The Washington times., 1902-08-18
Would Rather Owe Lend
er Than Tradesnen
or Friends.
HOW LOANS ARE SECURED
Notes Signed by Some Friend Who
Holds Position of Trust = Salaried
Position All That Is Otherwise Re-
quired in Order to Get Loan.

Why do men borrow money!" was
asked of a local money lender by
Times representative yesterday.
I'm order to get out of debt" A
paradoxical answer, you say, but not a
bit of it,
The money lender then went on TO
say that he was not familiar with the
chattel mortgage business, that he and
his friends loaned money on notes
signed by salaried employees. and that
in most of the cases the men who bor-
rowed money did so that they might
pay off other debts.
"A man." said he. prefers to owe
money TO money lender than to his
renting agent. his butcher or his milk
man. He lets little bills go by till they
pile up, and then he wants to save his
household credit. He does it b. bor-
rowing money from money lender.
He takes the money that he gets from
me or from some one else in the busi-
ness. brings it home and pays his house
debts with it. Many men borrow money
so that they can pay eff their office
ters with their doctor. or their lawyer.
oi their insurance company.
Seldom Borrow for Sporting.
THE idea that many men go to
money lenders so that they can get
money to spend on horse races and
pleasures of one sort and another is
unfoundcd. Most of the borrowers bor-
row to save their credit. and we would
rather lend money for such a purpose
lhan for throwing it away. Men get to
money go after bad In speculation or
dissipation, and they do not ask for
money on those grounds. Next 10 the
plea that they must have money with
which to run The house or the office.
misfortune comes as the most pressing
Plea for money. Death. sickness ani
cuts in salary cannot be avoided. ana
when any one of them comes along the
nan who has to have money looks up a
money lender.
tells IS true? We don't know If We
old we would rot have our safety de-
Losit vaults filled with worthless paper.
with notes that are not worth half the
Taper they ere written on. Tha onlj
safeguard we have is the tab systeri.
not many IeoI,e know about that. but
Il is all that starGs between us an
! anl;I uptcy."
TIL, operation of this system: WAS de-
scribed as follows:
How the System Operates.
When man comes in and asks for
loan he signs an application blank
This tells where he is employed, what
his family consists OF. how much prop |
erty he has. and other items OF infor-
nation which are of value 10 the man
who is going TO lend money Then the |
office investigator gees out and looks |
up the references the would-b borrower
gives, and If these are satisfactory the |
investigator reports that the loan seems |
10 be good one. Then the name of the |
man who wants TO borrow and the |
amount that he would like TO get are
placed on slip of paper, and each day
an agent hired by all the money lenders |
in common takes this slip to all The
other money lenders. Each one looks |
up the name on his books. If he finds
that the man who wants to borrow from
another lender owes money already he
is in duty bound to tell the agent so.
and he carries his information to the
Office of the man al which the applica-
tion for the loan is on file
The lenders agree to give no money
TO men who already owe money unless
the man to whom the money is owed
will agree to the transaction This is
as much part of the money lending
business as the sign on the door.
1T is all that keeps everybody in
town out of the business" said another