The Cairo bulletin., 1912-04-23
EARLY DOOM Of
/ LOAN SHARKS IS
NOW PREDICTED
Senate Agrees to House Bill Affix-
ing Legal Rate Of Interest
for Capital
OBSTINATE SENATORS IN LINE
Many Object at First to Inclusion
Of Pawn Brokers in
Measure
By Robert Compton.

, Of the loan shark" is near at hand
After more than a decade of fighting
10 drive this pest from the National
capital, the foes of the usurious
money lender are reasonably sure o.
victory The Senate has agreed ;c
| the House bin which fixes the lega'
rate OF interest for loans on personal
chattels, including household goods
at | per cent per month, and this
means that il will soon become a law
unless the powerful lobby organized
by the loan sharks succeeds in de
laying its passage,
The chief object in the way Of
the passage of the sbill up to this
time has been the objection of GER
tain Senators TO the inclusion oil
pawn brokers in its provisions II
has been argued that their business
Is carefully regulated and to compel
them TO accept less than . per cent
per month would be injuring legiti-
nate enterprise But whether they
ire included or eliminated matters
little. The proposed law aims solely
1t the rapacious money lenders who
or years have been preying on tn
government clerks and worthy poo,
# Washington. Long ago II wa
realized that some drastic action
vas needed to stamp out this evil
but Congress was slow in being con
inced in the face OF the active ane
powerful loan shark lobby
The crying need of the proposed
egislation was strikingly manifested
5hen the hearings on the pendins
ill were held few months ago. In
tances where borrowers were driver
0 those extremes that open the door
crime when pressed by the unre
4nting loan shark were so numerou
hat they ceased to excite wonder
here were cases that were pathetic
the extreme and moved Congress
zen to pity for the victim and dis
ust for the Shylock. One in par
ocular was that of a widow employ.
in the repair division of the
'ostoffice Department earning $50
yer month On this she supported
erself and two small children. Com
,elled because of sickness 10 borrow
$50 from a so-called loan com
any" she had been made to pay SIS
monthly payments and then, al
he end Of seven months, still owed
rs in interest. This was only one
hundreds of similar cases show.
ng the distress that followed the
wake OF the money-lender Only re-
emily young womsn clerk in the
'ensus office made application to
he local court to be declared a bank
upt. She confessed to liabilities In
xcess of $1,700 with no assets. Her
alary was 5000 a year OF her debts
1900 represented the claims of loan
harks. Her statement to the court
vas that she had received only about
800 of this, the rest being interest
wed.
For years the Federal clerks have
ieen inviting prey to loan sharks.
here are more than $4,000 clerks
all kinds in Washington and a
majority Of them are seldom out Of
iebt, either to professional money
enders or fellow clerks. Many Of
hem live beyond their means, be-
,ause Of social aspirations or expen-
i've tastes, and in consequence are
ompelled to take frequent excur-
lions to, the loan sharks lair in or
Ter to satisfy the demands OF legiti-
nate creditors. The result is in
,vitable. Soon the loan shark has
them by the vitals and they become
sorry spectacle OF debt and dis
tress.
Most of the numerous 'loan com.
9anies" In the National capital to-
lay date their origin back to the
iourishing days of the so-called "ten
per center in the government do
partments, The "ten per center
was species of clerk who made
hay while the sun shone" in the
palmy days before his presence be-
came impossible on the government
pay roll, By thrift and saving he
managed to accumulate enough from
MS pay envelope to lend to those
IN need" To his less frugal broth
ars he was always glad to lend
charging never less than ten Der
cent per month and sometimes al
nigh as 90. In fact, his demands
We're based en- the urgency of HE vir-
Tins. omt az tis- '..-~etivn ~g,.no
sprsns general s..A-.a scr.4as