peace with the whole world. They have-op-
portunities to develop their resources At
present the agricultural interest of this State
is prostrated. Labor of every sort, so far as
one portion of our State is concerned, is all
gone. If you raise the rate of interest now,
you paralyze the great agricultural interest
of the country. A large majority of the land-
holders of this State, in consequence of the
oppressive taxation, and the losses and bur-
dens that have fallen upon them for the last
few years, are borrowers of money. If you
raise the rate of interest, or open the door lo
its being raised to a certain height, to that
extent you put a burden upon the agricultural
interests of the State, I am satisfied it is
the view of a large majority of the agricul-
turalists of this State that there should be no
change whatever made in this law, as a mat-
ter of general policy. Undercertain circum-
stances, and at certain times, it may be a very
wise provision; but certainly at this time, in
my humble opinion it is very odious to a
large majority of the people of the State, and
I shall therefore vote against any change
whatever in the law upon this subject,
Mr. SANDS. I trust this amendment will
not prevail. When it was up before I thought
it had received its quietus. No such large
vote has been given against any proposition
urged upon this floor, as was given against
the proposition to increase the legal rate of
interest. The proposed amendment renders
utterly nugatory the action which the con-
vention by a vote of 63 to 8, took when the
subject was before it on a former day,
What does the proposed amendment do?
It utterly contradicts the section. The legal
rate shall be 6 per cent., says the section; and
then it is proposed to go on and say that it
shall belawful to bargain for, and claim for,
and sue for and recover a larger amount,
How do gentlemen reconcile this? First, the
section provides that the legal rate which
alone is recoverable at law, shall be fixed at
6 per cent.; and then it is proposed to say
that it shall be lawful, although that is the
legal rate of interest, to demand, and sue for
and recover a greater amount. Not content
with allowing the rate of interest to run to
seven and three-tenths per cent., which is
the meaning of the amendment, other gentle-
men urge even larger rates. I am utterly
and entirely opposed to this matter for the
reasons I have stated here upon this floor
once before.
Money does not need protection. It is the
great lever of society. The man who has it is
always safe, always secure; while be that is
to pay the percentage on it is often in cir-
cumstances that leave him utterly at the
mercy of the usurer. I remember that one
gentleman upon the floor here, when be ar-
gued the matter, put the case thus: Suppose
the furniture of a man was under execution
or distraint. He could go out into the street, |
and he could pay a high rate of interest to
get the money to meet the case and relieve
him from his difficulty. Does not this illus-
trate the whole of this matter, that its pur-
pose and working is to put that unfortunate
man utterly at the mercy of any one who
chooses to play Shylock and demand his
pound of flesh? I am not aware what new
light has dawned upon the minds of members
since we argued this matter before, if I had
heard any new views on the matter, anything
which was not then urged, and which could
be considered a fair argument for abandoning
a position taken by an overwhelming
vote, I should know how to meet that new
view.
You are legislating between two very dif-
ferent classes of interests in this matter; the
rich who hold the money, and the necessi-
tous who often require it. If they can show
us that there has been any good reason why
money is worth more than they decided it to
be worth a few days ago, let us have it. It
was decided here the other day, on evidence
that everybody seemed to think conclusive,
that money was not worth more than six per
cent. because it was to be had in quantities
large and small, for six per cent,, and even
lower;—it was offered in the advertising
columns of the "American" for five per cent.
Another consideration I have to offer,
which I think ought to appeal to certain mem-
ber? upon this floor if not to all. Just so
much as you raise the rate of interest, do
you take advantage of the circumstances in
which the government is placed—the great
power in the land. The people have got to
pay six per cent. for the government. I am
paying my share of it. Every man in the
State of Maryland has got to pay his share
of this interest. Why are we paying six per
cent. on the national debt? If you had been
about the purlieus of that New York legisla-
ture when it struck out six and put in a
higher rate —
Mr. CUSHING. Do you know what rate
that was?
Mr. SANDS. I do not. It makes no differ-
ence whether it was ten or twenty. I say it
is a matter notorious to the country at large,
that the monetary classes of New York man-
age their legislative bodies where their inter-
ests are concerned. And as I was saying, if
the government has to-day accumulated an
enormous debt upon which she pays an enor-
mous interest, it was because that change
was made in New York; because capitalists,
moneyed men, were seeking bow to add to
their stores; and the government being
forced to go to the great moneyed centre of
the country to borrow what it required to
meet its pressing necessities, is of course
obliged to pay seven and three-tenths per
cent. I ask gentlemen, whether they believe
that the secretary of the treasury is adver-
tising for loans at seven and three, tenths per |
