The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-02-18


twenty or thirty years is declared to
be mathematical certainty unless
something is done to check the pres
ent and increasing consumption Of ore
The known supplies of high grade
iron ores in the United States APP
proxlmate 3,Si006S, 900 tons. If the
present rate of increase in use is
maintained this is barely half the
amount that will be demanded by
the furnaces and factories of the ma
tion Idiing the next thirty years. Az
the end OF that time -dbout,lthe year
19lO-the consumption Of iron and
Steel will reach It's maximum and be-
gin a sudden decline, II is predicted,
or large use must be made of low
grade ores not now classed as avail
able The necessity then Of using low
grade Goals to smelt with further
oompllcates the problem. The princl-
alp remedy suggested is a change
In mining methods. The present
waste in mining and treating all min
erals, the commission found, is over
$500 100000 every year, or a sum Of
money equal TO third of the total
capitalization of the billion dollar
steel Trust" A large part of this
waste comes from the reckless NOV
ing of coal and iron ore. The Min
nesota beds, which now furnish most
Of the ore used in this country In
the manufacture of high grade steel
have been so exploited that a time
limit of thirty years has been set for
them, after which they will be ex-
hausted. The mineral production Of
the United States now exceeds two
billion dollars in value every year
and Is second only to agriculture as
contribution to our national wealth.
IL furnishes our light, heat and pow
er and supplies G5 per cent Of the
freight traffic of the country.
Loan sharks and other usurers who
for years have done a thriving busi-
ness in all the large cities of the
country by preying on the misfor-
tunes of the poor, have received ont
of the severest setbacks ever given
to their Illegal profession in the ar
rest OF agents and threatened closing
of the offices Of d. II. Tolman G
Co., one OF the largest salary loan
firms in the country whose head
quarters were in this city and which
advertised as having branch offices
in GO principal cities Of the United
States. Other arrests may follow,
as well as needed legislation in many
states putting the business Of oan-
ing without security on a legal basis
with adequate regulation by the state
and with justice to the borrower.
Many startling facts have been un-
earthed which throw a new light on
the "loan shark" business. 1t ap-
pears that there we're at one time in
New York and several other cities
regular exchange usurers, corre-
spending in many respects to the
legitimate stock and produce ey-
changes, at which the unpaid notes
OF borrowers who had been MIXED
dry by one concern were bought in
at a low figure by another, which
promptly set about bounding the vic
tim afresh. Some brokers made a
specially Of handling this class of pa
per. Every so often they would
move to a new territory, buy up notes
OF clerks and stenographcrs in the
new field and work 1t for six months
or a year. Frequently the makers
OF these notes paid back the prin-
cipal several times over in the form
Of exorbitant interest, yet the de-
vices resorted to by the loan sharks
to extract few more dollars Would
TAX the imagination of a Wall Street
hnancier. A fayorite method Il an
pears, Is to approach some woman in
the household, preferably the wife.
during the borrowers absence, and
by threatening the Immediate arrest
OF her husband induce her TO en-
croach upon her own private say,
inSs TO take up the note. Other
methods are employed under other
circumstances, some more unscrupu-
lous than others, but all of them in
defiance OF laws which ought to be
amended, say lawyers who are fight
ing the evil, so that the borrower
will be given adequate protection. un-
der proper regulation by the state.
Problems Of vital interest to law
yers may be raised in many states
shortly as a result OF the clash be-
tween States Attorney Wayman and
the Chicago Bar Association over the