The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-09-23
cent? OF tue number of copies it claim

cent? OF tue number of copies it claim.
| ed to priat.
The publishers Of that paper replied
10 our exposure admitting the &C
curacy OF our statements, but at
tempting to explain that they had the
circulation they had claimed both be-
fore and after the year we had ex-
posed. They even attempted to make
the explanation seem plausible by
| having new pressman swear to "a
glorious increase OF nearly a Thousand
new subscribers per week during the
year following the period covered by
our first exposure
TIE SECOND EXPOSURE
Then we published second ex-
posture in which we reprod uced head
lnes OF several letters which they had
"rltten at various dates ia 1898. and
which contained their claims of their
| circulation at those dates, aud in this
| exposure we cOntrasted those claims
| on their letter heads with the more
| recent affidavit of their new PIE s.
| man, covering identically the same
| January Is, 1893, claimed a circulation
Of Al, 900 while the new pressman's af.
| ildavit SwOre that the circulation
Dcember |, '92 had been Is, sOJ, Deem
| Der 10, 1920. and January /, 2O.4O,
ana our first exposure showed by their
| own statement reproduced in fac
Slmlle That no issue in 1899 I'D to No
vemDer 10, had exceeded Ii, 600 except
| one special issue. The contrast be-
| tween the letter heads and the aft.
| davlt was ruinOus. In this expos ure
| we stated that we could also prove
| that their circulation in 1891 had been
even less than in 1892 or 1898. In
| snort, they never had one-half what
| they then claimed.
We charged that this was fraud up
on advertisers. Ii our charges were
| false, they were libelous
THIRD EXPOSURE.
The American Newspaper Directory
OF 1894, published by George P. Rowell
& Co.. IL Spruce ST., New York, gave
Farm, Stock and Home a guaranteed
rating Of $4,000 circulation.
The publishers of that directory
backed up their guaranteed ratings
| by an offer of $l0U reward to the first
| person who produces evidence that
the guaranteed circulation was less
| than That claimed.
1t may be said that all this grows
out Of the jealC asy of a rival publica-
| ton: but, even if that be true, it does
not mitigate the offense of obtaining
the money OF advertisers by false state
ments and claiming circulation
| twice as great as they possessed. I'm
| der our statutes man who obtains
money or property by false represen-
tations goes to prison. He is not
sent to Congress. Here is the law:
Section $3.50 (kelly's Stat. Vol. ., p.
o35.)
Larceny A person who
takes from the possession Of the true
! owner, or Of any other person; or OBJ
tains such possession by color or
aid Of fraudulent or false token or
writing X any money, personal
property. thing in action or value Of
| any kind = y steals such prop
erty and is guilty of larceny"
And the man whose paper has OBJ
tanned advertisements by false state
mcnts has no right to insult decent
publication like THE REPRESENTA-
TIVE, which has always and every
where, in ST. Louis, as in Minneapolis,
kept within the strict line Of truth
and veracity.
We would suggest to EARN, Stock
and Home" the wisdom Of the old
adage which says:-"Let sleeping dogs
lie"