Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-27
ALIEN LAND LAW.
Principal Beneficiarles, Note
Shearers and Sharks.
A KIND OF UPHILL BUSINESS
A Missouri Man Gives an Experience that
10 Not Likely to Be Presented by the
Defenders OF the New Law.
Once Lived in Texas.
KANSAS CITY, No. Aug. 8, 1891.

L SCC tRldb lIt HUGH COIuSllnetl dLlpn L2nQ
law, recently enacted in Texas, is now hav-
ing chance TO be heard, and that the de.
tenders are coming forward and saying that
they would not have it repealed The law
may be repealed or not so far rs I am con-
cerred, and it makes little difference TO me,
personally, but as l lived in Texas for nearly
twenty years, and have much regard for
the welfare of the state, would like 10 say
few words which are pertinent to the syn
iect, and show by my own experience Eide
OF the subject which those who defend the
law are not likely to present
When | landed in Texas and first fried u
secure a homestead, found that foda poor
man it was uphill work. That whileN wHs
easy to run in debt for whisky and groceries
without being in mercantile business was
next TO an impossibility. hunted around
time and again for some necessary accom-
modations, and finally found that the money
loaning interests of the state, outside of the
small capital of the banks, was limited TO
what l call 2 per cent per month sharks.
This term does not need much explanation,
as the shark l allude to is still doing bust
ness IN most of the principal towns of the
state. The land loanirg syndicate came in
with cheaper money, and by using it Eber-
ally on land securities, reduced the shark
rate OF interest to some extent, and placed
some securities out OF his reach. busthe
alien land law will drive out the foS A-
syndicate and restore the ancient opp& btu
mites OF the aforesaid shark. paid 2SDer
cent per month on borrowed money Nor
seven years. l paid Is per cent per annum
for i've years. I paid II per cent for
tve years and ] am now paying Gil l2SR
at the rate OF per cent per annulF oI
which the foreign syndicate gets S-6er
cent as interest, and the citizen of Texas
who acts as agent and protects the loan.
gets per cent. 1t is the lowest rate
know OF in Texas and enabled me TO ac-
quire property which | never could have
obtained without cheap money, and l call 9
per cent money cheap after having paid
nearly three times as much. l was FORUM
ate enough TO get out of the hands OF tlhr
sharks befo- he alien land law was enacted
Now, Of cou.>e, it is q very good thing to-
keep the syrGicates from gobbling up al
the lands in TeXaS-and if they can ~
kept from doing so by some wholcsomefe-
strictions have no objections, but it ap-
pears to me that for tho present the
beueticlarieS of the law are not the people,
but the sharks.
1t was in 1874 that I came in from the
Western ranges and stopped for q day or
TWO at Weatherford. While there l was
introduced to an attorney who had not
much practice but who told me that with
$4,000 capital he succeeded in making about
Sl4OO per year by shaving notes. l remenl-
Der later an instance where good vendors
lien note TO run one year, and with face
value of $1,000 ard 10 per cent interest. WA.
sold (after trying every bank in townlsto
Fort Worth shark for $500 cash, DISCOUNT
which is somewhere near the DutchmaAS
per cent. eSzfAe
remember also n gentleman aYfvinS
from Kentucky who had every intedtiopSf
legitimate business and grow
ing up with the country, but he had good
capital and before he was in Texas a month
ne was buying up securities and shaving
notes for living. There was no BecessiL -
for him to go into business
In every town in Texas there are certain
men who are simple usurers, shaving notes
drawing interest. They toll not neither do
they spin. They are no earthly use but to
Impoverish a community. and they are, as
before observed, the benefciaries of the
alien land law. They do not care what the,1
legislature says about the rate of interest
and they buy 1.-The stuff for what it wiz
bring upon the market. Compared with
them foreign land syndicates are blesS<l
ng, notwithstanding they must hafe@
security for tho money. Tho panss
If Texas have made consider
able money and charged at times
more than the legal rate, but the banks |
nave sustained commercial interests faiths
ully, and did so when plenty of mpffey |
'Npio ho'O b1OiA iAlsiuC W IclSluS
,ial interests take care OF themselves.
Their rates also were influenced by the land |
mortgage companies, but they did not have |
ar to come down. Texas has an abundance |
II land, 1t has law eXempting 200 acres /
rom execution; il debt is on land it is |
ither for part of the purchase money or for |
and in excess Of the homestead. It is |
eldom that a loan is for more than one |,
lalf the value of the land, and generally !
or one-third of the value; the rate is the |
owest IN the state. The companies want |
he interest, not the land or the principal; |
hey never foreclose unless forced to do so,
nd the land loaning companies have done /
lore to develop the state than all other
2encies except railroads combined
| read in paper the other day very |
oolish statement. 1t was in effect: Gap
talists loan money on one-third of the land
I per cent. Farming pays per centre
ult. ruin" VINO told the man that Texas |
arming paid 1nly per cent? There are |
undreds of farmers who live in the coun-
~ tributary to Fort Worth who have paid |
Or all their cultivated land in one crop sea-
on, and The GAZETTE can find them and
rove 1t. These loans have enabled people |
Tho had no homes to secure them and build
ouses over themselves and secure grub |
nd necesSarles. 1t may be hard |
nd troublesome to pay back Dor |
owed money with interest, and
o one has found 1t more so than |, but it is |
etter to do so than to have nothing and be- |
othihg, and very much better to pay low |
ate to q foreigner who does not want the |
md than "A high rate to q citizen who don't |
ant it either.
In conclusion l will say further that the |
ate of Texas may consider that it is a |
rand thing to do to sell land to foreign |
indicates and then legislate the land away
gain, but it will not add to the reputation
the state 1t looks to me that when the |
ate adopts methods of confiscation it is
me for this state to turn loose the con-
cts and criminals. The state cannot act |
Ie thief without being charged with theft,
I'd it looks very much to-day as if the Lone |
tar OF Texas, under which my children |
ere born, ought not for the present to |
low its face in decent society
Understand that Wall street will be in
ted to furnish the money to take the |
ace of foreign capital. Such an in
tation would not be accepted Wall street |
curities would like to be listed in foreign
changes. Wall street has no money to
are and certainly not for securities which | ,
nnot be negotiated in any market
l have no more desire to see Texas in the ,
nds OF foreign syndicates than any advo- /
te of the bill, but from what can learn of it ,
ere is a serious mistake in its provisions.
have no desire, except for good pur- {
sc, to say anything against the usurer who $
n get per cent or any other excessive i
to for the money. | am in full sympathy | !
tn taking all the traffic will bear. 1t is
siness to do so, but have very little |
mpathy with legislature which will dis !
nor the state On the one hand and blum 6