New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1921-01-26
Official paper Of New Ulm, MINI.
Modern Shylocks.

Modern Shylocks.
As youth in school we were taught
to despise the Shylock of Shakespeare
immortal play, and we'll remember how
our teacher tried to impress upon oul
young and receptive mind that the
avarice displayed by that notorious
character in "The Merchant of Venice
was something to be Stunned and
avoided as one shuns and avoids a
leper.
! Things have changed since those
good old days. and the present trend
of the times seems to bring with it a
diametrical sense of justice and the
perverted desire to do" as many
people as often as possible. This de-
plorable fact was forcibly brought to
mind the other day, when one of our
subscribers called at our Office and told
us the following story:
He and his good wife entered into a
contract with a rising young banker
and successful" business man, both
residents of this county, to purchase a
tract of land from these modern finan-
ciers. A mortgage was given as Sc
curity for payment and the subscriber
and his family worked hard to scratch
together enough money to satisfy the
greed and avarjce of the twentieth CEN
tury Shylocks. With the small means
at their command, the man and his de-
voted life-partner had made the initial
payment, so that the balance had to
come out of the products of their toll.
Things looked promising and the
happy couple worked with a good
will, the hope of some day owning
their own farm serving as a special
incentive for increased efforts. Their
labors reaped a goodly measure OF
reward, and this year the final pay
ment on the farm--.the much-cherished
homestead-was to have been made
Crops were good and by exercising the
greatest frugality and economy they
might have succeeded in meeting their
obligations, but. suddenly, as a bolt of
lightning from a clear sky, came the
decisive slump in the prices of farm
produce, which decreased the value
of what they had raised and wanted to
sell to secure sufficient money for the
final payment, to such an extent that
it shattered their rosy hopes of ap.
peasing the ravenous greed OF the
modern Shylocks.
Pleas for additional time in which
to meet their obligations failed tt
make the least impression upon the
Using young banker and the success.
ful'' business man. Nothing but
money-flthy lucre- could appease
their perverted blinking appetites
And as result, Woodworking farmer
and his wife will be turned out Of theil
home, which they had so earnestly, sc
steadfastly tried to earn with the labor
Of their hands. Also they will have
to sacrifice all of the money which
they have thus far paid down on the
farm. And another scene: A rising
young banker and successful" bust
ness man gloating over the misfoltunes
of fellow human beings-one of them q
woman, a devoted wife and mother
counting with glee the dollars Wrune
from an industrious couple who slavec
to earn enough to help the modern
Shylocks enjoy a life OF ease and com
fort -.
And still we are supposed to live ir
Christian era, for we have re
pudiated the dangerous Socialistit
aud Bolshevistic doctrines of mans
humanity to MANI Oh, yes, indeed
the rising young banker and the "suc
cc5sfup' business man are both true
Christians, for they have church
affiliations and play leading roles ir
the local congregations Of their re.
spective faiths. One of them, al
least, was vely active during the last
election campaign to "Save Minnesota
from Socialism,