The St. Johns herald., 1896-01-25
USURIOUS DESPOTISM-
Shylcck Methods Employed by
 Berlin Money Lenders
Thousands of Prussians Driven to Ruin or Fxsie Every Xcar-Marry- ing for Mercy the
 Soie KemeAy.

All J;crlin s;ghs under the despotism of-uslry. The government, or at least the pillars of the government siqh and suffer the most. For the past six months one huge trial for osury has followed another, and the end IS not vet. Tn one of these trials last fall, says the San Francisco Argonaut, there were no less than one hundred and twenty-scvcn defendants, and the num- Der of witnesses amounted to nearly four hundred. A n1mber of the worst ,surcrs have been found guilty ana sentenced to terms of Imprisonment ranring from six months upward to seven years. besides heavy fines Tn money. Quite a number of the shrcwd- est and most dangerous had to be ac' quilted fol lack of proof The young capital of the new German empire will rclnain the most usury-ridden city Tn the world. where the vaTnpircism of lerion of Shyiocl1s steadily sucks the a1ifc-blood Of the higher as well as lower w,iasscs. and drives annually hundreds and thousands into ruin CT into exile.
 The cause i; expressed by the un- transferable word 'standerstrueclzsich- ten" by which is meant the thou sand and one considera rations which Germans deem due to their rank or station in life. Prussia is poor coun- try. even to-day, after amaigamatlng into it's domain large districts of more fertile and wealthier regions, such as Nassau. IIcsse-CaGscl, districts in Han- over and by the Rhine. The Prussian mobility is the poorest of any civilized country, with the single exception of Italian. But the Prussian nooil1ty' nevertheless, is as proud as Inc Spanish. vastly prouder than the British. Their povcrty now and their claims to consideration, their station in life, their prominent position in the state lead to ncver-ceasing conflict. Thelr peculiar code of honor forbids them to engage in money making pursuits, least of all in trade or commerce, and nothing is left them to live in accord ancc with the cast-iron notions of thelr mind but either to enter the army as professional soldiers, to enter the gov crmcnt employ, or else to till the mea- ger patcrnal acres.
 The latter occupation-which used to furnish to brothers, cousins and sons ot such agricultural noblemcn the secret wherewithal to live standesgcsmaes Ci' e., according to their rank in Berlin or elsewhere-is becoming less and less profitable, owing to cheap American and East Indian wheat, cheap Russian rye. and cheap Australian meat. And the pay of Prussian army officers or government employees is still so wholly inadeouate that it does not suffice even the most modest expectations up to the age of forty or so.
 A money marriage" is the sole rem edv left them to adjust their affairs under normal conditions; but money marriages" too, arc becoming less and less frequent, since the number o1 claimants to each wealthy girls hand is yearly becoming larger. The hunt for an American heiress or Tor some other exotic goldfish" is hence men toned il the lexicon of these unea viable young men as the dernie' ressort. This rapid pen picture of tho actual conditions confronting nine tenths of the young Prussian nobles or entering life is by no means complete ] But it will serve to show why tho usurer in Berlin has become power of the first magnitude.
 Each year scores of cases occur II Berlin of young hopefuls ending theil brief butterfly existence by well directed bullet; of despairing father quitting the service of that state t' which they had devoted the best years of their life at'a personal and financia sacrifice; of middle-aged men disappear ing (and often turning up again Il miserable guise in some transatlanti
 country) from their old-timc haunts ard all this because the usurer at las has drawn the net close about them And the number of poor, dowcrles
 girls, of sisters and brides of thes
 same young men, girls who of the1 own free choice abandon every hop
 of wifehood and motherhood simply t
 enable their lords of the other sex
 their brothers in most cases, to cut
 figure for a time, to live standesge
 macs, is fairly innunerable. Thes
 poor girls, silent, accomplishing vic
 tims of hoary prejudice, are the req
 heroines in these tragedies of llfl
 That is why Berlin is honeycombe
 with usury, and that is why usury is
 regular profession-or, rather, fin art.