Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-02-01

Some say that the movement was oe-
gun in good faith by an enterprising but
impecuniOus person, Mrs. Edna Brown
Canman, whose sister was IN fact in need
of medical advice and ,sistance. Others
allege that the plan was originated by
those who know that cancelled American
stamps have about the same value in Eu-
ropean cities that Cancelled European
stamps have in this country. and desire
to accumulate as many as possible in or
der to realize the price which is about
800 for million.
Be this as it may. the post office is COW
cred with the accumulation of the mail
and the carrier is Respondent.
In the good old days, when all of us
were young, there was favorite prob
lem which involved the paying of one
cent for the driving of the first nail in a
horseshoe, and a geOmetrical progress
sion beyond that point. The simple
owner of the horse was represented as &C
cepting the offer of the blacksmith, and
then finding that he would have to pay
the price of all the land in his county to
ST. oe one horse.
The present plan differs from the
school book problem described, in that
it is far more comprehensive. Granted
projectors of one letter. aud each of
those sent three, the number of letters,
to say nothing of the number of stamps
used in postage and the number of can
celed stamps collected, becomes appall-
ing. Whether it is an honest plan, begun
to relieve the needs of an unfortunate in
valid. or a scheme to obtain the stamps
for sale, it is certain that it would require
the efforts of an able bodied a"ithmeti
clan of the first order for several days to
figure out the number of letters and of
stamps involved in all its qualifications.
and that all the stamps ever issued ard
cancelled 10y the postoffiCe department of
the United States would be exhausted
before the demands of the completed
chain were satisfied
The appended dispatch from Canandai-
qua is only one of number of communi-
cations received by the Democrat and
Chronicle bearing upon this subject. The
whole story shows how ready are the
people of this country to respond to any
plausible demand, and how especially Sc
ductive are appeals that call for only
small expenditure, and no great amount
of trouble. The dispatch is as follows:
at is doubtful if there are more than
a few people in Ontario county who have
not received what is known as the chain
letter. The letters call upon the reCeiv-
Ell to write three letters like the one re-
ceived and send them to friends, and re-
turn the one received to Miss Edna Brown
of Kaneville. H., together with ten can
cancelled postage stamps The letter
states that the young lady, who is a
cripple, will be able to take treatmentin
medical institute at that place if shr is
able to collect one million Cancelled post
age stamps. young lady of Canandai-
qua, who received letter, complied with
the directions, sent one of the copies
made to relative. The following letter
was received in answer from the relative,
which was written by a responsible citi
zen OF Kaneville, who had been request
ed to investigate the merits OF the thing:
DEAR SIR: Our postmaster here at
Kaneville receives hundreds of letters
similar to the one you wrote, asking
about the Edna r. Brown cham letter. 1t
is impossible for him to answer all the
letters of inquiries. | know of no medi-
cal institute that will take stamps tor
treatment. This chain letter was started
by irresponsible parties, and it has turn
out an elephant. SIX Thousand letters
have been received in a single mail, filed
with Cancelled stamps, which. in my
Judgment are worthless. The daily av-
erage of letters filled with stamps is from
three to four thousand. AS n tirst-class
nuisance, the scheme is Il success. The
parties themselves are getting tired of it.
My advice to all partie who receive these
chain letters is to consign them 10 the
flames. Respectfully yours.
w. II. SHC or, J. p.