Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-18
A Very Dubious Method.

From the Christian Examiner
The Examiner has never been backward in
giving its approval to good causes that appeal
to the generosity Of Christian people, or to
means for raising money that experience has
shown to be both effective and free from rea-
sonable objection. 1t can, therefore, without
danger of being misunderstood. utter WARN
ing against wildcat schemes of benevolence.
And just now there is a class Of schemes multi.
plying In numbers every day. against which n
warning would not be superfuous.
The essential feature OF these schemes is that
certain comparatively unknown and irresponsi-
bic persons undertake, out of the goodness Of
their hearts. to raise large sum of money for
some religious charitable object The an
peal is very adroitly made You open YOUR
morning letters and find an appeal for q two
cent postage stamp-only two centsi Who
would be so mean as not to give that for q good
cause.-the be sent to person Of whom YOU
never heard before, for an object Of which you
are densely ignorant, except that il has good
name. You are also requested TO make two
copies OF the letter you have received and
send them TO friends Of yours. You find your
copy numbered twelve, say, and assured
that when fifteen Tor twenty removes have
been made from the original letter the de-
mands will cease. IL You are unwilling to re-
spond, you are requested at least to send the
letter you have received to the originator Of
the plan, in order that it may be known that
II you are of mathematical turn Of mind n
little reflection fills you with wonder that any.
body should respond favorably to 30 objection
able scheme, unless, indeed, both the cause
and the movers are well known. Even then
the plan will seem very wasteful method Of
raising money. For, you soon perceive. you
are invited to spend six cents in postage, tosay
nothing OF your envelopes and stationery and
time (Which may be worth something), in order
to give two cents. Perhaps the request calls
for ten cents or even fifty cents-for the work.
ers OF the scheme are growing holder with sue
cess-in which case the waste is proportionally
less, but also the prospect of q favorable reply.
Almost anybody may be depended on to give 8
stamp, but the demand for dime or a half
refusal.
Another thing Of which your mathematical
turn assures you is that if the scheme is sue.
cessfully carried out, the amount realized il
very large. Anybody who has in school-days
worked out the old problem Of the horseshoe
nails will not be surprised to hear that gifts Of
two-cent stamps, multiplied by two at each Of
twenty removes, have produced. even allowing
for broken links, between $4,000 and go. 900.
Few of these plans aim at raising less than one
or two thousands. What guarantees do tho~o
who are pushing these schemes give that they
will make wise or even an honest use Of the
money collected? Many of them are, no doubt,
acting from the best Of motives, but il Ia more
than likely that some Of them are swindlers.
Auc met tnat eacn person gives out elght
amount does not alter the fact that sums 90
large in the aggregate should not be carelessly
intrusted to those Of whom nothing 10 known.
As we have indicated, the number and audac-
ity of these schemes is rapidly increasing until
they threaten to be an intolerable nuisance
The impression has got abroad that this il an
SAey and effective way to sraise considerable
sums without anybody being asked to give
much, and without the raisers making them
selves liable to supervision in expenditure, and
the plan is being worked for all Il il worth. It
is very easy TO discourage the plan. Whoever
receives begging letter of this kind from per.
sons Of whose good faith and trustworthiness he
is not sure, should quietly put il in the fire.
By what right does an unknown person tax
one with the expenditure of stamp to return
the letter to the originator of the plan? II half
the letters were treated in this way the chain
would be broken 80 many times that the 70.
sponses would be few and the plan would b
( ound improbable.