Evening star., 1896-06-27

may be accommodated. The would-be bor-
rover presents his pawn at the appropriate
place and states how much he desires to
obtain on 1t. The article is at once turned
ever to a sworn appraiser to determine If
the article would bring, IL sold at auction
at the expiration of the loan time, an
amount equal to the sum requested plus
the interest and cost of selling If the
sum is within the appraised value well
and good; II In excess, it Is so stated and
the maximum loan allowable is given
This amount must be accepted or declined,
since there Is no person to whom an ap-
peal can be made.
If the loan can be effected the clerk en-
ters on one section of a ticket made I'D of
three parts the date, the serial number Of
the application. which is also the number
Of the article and it's only name as long as
it remains in the bank or in it's accounts
the name Of the applicant, the amount of
the loan ag-eed to- and the appraised value
of the pawn. The owner gives ND his pawn
and in return receives this ticket, which he
next presents at the cashiers desk, where
the second section is filled up with items
duplicating the first; the first section is
torn off and the money. together with sec
tions two and three, handed to the claim
ant. The pawn Is safely stored away in
the central magazine. The entire transac-
ton is open, because there are no steps in
the proceedings which could be character
lied as wrong or even questionable. A
poor man is simply borrowing money and
placing as security such collateral as he
may have.
Redeeming the Pledge.
When a borrower wishes to redeem his
pawn he goes to the bank or branch where
the loan was made and surrenders the sec
ond section of the ticket. This contains
sufficient information to enable the officials
to find the article. Then in three days the
owner returns, signs the receipt which con-
stitutes the third section of the ticket and
RECEIVERS possession of his property, after
having paid tie interest and the amount
borrowed If the time of redemption finds
the borrower unable to refund the advance.
he must call for his pawn. have 1t reap
praised for fear of possible deterioration,
pay the int est, adjust any untoward dis
crepancy in the two valuations and re-
ceive a new set of tickets.
Since many of the patrons of such banks
are lacking in education and are SuSp1-
cious even of the friends who are trying to
assist them when in want it has been
found advisable to have printed on the
back of the two sections which are retain
ed by the borrower an interest table, CIV
ing the interest fiorins and fractional
parts of a fiorin from one day to thirty
days.
Sold in Default.
These two sections also contain explicit
Information as to what should be done In
case the property is sold in default of re-
demption. That is, if pawn is sold at
price in excess of all charges against it, the
excess is placed to the credit of the former
owner and can be recovered by him at any
time within two years. But if the selling
price should be less than the charges. the
deficit must be made good by the apprais-
ers. This rule insures careful valuation
and prevents any favoritism. as well as
the danger Of collusicn between thieves
and appraisers.
1t has been charged that dealers in junk
and old clothes were regular patrons Of
these banks. and a source of loss to them.
That these men polished up old wares
bought for trife, and brushed and mended
vermont suits simply that these articles
might favOrably impress the appraisers
when loans were asked: that these paWnS
were never redeemed. and when sold a de-
ficit would inevitably occur. That this can
not he true is seen in the fact that less than
4 per cent of the pawns fall under the auc-
tioneer'S hammer Again It was said that
many articles were placed i'll pawn, al
lowed to pass to the auction room, and
bought back by the orisina! owner for
sum less than that for which they stood
pledged. but this must occur but seldom.
since the deficits in the eleven banks which
were investigated amounted in one year to
only s61.76
These banks. being under municipal con-
troll. are always open to the police when
searching for stolen goods, but such goods
when found cannot be seized at once. own
ership must be proved in court; then, after
the owner recoyers his property. However,
if the thief is caught and convicted, a trans
cript of the verdict is accepted by the bank
an order to relinquish all claim to the
article in question. In such instances the
bank loses, but the sentence of the court
includes sufficient number of days at hard
labor to reimburse the city for this loss.
Cautious About Stolen Goods.
This source of danger naturally causes
the banks to be careful not to accept any
thing which seems to be out of keeping with
the person offering it as pledge. They
may in such cases refuse to make a loan or
demand proof of ownership. Beyond this
they cannot go. The low rate of interest
charged gives them too small a margin to
support d corps of detectives or delay very
long over any single transaction.
In case a ticket is lost, a duplicate can
be obtained by the owner making affidavit
to that effect. accompanied by security that
both the original and duplicate claims will
not be made, should more valuable goods
be at stake. The greatest source Of trouble
arises from the acts of drunken men. They
exchange their tickets for drink, forget this
transaction, and afterward believing that
they lost the tickets, ask for duplicates. In
such cases the originals are usually pre-
sented before the duplicates can be asked
for.
When a ticket is presented, the bank as
sumes that the holder is the one who OBJ
tanned the loan and consequently is it's
rightful owner. The borrower is the IA
vored person and must guard his proof of
ownership: if he fails to do the loss
should fall on him.
In Amsterdam alone last year the loan
ing banks made 395, ,4}5 loans. a fact which
surely warrants the directors in calling
them institutions for public good"
]. H. GORE.
A NEW PEOPLE FOUND IN EUROPE.