Omaha daily bee., 1911-03-04
SCALPING AT The CITY HALL
One Third Of Pay Of Employees Goes
Through Loan Sharks
MANY ASSIGNMENTS ARE MADE
one Firm a. said TO Make Fifty Thou
sand Dollars n Year Out Of the
Business Many Others
Have Good Thing.

Warrant scalplng. amounting 70 prac-
tically onc-third Of the city pay roll, Is
carried on by loan brokers Of the city The
victims Of the practice are city han EN-
ploycs and laborers employed by the city.
who pay all the way from per cent
week to as high as 10 per cent, according
20 how good the risk Is assumed to be by
BY the loan sharks.
The practice is made possible through
aid extended knowingly by the city comp
trollers office. The methods employed are
nothing more than the assignment of wages
by the employees These assignments are
taken to the city comptrollers office where
they are placed on file When the warrant
comes through, "a notation is made to
whom the warrant is 10 be paid and the
warrant Is turned over TO the person to
whom It is assigned.
IL is said that there are employees Of the
city who have not seen their pay warrant
for three years and for having assigned
their wages for this period they have paid
from 10 to 20 per cent OF their salary for
the entire time.
No less than ten individuals and COM
panies prey on the city employees. some of
whom have grown rich through the prac-
tice Of loaning money to city employees.
One concern which does the major por-
ton OF the loanlng, is reported to have
made as high as $4,000 a year out of the
business
Department employees and day laborers
furnish the greater portion Of the business
for the sharks, but at times department
heads have contributed to the loan sharks.
A goodly portion of the time Of one man
employed in the comptroler's office is de-
voted to filing and taking care of these
assignments.
Fifteen on Friday.
A bunch of about fifteen came through
Friday all filed by one company. which
included assignments OF elevator boys,
laborers and other employees of the city
hall, and were being filed by the clerk.
Employees OF the comptroller's office ad-
NIT that the warrant scalplng exists and
has for the last fifteen years s. Roper
Crickmore, a clerk, whose duty among
other things is to look after these assign
ments, says the warrant scalping, or as
signments as he designates II, amount to
more than $4,000 month. Sometimes the
amount runs more than this and a general
average is placed at from $1,000 to SIS 900
a month.
THE citys payroll runs in the nelghbor-
hood OF about $4,000 a month so you can
see the volume OF business that is done, %
said Crickmore.
Attaches of the office declare there is
no way to prevent the scalping Of the city
warrants. They say that efforts have been
made TO stop the practice. but so far they
have been unsuccessful
G. o. Lobeck, who recently retired as
comptroller says the only solution of the
problem is for the city to pay semi-monthly
instead of monthly as is the custom
Then he contends that there would be
more or less scalping, as many of the
employees have not money enough to carry
them from one payday to the next.
I'VE have tried every means to stop the
practice" said Mr.. Lobeck, but so FAR no
scheme has been found that is successful. F."
rs there any law to compel the office
to handle these assignments?" Mr.. Lobeck
Yves asked.
None that I know Of" he replied.
Then why don't the office refuse to
handle them. II the loan agents knew
that they were not going to get the pro-
lection OF the office, they would not take
the risks, would they?' was asked Mr..
Lobeck.
Yes that might solve the problem. "
replied he.