CHAPTER III 



THE MAGIC OF THE MIXING-HOUSE — WITH 

 OTHER STRANGE MATTERS 



IF he continued in after years to follow 

 this subject, he must have found much 

 to enlighten him as to why he was reduced 

 to be a ranch-hand and his wife to be a wait- 

 ress in a country hotel. 



For instance, he would have found that in 

 1913 a bill was introduced in the North 

 Dakota legislature to bring down the legal 

 rate of interest from 12 per cent., which it 

 had been for many years, to the modest 

 figure of 10 per cent. This bill was referred 

 (with rare wisdom) to a committee composed 

 of bankers, lawyers, and merchants. They 

 killed it. There was an outcry and at the 

 next session the reduction was actually made 

 — on paper. The legal rate became lO per 

 cent., but the law was so adroitly worded 

 that loans were still made at 12, 14, and even 

 higher rates. The redress of a borrower that 

 paid more than 10 per cent, was, according 

 to this masterpiece of lawmaking, a suit to 



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