The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-23
AFTER MONEY LENDERS
MANY INSTANCES CITED IN WHICH IGNORANT NEGROES
 HAVE BEEN IMPOSED UPON
Some Suggestions Regarding the Best Methods of Breaking Up Prac- tices Which are tothe Detri-
 ment of City and State.
Charleston News and courier,

tectiVe ABsOclauon, talked 10 a reporter
 for The News and Courier yesterday Tn
 a most interesting manner regarding the protests which have been made recently against the loan offices. Mr. Nathans
 gave many interesting facts which have
 come to his attention and made some suggestions that will aid materially in solving problems that are universally ad-
 mitted to be decidedly vexed just now
 Mir. Nathans said:
 since the attention of the citizens of Charleston has been drawn to the out | rages which have been perpetrated on the ignorant negroes by the so-called loan offices there has been a consensus of opinion that active steps should be im- mediately taken to suppress this evil. City Council at it's meeting Tuesday even- ing introduced an ordinance which will have the effect of regulating the loan of- tee business and eventually suppress
 ing s,rs. 1t, v,,,.. n.,.
 sociation has interested itself in the | movement. and as the result of its work good has already been accomplished. If the citizens of Charleston will cooperate with the Association its work will drive the loan offices from this city, as they
 have been driven from other towns. Al- most all of these concerns are owned l by non-residents and conducted through resident managers. This means that from
 $500 to S,e00 month is sent away from this city. The class from which this money is taken are the laboring negroes, | men and women, who thus pay into the hands of the nonresident usurer money which should be spent with the grocery man, butcher and baker, and thus get back into circulation in the community 1 from whence it comes. I know of an in- stance where the receipts of an uptown grocery man up to six months ago aver | aged on Saturday nights about ESQ The receipts suddenly began to decrease and | two weeks ago he was compelled to close up. Upon investigation into the cause he discovered that almost all of his GUS l toners were entagled in the loan office net, and 1t took the major part of their
 weekly earnings to pay interest on mon eys borrowed.
 The question might be asked why
 should the business be so suddenly affect- ed. There are two reasons which can be given: First. the loan offices have recent iy become very active. They have sent agents and collectors out seeking bus-
 ness and encouraging everybody to bor- 1 row. In this way the number of borrow- CTS has increased enormously in the last few months and evil results are being
 more generally felt. Second. the loan offices have been in existence here long enough to have secured sufficient money from their first customers to satisfy 1 their idea of what the original loan | should earn; viz. from 1000 to 2.000 per cent and. realizing that no more interest
 can be forced out of them are now seiz- ing their debtors property to pay the principal. This is causing widespread dis
 tress and the cry is just reaching the ear of the public.
 Fear is the chief weapon in the hands of these men. The method of charging interest has already been explained in your columns, so the method of collect Ing 1t will be here dealt with.
 Every negro to whom a loan is made Is first required to sign an application,
 wherein he states the security to be giv-
 en. and further certifies that there is no
 every case this is false and it's falsity is
 well known to the lender In fact even if the borrower states that there are oth- CT mortgages on the property he is told that 1t makes no dlfference that he must
 sigr the certificate. as 1t is mere mat te" of form. Having thus made his victim ! party to fraud he keeps quiet until the payments begin 10 be slow, end then informs the borrower of the effect of hts signature 10 the certificate and threatens him with immediate Imprisonment. This generally is sufficient to force another payment, the money for which IS oD- tained through another loan office. In
 cases where women are the borrowers the collectors use threats of personal vio- lence. accompanied often by actual as-
 saults. When it is finally found impossible to collect by threats or personal violence calim and delivery proceedings are resort ed to: all of the property of the victim seized whether under mortgage or not These cases are seldom docketed, as the
 usurer knows that his victim has no money to pay an attorney and conse- quently will not appear before the court. The property is thus kept without due process of law. When an attorney does take charge of case the property is sur rendered Tn most instances, the plaintiffs being afrad to face the exposure trial
 of the cause would involve.
 ''The case of Amanda Blake is one in
 point. Amanda borrowed one dollar from liam & Go. to secure which loan she
 gave a mortgage for g on large amount Of personal property In Decqmber last
 the threats of this firm so scared Aman- Aa fAat ohn IaFf claim ard delivery proceedings were is-
 sued by Ham & Go. and the following
 property taken in payment of the l
 loan: One oak bedstead, hve chairs. one table one washstand and one bureau.
 The cause, of course. was never docket ed, but Ham & Go. are now in possession of this property. Amanda has now return ed and hcr interests gre III the hands
 of the attorney of the Association for
 Aaron Jacks on, a negro iaborer. has paid Law X Co. in Interest about eight
 times the amount borrowed. nd on his day in receipt of the following eommu- nication: Aaron Jackson: This is to in- form you that you have got to pay or we
 will pull every rag out of your house. "A few examples out of many hundred will show the amount of usury charged: Annie Bryan borrowed in l9OO. s from Hopkins & Co. Receipts in her posses sion show that she has paid in interest on this loan S54.90 and now owes. according
 to their claim $G.SO.
 Carrie Henderson borrowed from the same firm S5. has paid back $2 and still owes S6sO on which $l.S0 a month in-
 terest is being paid.
 R. D. Sawyer borrowed from Reed X Co in March. 1901, $5; paid I.7O each month as interest up to September Q 1902 when new mortgage for an unpaid | installment of interest was taken and | since that time he has been paying $Z.zO l interest q month and owes now xS.10 | Moses Mitchell borrowed from ]. T. May Company about $20, has paid back S6S and that company has now seized l about S60 worth of furniture. The case is now being contested in the Magistrate s Court. ~, | Sl22O on 8 loan.
 .''These special instances could be con- tinued indefinitely. there being numerous | claims of this kind against the Jefferson LoUn Company, Rogers & Co.,, Reed & | Co Bell & Co.,. and Hull & Co.,, all or these firms carrying on business here: "Plans by which this business can De l broken up are as follows:
 "i. Action by City Council. It is be- lieved that the ordinance now in course | of nassaRe. if enforced-and our citizens ave urged to report all breaches of 1t which come under their observation will cause d prompt suppression of the | business. = l., ,..--.,
 with the idea that after they have paid 1 sufficient installments of interest to equal inc original loan, plus per cent that RosroN's BARBER REGULATIONS