The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-07-15

It could not have been all phllan-I
thropy that made people in 1925 put
their money into the Equitable Loan
Bari Company Though the company
= end money TO the poor, its
tars were to get good divl-
- first thought of the project,
no one said, but soon many prominent
men were urging the benefits it would
bring to the poor, of course. There
were Messrs M. Atwood, David Bar
clay, James Brodgen, John S. B. M
Barrett, and others, no less than four
teen members of the British Parlia-
ment and all directors of reputable
concerns. Mr.. Barclay was on the
board of the Bank of England, Mr..
Brogden was an alderman Of the Cor
poration of London.
Consider the wicked pawnbroker,"
they recited. How he takes from the
poor man his last blanket, and then
brushes him down still further. They
take the bread from the women and
children, yet none are so fat as they.
All, but all that will be changed By
I the Equitable Loan Bank company. 1t
will lend to the poor at the low rate
of 71ago.
Could anything be more needed
| than such an institution? London
asked By relieving distress and keep
| ing starvation away from the peoples
/ homes, it would stay the movement
! for political reform that had been de-
veloping lately. In truth, it was Il
scheme that should be tried, and at
J once
So thought the Duke Of York, too
He gladly lent his name to the pro-
posal, and the Prospectus, signed by
him, was soon circulating amongst
possible investors. They also heard
confidentially that their subscriptions
to the Company would not necessarily
be subscriptions to charity Poor
though the customers would be, good
: dividends were expected from them
4 per cent at least.
The companys capital was to be
$10.00OO00, which, as time went on
and the needs of the poor became
greater, would be increased to 500.
900. 000 For SIS, share certificates fol
$3.50 were issued, and the company
permitted these to be sold on the
/
Cerip.
Philanthropy or not, people seemed
to think highly of the propositlor
from the first. Two hundred thous
and dollars have been already sub
scribed," the directors announced the
day after the company opened to take
subscriptions.
i Still more and more rolled in for the
relief of the INDECENT. The Equitable
Loan share certificates were already
in demand on the Stock Market. Al
talked of the rich harvest from this
unexpected source-the homes of the
poor.
Everyone was talking of the Equi
table Loan company-of the good /
would do and the profit it would bring
Poets were hired to write verses il
praise of its charitable purpose
pamphleteers to show what splendl,
investment it was.
Soon there we're people who .begaI
to take alarm at the success OF tn
. company. The members of the An
cient and Honorable order of Pawn
brokers held a meeting, and thougl
agreed that the claims of the com
J pany's promoters were ridiculous, !
: was decided that something woult
have to be done. They hired a pamph
letter of their own and Instructed hin
: to reply to the lying attacks of tht
Equitable Loan company.
1t is a curious document that n
produced, which if it did not injuri
= the prospects of the company, mus
have at least satisfied the pawnbro
kers. 1--WE have for a time shrunl
from the perpetual attacks of our op
ponents," it begins. But now W.