Money has a value besides that contemplated by law, and which the law can never fix, namely, a market value ; for like grain or cotton, though not so frequently or suddenly, it fluctuates in value according to the state of trade, and the amount of money in the country. It is true, that when borrowers are poor, and lenders are pitiless, cases of extortion some- times occur; and to supply a present necessity, a man may agree to pay a higher rate for the accom- modation than it is actually worth, but the law, by throwing obstacles in his way, only adds to his ex- penses. So with young and inexperienced men, just entering into business, who are sanguine of large profits. " Yet it is certain," says Lord Bacon, " that the greater part of trade is driven by young mer- chants, who borrow upon interest, and though the errors of yoimg men are the ruin of business, the 136 , HISTOET OF USURY.
errors of aged men amount to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. And though, in the con- duct and management of actions, young men embrace more than they can hold, and stir more than they can quiet, yet men of age object too much, consult too long, a^dventure too little, and seldom drive business home to the full period." Prom these and similar causes, many serious mercantile disasters spring; yet legislation does not mend the matter, nor prevent one transaction in a hundred from being tainted with usury.
All laws increasing the risk of the lender only add to the expenses of the borrower, who always pays them, and they are thus a tax upon the unfortunate and needy. But besides this, they are unequal in principle; as where a man has a thousand dollars to spare, he is prohibited from lending it for more than a certain rate of interest ; but he may put it in the form of a house, and get as much as anybody chooses to give him for it, or invest it in a bank or insurance company, and get double the interest that the law allows. This is an unwise legal expulsion of money from the money market.