tegrity 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