The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-09
SWINDLES WORKED BY MAIL
GULLIBLEA AMERICANS TRACKED
 BY ADTERTISEMENG
eTen Yards of silk for Ten Cents,' but
 1t was Sewing snk---A Quarter of the
 Receipts the Offer Made to subscrib-

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 Receipts the offer Made to Subscrib-
 CTS to Fake Magazine--Other Schemes. The records of the Post Office De- partment are rich with examples or i the gullibility of citizens Of the honle of the brave and the land of the free' No matter how often some one may think of a new device for foollng the people he can always find a ready
 market for his wares, says the Wasf- ington Post.
 Old stories about the singed moth do not hold good when the average person hears that he can make an unusually large amount of money by investing q correspondingly small sum. PreVlous experiences have taught him nothing he is willing to pay for another very
 expensive lesson, which will have, Tn
 all probability, as little effect on him as the previous one.
 Puzzles and the reward which thelr
 solution may bring have always ap- pealed very strongly to the merican
 public If d man can be made rich for life by solving mere puzzle he Is
 more than willing to risk the amount
 of subscription to that paper that
 makes him such a magnificent offer.
 When the Post Office Department learns that q person is engaged lu
 using the mails for such fraudulent
 purposes an order is issued forbidding
 the delivery of mail to him or his agents. The matter of the project so
 far as he is concerned is not so easy.
 Very often in cases of this kind the
 postal authorities say that persons
 who have been patronizing man af-
 fected by fraud order resent the ac-
 tion of the department in directing
 that their letters shall not be deliv-
 cred They argue that if they care to
 invest money in his proposed plan it is the business of no one to interfere.
 An instance when the government received no complaints from the per
 sons defrauded and no thanks from
 them for exposing the swindle was
 that of the "Franco-German Electric Pad Company"
 This alleged company advertised for agents to sell it's goods, offering to pay a large salary and expenses, but be- fore one could qualify for such a posi- ton he was expected to buy two of the electric pads, the electricity of which consisted of mustard plaster These were to be sold and testimonials se- cured celebrating their virtues. After this had been done the prospective representative of the company was supposed to be on the road to wealth.
 That was as far as he got. The next communication from his future enl- ployer stated that he would now be able to sell the pads for four dollars each, and, as they would cost him only two dollars, he would make q clear profit of one hundred per cent. on his investment. The salary and expenses had vanished.
 Upon the discovery of this fraud it's author was arrested, gave one thou sand dollars bail and skipped, He had made enough out of his Utopian scheme to allow him to indulge in this little extravaganza. Dot a word was heard from his victims. By Amercan greed they had been fooled; by Amer ican spunk they would stand for 1t. The fiddler always has to be paid soon- \ CT or later.
 Another undertaking that had for It's sole object the benefit of mankind was instituted by magazine. "The Fire side Favorite" will be its designation, for charity's sake.
 The men back of this publication thought it would be quite nice little thing for them to offer a puzzle to the public for solution. This thought was while the puzzle appeared with the ad- vertisement that the solver would re- ceive a quarter of the money which 1t brought to the owners of the paper. And then the inevitable stipulation-a costing one dollar.
 The puzzle was solved. The fortu- nate ones received twenty-five cents, tisemnet brought from each reader. The residue of the profits was spent by the proprietors in the law courts de- lending themselves against the order issued by the Post Office Department.
 Ten yards of silk for ten cents was 8 bait that no feminine fish could resist. The origtnators of this project made a tremendous haul. What woman could afford to miss such chance? Ten yards of silk to Haunt on state occa- sions Alas and alack! They re- ceived silk, and the promised ten yards but it was sewing silk It might l have passed muster as material for 8 dress in the Pacific Islands, but hardly in this country.
 Clairvoyants and fortune tellers seem to have the greatest hold upon the public. These persons change their names as often as they can think of a new one. Exposed from time to time, they nevertheless continue to make a good living from men and women who are anxious to learn the future It is one branch of the project business in which there is no lack of profit in it's | owh country.
 These readers of the future seem to l Inspire the greatest faith in their fol- i lowers, and no amount of advice or eattion from the authorities seems able to shake 1t.
 Time was when the magazines and | papers were flooded with advertise | ments which purported to represent a get-rich-quick company. The persons who answered this little notice were 1 by return mail that the best | possible way to get rich in short time 1 was to work lige the devil and not 1 spen a cent.
 Good advice this was, too, and If 1t |