Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-10-21
A FISHER OF MEN.
Missionary work that Paid-Some Sample
Letters From His Victims Who Refused
His MinistratiOn.


turned up among the residents of thi
city. He is imam of excellent inten
tions, but he has an eccentric way o
manifesting them. A long and Close
observation of the methods of pro
fessed philanthropists and benevolent
societies satisfied him that their man
ayers often secured O. fair living as 6
fruit of their good works. He could
not see any reason why he should not
do likewise, and it is only q slight diff
terence of opinion between him anC
the United States post-ofice au
thorities which prevents Israel III
| Wood, OF 1885 Girard Avenue, from
still carrying on one Of the most
prosperous schemes Of evangelizatior
| yet launched amid a censOriOus world
The tale he gave your correspondent
this afternoon is sad enough to fill a
midnight mission with lamentations.
You behold a victim of unrighteous
ness" said Mr.. Wood. "The post
office people have the unkindness to
call me "a fraud and "a crank, when
as a simple matter of fact, for more
than two years | have been engaged in
noble work. They object to my
methods. Well, my system is an ef-
fective one, or it would not have at
tracted their attention. Doyou know,
[ believe that my real opponents are
the professional philanthropists who
grow fat off the doing of good to sin
ners. [ did great good-inealculable
good; but my ways were not theirs,
and they prosecute me. My occupa-
TONS gone ~
"What work have you been engaged
in" asked the writer.
"In disseminating the Truth-don't
forget to spell it with large 'T"-re-
Joined the religious enthusiast 81
was not as good and pure man at
one time as | am now. | followed the
devil and knew his ways well. Expert
ence taught me that there was a large
class of the wicked who occupied a
middle ground between the totally de-
PRAYED and the morally upright. l
saw that this class was not reached
by any scheme of regeneration yet de-
vised by man, and | set for myself the
noble task of appealing to that partic-
ular social class, one of which / had
been myself in the days that were
past"
GLOW did you go about this
work ?"
CATER much deep consideration I
framed the following advertisement,
which inserted in several of the flash
weekly papers that find their patronage
among the very class / wished to
reach:
A TTENTION SINNERS! A BOOK
n no oh J,
better than anything of the kind ever print
ed; 800 pages and no trash. Price so cents
Sent, postage free, by WOOD & CO., /, 1886
Girard Avenue.
''This 1 felt certain would attract
notice." continued Mr.. Wood. at
fully equaled my expectations. Be
fore the end of the week began to re-
ceive letters at the rate of fifty a day.
Soon the number increased to eighty,
then a hundred. | was delighted. All
letters contained the stipulated sum-
Some OF them also had the stamps for
return postage. Correspondents. in
Texas and the South forwarded larger
sums, and wanted five, ten and a.
dozen copies. 1t was a bonanza in the
cause of good works. l sent on an
average of a hundred books a day for
several months. [ never felt happier
in my life.'
''But you have not explained what
the book was. Nothing Objectionable,
it is to be hoped?"
''No, indeed. l sent to all the cor
respondents who enclosed money a.
neat copy OF the New Testament.
bought these by the hundred of the
Bible Society, corner of Seventh and
Walnut Streets, and paid $475 per
hundred copies"
'What, less than five cents for a
book that you sold to your patrons
for half a dollar? Wasn't that out
rageously dear?"
mo, [ think not" was the calm re-
Jolnder. 1.-The books and postage on
a hundred testaments cost me So. I
received $50. That was only a net
profit of $40 on every hundred books
sent out. You have always heard
that it costs $40 to get 81 to the
beneficiary? Yes. Well, you see it
can be done cheaper. My advertising
costs about $12 week-or, say So a
day-so that the contributors to this
fund for distributing the New Testa-
ment only dispensed four times as
much as the benefaction was worth to
them. Don't you think it was a novel
idea, this OF inducing the very class
that needs the gospel most to pay for
dissemination
cit looks very much like a swindle,"
rejoined the writer, "though your mo-
tive may have been a noble one"
appreciation appeared to be Who'll
ly lacking among the recipients of the
precious bOoks,'' continued the mis-
guided worker in the field of reforma-
ton. "You would be shocked, as 1
was, were to read you some Of the
replies that came from my flock Of
novitiates. Some of them received
the word in silence, and I hope they
profited much by it. Others grew
abusive. They charged me with de-
ception and threatened me with the
law. [ smiled at their threats. Mar
tyrdom was what I thirsted after.
Others took another method. They
brought my earnest work to the no.
tlce OF the post-ofice officials at Wash
lngton, and [ have had my letters
stopped and am under heavy bonds
to appear for trial in the coming term