The Anaconda standard., 1898-12-11
The Art OF
Loan makinq

There is a place in New York where
a person who has no friends can bor-
row money. The story that follows
was told to a reporter by a man who
got loan of 800 when he did not
know any one in the city OF whom TO
borrow 25 cents:
II went to the place" he said. "and
said to the man at the desk, L want
s1oo.' He pulled blank from the pig
con hole and asked me my name. When
I had told him, he said: Tt won't cost
you as much as IL your name was
Johnson or Jackson or Brown or
smith When I asked him what that
had to do with 1t. he said: a good
deal. Yours Is an uncommon name. 1t
won't take long to find it in the rec
Smiths and Browns and Jacksons. 1t
will be 80 cents less to you, because
time is money. Where do you live?'
II gave him my address. and he put
II opposite my name. / have a small
apartment. and IL is not luxuriously
furnished. The man at the desk said
he would send a man to see it, and
a man came. looked through each
room. made a few notes on a card, ard
went away. AS he was leaving he
said: Call this afternoon 1t was
then noon. l called in the afternoon,
and the same man was at the desk.
and in the same position. The papers
on his desk looked as IL they had not
been molested since my first call. The
man at the desk acted almost auto
matically. As soon as / went in he
said: Have a seat. You want 500.
1t will cost you s607 for 60 days. and
you pay the interest when the note is
due. Our business Is strictly. conf
Dental. The bank discounts your pa
per from date. We don't. You pcy
the principal weekly. How much n
week can you pay?
II mentioned a small sum. He put
Il down and said: You won't be able
to pay all at that rate at the expira-
tion of the note. You will have to re-
new the loan at that time. And you
will pay the interest on the balance
due He asked several questions. but
no more than would he asked in an
ordinary transaction. I once had to
answer more when I wanted to open
an account at a store. The answers
to the questions We're written in their
respective blanks, and ! signed the
document. Then another document
was made out and signed that. | ac-
knowledged the facts set forth in the
foregoing Then the man folded the
paper, put II in a pigeonhole, counted
out 800. handed me the bills, said good
afternoon. and I walked out.
True. he held a chattel mortgage
for security. ] belonged to him. But
there was no obligation such as would
have been incurred If | had borrowed
the money from a friend. If / had had
one. II all seemed so easy that I Won
dered how it was done. one day I
was stranded. The next day j was
me "A "
who, IL hours before, did not know of
my existence. A man does not usually
stop 10 ask how he gets out of a hole,
as long as he knows he is out. But
am more curious than some.
Il learned that the day on which I
called a man almost followed me when
I left He went to the records. and.
as my name was an unusual one. he
quickly discovered that there was no
entry against me to indicate that I
was ever hard up. In fact, my name
was not there at all. The same man
learned. before I got home. that / liv-
ed there. He learned il from the jan
itor. from a grocer nearby, from the
druggist and from a nearby butcher.
| have reason to believe that he learn
ed something about my credit without
exciting the suspicion OF any OF whom
he inquired. And when l called at the
office from which he was sent the man
at the desk knew more of me than
anybody in town, for my grocer and
druggist and butcher did not know 7
was embarrassed. The stranger did.
And still ] was not satisfied. I went
back to the stranger and I asked: DO
you lend money with as much ease to
every one as you did to me?' If the
applicant is all right was the reply.
How do you know that?' I asked.
How do you know ! won't move MY