y earns property, and the gain is secured with no struggle
on his part, the temptation is presented and the disintegration of his
character has begun. When there is no gain except by production, the
whole thought and energy of the man is directed to that end, and his
desire to secure that earned by another is restrained. The frank,
open disposition is preserved. Honest productive toil drives out the
spirit of speculation. Under usury, both lender and borrower are in
the attitude of expectants of unearned gain.

3. It discourages the spirit of self-reliance.

Usury causes a broad separation between a man of property and the man
of mere muscle or brain. It makes such large combinations of capital
possible in immense shops and department stores and other enterprises,
that the individual workman is belittled. Under the principle of
usury, property can produce as well as brain or muscle. One having
property can control both.

His property places him in a position as a superior. He comes to
forget the relations he bears to men as equals, and requires that
those who have only their natural gifts shall be cringing supplicants
before him or be denied his favor. The borrower or the laborer who
asserts his rights is endangered by the man controlling property, who
has him in his power.

That independent, self-reliant spirit, that looks every man in the
face as an equal yet lingers in the country among the hills and
mountains, but is fast disappearing from the city. There has come to
the laborer in the town or city a feeling of dependence upon others
and a desire to secure their favor. They almost feel that they must
apologize for being laborers, and beg for an opportunity to earn a
living in some one's employ. One of the saddest facts, and most
threatening of disaster in these present commercial conditions, is the
common desire to be employed, to get a job, dependent on the whim of
another, instead of a determination to direct one's own labor and be
the manager of one's own business. The sound educational development
is wanting in the daily occupation of the hired laborer, and there is
a loss of manhood that has no compensation.

The independent spirit slips away so gradually that its going is
scarcely noticed, but when once gone the degradation is complete.

A family of free Hebrews went down into Egypt, and for a long time was
in favor with the rulers, but they gradually lost their independence
and became more and more ser