Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/354



The San  Francisco  branch  mint,  in  1857,  was  robbed of ten  or  fifteen  thousand  dollars  by  the  coiner's  head cutter, Wilham  Bein,  a  Belgian. Bein was  arrested the 1 9th  of  August,  confessed  the  crime,  and  gave  up to  the  United  States  most  of  the  proceeds  of  his  crime. The gold  taken  was  in  blanks  and  clippings,  and  the circumstance which  aroused  suspicion  was  the  deposit, by a  banking  house,  of  certain  small,  rough,  gold  bars of standard  mint  value. Bein was  promptly  convicted. Others implicated  in  mint  swindles  were  arrested shortly after. Isador and  Henry  Blum  were  brought up on  a  charge  of  conspiracy  against  T.  A.  Szabo,  in attempting  to  extort  money  from  him,  believing  him a mint-defaulter  and  in  their  power. Augustin Har- aszthy, melter  and  refiner  of  the  San  Francisco branch mint,  on  the  1 9th  of  September,  was  indicted by the  United  States  grand  jury  upon  a  charge  of embezzling  gold  to  the  amount  of  $151,550. He was arrested and  released  on  $20,000  bail. Afterward he was  tried  and  sentenced  to  six  years  in  the  state prison and  to  pay  a  fine  of  $2,000.

Californians early  determined  that  as  mind  and manners were  here  free,  money  should  be  free  also. Dante could  have  found  in  California  a  better  answer to the  question  why  usury  offends  divine  goodness, than the  silly  one  Virgil  gave  him. It was  in  the realms below  that  the  two  were  sagely  discoursing, and the  sage  and  master  answered  that  in  Genesis  it is  written  that  man  is  to  work  and  multiply,  and  that the usurer  thwarts  nature  by  taking  money  without working for  it. Good reasoning  that  may  be  in  hades, but it  sounds  silly  in  California. Our first  answer  is  that usury does  not  offend  God;  our  second  that  money like any  other  commodity  is  regulated  in  its  price  by the  immutable  law  of  supply  and  demand,  and  is worth  what  it  will  bring  in  the  market. If a  person finds it  profitable  to  borrow  money  at  ten  per  cent  a month,  why  should  he  not  be  permitted  to  do  it  ? If he  can  get  it  for  less  he  will  not  pay  that ;  if  he