Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-09-02
mjrelins Register
PAWNBR0KING.
rHg HISTORY CT MONEY LRNDING FROM
EARLY TINES,
n. laws and the LOmbards Succeeded BY the hOnIs
4, Pists-Iutsrss6ng System on Which
The Institutions Of Paris Are
Conducted.


thsir inspired writers, the Jews have beer
,bs GREAT money Lenders Of the Western
,,orld 10 very early times they charged
;Dtsrsst only to Geutilee, but later they
Ion, unfortunately to whomsoeSer could
Give The security and pay the interest
thew demanded. They settled in England
md hsgsu 10 trade as early Is the middl,
Of the eighth century, and from that time
an their expulsion, 500 years later, they
advanced money to all in temporary need,
rcmthe kings downward, ut rate Of In
terest varying from 10 TO 80 per cent.
Hated and despised, the unhappy usurers
sometimes got the worst of the bargain,
and attempts at what may be called undue
avto,tion were punished with savage bar
bsr;ty that included not only the offender
IN, All the attainsble members 0fhis race,
81 the riot of 1864, which resulted IN the
Tnassacre OF 500 Jews, arose out OF an at
tsmpt of one of their body to extort more
than , per cent. weekly on debt OF E2O
Eleven years later an attempt was made
70 stamp ont money lending by making it
unlawful 10 accept any interest on money
advanced; bat this prohibition was III inef-
iectiye a. every subsequent attempt to do
awav with what Is proved
40 be an absolute necessity,
and the practice continued in def
ance of the law till, in 1890, all Jews were
sypelled from the kingdom. But, the Jews
gone. it was found impossible to conduct
sifsirs without the power of raising money
IN meet sudden emergencies, and the He
bregs were soon replsced by the far more
usurious Lombards, whose national arms,
three gold bezants on sable ground, were
hung out N n sign OF Lombard merchant
till. ~ q matter OF mere convenience, the
golden coins were replaced by the well
known golden balls.
The trade of money lending tor long re-
NAMED in the hands Of these people, who
have enriched our language by the words
..1sotor." creditor" bank" bank
rrnt - cash" "usance," journal, 1"
"dlary =" ledger" ditto, " and the fsmil-
lar formula, { 5. d.-the initial letters of
their coinage, lire, sOldi, densri, it may be
concluded that the trade remained with
the Lombards in France also, for pawn
shops were called Lombards up to the time
that they were extinguished by the Monts
lie Pete.
In Italy, as we'll as in the North, the
mouey-lenders, whether Jews or Lom-
blrds, traded numerically on the necessi-
ties of the poor, till in the middle OF the
fifteenth century the pitiable condition OF
their victims in Perugia 80 reused the
charity and indignation of one Bsrnabo de
TERM. q Franciscan monk, that he pre-
vailed on certain rich and charitable citi-
ems 10 found a charitable bank. The re-
hef afforded by this charity was immense.
Great vas the ruin OF the money-lenderS,
and the bank continued to produce such
happy results that in 1879 Pope Sextus
~. founded and endowed similar insti-
tution ia has native city OF Sayona, and
nine years later the wealthy citizens OF
Cessna ADD Mantua afforded like relief
for their poorer fellow -townsmen.
TIE tame of these Monti dI Pieta spread
quickly. Holland WAS the first country
to profit by the Italian example, and IN
1865 Amsterdam led the way with the
first of the hundred pawners' banks that
nov benefit the little kingdom.
France, the country which we now pre-
eminently associate with MOntS de Pete,
was slow in following the lead OF Italy.
AvIgaon made tue first attempt, then one
OF two other provincial towns, bat the
famous Mont de Pete of Paris was not
founded until III
Some proofs OF the class of persons who
at that time patrOnIzst the Mont de Piete
can be- gained from the ct that, during
the twelve years between it's creation aud
the outbreak of the revolution. the aver
aye value Of the pledges was ~ francs %
continues double the average value Of the
pledges OF to-day, without making allow
ance tor the difference in valu5 IN money.
Interest was fixed at I'D per cent. per an
nun, and about 16,OOO,OOO hvres. were
lent yearly; and independent OF the
revenue it yielded to the hos
pjtalJ IN which il Was and still Is
afilIatedl the MOnt de Pete WAS able in
the snort space of fifteen years to bay, not
only the houses it had hired, but a large
mansion with garden backing on 10 Its
quarters in the Roe dee Bianes MOnteauX,
aad facing the street now called Dee
Francs Bourgeois, better known in Fog
land by Its old title, Rae du PAradis. Ga
this large site the institution built that
great structure, larger than our general
postoflice and five stories high, which Is to
this day the headquarters and chief store
mouse of the Paris Mont de Pete.
The Monts de Pete OF France, though
not State institutions, enjoy government
protection, being monopoly recognized
by law As works OF public utility, and IN
no town eau one be established without
the sanction of the president OF the repub,
lie aud the consent of the local municipal
council. Each town fixes its own rate o.
interest, which varies from II per cent. a;
the newly established Bank of DuukerquG
to5, 1 or even to nothing Ia few favored
places which have been enriched
by gifts and legacisS. Each town
also decides on the minimum
sum it will adganc4 to its borrowers, which
10 Oas or two places is as high rs Six francs,
ia others one franc, but usually fixed, rs IN
Paris, AZ three francs The councils have
ALTO power to limit the maximum loans,
nut only 10 out of Is centers have availed
themselves OF this power. In Paris lO,OOt
francs is the highest sumtoaned at the heaS
office, and 500 francs the nominal, but Of
NoI CAGcclcu, uhdNAuuu pcAhAAb'NA o%s eN'
sueeur sales.
Few Monts de Pete possess much CAPT
tai, many of them none; and their funds
are largely raised By the issue of bonds al
abOut 3 per cent interest, an investment
50 popular with small capitalists that IN
May, 1856, the Paris Mont de Piets wa
obliged to refuse new shareholders; and II
WAS found that q further capital OF from
81 To 40 millions could easily have beer
obtained, even at lowered interest, had il
betn needed.
Originally the Monts de Pete were
affiliated to the hospitals. and were
obliged to hand over their profits to those
Institutions, but the great majority have
now asserted their independence aud de-
vote their surplus to their own endowment,
With result that they are able to Offer
theif loans on perpetually decreasing in
terest Paris is one OF the three banks
which still has 20 hand over its surplus