ed that no one, no matter what his 

 standing or wealth, can borrow a dollar 

 from any of our banks. A gentleman 

 in this city, with some fifty thousand dollars, 

 was indebted to one of our money-lenders in 

 the sum of a thousand dollars. The lender 

 demanded his money — said he must have it — 

 swore he could not do without it. The bor- 

 rower tried hard to get a loan to that amount 

 from our banks, and notwithstanding his of- 

 fer of unexceptional security, he utterly fail- 

 ed to command the accommodation. Eeturn- 

 ing to old money-bags he informed that 

 "pound of flesh" individual of the fact- 

 Shylock then very coolly remarked, that in 

 as much as the borrower could not jiay his 

 note, that he must give him a new one, 

 at one and a half per cent, interest per 

 month. As there was no other alternative 

 he was forced to submit to the extortion. As 

 there is no business in California, except it 

 be highway robbery, that will warrant bor- 

 rowing money at a greater interest than six 

 or eight per cent, per annum, it will readily 

 be seen how grievously this man has been 

 wrou'ged and robbed in the above transaction. 

 It matters not whether a robber levels a legal 

 or all iriju blimdmbuss at his defenceless 

 neighbor's head. The effect is the same — the 

 exaction of money by force. The wretched 

 Viorrower might just as well fall iu the high- 

 way as to sulier a lingering death iu the spi- 

 der-webs of the law. 



It. seems then that old Hhyloi'k could have 

 done without his money after all. It was 

 simply a dodge on his part to extort more in- 

 terest. But he must have known beforehand 

 that the banks would not loan under any 

 circumstances, or he would not have resorted 

 to the trick. Are the brokers and bankers in 

 league to rob the public? Are they all in col- 

 lusion to get up a corner in the money-mar- 

 ket in order to raise interest up to the old 

 and ruinous rates of one and a hall and twu 

 per cent, per month? This siumltaneous ac- 

 tion looks very much like it or else we have a 

 very striking coincidence! 



Such conduct on the part of lianks and 

 bankers is highly reprehensible if not crimin- 

 al. They are the reservoirs of capital as our 

 mountain lakes might be supposed to be the 

 resorvoirs of water. The one would serve to 

 furnish the life-giving element to our extend- 

 ed ])lains in times of drought, whilst the 

 others should open their vaults and transfuse 

 new life and rigor into the veins of trade in 

 times of financial distress. It is in a dry 

 season that farmers need water to perfect 

 their crops. They want no irrigation when 

 the heavens open and delnge their lands with 

 floods. So in prosperous times merchants do 

 not need so much bank accommodation. But 

 when trade slackens and business becomes 

 dull they need bank assistance to tide them 

 over that period of dullness. But banks and 

 liankers however pursued exactly the opposite 

 course. When the money-market becomes 

 tight, they tighten up their purse strings slso. 



Their sa'e doors are slammed to, close as 

 wrter-tight clam shells. This suicidal policy 

 only serves to make money scarcer, to deep- 

 en distrust and to spread the panic wider. 

 Perfectly responsible parties then go to the 

 wall who never would have failed if theie had 

 never been a bank. In fact, this system of 

 bank credit is an artificial and a stimulative 

 one. It is like liquor, the more a man 

 indulges in it, the more he wants, until at 

 length he begins to think that he cannot ex- 

 ist without it. It is either drink or die, bor- 

 row or bust 1 



These institutions by thus affording ready 

 facilities for borrowing money, do, most un- 

 doubtedly, stimulate the desire for adventure 

 and foster the spirit of speculation. When 

 they themselves, therefore, have helped to 

 create a speculative tendency, how cruel, not 

 to say criminal, to shut down the flood-gates 

 at once and see a whole community perish 

 without a single effort at relief. This State 

 is dotted all oter with these sad examples. 

 It was in this way that nine-tenths of the 

 native Californians have been dispoiled of 

 their ranches and homes now worth many 

 millions of dollars. It is in this way that 

 many American farmers have been realesed 

 from the trouble and responsibility of run- 

 ning their farms. The banks, or the friends 

 of the banks run their farms for them. Two 

 notable instances occur to my mind at this 

 moment, one was an enterprising nursery- 

 man and fruit raiser: he had a most valu- 

 able place of near an hundred acres, and of 

 course his credit in bank was good. Alas! 

 too good! for vow (he bunk is runniiui the pkicc 

 for hi til. The other was a hop-raiser and 

 owned, perhaps, the best cultivated and most 

 valuable hop-ranch in the State. His credit, 

 too, became too good iu the banks (md one nf 

 tliriii )i(ts kiridbj relieved liim of the labor of ever 

 piikiiuj liops 'any more. It soon made him 

 hop higher than a Kansas grasshopper. And 

 so these banks have served thousands of 

 others. They loan their money and when a 

 dry season comes and their crops fail, and 

 they are utterly unable either to borrow or re- 

 mortgage, then these financial vultures scoop 

 down ujjou them and feed upon their heart's 

 blood. But then the murder and robbery are 

 all according to law! The law makes no al- 

 lowance for the dispensations of Providence! 

 The law has no mercy — no charity — and the 

 pious capitalist who pays pew rent, religious- 

 ly in a fashionable church, thinks he has a 

 right to impoverish and beggar his neighbor 

 if he has the legal power to do so. "It is so 

 nominated in the bond." 



Mr. CJirard, the great banker and philan- 

 thropist of the centennial city, understood 

 these matters better than the curbstone bank- 

 er of to-day. He had it in his power during 

 a well reimbursed financial crash to break up 

 half the merchants in Philadelphia, and to 

 add a- quarter of the real estate to his ex- 

 chequer. "There were millions in it," as a 

 San Francisco banker would have exclaimed. 

 His cashier approached him and informed him 

 that all the other banks in the country had 

 stopped making any loans, and asked him 

 whether they should do the same. "No, sir," 

 said Mr. Ciirard,- "irhen men need moneij thid's 

 the time tiny v.ani it ; let Oil?' customers have all 

 the money they want." The consequence 

 was that he carried his friends triumphantly 

 through the crises, whilst the customers of 

 the other banks and the Ijunks theviscli'et:, all 

 went to the dogs. We fear that it would be 

 diftieult to teach our bankers anything like 

 this — the idea may be too large to enter 

 their diminutive calibres. 



If our banks, after absorbing all the avail- 

 able and floating capital in the comnnmity, 

 are, like the dog in the manger, indisposed to 

 use it themselves, or to allow any body else 

 to do so, except favored stockliolders, the 

 people have the proper remedy iu their own 

 hands. It is, to depo.iit no more money xeith 

 Ihein and to withdraie what they Iiave already de- 

 posited. When an institution, like a bank, 

 has ceased to perform the function, monetary 



relief, for which it was founded, it has out- 

 grown its usefulness, and like any other nuis- 

 ance, ought to be abated. We want bless- 

 ings not curses in the community. Better 

 have no reservoirs at all than those stagnant, 

 miasmatic death-dealing cess-pools. 



« • *• — — 



Which Sn.iLL Bulk— Nine-Tenths or One- 

 Tenth?— -About one-half of our population 

 belong to the farming class. About one-quar- 

 ter of our population belong to the mechanic- 

 al class. And about fifteen per cent, of our 

 population are laborerers who make their liv- 

 ing by their muscle. Has any one ever asked 

 himielf how much legislation is done by this 

 ninety per cent, of our population? Is it not 

 a patent fact that they have scarcely any influ- 

 ence iu our National Legislation? The truth 

 is, the legislation of the country is shaped _ 

 and controlled by less than one tenth of the 

 population. It is made in the interest of cap- 

 ital, instead of the interests of the people. 

 And this is the reason there is so much suft'er- 

 ing among the industrial classes to-day. There 

 has never been such a concentration of capi- 

 tal going on as within the past few years, and 

 a concentration of capital brings a concentra- 

 tion of political and law-making power. Cap- 

 ital has got the people within its toils. Can 

 they release themselves? This is an impor- 

 tant question. This must form a great politi- 

 cal issue. If one-tenth of the people are to 

 govern nine-tenths, and make them subser\-i- 

 to their peculiar interests, it is time we were 

 awakening to that fact. It can do no harm to 

 bestow a little thought upon this matter. 



An Eastern farmer would get rich on what 

 a California farmer throws away. Nineteen- 

 twentieths of the farmers of this State, not 

 only buy all their vegetables, but also their 

 meats, fruits, butter, cheese, flour and corn 

 meal, and even a great many buy the very 

 eggs they eat. Shiftless! of course it is— but 

 true, nevertheless. This is not all. Hired 

 help are treated like Digger Indians; they 

 sleep iu the barn or haystack ; have no ac- 

 commodations or conveniences that a white 

 man is entitled to; and the results are degrad- 

 ing and demoralizing to the laborer. The 

 hired man at the East is treated as a gentle- 

 man; he has his tidy room, comfortable bed, 

 clean sheets, and is surrounded by the refiu- 

 iu" influences of civilization. Here, iu Cali- 

 fornia, how dift'erent. Even the employers 

 themselves, in many instances cannot boast 

 anything refining about them or their prem- 

 ises; not even a flower or shrvib to soften the 

 dreariness of the spot they call home. Cali- 

 fornia has not yet entirely risen from the 

 chaos of its first' social and political period. 

 There is much work for the future on the 

 golden shores of the placid Pacific, When 

 our people begin to build homes, with all the 

 attractions that surround Eastern homesteads, 

 and resolve to live, instead of merely existeng 

 then will the landscape blossom as the rose. 

 —Ex. ^ 



INTERE.ST Too High.— It is estimated that 

 the increase of wealth in the United States 

 does not exceed three per cent, per annum. 

 But men who have money to loan are not 

 willing to take this increase, but charge at 

 least ten per cent. In this way labor becomes 

 bankrujjt. Wealth finally gets away all thi 

 earnings of the industrial classes. It absorbs 

 as the sponge absorbs water, A cheaper rati 

 of interest is in same way demanded. Cap- 

 ital is absorbing the wealth of the people too 

 rapidly , 



In the States, as a whole, the nundicr of 

 acres is 32 to the hand employed; in Alabanm, 

 17 acres; in -Arkansas, 18 acres; in Georgia,^ 

 20 acres; iu Illinois, ■">! acres; in Indiana, 3S 

 acres; in Mississippi, 21 acres; in Jlissoun, 

 35 acres; in Oregon, S5 acres; iu Tennessee, 

 20 acres; in Texas, 18 acres; in California, 

 129 acres. To illustrate: California had in 

 cultivation 6,218,133 acres, worked by 17,8(13 

 people. The Californiau takes care of more 

 than seven times as many acr 

 baniain. 



es as the Ala- 



