The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-07

from poverty and obScurity to compare
tive wealth and much prominence, says
the New York Sun, and if his business
keeps on as it has been going for the
last few months there is no reason why
in the course of a year or two more
he shouldn't be able to retire from active
business life.
He says that he considers 1t a bad day
when the mails bring him in less than
$3.50, and no one who has seen the clothes
baskets full of letters that are carried
to his office each day will doubt the ac-
curacy of his statement. The money
which this factory takes in comes entire
~ through the mails and consists largely
of lO-cent pieces that being the price set
upon an ordinary fortune telling. Fancy
fortune telling may be had for trifle
more, while for 81 the seer makes an OK
haustive research, and mails detailed
account of the results.
This part Of the business is handled
very shrewdly. 1t is not advertised at all
but to every l0-cont fortune returned the
seer adds a postscript in which he says
IN the greatest confidence that in knock
ing around among the future events in
the clients life he has come across hints
Of many things of the greatest interest
end Importance to the persons concerned.
To investigate these matters he says,
will require a great deal of time, but
1bI inc llOh6SL sum VI 9l ne plOIIli9SS
to go exploring and let the client know
the result inside of month. This period
IS liked for two reasons. One is that the
seer regards it as a good and impressive
policy, and the other is that there are
SO many Of these dollar fortunes de-
mauded that It takes all the time of his
typewriters to answer them all.
HOW SMITH GOT STARTED.
One would naturally suppose that a
man who was making a fortune at a
Wall street pace in business that has
teen practiced for centuries without any
ole becoming rich through it, must be un-
usually gifted Such is not the case. The
history of the Binghampton fortune-tell-
ing plant, the most successful in opera
ton anywhere in the world today, proves
it. 1t is simply this:
Three years ago a young man went
tn Binghampton and opened an office for
the practice Of clairvoyancy. He was a
lcng-haired youth, with sentimental eyes,
and an air Of mystery about him that be-
came very attractive to the several thou
sand Young persons who make cigars for
living there. So brisk was business that
after paying for his office and his meals,
brown, as he may be called, himself
sometimes had as much as a dollar and
half left to get sporty with.
Brown really seemed to think he was a
genuine seer. He would go into frances
and roll his eyes until the young cir s
among his clients were in love with him
Put unfortunately for him a couple of
gh young Sports, VINO had gone to
B.nghamton for the trotting meet, called
q, him, and while he was in a trance
pulled several Lhandsful Of his long ha r
out and swelled his dreamy eyes to ab-
normal size. He concluded to jump the
town. He was worldly enough, however,
to desire to realize on the little business
he had built up, and so he made It
brown in certain circles that he was
ready to sell out.
About this time another young man CT
q decidedly different type was working
: rec nights a week in a hat store at
the magnificent compensation of 81 a
night. He had a wife and family, and
They had a tough time getting along. He
al o had SIS in the bank, given him by a
ri.h but miserly uncle on condition that
h5 would lay it up for rainy day. With
cut consulting anybody this young man
drew his SIS from the bank went to
Browns Office and In a half am hour was
the owner of the business.
wasn't much Of a business for a gift
D fortune teller, as Browns experience
had shown, but it soon showed that it
has possibilities for a man with nerve
md a thick skin. On $25 borrowed capital
t. new man, who may be called Smith,
managed to get his advertisements into
quite number Of country periodicals.
They were simple little advertisements,
just about five lines to each, stating that
I. @ great Smith had decided on AGO mt
o. the pressure of his small business TO
e up his private practice, and that n
tie future he could be consulted by mail
OILY. Ten cents in money not stamps.
and 2-cent stamp for the answer was
that was niece ssary for a whirI of Ii e
n ghty Smiths genius.
em tn began to get answers a week
E%er. There weren't many OF them;
about a dozen in oae NAL and about
twenty in the next but it was enough to
prove that the scheme was all right, and
just as fast as he male the money he
put 1t out in advertising again. Today
he advertises in more than 1000 pane
and magazines in this country and Can
asa. AS his business began to extend the
fortune teller changed his advert, s m IS.
Trey now read something like this:
'4 our fortune told for 10 cents. Sim
ply state your name, age, condition of
life, color of eyes, and inclose a lock of
your hair and a sample of your hand
writing. Smith never fails. Ten thousand
fortunes told last month Address Smith,
Binghamton, New York"
BUSINESS AN IMMENSE ONE.
An advertisement on this general style
has proved to be the most effective.
Smith soon had to move out of the qua~-
tCrs left by Brown.
He hired one typewriter, then another
and as each mail brought in several hun
dred more answers than the preceding
one he found that he could use a coup c
more. This time he took a Whole floor
IN one of the big Office buildings and in
creased his force of typewriters to- an
Chen dozen,
1t is interesting to see how the bus
mess is carried on in this fortune-telIing
factory. Promptly at o'clock each
morning the typewriters report An hoI1
EARLIER two stalwart men go to the post
Office with two-handIed clothes basket
ana bring it back full to the brim with
letters. These are dumped In a box
alongside the seer's desk and he proceeds
70 go through each one personally.
Of course a business of such magnitude
uld not be carried on unless it was
reduced to a system. Smith had shown
@ood business head in this respect. He
Is tie author Of fortune-telling card.
the contents Of which are strictly con-