easily adopted with very little possibility
of conviction, even when usury is charged. Even in the most flagrant
violation of laws the chances of conviction are greatly restricted by the
fact that a prosecuting witness, who, after making a contract in violation
of law, takes advantage of that law to violate his contract, destroys all
credit for himself, and so comes under the ban of society. The best
methods of public restriction against extortion of any kind in interest,
in rent or in prices of commodities are those that provide for publicity
of contracts. Where no legal restrictions upon rates of interest are
fixed, current rates are much more likely to be public and widely
advertised, and extortion is less possible than where the law encourages
secret contracts by the need of evasion. It is quite possible that society
will find a way of securing against the extortion of pawn-shops and secret
brokerage by a public organization competing honestly for the same
patronage. Such companies have been organized in a few cities with success
in meeting the wants of the distressed, under such restrictions of charter
and management as insure fair dealing. It seems as possible to regulate
such matters by license and inspection as it is to control the hack-men of
a whole city.

_Loan associations._--It is proper in this connection to refer to loan
associations, the growth of recent years. The purpose of such associations
is direct cooeperation in borrowing and lending among neighbors similarly
situated as to property. They are especially adapted to assist
wage-earners in securing comfortable homes, for which they can pay
gradually from their earnings. The system, however, has been widely
extended, to the advantage of different classes of property owners, even
to the establishment of cooeperative banks among farmers. The essentials to
success and safety in such associations are, first, that they shall be
strictly local, confined to territory within which mutual acquaintance can
give a fair basis for genuine credit; second, the objects sought by
individual borrowers must be fairly equal in risk as well as in ends to be
served; third, the management must be thoroughly trustworthy, with a
genuine interest of all shareholders in the selection of officers; fourth,
all shareholders should have similar relations to the association as both
borrowers and lenders, and each shareholder's responsibility should cease
at the final settlement of h