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Show VIENNA CLOSES SHOPS OF ILLEGAL PAWNBROKERS MADRID. Dec. 9. ( Correspondeuc. I of the Associated Press.) The poor of this city have been greatly distress i j by an order of the gov ernment against I j the operations of illegal pawnbrokers. Thousands of the workers rely upomi pawnshops lo tide them over a period' of unemployment. Heretofore they I have had recourse to the Mont de 1'lete. the official pawnshop. which vras established to loan small a mounts I lo the needy poor at a low rate of ln-i terest on security of pledge ar'.ldcles. I Now, however, it has been turned into j a haven of refuse for extravagant folk, w ho pawn Jewels at higli rates of In-1 terest. - The poorer people were thus driven away and compelled to resort to mi-' merous small shops where they could ' borrow under the pretense of selling their valuables but with the tacit understanding un-derstanding that the shopkeeper wot Id allow them to redeem their goods at a heavv,rair of interest. The "minister of the interior has Stopped, this by issuing 8 royal order j forbidding such transactions. In con-j sequence, the poor people arc Unable to recover their goods from the -ho,i-keepcrs. Public-spirited Spaniards are taking steps to in. luce the government to restore the Monte de Piete to Us original purpose and make it cater I to the poor. . oo- |