Evening star., 1894-01-09
Chief Drummond of the Treasury Depart

Chief Drummond Of the Treasury Depart
ment secret service Is an excellent omcer
and his latest annual report records evil
dence Of pleasing activity, but the document
betrays a weakness with which there will
be little. IL any, public sympathy. Patheti-
cally the chief calls attention to his ina
bility to move against those men whose
wits are exercised in green goods" swind-
ling. The operators are officially referred
to as swindlers. villains. rascals, rogues,
robbers. ruin-workers, and human vultures,
although they do nothing worse than de-
ceive men and women who are quite as
criminal in their intent as are the tempters.
The victims over whose losses 50 many
tears are shed plan to purchase what they
believe Is counterfeit money. which, OF
course. they expect to circulate with .tre-
mendcus profit to themselves and corre-
spending loss to innocent fellow-beings;
at the outset Of their epdeavor to defraud
they are themselves robbed of the capital
they so foolshly and criminally invested
end because other thieves are smarter than
they the police are frequently called upon
to interfere. One amateur rascal whose
home was in Juniata, Neb., writes to the
secret service:
Yours received and / will leave off all
preliminaries and tell you all straight and
honestly. inclosed you will find a copy of
Il Il II,
just as the instructions say and l went
down 10 New York city and met the agent
and he took me to the head man and there
i seen the goods as they call 1t and picked
out the amount i wanted to buy, which was
S2a.OO, for which / paid 81 900 in New York
drafts and the agent went to the express
office and there 1 sent or intended to send
1t TO my address, but the scoundrels changed
boxes on me and when 1 got home and re-
ceived the box it had nothing in but blank
paper.
Another Of these miscalled ''unfortunates"
sent to the Treasury Department from
Easton, N. H.. the following appeal:
Il have been Swindled out of hundred
and 40 dollars by those Greengoods mems of
New York and 1 have been there twice and
seen them In Broadeday light and should
no them all IL i should see them again as 1
HASN'T suficient money now to look them
up with i take this course hoping you will
try assist me to hase them taken and pun
1sh to the full Extent of the Law, if you
could see my papers and hears what hase
been through then you could Judge what
best to do 1 am strtsting and Hopeing in
MIN who Is greater them all that / may
near from you soon and that we may bring
them to Justice.
yours in Haste"
Plain people, who have common, every
day ideas about honesty will not share in
fhe indignation expressed by the somewha.
alitefate gentleman from New Hampshire,
who having failed in his effort to be a sue
cessfu rascal prays to the Supreme Being
that confusion and great discontinue may
rail- upon his conscienceless associates The
man who starts out to accumulate wealth
by passing counterfeit money is every whit
as bad as the smooth operator who robs the
unsophisticated criminal. So long as the
green goods" men confne themselves ex-
ciusfveiy to the business of stealing from
more cowardly thieves the honest man has
little reason for concern.