The evening Republican., 1902-05-09
DELAW AREANS
INTERESTED.

are interested in the decision OF the
Postmaster General in the case of thf
Van Kirk & Robins Company, o.
Wllkesbarre. Pa. The case in point
is an important one and the decision
will apply not only to the Van Kirk
& Robins Company but probably tt
hundreds of other firms and individ.
uals who are operating endless chains
Before the final decision was render
ed in the matter the Assistant Attor.
ney General for the Post Office DE.
partmcnt was asked for an opinion
upon the case. He declared it i'm
possible for a firm operating as this
one bid to fulfill the obligations it
would be likely to incur. Acting up
on this opinion Postmaster Ge neral
Payne declared the Van Kirk and
Robins scheme a fraud, and denied
it the use of the mails. Accordin gly
the postal official at Wilkesbarre Twill
return to their senders an accumula-
tion of many Thousand letters, c on.
tanning remittances which are said to
aggregate more than 500. 900.
Circulars were sent out by the COM
pany wherein each addressee wa, di-
rected to purchase a fountain pen
from the addrcssee OF cost of g. so
and address l20 similar letters to the
other persons whose names were sup
piled by the addresses. For this
work of writing and directing letters
Van Kirk & Robins agreed to pay
each addresSee the sum of So.
In few weeks-the company be.
gan operations about February l.
the business had reached an enor-
nous size. About $4,000 pens were
delivered, and many more orders
could not be filled because of the ina
bility of the manufacturers to supply
fountain pens fast enough. The re-
ceipts OF the firm during that period
are given by the Department as s47,-
500. 1t is also stated that the firm
had agreed to pay out on the basis OF
its So salary proposition the sum of
$l52,OOO
The opinion OF the Assistant At
torney General is, in part, as fol-
lows.
On the face of these circulars >it
will be seen that the plan of bust
ness belongs to the socalled chain
schemes, and that after the promo
ter has started it, it is impossible
for him to discontinue without
breaking his promises which he has
thus given. These promises consist
of a pen and work at s. per week,
in addition to $3.50 per week for
postage, etc, the salary to begin at
the end of the first week. The con-
sideratiOn therefore is $3.50 which
is paid by patrons Of the scheme be-
fore the work will be sent
By this system at least two weeks
work must be given to each patron
of the scheme to fulfill the promises
made which entails an expense of
S. for salary and So for postage, etc
total IS. The income from this pa
tron is but $2.5 80. The whole scheme
resolves itself into this proposition:
For consideration Of ~. 50 and the
writing of 120 advertising letters !
Van Kirk and Robins promise to
give a pen and $Ss, an impossible
proposition, inasmuch as the letters
all hold ont similar promises, and if
returns are received therefrom it :
means other promises similar to the !
above for the small consideration
named.
The company was established about
February last, and has been doing
business actually only about nine
weeks. during which time il has, by
its own showing. delivered about 10,
600 pens, and has failed to hll con-
siderable number OF orders BY reason
of its inability to obtain the pens
from manufacturers This per iod
has been too short to test the out.
come Of the scheme, bnt it has been
long enough to show that It has re-
ceived about $47. 5O0 while II has
agreed to pay sl52, 900.
Admitting It's statements TO be
true, that it intended to make pay
ments to this extent. it is but SIM
pie problem in arithmetic that It's
loss would have been $lO4, 500 in this
operation.
At this point comes in the further
suggestion OF the company, the
resumes. after a fur
ther elucidation OF this line CT rea-
soning, that its intentions were
good that they did not mean 10
cheat any one. lnasmuch as the
element OF intent is not essential iu
constituting guilt Ia such a case 1t
would not be taken into con sidera.
lion. The intentions OF the pro-
mo!ers Of this scheme may have
been ever so good, yet If it is evl-
dent upon the face of the papers /,
that they could not perform their
oblig gatious, this department is JUS
tilted 10 concluding that in the Ian.
guage of the law it ia a scheme de.