St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-16
FINANCIAL AGENTS.
The Loan System as the Poor Mans
Friend--SOme Pertinent ObserVa.
tiOMS.

Friend--SOme Pertinent Obserya.
ti0Ms.
To the Editor of the Globe.
Since giving my experience with the st.
Paul loan agents, few days since, through
the columns of the GLOBE, few cases have
come under my notice, the facts relating to
which, think, will be of interest to the gen.
eral public; as they without exception tend to
show the absolute necessity of the existence
of what Mr.. d. r. Noyes terms the evil of
money lending, as prachced by st. Paul 81
nancial agents. The first case is that of
poor man of large family, who, owing to
protracted sickness in his family, and the con-
sequent extra drainage upon his earning, de-
faulted the payment of one months advance
rent for the house he occupied. The owner
came for his money, but upon being Informed
of the cause of the distress of his tenant,
promised him few days grace, in which TO
raise the money, but it turns out that the
very next day notice was served upon the
poor tenant, requiring him to pay up within
the next six days, or be put
out of the house by process of
law, at its expiration. The tenant at once
visited his landlord, and called his attention
to his promise of few days time, etc., and
was Informed that he (the laudlord) had for
getten it, and. since the notice had been
served, he would allow the law to take its
course. The tenant stated that he could not
possibly
EARN THE MONEY
within the six days. but would secure the
owner by chattel mortgage upon his house
hold goods, which were clear from incum-
brance and which cost him over 500, and
would also pay 10 per cent interest upon the
amount involved until such time as final set
Element could be made. This was declined,
with the statement from the owner that he
did not wish to be bothered with a matter of
that kind; that what he wanted was cash, and
when the tenant reached point where he
n
article he must give place to one that could.
The ensuing five days were spent by this poor
man in endeavoring to secure small loan
upon good chattel security from men of
means, but failed in every instance, by rea-
son of the amount asked being so small that
there was nothing in it, for the moneyed
man. Upon the sixth day the officers came
to set him out in the street, and at this point
of dire misfortune he hied himself to the
financial agent" where he was readily ac-
commodated, and thus avoided the distress of
being forcbly elected from the dwelling of
his choice. The landlord in this instance is
A PROMINENT MONEYED MAN
of ST. Paul and is, / understand. a member
of the Law and Order organization, and of
the Society for the Relief of the Poor: but
only for the existence of the much
maligned Financial AGENT a worthy.
though unfortunate, family would
have been ruthlessly set out of house
and home by this rich man for failing to pay
in advance paltry sum of rent. The name
OF the next case is legion. 1t is comprised
of the class of poor laborers who, from their
scanty earnings, mean to buy an outlying lot
and there erect house and pay for the same
in installments, fixing the sum at the full
surplus OF their earnings in excess of the
| amount necessary for their subsistence.
Well, the first thing they know the city
grades street past their dwelling, leaving
| their house ten feet below the grade. but
calling it an Improvement, assesses the
| owner say SIS, and notifies him that unless
| the same is paid by certain day, his prop
| erty will be sold to satisfy the claim. He
has not the full amount and is not permitted
| to pay it in installments; neither can he bor-
row it from the Legitimate loan agent, as
he does not loan in such small sums. He is
| therefore forced to go to the financial
agent" He is getting behind now. and the
| next thing he has to contend with is the
matter of his taxes. These he lets run unpaid
through the period where the legalized
usurous penalty more than doubles the
amount charged as a bonus by any money
! lender; and on to the point of sale aud dis
possession, when he goes to the only place on
] earth where he can obtain the money-to
| the financial agent''-wler he is accommO-
dated and allowed to repay the same at any
| time and in any sum from installnents of 81
| upward. Another case is that of
POOR MAN,
| who mortgaged his team for about half their
| value, dllO SnOftly dlIeTWdrUS. ny fG6SOQ Oh
| the death of one of the horses, was thrown
out of work. The contractor he worked for
would not buy him horse, and as he could
| find no Observation-Disclosures person who of
| fered anything beyond advice he, as a last
resort, visited his Financial agent" and
| upon stating his case and the prospects of
repayment he was promptly furnished with
Sl65 with which to buy another horse, and
| granted the customary permission OF repaying
| the loan at such times and in such sums rs
| he felt able. The commission charged in this
case was at the usual rate, and amounted to
SS.25.
If preventing honest people from being
'turned out of doors'' and if putting still
others on their feet in the avenues of their
| labor upon which their bread depends, is an
evil. 1t is certainly a magnificent and neees-
sary one. aud so long as the commissions al e
10 more inconsistent than at present., / pro-
nounce the system (fIom experience) the
poor mans friend. Let it live. K.
st. Paul, Aug. 10.