Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-09-01
MAIL ORDER FAKES,
Some of the Familiar Advertising
 Tricks Shown Up.
BAIT FOR HOOKING SUCKERS.
Beware of the Song Poems Wanted." Don't Bite at the Bona Eide Business Secret"-Steer Clear of the Prize For Selling Goods.

Selling Goods.
 The "ulaI order magazine" is ideuti- fled Ut oncr by the initiated, but tue average reader does not know 1t under | this designation. Many little ruaga zines, published at very low sub scription rate. have no other purpose than to carry mail order advertise meuts They ure able to work I'D au enormous circulation because 0f t!le tow rate for subscriptions. The circu- lation brings them large prices for .ll vertising. The mail order people, uot l only the large houses which do I geu- 1 eral business, but also the cheap skate fake concerns and individuals, patron l tze the advertising columns. They set 1 euticinG hooks for suckers. They eaten l many suckers. 1t behooves the reader | of these publications to do a little ! thinking before biting Ill this connec- 1 ton the following article from the New York Herald Is timely and helpful:
 In these days of bunko and graft man should look before he buys That he does not Is clearly shown by the thousands of fakes which we hear of and read of daily.
 The cleverness of the mail order man is wonderful. There Is always a way to avoid the law. As soon as one fake Is exposed and law made to cover it fifty fakes suggested by that law spring up.
 For instance, 1t would take a more elastic clause than the famous one in our constitution to cover this latest bit of mail order wit.
 In almost any mail order magazine you may pick up you will find adver- i tisements similar to this:
 NAH. ORDER MEN, ATTENTION! l have bona fide business which pays | me S2OO per month. Nothing to make nothing to sell. l guarantee results. You 1 can do 1t Just as well as I. Five dollars IS | the price of the secret. Money back If | you are not satisfied or If this advertise | ment Is d misrepresentation.
 If you are of the great once -bunkoed always s-bunkoed class you might an swer one of the alluring offers If you did, you would in all probability re- ceive reply by the first mail. The letter would contain clipping of the advertisement you had answered, with a statement on this order:
 One month from today I will withdraw V l the inclosed ad. Place your name on IL and insert it in your mall order naga- zine or other advertising medium which you use l have made $20O a month from this. You can do as well as I. You can readily see from my success with you what your success will be with others.
 During the bicycle rage some years back bluing concern coined money from an advertisement similar to this, accompanied by cut of a handsome bicycle:
 BOYS AND GIRLS.
 THIS BICYCLE FREE
 To every boy or girl selling one gross of our superior bluing We will give abso- lutely free the bicycle represented in this cut. Send for the bluing today When you have it all sold, remit the money. and you will receive this beautiful bicycle absolutely free. State whether boys or girls bicycle Is wanted
 It is safe to say that thousands of children slaved for those free bicycles and turned in their money to the mushroom bluing company. Their work was. however, not without con- pensation, for each child who sold . gross of the bluing received a minia. ture bicycle, not two inches high, but R perfect representation of the cut.
 This idea of toy fakes Is old A part. her in one of the foremost mail order houses in the world owes his start in life to an advertisement which he ran extensively some years ago. His offer was to send furniture enough to con- pletely fit out one room for dollar. Cuts of the articles were shown and the offer had the appearance of being legitimate. For every dollar received ihe "sucker" was sent a complete set sf doll furniture
 Recently the law became aware of the fact that there were hundreds of small music publishing companies do- ing business entirely on their nerve. Their method was to advertise for song poems. showing the enormous profits made from popular songs. As the song manuscripts flowed in they either had music written for them or "borrowed" music already written and sent letter of acceptance to the per son who had sent in the song poem. The letter stated that preliminary cost of from $1O to $50 would be nec- essary for making the plates. In most instances the money was sent. The plates were made cheaply, the publish ing house sent professional copy to the author, and there the matter drop ped, No effort at marketing the produc. tion was made. The law Is gradually getting after these publishers, but there are many of these wildcat insti- 1 tutions still hOurishing
 Another clever and profitable mail order fake is that of reading the char acter from the handwriting There are as many possibilities in 1t as fortune telling, and there are as few chances Of being convicted for obtaining money under false pretenses.