The age-herald., 1901-09-23
THE "JAY" LIST.

From the Philadelphia Record.
 Men who have hugged the delusion that they are not bald, although the hair on top of their heads may be little thin, have been surprised and pained to re- ceive from a distant city a series of circulars which offer cure for the most desperate cases of badness. Other men with disorderly internal arrangements, who have been fighting the fear of Bright's disease, have been thrown into a panic by the receipt of confidential cir culars which promise to stay the ravages of that grave ailment. Still others, who have or who fear they have some organic malady, have wondered how a remote vender of proprietary medicines has dis covered that fact and has been able to deluge them with depressing literature.
 The explanation Is that there has been a development of the Jay list" idea. As most persons know, the Jay list' consists of the names of persons who have in moment of strange credulity or idle curiosity replied to an advertisement which has offered something for nothing and a valuable prize thrown in. From
 
 ment he Is a marked man and nui- sance to the overworked local post master. He Is doomed to receive circu- lars and pamphlets by the cartload from all parts of the country, and on all sub jects, from green goods to gold bricks. The advertiser to whom he wrote has sold his name and the names of thousands of other credulous or curious persons to every firm which has a scheme for wrestling money from the confiding. Out of this has grown the enterprise of an advertising agent, who has made it his business to compile lists of afflicted persons in different communi- ties. These lists he offers for sale to manufacturers and vendors of cures. He boasts that he employs persons to dis cover people who are afflicted in every way. His alphabetical list begins with asthma and extends to and includes warts. He offers to sell the names of 275,0Oo bald headed persons, 150O persons who have each lost an ear and 100 per- sons who have lost a nose, 10000 very fat persons, 1000 stammerers, etc. While the average price per 1000 names Is about $5, in the case of warts he demands s2O for each 1000 names. He offers the names of 5000 persons who are interested in amateur photography, 100000 believers in hypnotism, 10000 red haired women. etc. It is conceivable that many of the 5000 persons who have fits may be sources of profit to the manufacturer of a cure. or that some of the 100000 unmarried men (whose names are offered at the low rate of $2 per 1OOO) may be induced to patronize matrimonial bureau, but what can be the object in compiling a list of 10000 red haired women? Perhaps If a man should want to buy white horses, and should want to know where to find them, ttfis list might be of service; but such a con- tingency is remote.
 If the object of the originator of this scheme be to bring the vendors of reme dies into direct communication with the afflicted, without the cost of newspaper advertising, there are many substantial reasons against his plan. The fact that the compiler of the lists has himself ad vertised his collection in a publication suggests that he lacks confidence in the efficacy of the system. Otherwise he would compile list of the persons who buy lists and would assault them with circulars.