The Burden of Usurious Interest
The way of the money power is illustrated in the statement of the Alameda (Cal.) Encinal that “six mortgages were recently filed in San Bernardino County in which the rate of interest was twelve to fifteen per cent. There is no real estate in this State that can stand such a tax as that.” The writer might have added that no legitimate business can stand such interest, except it be an occasional mining venture, or similar rare exception. But the Encinal might have found a better illustration nearer home, for a contemporary journal mentions a notable instance in an Alameda County court but recently, where foreclosure was commenced on property secured by a note bearing five per cent. per month interest, compounded monthly.