The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-01 00:00:00

ADVERTISING SWINDLES EXPOSED.

Some victims of an apparently systematic and
thoroughly well-established advertising swindle seem
to be airing their grievances in the columns of the
daily papers, but one correspondent, who, by the way,
does not say whether, before acquiring his knowledge
he also was victimised, gives the following informa-
tion: The white-bearded "agent" of Kensington is
not alone in his profession, although others ply it in
a different fashion. There is the " agent "of " The
Lord of the Manor" somewhere in Bloomsbury, who
advertises for "a gentleman to assist his lordship in
the management of his London estate. Salary .E2OO
to £5OO a year. No previous knowledge necessary.
A residence on the estate rent free if desired." This
obliging " agent's" fee is sixty guineas if he secures
the appointment, which he always feels confidentthat
he can do, for the last applicant, although generally
a baronet's son and an earl's younger brother have
just been about it. It is necessary, however, that half
the amount of the fee be paid at once, with a letter
(oddly enough, almost identical with that required
in Kensington), stating that the 30 guineas are for
expenses, and that the applicant does not bold the
" agent " bound to secure the appointment, but that
he will do his best. Then there is the "financial
agent" in Westminster, who knows, he says, all the
best solicitors in London, and can negotiate a part-
nership with almost any firm in the City, obtain a
loan to any amount upon any security, or form a
company for any possible or impossible purpose. His
terms, of course. are much higher. From 500 to
1500 guineas are his usual fees; but for preliminary
expenses a hundred pounds paid in advance is his
unvarying charge. He, too, requires a letter (which
might be a lithographed copy of that used in Blooms-
bury) to exonerate him from all responsibility
(except that of keeping the hundred pounds) if he is
unsuccessful. The lord of the manor still needs assist-
ance; no one ever yet obtained a partnership or
a loan through the "financial agent ; ' and yet the
advertisements appear with periodical regularity. It
is almost incredible that people should be found
every now and again weak enough to pay money on
such shallow pretences to men whose characters they
might learn on the slightest inquiry. That there are
a good many such weak people is known, and the
offices in Bloomsbury, Westminster, and elsewhere,
show that "agency" business of this queer sort is at
any rate one by which a man AV live. But what of
the responsibility of the newspapers, which constantly
insert the advertisements which entice the weak
people to their fate? This is too large a question for
present discussion, but to all who are tempted to
reply to such advertisements we would say, make
inquiry first in the neighbourhood of the advertiser.
For those who complain of being taken in by another
class of advertisements there can be no com-
passion. Any one who buys of the "young lady
in urgent need of ..E4 to enable her to return to her
friends in Scotland" (she spends about that sum
weekly in advertising her urgent need), the "splendid
set of silver plate (Sheffield A), perfectly new, and in
the original papers," which she offers at half the cost
price for four guineas, deserves to find, as he will find,
that practically he has given the young lady the £4,
and that the odd 4s. are about the value of his lac-
quered tin purchase. And those who think that they
will find in a back street in the remote suburbs "a
genuine house of furniture, the property of an officer
ordered to Egypt, to be sold at any sacrifice, together
or separately, are not to be commiserated with if
they discover that it is they who have been sold,
whether together or separately, for such advertise-
ments as these ought to deceive no one.