Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-10-23

Tor the past nifty years, and for which the
| interest and expenses havelong ago eaten
up the material value Of the gage. These
renewals denote, In most cases, that the
borrower, or his descendants, has always
had the secret hope of redeeming his pawn,
| and, while he has raised enough money to
| pay the annual interest, he has never sue
| ceeded in amassing enough TO recover the
article.
The value Of the objects offered for pawn
Is estimated by coDaDlfssGtrcs-p rtseurs, or of
fetal auctioneers and appraisers, highly
privileged body like the notaries and stock
brokers. There are eighty Of these apprais-
ers in Paris, and they have charge Of all
public sales. Fourteen of these eighty are
specially detailed for the Mont-dc- Pete They
receive two per cent. on their valuations
and three per cent on the sales-all of
which Is paid by the borrowers; but when
the articles pledged and unredeemed are
sold, II they do not bring the estimated
price, the appraisers are responsible for
the difference. This responsibility makes
them careful to estimate the article pledged
at much lower price than it is really
worth One OF the evil consequences of
this differentiation Is to drive away Gus
toners, thus compelling them to resort to
the clandestine usurers and sharpers, who
pawn tickets. Here is how the matter
works: A man in needy circumstances takes
to the Mort-dc- Pete an article which he ex-
poets win procure him loan, say, of so.
The appraiser offers him $12. Having alb
solute need of the other IS, he carries lis
pawn ticket to q broconteur, q sort OF broker,
who buys it; but, as the borrower does not
wish to part entirely with his ticket, hoping
some day to redeem the object pledged, he
sells it to the broker a rcIneTc, that Is to say,
with power Of redemption. This fictitious
sale Is made TO get around the law, which
prohibits any one except the Mont-de-Piete
to lend upon gage. The broker says to the
borrower: 81 will keep the pawn ticket In
my safe for nine months; if, at the end of
that time, you do not buy it back. will sell
It." Only, if he sells it back to its owner,
he adds on 10 or - per cent. interest q
month to the sum advanced. It generally
happens that the poor borrower is unable to
buy back his ticket; in which case the
broker keeps it until the end of the year
and collects the difference on the article
when 1t is sold, or he redeems the object
from pawn and sells it himself, thereby get
ting usurious interest on his money and
making profit on the article.
These pawn-ticket brokers have largely
increased in number during the past eight
years, and now there is at least one, and
sometimes more, by the side Of or near
every branch Office Of the Aont-dc- Picts
A great many Of them deal in the articles
they redeem from pawn or buy at the
auction sales. Several of them have their
store-fronts painted in blood-red color, prob
ably as a symbol Of the blood they suck
from the unhappy wretches who fall into
their hands. The windows Of these brokers
are full of diamonds and other jewels, each
object being ticketed as having cost so much
but will be sold so much less, as it was
bought from the DfOnt-de Pete.
The number of loans annually made by
the Nont-de- Pietc is about $780, 600; of this
total $780, 700 are productive and the rest
cause loss. There are no profits, strictly
speaking, for the concern. It pays a fixed
rate of interest for the money it borrows;
then the surplus Of its receipts, after the
payment of this interest and the working
expenses, is handed over to the public
charity fund. Last year this balance was
sos, 600.