The sign of the Lombards is very common in the great city. In the
Bowery, East Broadway, Chatham, Catharine, Division, Oliver, Canal, and
Grand streets, the three gilt balls are thickest, but they may also be
seen in every portion of the city in which there is poverty and
suffering. The law recognizes the fact that in all large communities
these dealers are a necessary evil, and, while tolerating them as such,
endeavors to interpose a safeguard in behalf of the community, by
requiring that none but persons of good character and integrity shall
exercise the calling. They must have been dreamers who framed this law,
or they must have known but little of the class who carry on this
business. The truth is, that there is not a pawnbroker of "good
character and integrity" in the city. In New York the Mayor alone has
the power of licensing them, and revoking their licence, and none but
those so licensed can conduct their business in the city. "But," says
the Report of the New York Prison Association, "Mayors of all cliques and
parties have exercised this power with, apparently, little sense of the
responsibility which rests upon them. They have not, ordinarily at
least, required clear proof of the integrity of the applicants; but have
usually licensed every applicant possessed of political influence. There
is scarcely an instance where they have revoked a licence thus granted,
even when they have been furnished with proofs of the dishonesty of the
holders."
The pawnbrokers are, with scarcely an exception, the most rascally set to
be found in the city. They are not generally receivers of goods which
they know to be stolen, for there is too much risk to them in carrying on
such a business. Their shops are overhauled almost every week by the
detectives in searching for stolen property, and the pawnbrokers, as a
class, prefer to turn over this business entirely to the Fences. Some of
the most reckless, however, will receive pledges which they know to have
been stolen, and the police occasionally find stolen goods on their
hands. Upon one occasion, a whole basket of watches was found in one of
these establishments. Another was found in possession of a diamond which
was identified by its owner. It had been stolen by a servant girl. It
was worth over seven hundred dollars, and had been pawned for two dollars
and a half.
The pawnbrokers, though not receivers of stolen goods, are not a whit
better. They are the meanest of thieves and swindlers. Section eight of
the statute, under which they hold their licences, requires that, "No
pawnbroker shall ask, demand, or receive any greater rate of interest
than twenty-five per cent. per annum upon any loan not exceeding the sum
of twenty-five dollars, or than seven per cent. per annum upon any loan
exceeding the sum of twenty-five dollars, under the penalty of one
hundred dollars for every such offence." This law is invariably violated
by the pawnbroker, who trades upon the ignorance of his customers. The
rate habitually charged for loaning money is three per cent. a month, or
any fractional part of a month, or thirty-six per cent. a year,
regardless of the amount. Many laboring men and women pawn the same
articles regularly on the first of the week, and redeem them on Saturday
when their wages are paid them.
"The following is a schedule of charges made on articles irrespective of
interest: On diamonds, watches, jewelry, silverware, opera-glasses,
articles of _vertu_, ten per cent. on the amount loaned, over and above
the interest, for what is called putting them away in the safes. On
coats, vests, pants, dresses, cloaks, skirts, basques, from twenty cents
to one dollar is charged for hanging up. On laces, silks, velvets,
shawls, etc., from twenty-five cents to one dollar for putting away in
bureau, wardrobe or drawer. For wrappers from fifteen to fifty cents is
charged. Persons offering goods done up in papers are compelled to hire
a wrapper, or the pawnbroker refuses to advance. The wrapper is simply a
dirty piece of old muslin. The hire of one of these wrappers has been
known to have amounted to over five dollars in one year. Upon trunks,
valises, beds, pillows, carpets, tool-chests, musical instruments, sewing
machines, clocks, pictures, etc., etc., in proportion to their bulk, from
one dollar to five dollars is charged for storage. A still greater
profit to the pawnbrokers is the penny fraud. They buy pennies, getting
from 104 to 108 for one dollar. These they pay out, and on every $100
thus paid out an average gain of six dollars is made. This amounts to
something with the prominent ones, who often pay out many hundred dollars
in a day. Another source of profit is the surplus over the amount loaned
which the pawnbroker receives from the sales of unredeemed pledges. This
surplus, although belonging to the depositor, according to law, is never
paid. In fact, not one in a thousand who have dealings with pawnbrokers
is aware of his rights."
As a rule, these wretches grow rich very fast. They are principally Jews
of the lowest class. They allow their wives and children to wear the
jewelry, ornaments, and finer clothing placed in their keeping, and in
this way save much of the ordinary expense of the head of a family. In
the case of clothing, the articles are frequently worn out by their
families. They are either returned in this condition when demanded, or
the owner is told that they cannot be found. Payment for them is always
refused. As has been stated, they refuse to pay to the owner the amount
received in excess of the loan for an article which has been sold. This,
added to their excessive rate of interest, is said to make their gains
amount to nearly five hundred per cent. on the capital invested in their
business--"the Jews' five per cent."
The principal customers are the poor. Persons of former respectability
or wealth, widows and orphans, are always sure to carry with them into
their poverty some of the trinkets that were theirs in the heyday of
prosperity. These articles go one by one to buy bread. The pawnbroker
advances not more than a twentieth part of their value, and haggles over
that. He knows full well that the pledges will never be redeemed, that
these unhappy creatures must grow less able every day to recover them.
Jewelry, clothing, ornaments of all kinds, and even the wedding ring of
the wife and mother, come to him one by one, never to be regained by
their owners. He takes them at a mere pittance, and sells them at a
profit of several hundred per cent.
You may see the poor pass into the doors of these shops every day. The
saddest faces we ever saw were those of women coming away from them.
Want leaves its victims no choice, but drives them mercilessly into the
clutches of the pawnbroker.
The majority of the articles pawned are forced there by want,
undoubtedly, but very many of them go to buy drink. Women are driven by
brutal husbands to this course, and there are wretches who will
absolutely steal the clothing from their shivering wives and little ones,
and with them procure the means of buying gin.
Of late years another class of pawnbrokers, calling themselves "Diamond
Brokers," has appeared in the city. They make advances on the jewels of
persons--mostly women--in need of money. The extravagance of fashionable
life brings them many customers. They drive as hard bargains as the
others of their class, and their transactions being larger, they grow
rich quicker. They are very discreet, and all dealings with them are
carried on in the strictest secrecy, but, were they disposed, they could
tell many a strange tale by which the peace of some "highly respectable
families" in the Avenue would be rudely disturbed.