Objections To The Equitab...
The Times, 1824-06-09T00:00:00

fATiVE:TfT1SSMENT.1 TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIM1ES. In answering the observations contained in a paragraph of the J3Iorning Chronicle of the 5th instant, under the head ' Reasons why the-Equltable Loami Bank Billshouldpaassin(oalaw," I would desire to be understood as distinctly purposing to avoid, as far as circumstances will permit, aU irritability of expression and as perty of remark; but I consider that the necessarT development of facta will deprive the Chirmro, whose signature LS attached to the said observations, of all fhe advantage he has anticipated from them, and that publicopinion will place him in the front rank of those casuist.- cal reasoners, Who endeavour, by delusive sophistry and fallacious argument, to impose on the understanding. I deeply regret that a soldier of such distinguithed henour in the field should be induced by an avaricious cupidity of gain in time of peace, so far to forget the real rank he has to support in society, and tarnish laurels so no- blv earned, by endesvounng to entwine with them the droui of dirty pelf, and the " three blue balls" of a p wnbroker. This may be considered as mere declamation, but it will not rcquire laboured ar- gument to prove it fact: truth will make its own way, and need, only be circuhted to gain belief. The very firAtobservationsof the Chairman are unfoundedin fact: the establishment wiiU be no benefit to the poor, the pawnbrokers, wIth their famUiies,ass:stants, enda prentices, esnsistof nearly four thousnnisoules tlieyfiaveurged realand maistainable objections to the bill; and so far from it being true, as the Chainnan asserts, "that tie biU gives no monopoly nor any privilege to the promoters of it," the direct reverse is the fact; as the biU gives, in the most unbounded way, the monstrous privilege to the Company of lending any sum, nDO matterwhat may be the amount, and to take forsuch IQaBI the extravagantly high rate of lO per cent., or, indeed, 50, or 1,00 percent., if they thik proper, since the utmost punishment that can- fal on the Company for any extortion whatever, is the trifhlng pemlty of 201; and that not to be recovered, as in the case of a iavwnbrolmr in a summary way beforc a msgistrate, but in a court of record;. apd even that process (should thc poor complainant have means to resort. .to it) may be avoided, fiasmach-a the Company have provided a special clause, that twenty.one days' notice in writing must be given to their secretary, wxho has power to stay.process, by tendering the amount of money so ex- torted; and further, no complaint, action, or smit can be main- tained againstthe said CoM2pany, unless instituted within threes months from the time of the ofrence. is this privilege-or is it not? If any man, knowing And estimating the wisdom and justice of the House of Comnmons, shoald say it cannot be so-such a bil could never pass that honourable house-I refer him to the bill paTt pag 64, 65, and 66, for the truth of my assertion; where vri?l be fonnd these most extraordinary clauses, granting high privileges to the Company, arid the means of avoiding in all cases the punishment which should be awarded and is due to delia uency. The pawnbrokers enjoy no privilege but what the wvhole commut. nity may participate in, by taking out a licence and conforming to the enactments of the act of 39 and 40 of Geo. I.L But the bilt. noW befare the House of Lords will not afford to any others than to the Corpany, the permission to act under its reglations to lend money at the same high rate of 10 per cent. interest on loans to the same indefinite arountm; and therefore the bill grants great privi. leges in favour of the Company, from sharing in which the entire community are exduded. Is it possible that any man can expect belief, who in the face of the bill itself, to which I have referred, haa endeavoured to substantiate assertions which a reference to the bill so completely falsifies ? The plea of benevolencs so loudly trumpeted by the new Pawn. broking Company is a coriplete delusion, put forthto gloss over and conceal the real purposes of the projcctors, vwhicl are Fain, profit, filthy lucre, and, tinder the mask of one of the most amiable of hu_ man virtues-charity-to obtain Private advantage; but "*Charity vaunteth not itself." Charity, to be charity at all, must be pure. We are told certainly in Colossians-" Above all things to put on cliaritv ," but we are no where taught, except in the doctrine and reading of the new Pawnbroking Company, that charity is ten Per cent. profit to the dealers in it! if the Comnpany reaUy mean charity, they should do it for its own sake. Benevolent and humane persons associate for the benefit of the noor, and subscribe large sums for the support of public hospitals and7dispensaries, but they do not on that account arrogate bhe right to ahenefit from the sale of the medicines; nor do they assume the character of censors, because they give relief gratuitously in the otos. pital, to ciarge the regular practitioner, whether surgeon or physi_ clan, with extortion. because he takes his fee in other crses. Hospi- tals thus established, are real charides; and the large gains made by' the shareholders rom the sale of shares in the new PawnbrokinX Company,it would be honest and wisc to return to the public by en. dowing some public foundation-eitber hospital or school. The. amount would be folly sufficient to-do so on an extensive scale, as, taking the amount of eacha share at the premium it has borne ot' eight pounds (and I believe they -have cold at ten pounds each), it would, on the forty thousand shares, give the sum of three hundred and twenty thousand pouands sterling for such a benevolent and laud- able purpose. The Chairman iu one part of his letter says, that a pawrnbrokeres ga: ns are 30 per cent. on his capital; and in another part, that he is allowed four times the amount of legal intereat. Such is not the case: the greatest part of a pawltbroker's butsiness is transacted at onlv five per cent. niore than the Corespanv sele leave to take by their oill. The positive truth is, the returns of a pawvnbroker's lending, with all the various evolutions of capital attributed to it, do not on an average exceed eight per cent. on such total amnount of lending in the vear. The utmost gross profit on his capita. varies from four- teen to sixteen ner cent.,f:on which all expenses and losses whatever are to bh deducted. This can be proved before the House of Lords. The calculation of one million sterling annuallv accruing to the panvwbrokers is erroneous: at the utmost it cannot exceed one-fourth that amount, whichl is a much less sum on the wbole capital rnd ?a- bour of the pawnbrokers for un entire year than has been made bv the shareholders of the Equitable Loan Bank Company (on their trifling deposit of one pound sterling on each share) in a few weel;s- The assumption that the poor-rates 'vould be reduced by the esta- blishmnent of the Company, is oneof the many fallacies put forth by the Cha rmnan, For it embraces, as it were, that the wvhole businca.. of the pawnbroker is transacted with paupers: that such cannot be the fact must be apparent to the meanest understanding. It ic observed, that in forwarding the bill the concluctors have not sought to cast any unnecessary obloquy on the present system: it ap- pears, however, that they have consitlered the destruction of the honest reputation of the pawnbrok;er as the principal means of pree paring the public mind for their own Teception in his place ; and to promote this design, every thing connected with a pawnbroker's con- duct bas been most maliciously commented on for some thne past. The public feeling has been excited against bim by the most extra- ordin arvnmeans. Certainpaper.s have shownan eagernessofrelatingthe most trifling complaints concerning him, to the exclusion of more imn portant matter from their columns, while such acts of tlis duty towards the public which would entitle binu to the commendations of the com- munity (and such acts have freouently occurred) have eitherbeen mest careful lysuppressed.orscarceld noticed.And wviat has been the conduct ofthepromoters,whil theebill hasbeenbefore the House of Commons? Does the Chairman mean to say, that publishing parmphlets replete w ithl falsehood-getting up petitions to the house from prisons, for the sole purpose of having them printed, that the lying scandal of thena nmght hc mnore widely disseminated-placing men with placards of the most di:gucting nature at different parts of the town, and oppo_ aite to the rcsidenccs sf the Dsavnbrokers tternselves, giving away those scurrilous productions, and, as a climax of dishonourable uro. ceedingr, putting into the hands of members as they went into the lhouse on the dav of the third reading of thebill, papers attributing to pawnbrokers practices the most dishonest, for the purpose of excit- ing the passions of the members against that calumniated trade, and by so inflaming their minds Prevent the cool cornsideration of the bill ,hey were met to voteon. I ask the Chairman 'has this not been doase? And if this has been done publiclv, what has not been done in private ? The same activity which maliciously stalked wl.ere it could be watched, and could be met and refuted, did not in private remain quiescent: where it was able it did spread its baneful conta- mintting inHluence, undetected and unanswered. The Chairman has quoted from the authority of a highlv respect- ed magistrate, that a great moral good would result from the esta- blishment of the company. It may be that the magistrate has said so, hut it is only hisopinion. I do not see how this moral good is to be effected, unless it can be secured that the Company shall possess omnisciency, and be all that is good and virtuous. That the present pawnbrokers are not imm}aculatit, I do not deny ; but there is no per. fection in naturec Virtue has its vice-gold its dross; and the sun itself-that glorious luminary-is not free from spot. Take the pzwnbrokers as a body, I do firmnly believe that the great majoritv of the trade are men of as nice a sense of honour, of as high probity, and of as pure morals. and doas faithfully dischar1e the duties of nub!ic and private life, as any other class of men existing in his Aa-. jesty'sdominions. As a question of character, I wtould fearlessly bllance them against the proudest and highest of- the self.assumed directors or the shareholder, and be satisfied that each individual of that majority of the trade may with truth say to the best man of the 40,000- " Iste tulit pretium jam nunc certaminis hujus; "Quo cum victus erit, mecum cert.e feretur." I feel confident that the bill before the Houseof Lords is objection- able. It is an invasiorL of public and private rights: it destroys the operation of the usurylawvs; and, in favour of a particular set of men, virtually repeals all the acts of Parliameut regulating the interest of money. If it is established on the false plea of being a benefit to the poor, there is no trade esercising its industry towards fumish_ ing articles of necessity for the consumption of the poor, whether butcher, baker, or other retail traders, but what may be superseded ana destroyed on tile same pretence. The Equitable Loan Bill is now before the hereditary guardians of the public welfare. It will be conesidered of without prejudice by the most noble and dignified Assemblv in the world. individual riehts will have their fair considerations. and delusive arenmentq b,e of no avaiL. JOHN ORTON HARRISO?N. Secretary to the Committee of Pawnbrokerv. June 7, 1824. 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