e of respectability. It is
sucking the blood of the poor every hour, yet they cherish and pet the
vampire, not realizing that it is their blood upon which it feeds.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

USURY OPPRESSES THE POOR--Concluded.

Usury increases its burdens in proportion to the poverty. It is the
most oppressive upon the poorest. Property in any measure is a relief.
However small the amount may be, to that degree it assists in bearing
the burden. Those who have a home are relieved of the burden of usury
by rent. Those who own their shops or farms on which they can employ
their labor are relieved of the usury of tools and material. From the
conditions now prevailing the burden of usury rests on all those, the
half of whose income is the product of their own labor. The one who
receives one-half his income from the interest on property and
one-half from his own labor has no advantage from usury. The income of
his labor would bring him as many of the comforts of life as his labor
now does, plus the income from his property. There is no advantage
until a greater part of the income is derived from property. A small
savings account, adding a few dollars annually to the income, is a
very small offset to the constant drain from usury in all that we buy
and upon all our earnings. The full burden however is upon those who
have nothing but their own productive energy; who receive only wages
and must buy in the market. As the relief afforded by property
decreases, the oppressive burden of usury in present conditions
increases.

It is a fair estimate that usury is oppressive until relieved by the
income from property to the amount of one-half of the entire income
received. When less, the oppression begins and leans its full weight
and without pity upon the poorest and most helpless.

He that has no property is dependent upon others for employment and in
his wages must give a part of his product as tribute to the capital he
uses. This, in the case of the average wage earner in this country, is
not less than one-third, that is, he who earns one dollar and a half
will receive as wages one dollar, the other half dollar is retained by
the employer as due for the capital invested. Then having no home he
must pay tribute to property in shelter for himself and family. The
rent will be higher in proportion to the poverty of the apartments.
The poorest tenement returns the highest rate of interest to the
landlord.

His decreased wages d