The Hypocrisy of a 'People's' Candidate
Promissory notes reveal the high-interest lending practices of a gubernatorial candidate campaigning on cheap money.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Here are two notes, exact copies in wording of the originals, which were stamped 'paid.' They were given for loans made by the Farmers' and Traders' Bank of Pullman, of which C. W. Young, people's party candidate for governor, is one of the directors. An examination will show how closely Mr. Young practices the principles he advocates of plenty of money at 2 per cent per annum. These notes draw 18 per cent interest and are payable in gold coin. The note last issued, it will be seen, is even harder on the borrower than the first, for it provides for an increase of one-half per cent interest per month if the note is not paid at maturity, making 2 per cent per month. The financial policy that would probably suit Mr. Young best would be to have the government loan money to him at 2 per cent per annum, so that he could loan it out, to those whose necessities compel them to borrow, at 24 per cent per annum.
“An examination will show how closely Mr. Young practices the principles he advocates of plenty of money at 2 per cent per annum.”
This 1892 attack on predatory lending in Pullman reflects a timeless struggle. Today's debates over high-interest 'payday' loans and the influence of banking interests in politics mirror this Populist-era scandal, where candidates were accused of personally profiting from the same financial systems they claimed to fight.
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