The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-23
1nteresting Device.

An 1nteEcHumk DCNACCs
 The Washington correspondent or the United States Tobacco Journal Of New York, the leading organ of the tooac- co trade, telegraphed his paper an in- teresting article describing a device for the redemption of tobacco tags, which, although having many features of a lottery has been in operation in the shadow of the Capitol for the past six months. If legal it Is locally good thing, and if 1t could be operated through the mails. the late Louisiana Lottery would sink into insignificance. The device Is the invention of George M. Pullman, who utilizes 1t to advertise his brand of tobacco which is sold ex- clusively in this city. and he owns and operates the only machine of It's Kind ever made. According to the United States Tobacco Journal dispatch, the scheme as described by MT Pullman IS as follows:
 We will place in this cabinet from time to time a total of 33.3sO checks. made payable to bearer, ranging in sums from $10O to IS cents. We will divide the total number of checks Into five lots of 6,660 checks each. and with each lot we will put one check for $100 two for $50 each, three for $25 each, five for $10 each, ten for $6 each, fifteen for $2 each, one hundred for $1 each, 200 for 50 cents each, 400 for % cents each, and 5.924 for fifteen cents each. The checks are then shuffled up and numbered, and then placed in the cabinet ready to be paid out
 ITO redeem the tags, on the basis as above mentioned, it costs us an av- craze of 80 cents per hundred, and for those who don't want to sell their tags in lots of thirty. we will buy them in lots of one hundred or over at so cents per hundred"
 "AIl this looks very much like lot tery." the United States Tobacco Jour nal will say, but MT. Pullman has, up to date, at least. avoided police inter- ference by an ingenious plan. Our Silent Tag Buyer he says, is a novel device in itself, which holds out two thousand bank checks, and delivers one at a time, by the unlocking of tho drawer; the drawer is provided with Il register which records the number of times the drawer has been opened, and the check number must in all cases correspond with the number as shown on the register, thereby enabling us to tell every one what we will pay for their tags"
 Tn discussing the plan, the United States Tobacco Journal points out that the customer has but one chance in ten of obtaining more than 24 cents for thirty of his tags, which is the regular redemption price at the rate of so cents per hundred, while he has nine chances in ten of receiving less than twenty-four cents, yet the speculative tendency is so strong that ninety-nine out of one hundred customers prefer to take the chance.
 In conclusion. the United States To- bacco Journal will say:
 "All this appears very harmless and plausible but there are ota!n features of this scheme which do not favorably impress the local authorities. It is represented that each lot of 6.660 checks contains certain checks calling for S25, $50 and $10O, but do they? For that the customer has only MT. Pull mans word. Again, the machine holds only two thousand checks at 8 time and what is to prevent him from plac- ing therein two thousand checks. each calling for only fifteen cents? Noth- ing. Further, what is to prevent him from placing the $100 check, the $50, S25, s1O and s5 checks in succession, and when these numbers are reached. going to the machine and extracting them? Or, why put them in the ma chine at all? There is not d shadow of doubt that if the mails were used the scheme would be squelched immedi- ately by the Postal authorities. and District Attorney Jerome would jump on it with both feet if 1t were operated in New York"
 MT. Pullman has been arrested on a charge of permitting gaming on his premises and his case will come up in the police court tomorrow morning. He will be defended by former United States District Attorney Henry F. Dav- is. and the case is attracting great att tention because it will be a test case" for all similar devices.