author
Calvin Elliott
1839–1920
Best known for a forceful 1902 attack on lending at interest, this little-known writer brought together theology, ethics, and economics in one unusually passionate book. His work offers a vivid window into the moral debates around money at the turn of the twentieth century.
1 Audiobook
Usury : a scriptural, ethical and economic view
by Calvin Elliott
About the author
Calvin Elliott was an American author active in the early 1900s, and the main work that can be readily confirmed today is Usury: A Scriptural, Ethical and Economic View, published in 1902 by the Anti-Usury League in Millersburg, Ohio.
In that book, he argues strongly against usury, treating the subject not just as an economic problem but also as a religious and moral one. The writing blends biblical interpretation, social criticism, and practical argument, which gives it a distinctive place among older works on money, debt, and reform.
Very little biographical information about Elliott is easy to verify from reliable online sources, so his life remains somewhat obscure. What does come through clearly is his seriousness of purpose: he wrote to persuade, to challenge accepted financial habits, and to defend what he saw as a more humane social order.