The Topeka state journal., 1897-06-25
MRS. LEASES SAY
She Tells the Complete Story of
Her Home
And Her Fight With the Mort
gage Companies
IF A MARTYR NEEDED
Mrs. Lease is Willing to Be
That Martyr
For the Purpose of Stopping
IF A MARTYR NEEDED
For the Purpose of Stopping
Hated Personal Judgments.

Wichita, June 25.-MrS- Mary H4--zl'e
writes the following letter to the befA-
con;
When the slave-holding aristocracy OF
this country. with its cruelty, its ar
rogance and selfishness, was suDdueu'
a fervent thank God went up from eve
~ pat4-iot'e ups for they believed the
republic has passed its cruelest test
But time has demonstrated that the
victory over the STAKEHOLDER was not
such a great victory after all. since the
methods used by the slave-hOld1ng ar
istocracy to live upon the toll OF otIle-9 llr
have been adopted by more o<aI4el
Gus element in our national life known
as land, loan and mortgage cOLIpAIlASS-
These examinations with headQ uarl le45
eeneralIv in New York Boston, and
London have their Outposts ana ranl-
ficatiOnS in every western town anu
hamlet, controlling state leSlslaIloh
whenever practicable ana pOSS4Ol0'
having as their allies the selfish par
tisau office-seekers and with scarcely
an exception that class of middle-men'
VINO rob without cOmpunctiOn the pro
t3uce1s of the west and while protesting
1t is solely in the interests of the wild
ows ana orphans of the east" (over
whom they shed crOcOd1Ie teafS), eLIlch
themselves BY a system Of commission
and interest on loans that would put
ShylOck to shame
The system of robbery practiced by
the Jarvis COnklin Mortgage company
the Western Loan and Trust company
and other Syndicates OF SlmlIar opera
tive tactics, has heaped such nanl1est
Injustice upon the people of the west
that they are entering a protest at the
ballot box against the men ana nleth-
DDS that have been fOstered and per
petuated by the party OF trusts anu
COrDora tiOns-the Republican party.
Hence it is that in the west there IS a
breaking up of the waters OF the great
political deep. an alignment Of forces
that shall drive out OF our DOrdeTS ana
destroy as completely the money mon
opOly as was the slave monopoly de-
stroyed by the men who wore the pIue-
The men and women who braVed the
dangers and endured the privatIOn or
frontier life to develop the great west
will not always submit to that injustice
which has made New YORK, FnlIau6l-
phia and Boston the great money cen
tiers of the nation, and has placed 9O per
cent of the property of the country IN
the hands of a few men VINO buy ieS1s-
Ia tiOu and public office and sell PUBIC
hOnorS, as boldly as the BraetOrlaR
guards sold the purple of the imperial
city of Claudius or Galba. They will
got always submit to that high-handed
injustice which gives eastern ShylOckS
money at , per cent, and permits them
to loan il out to the Wealth-producerS
of the west and south at 10 per cent IN
cut-thrOat mortgages
It has been said that the more 1Snor-
ant the masses the more submissive
they are TO the eXactiOns and abuses or
power, but here in the west nature has
been SO bountiful, and the robbery per
petrated on the people has been con-
Quoted so SpeciOusly and adrOltly, that
while the people are intelligent to a
marked degree, they were for a long
time scarce conscious that they We're
being robbed 1 have no sympathy with
that class Of people who are transform
ed by the alchemy OF debt into an in
jured class who seek to avoid by any
pretense whatever the paying of the
last faTthing Of a just debt. The per
cent of such debtors in the west is in
finitesimaly small But there IS
larger class. who came here with faith
anu hope sublime, to delve their
bread from stubbOrn-prairie soil; who
left the amenities of civilization to win
a home for loved ones who were depriV-
ed by legislation Of an adequate supply
Of that most important tool OF trade
mOney-and who, in order to build
home, was compelled TO borrow at rates
of interest higher than the profits of
their productive energies. What can be
said of the ShylOck methods of the loan
companies in dealing with this class,
without whose toll and enterprise the
west would yet be an unbrOken wilder
ness o fprairie bloom?
1t has been said that the one thing
necessary to induce the people to throw
off a burden that has become Oppress-
i've IS that they should know the
method by which such burdens have
been placed upon them.
Knowing, they Will care.
In nearly every instance the loans
upon western homes and farms have
been made for One-third the valuation
of the property as appraised by the
agents of the loan company. In nearly
every instance, after the interest has
been paid seni-annually for several
years. after a generous slice has been
deducted by the company as commits
sion Of their middlemen, after the con-
tract has been changed by a change in
Lne monetary system, entailing loss and
hardship to the debtors because of the
consequent decrease in the price of la
Dor after improvements have been
made to the amount of thousands of
collars in buildings, planting trees and
IN various improvements the loan com
panles refuse to renew and proceed to
take possession, not of one-third the
property upon which they loaned one
third valuation, but thev take bv a legal
process that is a stigma upon our civ
lhzation and a disgrace to the ReDub-
.lcan 1-s5 party mat perpetrated it, the two
farm with all its cultivation and 1a1re1
opment; take the home with all its i'm
proVements, and, not satisfied then for
human greed is never satiated they Inv
it in themselves at their own pricas 49,
obtain and fasten upon the unfortunate
debtor the milestone of debt-a iude-
Tnent for the balance Ye gods! Think
of it,
They are in possession of the toll of a
nIetlme' the Improvements of years.
the result Of jugglery of simple and
compound interest for years, the inn
proved One-thIrd of the property uDOn
which they loaned the money. the two
thirds equity belonging to the debtor.
ana to crown this infamous robbery
they demand and obtain under our un-
Just legislation a judgment for the bal
aHce. balance of what? The balance
OF your life, you fool
10 you not know the Republican
party substituted Industrial slavery for
tne chattel slavery of the south? Do
YOU Know that Wendell Phillips the
sLe9t champion OF human liberty, lifted
up MS voice and said: Yes. the war
IS over It has cost US a great price in
pIood and treasure. But we have gained
nUthiag- Inc money power has gained
ALL and ten times more than the slave