The Grange advance., 1873-11-05
HUMBUGS AGAIN.

Bore, % necessity should demand. Every
\ movement in the direction Of reform is sur.
Npunded by dangers and difficulties. The
Pform movement among farmers cannot
kpect to be an exception. Men with the
= pmmendsble desire (?) of feathering their
wn nests rush into the movement, and
he'd any amount of crocodile tears over the
offerings Of the "poor abused farmers
md with violent protests strive to cover ur
heir own designs. In our first article we
Lid down this rule, which is applicable to
.class of humbugs that are now developing
Men engage III trade to make money, and
do not p~kc practice Of either giving
away .heir goods or selling for less than
thefvalue or cost, and whenever they pro-
sess to do either of these, there is a hum
bug somewhere.
The Western Rural shows UP some of
these humbugs in the following style:
The concern is advertising what it calls
its Fourth Grand Sale," :.ereat sale of
goods, in Schedule D., comprising over half
q million dollars worth of such goods as
you need for wear and use in YOUR homes
this Fall and Winter, -. over one million
dollars worth Of valuable and staple goods
sold and delivered to the people from our
three last sales, -" satisfaction always
guaranteed The plan seems to be sub
stantially reproduction OF the well-re-
membered 8. C. Thompsons dollar sales lat
Boston, New York and Chicago) of three
nr l..
in an immense swindle, the victims of
which are yet living, in all parts of the
country, many of them possibly ready to
be again taken in.
The "game' seems to be to gain public
confidence, at any cost, and at the right
moment to fail, the principal operators
disappearing, leaving confederate, who,
after stavlng Oft complaints as long as pos
slble, gathers in the scattering receipts by
mail from outlying districts, and then also
modestly retires from public observation.
To the best Of our belief, one or more of
the individuals who were concerned in the
business Of 8. c. Thompson & Co., as above,
and who decamped with the proceeds, are
now operating with the Union Furnishing
Co.
The peculiar system of business is the
sale OF certificates at Is cents each, each
certificate constituting the purchaser a
shareholder, and on payment of one dollar
additional emitting him to one selection from
voluminous list of articles, which. if ever
furnished as agreed, would be secured at
from one'half down to one-sixth their value
at any honest city or country merchants
counter! The certificates are sold through
agents, to whom tempting offers are made
for service in thus victimizing their neigh
bors. To make the offers of goods on such
terms plausible, it is stated that they are
''bankrupt stocks" and that the 'Compa-
ny's' agents are kept on the alert in all the
large cities, with fabulous amounts of ready
cash. to seize the effects of every capsized
merchant. Thus these gentry, G. B. Hodge
& Co., advertise themselves as public bene-
factors, " devoted to the interests Of the
people, and fighting against monopolies and
the profits Of middlemen!'' They call the
especial attention Of Oranges and Farmers
Clubs Aside from the prima facie evidence
that they are swindlers, the similarity of
the scheme with that of the =. c. Thomp.
SON robbery, and the probable identifica-
ton Of the same parties with both enter
prises." should be sufficient caution to peo-
pie who have no money to give for nothing.
The sales Of certificates alone afford i'm
mense profits, even if no dollars are sub
sequently sent. Some idea may be gather
ed OF the magnitude Of these operations
from the fact that we have before US. at this
writing, batch Of certificates bearing
numbers much above 100000! Agents
are urged to "n'ake no delay in selling GER
tihcates,' although the goods to which
" shareholders" are entitled (after 100
more on each certificate is paid) are not to
be delivered until Dec. 10Th next!
Our Investigations have led US to con-
clude that Waters 4 Co., who publish a
newspaper called Our Fyreside Friend are
the hackers of, or at least largely inter-
ested in, the Union Furnishing Co. 3 scheme.
The type-setting and press-work of the pa-
pers, circulars, ETC., are done under the
auspices Of that newspaper firm the news
paper advertising and other business de.
tails are attended to by the conductors Of
Our Firessde Friend; and the premises for
merly occupied by the said newspaper are
now the headquarters Of the said Union
Furnishing Company, while the two con-
Germs are Kept conveniently adjacent with
an intimate alley communication, and the
employees are switched from one establish
ment to the other as the exigencies of busi-
ness may require. 10 the best of our
knowledge and belief, therefore, the Union
furnishing Company and Our F;rsside
FRIEND are under one and the same manage
ment.
Our Investigations have developed the
further fact that Our Fireside Friend con-
Germ has recently been engaged in an eyre
gious violation Of the laws of Illinois,
which would, on conviction, consign its
managers to the penitentiary; or, If not
so engaged, they have been guilty Of a bare
faced and miserable swindle. 1t has been
advertising-as one Of its great induce
ments to subscribers,' by means Of which