The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1901-05-31
COMMERCIAL VALUE OF NAMES
Peculiar Reasons for Sorting Llsts
for Special DirectOries-Used
by SSvindlers.

for Special DirectOries-Used
BY swindlers.
In the average farmhouse mail there
is always an abundant grist of cir
culars and prospectusesr ranging all the
way from green goods to patent med
icnes. This literature is of a sort that
never comes to urban people; it is de-
signed for bucolic consideration only,
and the collection of the names OF
the farmers to send it to is an art in
itself, says the Chicago Journal.
The simplest form of the ADVERTISE
mcnt for the names is the announce
ment that the advertiser is about to
issue new and enlarged edition of his
agents directory and that for ten
cents any name and address will be
registered whereupon "you will re-
eeive much valuable and important
Seading matter" In many instances,
no doubt, :he advertiser is a man of
straw lie has no agents or other
directory, the ten cents is clear profit
and the victims scarcely care to
make a fuss for dime. But there
are many honest dealers who do all
they say they will do, and this is
proved after brief waiting period by
the receipt Of circulars and advertis-
ing material from every state in the
| union.
There has been SO much COMPETE
ton for these names that all sorts OF
extra inducements are offered, the
dime remaining as a fixed fee. To
| Get these names offers are made in re-
turn of all kinds of jewelry, Ala ska
diamonds which will deceive the most
| expert judges of gems, gold rolled so
deity that it will resist every acid
test. Nothing but the failure of the
advertisers ingenuity seems to limit
| tue rich towards which are to flow
from sending ten cents in silver or
stamps, all being in addition to the
| mail matter that is to result from
the printing of the name in the adver-
Users directory. Whether the di-
rcctory is ever printed or not, the
names received have a selling value.
There are several such directories is
sued more or less Systematically.
The charge of dime for the inser-
ton of the name is not due merely to
the directory mans desire to catch
money both coming and going. It is
that dime which gives the name its
selling value when he seeks to dispose
of it. He goes to the name brokers
with long list of names, "all good
in the language Of that odd business,
|
call good means that the vender has
the original documents to show that
the owners of the names have spent a
dime each on his scheme; therefore
they may be counted on to bite at any
catch-penny scheme which may be
sent to them by circular. A mere list
of names such as might be compiled
by asking the village cobbler who his
neighbors were would have no value
to a name dealer. The charge of the
dime to get into the agents directory
is the thing that Sits out the gull:
ible.
At this first sale the names 60 for
a small sum, and that is by no means
Il fixed figure, for this trade has its
bull and bear movements as have 9th
ers. The buyer tries the list with his
own little game, which may allure the
farmer to the extent Of a quarter or
a half-dollar. This creates a second
and smaller list, which can be sold Tor
q considerable advance, for the names
are only of those who have parted
with their good money like easy
marks.
BY this wedding process the lists
from all over the country are reduced
toa very few names in each rural coun-
ty. These top-notch names, those who
have bitten every proposition without
squealing when parted from their
money, are worth from 30 to so cents
each, according as the market chances
to run. These are the people to whom
the green-goods circulars are sent. and
| these are they who become come-ons
and 20 home shorn.
All these names are sifted out by
the men with different confidence
games. But at the same time that
the owners are being preyed upon by
one set of swindlers the cheap medi-
cine men keep sending them sample
| pills and tablets to cure every known
i'll. In this department of the industry
there is the same process of selection.
and at last the medically gullible farm
cr's name comes into the possession
of really reputable proprietary med
| icine houses.
| Rugs from Rags.
His majesty's consul for Hiogo and
Osaka in a recent report says that the
variety of floor covering other than
mating made and exported from the
Hiogo- Osaka district, Sakai rugs and
carpets, cotton hemp and WOODEN
show slight decrease in 1S9o-about
e71,00O worth, as against es4,oo0 in
1898. The bulk of this article, consist
ing of the cheapest grades, was for
| ,,orl,, rno1o moSf1v from old ul1nnV