The A small loan problem in the District of Columbia

The small loan problem is not a minor question affecting some small class of people. It la a tremendously vital matter for the great mass - the great majority - of the American people. More than three-quarters of our families are unable to borrow from ordinary banking institutions. These people need once every year or so a small loan - say $10 to $300 - to meet common vicissitudes of life. Where can they borrow? How can they borrow? An answer to these questions will indicate that the small loan problem is essentially the problem of providing adequate and satisfactory financial agencies for people who cannot borrow from banks. This problem is particularly challenging in the District of Columbia. During the past few years, agitation against the extraordinary activity of unlicensed lenders in the District culminated in a grand jury investigation in 1929, in startling "expenses" in the Capital's newspapers, and in efforts to replace the District's unsatisfactory small loan legislation with a modern Uniform Smell Loan Law.