The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1907-08-29

1t is a very old theory that the public
likes to be hum bugged Early conn
dence games began in America when
the first traders gave handful Oh
glass beads to the Indians In excnahse
for valuable furs. The Indians seem
to have liked it. The ordinary method
of sending information about Els
schemes from place to place by woru
of mouth, or by a demonstrator, soon
grew too slow for the American con-
fidence man, and long before the ,os
he was working the mails for all they
were worth in pushing his ideas lhere
was no law against 1t, because such d
contingency had not been foreseen' ana
soon there appeared in papers ana III
circulars sent through the mails most
astounding offers by which the am
bilious might amass a fortune By the
expenditure of only few cents.
Lotteries made use of the mails LOT
sending out their circulars and 1or
gathering in the coin that spendtnrlit
souls sent their way. Wonderful oHefs
to heal far away patients by means Oh
magnetism, hypnotism, mind control or
by simple medicines hitherto unknown
crowded the mail bags and called 1or
an increase in the postofiice force
Astrologers and Psychologists solicited
patronage in printed letters that were
rich in mystical lore and oyerhowing
with queer rhetorical combinations,
Bond investments, banking schemes,
turf enterprises, mines, great tropica!
plantations and dozens of get-rich-
quick schemes found voice in circulars,
cards and letters. The unsophlstl-
Gated country woman was told IN
surprisingly friendly letter how she
could find a most renumeratiye LIE at
home, by doing sewing or embroidering
or CONTRASTING, and her unsophisti-
Gated husband became initiated in
blind pool schemes for specializing in
stocks.
Then the government awoke 10 the
realiza ton that the people were being
swindled, that its own postal service
was the quickest means of doing the
swindling and that 1t was being used
for all it was worth. In 1872 things
had grown so noticeable in the mail
swindling line that the attention OF
Congress was drawn to it and law
was enacted making it punishable by
fine to mail through any postoffce let
tiers or circulars concerning illegal
lotteries" or schemes devised to de-
ceive and defraud the public. In
1876 the term illegal" was stricken
from the law and all lotteries came
under the ban. An older law, dating
back to 1868, had also prohibited the
sending of lottery stuff by mail but
the makers of the bill had overlooked
the attaching of any kind of penalty
to it, so 1t was necessarily of little use.
In 1890 the law was made to apply
not only to lotteries as they are gen.
orally known, but to all "so-called
gift concerts and similar enterprises
offering prizes dependent upon lot or
chance" Year by year the law has
frightened its grip on the mails, and any
scheme that savors of fraud is prompt
ly brought under the notice or the
postoffice authorities and sifted down
to the bottom. All offers of work. of
commodities or of prizes for guessing
contests receive the respectful and
careful attention of the postal author
tiles, and if there is any suspicious air
about a scheme the promoter of 1t is
promptly brought before the bar of JUS
tice and has an opportunity TO prove
the truth of his offers. From the
passage of the act of 1890 to the cad of
the last fiscal year, 2,4O9 fraud or
ders" were issued by the Postofice De-
partment, and if the persons against
whom they were issued did not COM
ply at once with the law suits, fines
and other unpleasant things followed.
III H.. - 10