INDEBTEDNESS. 
235 
So far as industrial workers are concerned, the period of limitation for 
unsecured debts, which is at present three years, might advantageously 
be reduced to two years, and there is no justification for permitting the 
creditor who has secured a decree to keep that decree alive for 12 years or 
anything approaching that period. At the same time, it may be both 
difficult and undesirable to modify provisions of such general application 
in favour of a very limited class of workers unless they are to be modified 
generally, and it is not possible for us to examine the questions involved 
from the point of view of the general population. 
Enforcement of Legal Rights. 
The changes proposed in the law will not by themselves bring 
about the big change that is desired. The great majority of debts never 
come within the cognisance of a court and the workman’s knowledge 
of his legal rights and capacity to invoke them are both limited. But 
if the law is substantially altered in the direction of the protection of 
the debtor, all the other forces working to protect him will be greatly 
strengthened. We have noted with appreciation the efforts made by 
social workers, co-operators, labour leaders, employers and others to 
save workmen from heavy debts, but the scales are at present so heavily 
weighted in favour of the money-lender as to make these efforts unduly 
difficult and largely ineffective. Our recommendations are designed partly 
to place powerful weapons in the hands of all who are prepared to assist 
the workman, and we hope that they will lead to much greater activity 
in the matter of debt prevention and debt redemption on the part of 
trade unions, employers, and individuals as well as associations 
working for social betterment. Trade unions, in particular, will have 
an opportunity of constructive work of a striking kind, and should 
be able, by asserting the worker’s rights as against his creditor, to demon- 
strate their value to many more workers, while social workers, by the 
formation of debt redemption societies or otherwise, should be able to 
make a larger contribution to the economic welfare of labour. It is 
certain that a successful effort to deal with this grave evil will bring 
great benefit to workers and employers alike, and that it will not hurt those 
money-lenders whose activities are confined to business of a useful kind. 
Besetting an Industrial Establishment. 
The preceding paragraphs have dealt mainly with the money- 
lender who threatens his victim with legal proceedings and, more 
rarely, drives him into court. There are, however, many money-lenders 
who prey upon workers and depend upon the threat of violence 
rather than of the processes of the law. The lathi is the only court to 
which they appeal, and they may be seen waiting outside the factory gate 
on pay-day ready to pounce on their debtors as they emerge. Our 
recommendations should not be ineffective even in. their case, for they are 
as a rule fairly scrupulous even in using intimidation, and seldom 
employ it to exact more than the law allows. But stronger measures 
are justified, particularly as the object of waiting outside the factory 
18 to ensure that their claims form the first charge on wages. We