Communications.

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To the Editors of the Crimson:

May I trespass on the space of your paper to give a warning to some of the students of Harvard. There is a practice which is somewhat general among money lenders to induce students to give post dated check instead of promissory notes in payment of loans. The lenders say they would rather have a post dated check even if there has never been anything standing in the name of the maker in the bank. They represent this check to be practically equivalent to a promissory note. Many of the college men are led into this trap and do not consider the construction which that lender may put upon this act if he is given the opportunity. The object of the lender is to place the student in a position in which he will appear to be amenable to the provisions of Chapter 203 of the Public Statutes of Massachusetts which provide in $59 that "Whoever designedly, by a false pretence, or by a privy or false token, and with intent to defraud, obtains property from another person, . . . shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding ten years, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars and imprisonment in the jail not more than two years."

If on the date of payment, the student has nothing with which to pay, the parents or friends of the student are informed that a worthless check was fraudulently given for payment.

The lender in many cases will maintain that the student represented that he had or that he would have money in the bank on the date of payment and so a prima facie case of obtaining money under false pretence is established.

Thus exorbitant rates of interest amounting in many cases to one hundred percent for a two months' loan, are extorted: and the lender evades the provisions of $3 of Chapter 77. "When there is no agreement for a different rate, the interest of money shall be at the rate of six dollars upon each hundred dollars for a year, but it shall be lawful to pay, reserve, or contract for any rate of interest or of discount: but no greater rate than that before mentioned shall be recovered in any action, unless the agreement to pay such greater rate is in writing."  STOUGHTON BELL '96.

Cambridge, May 10, 1901