Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-09-20
BY SECRETARYS ORDER
Many Ingenious Devices For Get
ting Money-Letter-Writing at
Home-Pills for Deafness and
Bogus Mining Companies Among
Them.

gullible portion If The American peo-
pie is losing uIuch of it's former
prestige. In his, efforts to prevent the
people from being humbTgged the
head OF the postoffice department is
ably seconded by Assistant Attorney
General r. P. Goodwin. one of the
keenest lawyers in the country, who
can scent a fraud almost before the
complaining letters on his desk have
been opened.
The fraud order business is develop,
ing into an important bureau under
the present administration, which has
broken all records in closing the
mails against questionable concerns.
During the last fiscal year almost a
hundred and fifty different men and
concerns were debarred the privilege
of receiving mail addressed to them.
The operations of the fiscal year that
has just fairly started indicates an
activity on the part of these swindlers
that may make the year 1905 note
against fraud. The files of Judge
/ Goodwiu's office are bullying with
papers in these cases.
1T is amazing" said Mr.. Goodwin
the other day, how persistent some
of these offenders are, and to what ex-
tremes they will go for TIE purpose
of selling a little merchaIdise. At the
same time, it is also amazing to what
extent people will Pvt their money
! into questionable ventures.
Lewis, the man who started the
United States bank at ST. Louis, Sc
cured about s2,500OOO before fraud
order was issued against him. That
was one of the big cases. But there
are may little cases. For instance,
! those old, old advertisements for writ
ing letters at home are still running,
and will continue to rm till we catch
the persons practicing the deception.
You will find cases on our docket
showing that we are constantly
issuing fraud orders against such con-
Germs.
'At some stage Of the proceedings,
when the seeker alter employment has
answered the advertisement" con-
! tinued Mr.. Goodwin. ''he or she finds
/ that dolla:, or some such sum, is re-
/ quired 70: the outfit. and there is the
! point where cheap or worthless goods
are being marketed. If the outfit is
J ichased, perhaps the paper which
the correspondent must have. and on
which, as one of the conditions. -
| letters must be written. is of the
tlimsiest character Or, perhaps, it is
| found that the letters which the ad-
vertiser wants written are so long that
the pay is utterly inadequate.
THE medicines that cure everything
under the sun likewise figure in the
scores of fraud orders signed by the
postmaster general. We are now con.
STRUNG the law against such concerns
more strictly than it has ever before
been construed in this Office. with the
result that fraud is declared to be
practiced in some cases where hereto,
fore the perpetrators world have
escaped"
Medicine Fakir's Method. =.
The records in cases where fraud
orders have been issued show the
methods of thes trieksters. One &c.
II. Rowan" = of Milwaukee. was one or
the monumental medicine fakirs. A
fraud order was issued against him in
April, 1901. because he had been
advertising pills that were a sure cure
fnV. 7n9fpncC VI he hn
Used to refund the money ii con.
sumers of the pills were not cured
after following his instructions.
When the money had been sent and
the purchaser had Rowan's pills, he
found one of the conditions to be the
taking of two thousand pills at the
rate of one a day. Rowan was refused
the privilege of the mails, and he was
found to be an old offender. He was
very prolific in new schemes for de-
frauding the gullible public, and also
quick in securing a new address as
soon as he had hit upon particularly
ingenious scheme.
Many of the fraud orders are is
sued against offenders in New York
and BROOKLYN The speciality over
there seems to be ambiguous ad-
vertisements, which catch the unsus-
pecting. A recent fraud order was
issued against the Glover Drug COM
pany of Brooklyn, which also at one
time styled itself the Glover Drug
company. 1t advertised its purpose to
spent $4,000 introducing our famous
complexion and kidney tablets in
new fields. Send your name and ad-
dress for six boxes 20 sell at 25 cents
boz Wien sold send us the money
and We will surely send you a
guaranteed American movement stem
winding watch. as valuable as $50
solid gold watch, warranted for 80
years. for lady or gent, or forfeit
il we fail to keep our promises"
a remittance of 81 was necessary to
start with, and when the money was
returned from the sale of six boxes OF
pills the vendor was informed that
each" in the advertisement meant
six boxes of two kinds of pills, When
another six boxes were sold s watch
was really given, but such watch.
During the hearings which the as
sistant attorney general gives all &C
cused parties before barring them
from the use Of the mails 1t was
testified that the watches cost 65