_Usury laws._—It has been the custom for ages to distinguish between interest and usury, interest being supposed to be a fair payment for use of borrowed wealth and usury a larger payment in the distress of a borrower. Usury once meant only use, the equivalent of interest, but since it was once prohibited by law in England, the name is now attached to what is still prohibited by law, an interest above a definite rate prescribed by statute. The object of such legal restrictions is evidently protection of the borrower against extortion. Yet it is practically proved by experience of the world that such restrictions operate against the borrower by limiting lenders in open market and sometimes closing the market entirely. The would-be borrower, under adverse conditions in the market, is obliged to find in some byway a lender whose scruples against infringement upon the law may be overcome by extra payment. Under such circumstances there is no market rate, and borrowers bind themselves in numerous ways to special payments not in direct conflict with the letter of the law. Evasions of restrictions under such circumstances are inevitable. A farmer buys a hundred-dollar horse, giving a note, payable in one year without interest, for $120; or he sells his note to a neighbor at what he will give; or he goes to a broker and pays him a commission for securing a loan at the legal rate of interest. Even at a bank, prohibited by law from taking more than the legal discount on the pain of losing its charter, a borrower may give his note for $500, tacitly agreeing to leave on deposit a fifth of the sum, thus paying interest on $500 for the use of $400. All these forms of evasion are 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.