$9,840,379. Again, the interest earnings, amounting in 1895 to $23,847, reached in 1907 the large sum of $564,534. The enormous attention to detail involved in the successful conduct of this businss becomes apparent when one considers that the average of the loans made in 1907 was $37.46.

The same comparison holds good as to the personnel and organization of the society. From a rented office with a staff of four or five people, employing $100,000 capital, it has become a great fiscal institution of $5,000,000 capital, a large well-trained staff of about sixty employees, with six offices. * *

Of course every one will realize that the smaller the loan on personal property the less the margin of profit, as the percentage of operating expenses is proportionately larger when a small loan is made than when made in large amounts. The executive committee decided that on November 1, 1907, in view of the increased cost of capital and the greater cost of handling an increasing volume of small loans (192,060 being for $25 and under, 91,754 being for $10 and under, and 44,450 being for sums of $25 to $50) all renewals, as well as new loans, should be at the interest rate of 1 per cent per month or fraction thereof, except those repaid within two weeks from date of making, when one-half per cent only would be charged.

Mr. Frank Tucker, the vice-president and executive officer, at a conference held with a committee of our Society for Savings of Washington, in July, 1908, stated that the handling of small loans at 1 per cent per month was purely a charitable proposition and so regarded by his society, but an absolute impossibility to any concern with a smaller capital, and submitted the following figures as proof:

Number of loans made 1907, 283,045.

Operating expenses, excluding dividends, $127,052.62, or a cost per loan of 45

cents.

Cost of $10 loan to society, 45 cents.

Dividend of 6 per cent per annum on $10, 60 cents.

A loan of $10 cost the society for one year, $1.05.

Ten dollars at 1 per cent per month earns the society for one year $1.20, or a loan of $10 for the first nine months merely earned its cost of handling, but that 2 per cent per month was more reasonable and a fair business proposition.

The Provident Loan Company, of Buffalo, was incorporated under the aforementioned act, and a reading of the annual reports of said company and of the other companies or societies hereinafter mentioned will be interesting to those who care to investigate further into this matter. The rate of interest charged by the Provident Loan Company, of Buffalo, is 3 per cent per month for the first month and 2 per cent for each month thereafter, and a charge of $3 for examination of property and recording of mortgages, etc., the rate allowed by law. It is said in one of the annual reports of this company that "its purpose is the same as that of the Workingmen's Loan Association, of Boston, founded by Robert Treat Paine in 1887, and its methods of business are closely patterned after those in use by that association." (See First Annual Report, September 9, 1895, to September 30, 1896.) The Workingmen's Loan Association, of Boston, was one of the pioneers in this line of business. The law under which it was incorporated and its operations will be alluded to further on.

MASSACHUSETTS.

By an act of the legislature of the State of Massachusetts entitled "An act to incorporate the Pawner's Bank," approved April 5, 1859, it is provided by section 4 that

The charge on all loans to cover expenses of every kind, including interest, shall be uniform, and not to exceed one and one-half per cent per month.

This act was amended by an act entitled "An act to amend the charter of the Pawner's Bank of Boston," approved June 21, 1869. Section 2 thereof reads as follows:

The charge on loans, to cover expenses of every kind, including interest, need not be uniform, but may be regulated by the bank, but it shall in no case exceed two per cent per month.

This so-called bank is still in business, but it is now operated under the name of the Collateral Loan Company of Boston. The total amount of the loans made by it for the year 1905 amounted to $2,092,566.08. The average single loan was $22.78.

The Workingmen's Loan Association of Boston was incorporated by an act of the legislature of Massachusetts approved March 8, 1888, entitled "An act to incorporate the Workingmen's Loan Association." By this act a charter was granted to Robert Treat Paine, Charles W. Dexter, John S. Blatchford, Francis C. Foster, John D. W. French, I. Wells Clarke, George W. Pope, Charles H. Washburn, Robert Treat Paine, second, Thomas T. Stokes, and Henry R. Gardner, and their associates and successors. The association was authorized to loan money upon pledge or mortgage of goods and chattels and on safe securities of every kind, or upon mortgage of real estate. The capital stock of the association is $125,000. The amount of outstanding loans on April 1, 1908, was $215,826.64; the number of borrowers was 3,585, and the average single loan was about $60. (See the Twentieth Annual Report of the Workingmen's Loan Association, dated April 16, 1908.) In a pamphlet published by the Massachusetts board of managers, World's Fair, in 1893, entitled "Origin and System of the Workingmen's Loan Association," on page 5 appears the following statement:

The charge for interest is 1 per cent per month. An additional charge is made on the making of each loan sufficient to cover all money expended in investigation and recording the mortgage, and to give the company in ordinary cases $1.65 for the time spent in appraisal and drawing papers. Nearly all of the loans of the company are made on chattel mortgage of furniture and household effects.

This has been amended and at the present time, October, 1908, the association, in addition to its regular rate of 1 per cent per month,

charges for investigation, recording of mortgages, etc., the sum of $2.50 on loans under $50, $3 on loans of $50 to $250, and $5 on loans over $250; $1 is the cost charged for renewals. No loan is made for less than $25 on account of the cost of handling, which amounts to $3.77, although the cost of recording chattel mortgages in Massachusetts is but 75 cents, and no notarial certificate is required on this class of mortgages.

The association also charges 25 cents on loans under $50, and 50 cents on loans from $50 to $100, to compensate the association for the risk of loss of goods mortgaged, by fire, though no insurance policy is taken out on the goods mortgaged as security for such small loans. Thus it will be seen that the association receives interest on its ordinary small loans for short periods of time of at least 2 per cent per month, and sometimes Robert Treat Paine, of Boston, a gentlemen of national reputation, was the first president of this association, and he has been continuously re-elected to the same office to the present time.

more.

In 1908 the legislature passed an act entitled “An act to regulate further the business of making small loans" (chap. 605, 1908), which act confers on the police commissioner of Boston, and upon the mayor in other cities, the power to make the rate of interest to be charged upon small loans of $200 or less, upon which a rate of interest greater than 12 per cent per annum is charged, and for which no security, other than a note or contract with or without indorsers is taken, having due regard to the amount of the loan and the time for which it is made.

It also fixed the charges or cost as follows:

SEC. 3. * * * An amount not exceeding $2 if the loan does not exceed $25; not exceeding $10 if the loan exceeds $100; not exceeding $3 if the loan exceeds $25 but does not exceed $50; and not exceeding $5 if the loan exceeds $50 but does not exceed $100, may, if both parties to the loan so agree, be paid by the borrower or added to the debt, and taken by the lender as the expense of making the loan, and such amount shall not be counted as part of the interest on the loan. A greater amount than that above specified shall not be taken for such purpose, and any money paid, promised, or taken in excess of such amount shall be deemed to be interest.

Under the power conferred on the police commissioner of Boston, to make the rate of interest that may be charged on said class of small loans, for which no security is taken other than a note or contract with or without indorser, he has made the following rates:

SEC. 3. Interest may be charged by persons licensed under this rule as follows: On loans not exceeding $50, at the rate of 36 per cent per annum; on loans of over $50, at the rate of 30 per cent per annum.

The license tax for this class of business is $50 per annum.

RHODE ISLAND.

By an act of the general assembly of the State of Rhode Island, passed February 28, 1895, entitled "An act to incorporate the Workingmen's Loan Association," it is provided that the rate of interest on loans to be made by said association "shall not exceed one per cent a month." (See sec. 4 of said act. This act was amended on May 27, 1897, and the rate of interest on such loans was raised not to exceed 2 per cent per month, which rate is still in force. Section 4 of said act as amended reads as follows:

All loans shall be for a time fixed, and for not more than one year, and the mortgagor or pledgor shall have a right to redeem his property mortgaged or pledged at any time before it is sold, pursuant to the contract between said mortgagor or pledgor and said corporation, or before the right of redemption is foreclosed, on the payment of the loan and interest at the time of the offer to redeem. No loan of more than one thousand dollars shall be made to any one person. The rate of interest upon any loan made by said corporation shall not exceed two per cent a month. No dividend shall be paid in excess of six per cent per annum.

MARYLAND.

An act of the Maryland legislature of 1902, regulating the loaning of money when, as security for such a loan, a lien is taken upon household furniture and effects, musical instruments, typewriters, and sewing machines, authorizes a charge for the examination or valuation of property offered as security for a loan and the preparation of the necessary papers, as follows:

On sums of $1 to $50, a charge of $5; on sums of $51 to $100, a charge of $6; on sums of $101 to $1,000, a charge of $6; plus 5 per cent of increase over $100; on sums of $1,001 and upward, a charge of $6, plus 5 per cent of increase over $100 and plus 21⁄2 per cent of increase over $1,000.

The said act also authorizes the collection of the amount actually to be paid for recording papers, revenue stamps, and fire-insurance premiums. While all of the loans under this act only bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, it is plain that the fixed charges by law more than raise the actual rate of interest to 2 per cent per month on ordinary short-time loans.

HOW TO BENEFIT THE POOR IN THE SLUMS.

BY WM. F. DOWNEY.

For many years the Board of Trade and other civic associations have shown a deep interest in the material improvements in Washington. Each year we have the reports of various committees on improvements, embracing the departments of public buildings, parks, bridges, harbors, streets, trees, sewers, manufactures and commerce, railroads, etc., in which recommendations are made that millions of dollars be appropriated for such improvements.

While it is very commendable of our citizens to use every means possible pertaining to the manufacturing and commercial progress, and material welfare of our city, we should not overlook that portion where the poor dwell in slums, alleys and courts, in unsanitary and uninhabitable abodes. We can not truthfully boast of, or take pride, in our Capital city until we improve the condition of our slum property and remove the festering plague spots, which are equally a menace to the health and morals of the community.

Our attention must be directed to these slums and plague spots where the poor are forced to live. As long as these sources of poverty and crime are allowed to exist in our city, and are tolerated by law, there is little use in attempting to reform them; such evil haunts are so many poison springs constantly throwing forth their putrid waters over our city and until they are purified all moral efforts will avail but little.

The surgeon who is called to treat a patient does not devote his services to the sound parts of the body, but immediately directs his attention to the diseased spot, so it behooves us to apply our remedies to the slums and plague spots of the community, where poverty prevails, immorality is rampant, and crime originates and flourishes.

We notice that the Health Authorities in every town and city in the land are endeavoring to prevent or check infectious diseases, and if anyone becomes infected, that one is immediately quarantined; similar precautions are taken in the case of steamers arriving in port with contagiously diseased patients on board. While this all-important attention is given to such cases, why should we permit greater evils to exist which spread their blasting effects through the community, and transfers the contagion from generation to generation, such as consumption and other diseases, emanating from immoral lives, due to dens of infamy, low saloons, etc. Unsanitary and uninhabitable dwellings where people are crowded together breed and spread considerable disease. For instance, many people live in these places at night, and work in homes all over the