THE USURY LAWS. 13 



function it is to prevent all change, and therefore all improvement 

 in the condition of the empire. The owners of the public debt, the 

 pensioners, the holders of sinecure offices, the nobility, and the 

 functionaries of the Established Church, are the Spartans who 

 rule over the English Laconians, Helots, and Slaves. When such 

 powerful support is enlisted in favor of an iniquitous social order, 

 there is very little prospect left of any amelioration in the condition 

 of the people. 



THE MATTER BROUGHT NEARER HOME. 



But let us bring the matter nearer home. The assessors' valua- 

 tion of the property in the state of INIassachusetts in 1790 was §44,- 

 024,349. In 1840 it was 8299,880,33a The increase, therefore, during 

 fifty years, was $255,855,989. This is the increase of actual value. 

 If, now, the §44,024,349 which the state possessed in 1790 had been 

 owned by a class, and had been loaned to the community on six 

 mouths' notes, regularly renewed, at six per cent interest per an- 

 num, and the interest, as it fell due, had itself been continually put 

 out at interest on the same terms, that accumulated interest would 

 have amounted in flfty years to 8885,.524,246. This is the increase of 

 the legal value. A simple comparison will show us that the legal 

 value would have increased three times as fast as the actual value 

 has increased. 



Suppose 5,000 men to own $30,000 each; suppose these men to 

 move, with their families, to some desolate place in the state, 

 where there is no opportunity for the profitable pursuit of the occu- 

 pations either of commerce, agriculture, or manufacturing. The 

 united capital of these 5,000 men would be $150,000,000. Suppose, 

 now, this capital to be safely invested in different parts of the 

 state; suppose these men to be, each of them, heads of families, 

 comprising, on an average, five persons each, this would give us, in 

 all. 25.000 individuals. A servant to each family would give us 

 5,000 persons more, and these added to the above number would 

 give us 30.000 in all. Suppose, now, that 5,000 mechanics— shoe- 

 makers, bakers, butchers, etc.— should settle with their families in 

 the neighborhood of these capitalists, in order to avail themselves 

 of their custom. Allowing five to a family, as before, we have 25,- 

 000 to add to the above number. We have, therefore, in all, a city 

 of 55,000 individuals, established in the most desolate part of the 

 state. The people in the rest of the state would have to pay to the 

 capitalists of this city six per cent on $150,000,000 every year; for 

 these capitalists have, by the sui)position, this amount out at inter- 

 est on bond and mortgage, or otherwise. The yearly interest on 

 fl50.tKK).f)(X), at six per cent, is $9.(KX),0()0. These wealthy individuals 

 may do no useful work whatever, and. nevertheless, they levy a tax 

 of $9,000,000 per annum on the industry of the state. The tax would 

 be paid in this way. Some money would be brought to tlie new 

 city, and much produce; the produce would be sold for money to 



