Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 212, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1913 — Municipal Pawnshops. [ARTICLE]

Municipal Pawnshops.

The story of. the Mont de Piete, the great pawnshop of Paris, reads like a romance. It is the Burviv&l of an old bank conducted by a religious order established to fight usury. This benevolent enterprise was- given up to be started afresh ander the direction of the government in 1801 when ;Napoleon was near the height of his glory. The profits go to the state and to charity—to the public aid department and to the hospitals of Paris. TTheirar charities benefit about 70,000

a year. The storage facilities of the Mont de Piete are admirable. The Frenchman may pawn his feather bed. When it comes to him it, as well as mattresse, blankets and all bed furnishings, have'leen thoroughly disinfected. The rate of Interest on loans is small, and it encourages by all means the redemption of the goods on which money has been advanved. As the Mont de Piere advances money only on a conservative valuation —as a fule to the value of two-thirds of the article pawned—there is general-

ly a surplus to, go to the pawner If the pledge is sold. Municipal pawnshops in Berlin charge 18 per cent., in Brussels 7 per cent., in Madrid 6 per cent. In London for small loans the pawnshop rate is from 400 to 1,000 per cent, per annum.