The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-22
sw1NDI.Es BY MAIL.

The records of the Post Office De- partment are rich with examples of the gullibility of citizens Of the home | of the brave and the land of the free. l No matter how often some one may think of a new device for fooling the | people he can always find ready mar ket for his wares, says the Washing ton Post.
 Old stories about the singed moth do not hold good when the average per- son hears that he can make an un- usually large amount of money by in vesting a oorrespondingly small sum. Previous experiences have taught him nothing-he is willing to pay for an- other very expensive lesson, which will have, in all probability, as little effect on him as the previous one.
 Puzzles and the reward which their solution may bring have always ap- pealed very strongly to the American public. If man can be made rich for life by solving mere puzzle he is more than willing to rlsK the paper that makes him such a magnitl- cent offer
 When the Post Office Department learns that a person is engaged in using the mails for such fraudulent
 purposes an order is issued forhidding
 the delivery of mail to him or his agents. The matter of preventing the continuation of the project so far as
 he is concerned is not so easy l Very often in cases of this kind the
 postal authorities say that persons
 who have been patronized a man at- 1 fected by a fraud order resent the ac-
 ton of the department in directing
 that their letters shall not be dellV-
 cred They argue that if they care to invest money in his proposed plan it i is the business of no one to interfere, 1 An instance when the Government
 received no complaints from the per-
 sons defrauded and no thanks from
 them for exposing the sw indie was
 that of the Franco German Electric
 Pad Company"
 This alleged company advertised for
 agents to sell its grand goods, offering
 to pay a large salary and expenses, but l before one could qualify for such a
 position he was expected to buy two oi
 the electric pads, the electricity oi
 which consisted of a mustard plaster These were to be sold and testimonials secured celebrating their virtues. Ali
 ter this had been odne the prospec- tive representative of the company
 was supposed to be on the road t(
 wealth
 That was as far as he got. The mex communication from his future em ployer stated that he would now D.
 able to sell the pads for S4 each, and as they would cost him only S2 h'
 would make clear profit of 100 pc
 cent. on his investment. The salar!
 and expenses had vanished
 Upon the discovery of this frau'
 it's author was arrested, gave Ol,Oo , bail and skipped, He had mad Eenough out of his Utopian scheme t allow him to Indulge in this little eX : trayagance. Not a word was hear : from his victims. By American gree
 they had been fooled; by America spunk they would stand for 1t. Tn } fiddler always has to be paid soone or later.
 5 Another undertaking that had for it l sole object the benefit of mankind wa 5 instituted by magazine. "The Fire
 side Favorite' will be It's designa [ tion, for charity's sake.
 f The men back of this publtcatio e thought 1t would be quite nice littl s thing for them to offer puzzle to tn Q public for solution. This thought wa 1 parent to the action, and in shol
 while the puzzle appeared with tf ' advertisement that the solver woul g receive a quarter of the money whic h it brought to the owners of the papt T And then the inevitable stipulation !, subscription costing $l.
 t The puzzle was solved. The fortl e nate ones received 25 cents, just ont e quarter of what the advertisemel r brought from each reader. The res h due of the profits was spent by Il e proprietors in the law courts defendir T themselves against the order issued o the Post Office Department, d Ten yards of silk for 10 cents was
 bait that no feminine fish could r d sist. The originators of this proje e made a tremendous haul. Wh > woman could afford to miss such IS chance? Ten yards of silk to tiau f on state occasions! Alass and alac' n, the received silk and the promis Il 10 yeards, but it was sewing silk. s- might have passed muster as materi 's for a dress in the Pacific Islands, b
 hardly in this country.
 n Clairvoyants and fortune telle s- seem to have the greatest hold up le the public, These persons chan IS their names as often as they can thil It of a new one. Exposed from time l. time, they nevertheless continue er make a good living from men a
 women who are anxious to learn le future. It is one branch of fs prophet business in which there is n lack of profit in It's own country. at These readers of the future seem 1e inspire the greatest faith in their t- lowers and no amount of advice a caution from the authorities seems a ss to shake 1t.
 n- Time was when the magazines Ill papers were flooded with adverti m ments which purported to represent 1d get-rich-quick company The p ne sons who answered this little not er were informed by return mail that ne best way to get rich in short til ne was to work like the devil and spend a cent.
 Good advice this was, too, and 1T Il
 e.I l Nf char