The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-02-10

made for the insertion of the name and
address under the respective business or
professional heading, the whole cook re-
ing planned after the Providence busi-
ness directory, which is to be found In
the back part Of the regular edition, ana
is now, we believe, published in a sepa-
rate volume, though no charge is made
for the printing Of the name and address
unless these may be desired In particu-
larry conspicuous type. Now, IL such a
! directory ON a scale to compass the whole
country is printed and circulated In any
numbers it is likely to be of some value to
the business men represented. Placed
with hotels, boards OF trades and such
places it ought to be Of some convenience
and may be worth a moderate charge to
the business man in Providence or Osh-
kosh who pays for the insertion OF his ad-
dress n for an advertisement. We have
understood that there Is at least one such
work which enjoys a legitimate existence.
But a scheme that has sprung from this
has no earthly reason for claiming the
patronage of business men. Indeed 1t is
a fake, pure and simple. 1t consists of
taking one of these national directories
and, removing the cover and tearing out
A. A.. I~.f M, ond 1u laaf ara
substituted to make the directory look
like another work. Armed with a copy
of this, the business men in the various
towns are solicited for a RENEWAL Of
their name, address and perhaps adver-
tisement. TIL price is not considerable,
and the business man fnds his own card
and that of all his fellow business men
in the directory, the book appears to be
all right, and a contract for the 're-
newal' is quickly signed. The directory
has as numerous a circulation as there
are agents possessed OF ''sample" copies
all over the country, and as many more
as the "publishers" may choose to doc
tor over to fill orders. Few Of the adver-
tisers. however, ever care for a copy,
themselves, and indeed a purchase OF the
directory is not urged. The advertiser is
content to be informed that ''every
hotel" in the country has a copy in its
collection. And even IL the directory
does not strike him as Of much value
still the price he pays for having a card
i'm IL is so small that he can't lose much,
and he is likely to argue that he had
better risk the waste OF it than be left ont
of a volume that contains the names Of
all his felloV BUSINESS men.
But out ofthis, too, has developed a more
criminal scheme and that is the ''rais-
ing'' of the price written in the contract.
When, six months after the solicitor has
secured the contract, another agent APP
pears with the ''new'' directory to show
a. evidence that the contract under the
hiuSitb ihb hoo hSth iuiiihtc, "A
business man Is likely to be disconnected
by finding his signature to a contract to
pay $50 or $500, instead Of the IS that was
written in it, or S1co, instead of $40.
This bit Of magic is, We understand, not
accomplished by forgery, but by a remov
al by chemical process of the figures of
the contract and substitution of the fake
figures. The signature of the business
man is ~undeniably his W He cannot
disclaim it. He may have his doubts,
but in large concerns a sum Of money not
too glaringly outrageous would be paid
without question on presentation OF such
a contract. In our columns today is re-
ported the discovery of a swindle Of this
kind in New York, and it is known
that the swindlers have been operating
in many other cities.
Indeed, this swindling directory bust
ness is an enormous enterprise. 1t is not
the scheme of any small advertising
sharp. The so-called directory publishers
have pretentious offices in large cities and
their agents and collectors are sent all over
the country. They even employ attorneys
to "bluff" reluctant business men into
paying the raised face of the contracts.
Before the days OF raising the contracts
there was plenty of money to be earned
i'm producing the directories and collect
ing only what the business man had con-
tracted to pay. But the gullibility OF the
business man was such that the directory
fakirs could not resist the temptation 10
push him a little harder aud so the scheme
of raising the contracts was devised. And
every year more and more swindlers went
| into th, hpp;pooo fas,Fnatad hy Tee ,oossf