Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-10-22
SWINDLE FOLKS BY MAIL
WHY POST OFFICE PEOPLE THINK "A
SUCKERS BORN EVERY MINUTE"
Constantly Issuing Fraud Orders Against
Firms That Are Getting Rich Through
Schemes" which Ought Not to Even
Entrap Shrewd Child of Ten.

Notwithstanding the fact that we
are generally credited with being a
newspaper-reading nation, am often
tempted to believe that there must be
many millions of intelligent persons
in the United States who never SO
much as glance at the head lines of
a newspaper" remarked an official of
the postofice department. "At any
rate, if these millions to whom l refer
ever actually do read the newspapers,
their gullibility must be so profound
as to be unfathomable. The postoffice
department is constantly issuing fraud
orders against individuals and alleged
firms engaged in getting rich in the
operation of schemes that it would
seem as if any shrewd child Of 10
ought to be able to see through with
out the least bother.
"The other day, for example, the de-
partment got after chap out in Gin
cinnati who for some months had been
conducting what he called turf bu-
reau.' He alleged in his really admi'- :
ably-written circulars that he had pri-
vate and absolute certain methods of
obtaining information as to the horses
that were slated to win races on tracks
all over the United States, and he
guaranteed returns of tremendous pro-
portions. Well, when we looked this
fellow up. he promptly skipped, and
his incoming mail was seized. 1t seems
incredible, but every days mail
brought in thousands of dollars, in
amounts ranging from S. actually up
to $500, and the letters inclosing cash
and checks were nearly all of them
apparently written by persons Of edu-
cation. The book in which the man
kept his simple account of cash re-
ceived showed that since he put his
scheme into operation he had taken
in no less a sum than $465,000, almost
out of the question as it may appear
He has got away, but, even if he is cap
tured, / very much doubt If any very
heavy punishment can be visited upon
him. These slippery chaps who work
their lodges by means Of the mails
have the money to employ first-rate
lawyers, and these lawyers can gener-
ally successfully construe their clients
circulars as not having really prom
ised anything to the gulls after ALL
"The endless chain schemes that the
department runs down year after year
are all of them money-makers for their
operators. 1t would actually seem as
if all busted individual had to do to
get rich is to get lot Of circulars
printed and send them out, borrowing
the money for postage and there will
always be enough gulls to start him
on his way. The cherry-tree scheme
worked by gang of southern men,
one of them clergymen was col
ossal success for its promoters, and
yet not a man in the crowd had coin
to bless himself with when they start
ed the endless chain scheme in mo-
tion. The more recent fountain-pen
fraud, worked by couple of Pennsyl-
vanans, yielded returns that went in
to the thousands every day, and I
haven't a doubt in life that any num-
ber OF similar endless-chain schemes
are beingworked this very day that
W. Sdidii iaNS w So uLISi ie'1Si cii'
"The people who bite on these end
less-chain schemes all obviously want
a whole lot for nothing, or little or
nothing, and this, combined with their
strange simplicity, is at the bottom Of
the success of the fellows who attempt
to make their fortunes through the
use Of the mails.
you would naturally suppose that
persons sufficiently intelligent to pos
sess an interest in stock speculation
would be able to steer clear of invest
ment agents whom they only know of
through circulars, would you not? And
yet the department is constantly in
receipt of tales of woe from indivi-
duals who have invested siZeable sums
of money with New York and Chicago
swindlers claiming to conduct specula-
tive businesses, who operate entirely
through the mails. These outfits are
broken up by the United States post
Office authorities as soon as their
fraudulent character is clearly estab-
Gshed, but it seems impossible to drive
ehese fellows who run the alleged
investment agencies wholly out of
business. The games too easy for
them, and they are fully aware Of the
great difficulty found in convicting
Shem. AS soon as one brokerage
srm carries on its business entirely
by mail is smashed the men who have
been successfully conducting it sim
ply move down to another block and
open up another brokerage Office un-
der another firm name. The shift only
involves their getting out another
batch of literature. The thousands and
thousands of dollars which these
sharpers take in year in and year out
from people whose way of expressing
themselves on paper makes it patent
that they are educated men and wom-
en- is perpetual source of astonish-
ment to me.
"The smaller fry Of mail swindlers
ere the fellows who advertise that they
will rppd spolid gold watcbeS' and all