The Lamar register., 1907-10-30
GRAFT AND CRATER
ONE LITTLE HoMELY WORD
THAT CONVEYS MUCH.
MANY HUMBUGs In DISGUISE
Human Nature Much the Same in
All Ases-PeopIe Easily peIuded
Into Making Poor Invest
mentS.

Cant phrases have been invented,
and words more noted for their force
than elegance, have become popular
as expressive of common things. In
all that is slang, it is doubtful il there
is any better word than graft" Long
before Chaucer indited what would
now be called pigeon English" witty
Greeks and Romans INDUCED in their
aesthestic forms of vulgar expression.
and there can be little doubt that good
old Socrates impressed Plato and
some of his other pupils with pungent
idioms. and in turn was called by Aris-
tophanes an impious old CRATER.
1t is quite evident that graft" has a
place among euphonius words, and
conveys an idea plainly and tersely.
The famous Barnum. who said some
thing about the people anxious to be
humbugged had pretty good idea of
human nature. and made the most out
of his knowledge. The business man
of to-day does not ignore the gullibili-
ty of the masses, and yearly millions
of dollars are spent in printers ink to
convey to the people various kinds of
information that will stimulate the
letting go of dollars for the benefit of
the CRATER.
Pick up copy of any current Sun
day newspaper, farm journal, religious
publication, magazine or other period
ical and look over its pages! Graft is
evident in each and every one. 1t is
covered under the guise of artistic ad-
vertising. Thousands of cure-alls. won
dnrfu1 diccnvnrfnc har line
bankrupt sales, exceptional chances
for investment and Lord knows what
not, beams from the pages to catch
the eyes of the person who has not re-
ceived sufficient lessons In the school
of graft" The people like to be fooled.
There seems to be more or less av-
arice in the makeup of most men, and
women. too. The getting of something
of value for little or nothing is COM
mon offer to gather in the dollars for
the benefit of the CRATER.
For few years young man with
ambition and a liking for work strug-
gled along in the mercantile line in a
large central western city. He de-
cided to enlarge. He needed money
A splendid scheme presented itself.
Why not get dollars needed to carry
on a big business from the people?
They needed a chance for investment.
He was just the fellow to help 'em
out. He organized big cooperative
concern. He advertised broadcast.
Told of the wonderful possibilities of
his business. and 10! the dollars rolled
his way by the hundreds of thou
sands. Soon the government ended
his game. He was charged with using
the mails to defraud. Hundreds of
thousands of dollars were lost by
those who invested in his "coopera-
tive society" Many similar schemes
are up for consideration day after
day. The people never tire of them
Just like buying a lottery ticket. There
is chance to win, and as long as the
proposition looks good, the CRATER
fourishes.
The wise man, be he farmer or doc
tor, stockman or storekeeper, will
avoid jumping at such chances for in
vestment. Look out for the coopera-
tive organizer. Beware of the grafters
who want to interest you in their bust
ness affairs. and at the same time hold
the combination to the safe.
d. NJ. CARR.