William has to pay his tax of a plank per annum because he is not beforehand with his needs. He gets the advantage of the plane every year twelve months before he can afford to make it; and the advantage of being in advance of his needs goes to James. The element of Time is everything. A plane at the beginning of a year is of more service than a plane you have to wait for till the end. Ruskin begins his sequence of time on December 31st of the first year, avoiding the whole point. And the position of William is therefore not unfair; though it is one to be avoided.
There is little to be added of the nature of argument; though _Fors_ is scattered over with allusions to the subject, and discussions with many correspondents are printed in full.[95]
These, and many other shorter passages,[96] consist largely of intuitive prophetic assertion of the sinfulness of interest, even the slightest. Much space is occupied by criticisms of the author’s own practice in living on the proceeds of Bank Stock, and his very cogent replies thereto. They amount to an admission that the doctrine does not fit the present time. There are impressive accounts also of the miseries of usury-ridden countries like India, and of the folly of borrowed capital. But there is no light thrown on how business is to be conducted without it: there is nothing immediately practical.
The array of authority against usance for money is weighty and of ancient date.
Lev. xxv. 35-37: “And if thy brother be poor and powerless with his hands at thy side, thou shalt take his part upon thee, to help him, as thy proselyte and thy neighbour; and thy brother shall live with thee. Thou shalt take no usury of him, nor anything over and above, and thou shalt fear thy God. I am the Lord, and thy brother shall live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money for usury; and thou shalt not give him thy food for increase.” (J. R. translated from LXX.) Exodus xxii. 25 and Deuteronomy xxiii. 19 are similar in purport. Psalm xv. refers to the man “who putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent”; as being a fit person to abide in the Lord’s tabernacle, and dwell in His holy hill. Here we have the taking of interest running parallel with the corruption of the high trust of the judicial bench. Ezekiel xviii. 8, 13, 17 is contemporary with Leviticus, and is practically the same voice, representing Jewish opinion on the resettlement of the State after the Captivity. Here usury is classed with every abominable wickedness.