Note 183-5 — Chapter IV

Thus, in the last century, Spanish capitalists loaned capital readily to sure commercial companies, at from 2 to 3 per cent. per annum. (Bourgoing, Tableau de l'Espagne, I, 248.) The contemporary low rates of interest in Hannover, Büsch, Geldumlauf, VI, 4, 12, endeavors to explain by the absence of opportunities for investment, as no one dared to loan to any extent on fiefs or on the land of the peasantry, and because there was no law governing bills of exchange, etc.