Working for Debt: Banks, Loan Sharks, and the Origins of Financial Exploitation in the United States - Paperbackby Simon Bittmann (Author) In the early twentieth century, wage loans became a major source of cash for workers all over the United States. From Black washerwomen to white foremen, Illinois roomers to Georgia railroad men, workers turned to labor income as collateral for borrowing capital. Networks of companies started profiting from payday and property advances, exposing debtors to the grim prospects of garnishments of their wages and possessions in