The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-17

GOVERNMENT PA,vNBRoKlNe.
y Foreign Idea Thai slight Work Well

4 Foreign Idea That slight Work Well
Here.
Pawnbroking, as practiced in Italy,
France and some other countries, might
be adopted by the United States to good
purpose. 1t is there used as a help TO
people in need Of money instead of a
source of wealth to individuals. Some
time in the fifteenth century an Italian
priest established bawnship at Rome,
where the poor could obtain temporary
relief by parting with small articles,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by the payment of
trifie above the sum loaned. After a
time the government took up the work,
establishing the head Office at Rome on
q hill called the Mount of Piety,"
whence the institution took its name
pMonte de Piete." Loans are made on
anything portable and not perisha bic,
such as jewelry, precious stones, plate,
clothing, tools, implements. household
goods, musical instruments and even
trihes whose value is more than live
cents, the smallest sum loaned. The
most common articles in pawn, because
the most easily spared, are the carnival
costumes deposited after the sport is
over.
A small sum is obtained, the garments
are well cared for and the owners re-
deem them at the opening of the next
Season, and this course is pursued as
long as the garments hold together.
The French government, recognizing
Che importance of such system, adopt
ed It, with its name, many years later.
For more than a hundred years 1t has
been successfully carried on at Paris,
with a large central Office and bureaus
or branches, one in each of the twenty
wards. By law, no other pawnbrol1ing
esta blishment can exist The rate of
interest is seven per cent. per annum,
and the gross expense to the borrower
who obtains loan made for one year,
with the privilege of redemption at any
time b. paying the principal and in
ferest for actual time expired plus
small charge for storage and release,
must not exceed ten per cent. If not
redeemed in one year the borrower can
get extension by paying the interest,
but the longest extension is one year.
At the expiration of that time, the
goods are sold at public auction and the
money received in excess of the sum
borrowed, with interest and charges,
Is kept by the administration of the
Monte de Pete, subject to the demand
of the borrowers. Loans as small as
one franc G94 cents are made, and
there is no limit to the maximum Of
loan. Preference, however, is given to
small borrowers, for whom the institu-
ton was founded. The profits, which
are enormous, are divided unequally
between the institution and the Paris
poor, a snail proportion being set apart
each year to increase the reserve fund,
which is also used for loaning, and the
remainder wisely used by the govern
mental board of charities.
Although each pawned article is care
fully examined and appraised, and an
honest return is made the borrower,
many attempts have been made to
cheat the administration. One of the
most successful was the passing off or
plated jewelry for solid metal, thereby
obtaining larger sum One swindler,
relying upon the law that every object
made Of gold must be plainly stamped
with the karat mark, bought an 1S-kar-
at chain, detached the swivel bearing
the government karat stamp and put it
on a plated chain, which was carried to
the pawnshop. The unsuspecting clerk
gagged its value by the stamp and its
weight. In the course Of time the trick
was discovered, and acids have since
been used to test the metal.
Many families in Paris live in a hand
to-mouth manner, although economy is
the distinctive trait of the Partisan.
On Saturday the husband receives his
wages, which are entirely gone by
Wednesday or Thursday. The wife
then comes to the rescue and pawnS her
best gown, or if that be already depos-
tied, her cloak bears it company. Less
fortunate people part with household
utensils and dishes pots, kettles. tools,
mirrors and even the baby's cradle fur
nishes the money necessary to finish
out the week. The oldest pawn on
record is cork leg, which was put up
- by an impecunious fellow who un-
screwed the leg. deposited it on the
counter, received five dollars and hob
bled away by the aid of cane.-Boston
Transcript.