“ But the history of the world for centuries proves that a condition of war is Mammon's opportunity to foist a debt upon a free people and to increase the burden of those whose bonds he already holds.His ears are deaf to advice and reason, when material and commercial advantages are to be secured. He cares not for human suffering and shed blood, if riches can be increased. When concessions can be secured, and mortgages placed, and a people exploited with profit, the cry of suffering, the pleading for pity and the call for justice are all in vain. ”
Calvin Elliott
Biographical details
Calvin Elliott, a provocative voice in economic and social critique, is best known for his seminal work Usury, a treatise dissecting the moral and societal consequences of debt and capitalist exploitation. His writing examines the ethical dimensions of wealth accumulation, the dehumanizing effects of financial dependency, and the urgent need for economic justice.
Through incisive analysis and moral urgency, Elliott challenges readers to confront the paradoxes of modern capitalism, situating his work within a lineage of thinkers like George O'Brien and Wilhelm Roscher who similarly probed economic systems. Elliott’s legacy lies in his unflinching call to align material progress with human dignity.
Quotes by Calvin Elliott
“ His coffers may be filled with gold, and his barns bursting with grain and his stalls filled with fatlings, yet all this wealth is useless and lost, unless touched with the vital energy of an intelligent laborer. But his dependence and losses give him no right to the labor of another.He has no right, no just claim, to the services of another man, his equal. All his wealth cannot confer the right. Wealth is but a thing, in itself without rights, and can therefore add nothing to the rights of its owner. ”
“ God had the highest welfare of every man at heart when He prepared the earth for his abode and gave him dominion over it. And He yearned for his deliverance from a fallen estate when He gave him a revelation of His infinite redeeming love. The eye of God is upon each individual of the race, as upon every sparrow. He has in thought, in word and in works, not the favoring of one of an hundred, while the ninety and nine are crushed or neglected, but the happiness and highest good of every one of the hundred. ”
