Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-03-27
HOW FARMERS ARE swnHDLED.


cess, still, more persistent under exposure. for
| tifying itself anew when driven from its en-
trenchment; it is the fraudulent commerce in
bohemian oats" This fraudulent commerce,
the report says, has lived from year to year, and
extended its operations from state to state
under CALLING fire of the agricultural and local
press. The department has made INQUIRY into
the extent the geographical distribution of
this prolific crop of fraud, for the beneft OF
has not yet penetrated. Corresnondents renort
the attempt in some form to sell this grain at
presence of the agents of the orpanized sWindie
III eighteen. Ohio is the center of the infection,
which has spread to Indiana, Illinois, Michi.
gan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and other western
and southwestern states, while reports show also
attempts in New York, Pennsylvania, and New
Altogether there are one hundred and thirty
counties where this fraud is reported, and IT. is
possible, and. indeed, probable, that a complete
| dred counties. The fraud appears to be entirely
unknown in many districts, especially in the
south, which may soon be invaded by an army
THE MODE OF OPERATING
| Is described as follows:
person representing himself as the agent of
some distant company appears in the neigh.
borhood and proposes to organize a company
Of era for the and
draw into this enterprise some man whose
name viii have weight and influence with
fidence in his scheme and averting that critical
Investigation which would inevitably be fatal
! Is organized under the local laws
The members of this association are to
mdonGpoize, for year or two at least. the pro
guam titles OF not less than ten bushels, to any
one member, at so per bushe, for which the
wte in
| inability to reimburse himself for this outlay
by the sale of the produce of this seed, but the
half his company, ga bono" in which it agrees
to sell lbut not to buy twice the quantity Of
ne at $40 per bushe less twenty
tain date. usually month prior to the date
at which the note natures. Thus, if he gives
his credit for 500, he expects to receive 5000,
| minus $50 as commission, and thus make $50
clear before the payment of a dollar. In fact,
year before collection. There is usually ai pre-
tense OF limiting sales, in order to convey an
idea of monopoly.
THE SECOND YEAR.
The scheme is intended to run more than a
| single year, but if exposed too early the agent
sometimes fails to appear after harvest to "sell"
as nominated In the bond, > the promised guam
tum of grain. Otherwise he returns takes or
| ders among other farmers, and receives notes
due in twelve months, giving each a bond of
the local company formed by the first growers
for the sale after harvest of double the quantity
| the oats, but takes $3.50 per bushel commits
| sion: Selling twenty bushels, he pockets $50,
|
| several thousand dollars in the neighborhood,
leaving the local company to sell after the ne xt
! harvest the two bushels for each one sold, at the
same price. If the excitement can still be kept
up, and confidence retained he can fleece
| scores of othe, farmers in farther commissions:
but the fraud is usually exposed in the second
season, If not in the first, leaving the first grow
| ers reimbursed by becoming swindlers them
| selves. or engaged with numerous lawsuits
| with fellOw-farmers who have been swindled.
The losses that have accrued, the report says,
| are already immense; these returns do not give
them, except in few instances: it would re-
quire further time, and prove "a difficult under
| taking, yet it is claimed that in some coun ties
they would reach $4,000. Probably 500. 900
would not cover them in Ohio, and possibly the
| aggregate for all the states would reach several
| hundred thousand dollars. A loss OF 500 by
one man Is common, and some cases are re-
The returns relating to quality represent in
variably that these Bohemian or hulless oats are
of inferior quality, not worth as much as ordi-
| nary oats. AS the name Bohemian is becoming
| somewhat notorious other varieties or new
| names for the old variety are beginning to APP
pear. Pretended new varieties OF wheat are
being offered for sale at high prices, the wheat
| as high as SIS per bushel, and upon the same
plan as has been followed with Bohemian OATS
1t Is not necessary, the statstcian says, to know
| anything OF the quality of the grain offered on
| that plan to understand that these schemes are
that the crop can be sold year after year at the
same price as the seed, when the latter is twenty
| or thirty times the ordinary market price of
| the grain, manifests pall able lack Of common
| sense.
OTHER FRAUDS UPON FARMERS
The correspondents of the department send
| reports Of various other frauds that with more
or less success are being practiced on farmers in
different parts OF the country. Agents for the
sale of fruit trees, fertilizers, stoves. cooking
| ranges and various other articles succeed in
many instances In selling their wares at two
| or three times their value, or getting the farm
ers' money for things that prove utterly worth
less. The devices for getting farmers sigma
| ture to some paper which can be changed into
| negotiable note and sold for cash are too
numerous to mention. A favorite ruse is to
get him to act agent for the sale of some arti-
Gle OF farm machinery, leave some of the articles
with him and take his receipt for them in such
a form that, with or without change, it can be
used as note for the money at which they are
| valued.
Another device is that of taking orders for
some subscription book-in some cases the re-
| orders into notes. Still another is the one
operated by the pretended agent Of q bible or
| tract society who presents himself at a farm
house about dinner time and accepts an invi-
| tation to dine on condition that he may be al
| lowed to pay for his meal The society, he
says, requires that he should pay his way, and
to prove that he has done SO he asks the farm
ers signature to a form of receipt which he car
comes back to the farmer in the form of note
| for some sum OF money filled in by the plausi-
BILE swindier. A lightning rod agent agrees to
presents a bill ,or S1O5-S1OO for the rods and
So tor putting them up. The collection Of roy
@ sa M In tne
l
ceipts for the manufacture Of fertilizers, the
sale OF rights for a worthless patent process for
curing tobacco, the COLLECTION of fees by pre-
tended officials, such as boiler inspectors. 1.-THE
drive-well fraud" a variety of insurance frauds
and the sale OF worthless receipts for the cure Of
| ''hOg cholera" or other animal diseases, are
| among the numerous swindling devices men,
| toned by the correspondents of the depart
| ment.
"Gentle Spring."
| Again the Vernal Equinox is drawing near focus.
And the bulrOg and the blizzard will trade places
And the crocus the locust will begin their hocus-
| And the gentle goddess Ceres viii be lying round
Soon again the prurient poes both cetious and fac
| titous,
VIII assail Springs specious splendor with their
| 'rOtten-rOt" most rude
Soon again the gidder gusher will assume air most
| vicious,
And again BY her enchantment every dude viii be
| Subdued.
Soon bluff Boreas, bitter. win give birds show to
| twitter.
And the lambs win take occasion, a. girls often do.
| to skip,
And the sodafountain fellows in their sleeves. will
| slyly litter,
As we ante up nickels for the festive fig and
Som again the weary nerchant will Law off dav fnr