The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-04-23

IllbtcO bldO tuo diiA OiA Suiohh -
even with the printed stock certificates
thrown in, are dear at the price, for
they are all that will be received from
this extraordinary company, unless it
be indefinite assessments for working
capital.
Some of these bogus concerns have
even gone so far as actually to purchase
mining property, the better to carry out
their designs upon the purses of others;
and the readiness of investors to come
forward with small contributions has
been such as to enable the President,
trustees and so forth-these individuals
being usually embodied in one and the
same person-to live in style of prince
ly magnifcence.
We may dismiss this group of swindlers
with the general warning:
Beware of all mining projects which
promise fortune in return for the in
vestment of few dollars. ...t.
Another group of Wall Street swim
dlers is found in the operations of bogus
bankers and brokers. These operators
usually begin by making use of the press
especially, if possible, of the religious
press. They send out printed slips pur-
porting to be quotations from we'll
known journals. 1t is not difficult to
find papers which will print these for a
consideration of some sort, and far too
many even among reputable journals
will print anything as cash advertise
ment. In substance these notices assert
that by addressing certain parties in New
York information will be impaired
whereby fortune may be acquired by
the investment of few dollars accord
ing to certain infallible rules known to
the brokers whose address is Herewith
given. On writing to the address in
question the seeker for information is
speedily made happy by the receipt of
circulars galore, ingeniously pointing
out, by the indisputable logic of figures,
how the accumulation of small sums in
skillful hands is made to operate as a
mighty whole in the transactions of the
Stock Exchange. Compound interest is
as nothing when compared with the re-
turns from small capital so invested.
And, be it understood, these statements
will bear very close analysis. Figures,
it has been said, will prove anything ex-
cept the truth; and the circulars issued
by these "brokers are admirable illus
trations of the saying. Under excep-
tionally favorable conditions of the mar
ket, the supposititious profits might not
be wholly impossible, but in practice
such conditions never occur in way
that can be made widely available The
plain fact is that every dollar sent to
'broker" who makes such promises
goes toward making life enjoyable for
an out-and-out swindler.
Suppose you send him ten dollars;
presently you are informed that an I'M
expected turn of the market necessitates
the investment of five dollars more to
save it and make a large profit mat
ter of certainty. Possibly he even sends
you first dividend; but call for more
inevitably follows, and will be repeated
until your resources are exhausted or
your credulity gives out.
On this plan the changes are rung in
an infinite variety of ways, but the KEY
note is invariably an appeal to that hope
which springs eternal in every human
Breast of making a fortune by the invest
ment of few dollars. '5'2
A favorite device for engaging conf
dence in schemes of this character is to
publish with the prospectus cut of
some well-known banking establish
ment, with the special sign of the bogus
concern boldly displayed across its
front. This naturally conveys to the
reader the impression that very large
part of the building in question is occu-
pied by the firm. The fact is that most
of these buildings are occupied in the
main by large number of tenants, who
hold small rooms, or sometimes only
desk-room, under the roof of the large
and reputable houses of whose good re-
pute they thus take advantage.
Mr.. Anthony Comstock gives MANY
instances where he has found such con-
Germs in the narrowest quarters, and
more where he has not been able to find
them at all, and he quotes IN ertenso adj
vertisements which must have met the
eye of every one who reads the papers,
proclaiming, Fortunes made every
month. Book sent free, explaining ev-
erything," and all the rest of it.
The correspondence from which he
quotes shows that it is not by any means
always the ignorant or ill-informed who
fall into the snare thus artfully laid for
them. Some of the victims watch the
market reports, and speedily demand
reasons for failures to make returns on
advances in the stock under Investment;
but their vigilance avails them nothing.
Money sent to these sharpers never re-
turns to their dupes unless under pro-
cess of law, pushed to conclusion with
such celebrity and determination as a
Government agent like Mr.. Comstock
can sometimes but not always COM
mand. ... ........-
The bogus bankers and brokers, then,
may be sent to the limbo of bogus min
ing companies with precisely the same
caution: Beware of any concern which
holds out the promise of fortune in
return for the investment of few dol
lars.
Not long since the writer himself, af-
ter glancing over the columns of New
York paper, was walking up and, down
the platform of country station, wait
ing for a train, when he was respect
fully accosted by an Irish laborer, who
asked the loan of the paper, explaining
the liberty by saying that he wanted to
look at the lottery drawings. The poor
fellow had invested some of his hard
parniunc IN tha ohopoa 80 =. 49,.