Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-01-25
Mrs. Ssae 70 Dust Shylocks.

been made by its special agent, who
only effective method of curbing the
loan shark" evil in the United States.
In a public statement just made. this
| agent. Arthur W. Ham. said
Railroad wrecks with their mevita-
i bic loss of life, suicides. robbericS and
| embeZzlemcnts, divorces. the breaking
| mp of once happy homes, sickness, and
| loss of good jobs follow in the train OF
| So called loan sharks. Their grasp
| ing, blightng, compromising methods
| of treating the men and women who
| have fallen into their hands are abso-
utely oeplorable and create untold
suffering among People deserving Of
credit in times of need. In order to
| protect the deserving workers who
| need loans in time of sickness or other
| distress, the loan shark must be put
| out of business. So far, legislation has
| had little or no effect upon the busi-
| ness of these modern Shylocks: so far
| the local campaigns against these
| usurers have had no lasting effect.
and so far the National government
| has failed to do what it should do to
regulate men who make it a business
to loan small sums of morey on furni-
ture or OH salaries"
Even in Maine cities. the loan
shark" has foothold, and is an evil
which it is to be noped VIII some day
be rooted out and driven from such
| oil
often driven by stress of circumstan-
ces to borrow money l., tide over do
mestic trouble: but when once in the
grip of these Shylocks, escape is next
to impossible, with tEeir exorbitant de-
mdnds for interest and relentless prac-
tees, which hold their victims to the
last cent, regardless of how it is Sc
cured or what misery is inflicted in
obtaining it,
Mr. Ham has spent several years in
studying thus evil in hundreds of cities.
and is a foremost authority upon
money lending systems in the United
States. His revelation of the methods
of extortion shows the evil up in a
light which, it would seem. ought to
arouse enough public Indignation to
uproOt the whole business and dump
ail all. MIR. Ham says there is much
misconception ailoat regarding the
class of people which falls into the
clutches of the loan shark" He says
that there are thousands of citizens
who, when they read, in the daily pa
pers of their locality, of widows being
disDossessed by usurers, of young men
being driven to suicide because they
cannot get out of the clutches of the
Shylocks. and OF men robbing their
employers to pay instalments on loans
made by the sharks that the class
J of people patronize these lenders is
shiftless. unworthy, and irresponsible.
On the contrary. the men and women
of loan sharks to continue business
are, as general rule. highly respecta-
bic, worthy, industrious, the owners of
some personal property or the holders
of positions with business firms or in
dustrial concerns of good financial
standing The sharks will not, un-
der any considers ton, let out their
money to jobless, propertyless, or
frienGiess men or women. 1t is neces.
sary for would be borrowers to con-
vince the lenders of their ability to
pay, To pay far more than leaned. be-
fore money is furnished them. The
real prey of the shark is the man or
woman of pride, of conscience, and of
honor. Upon him or her the vampire
money-lender uses al his pernicious
tricks. attempting always to keep the
person in debt 1t is the man Of pride
who is ashamed to have his minus fl
nancial condition come to the attention
of his employer or his fellow workers
who commits suicide when the shark
presses him hara. 1t is the woman of
honor who throws herself into a river
rather than adopt the shameful ways
of earning money suggested to her by
hardened female collectors in the en-
ploy of the Sharks that she may pay
up illegal interest on a petty loan,
which she can not meet out of the
earnings of her honorable toll.
II the Sage Foundation carries out
its plrpose of supplying small loans,
at low interest, at Offices to be estab-
lished in many cities of the United
States. where greed now preys on the
necessities of the desperate poor it
will to our mind. have accomplished
relief in more worthy cause than
many of she great gifts for institu-
ticns. No doubt percentage of the
money apportioned for this purpose
will be lost to tricksters, but it is now
estimated that not more than Is or 20
per cent. of the claims of usuiers are
lost, even at the exofbitant rates of