Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-07-11

Eevare Ct the Song Poems wanted.
Cont Bite al the Bona Eide Business
Secret"-Steer Clear of the Prize For
Selling Goods.
The mail order magazine is identi-
ne at once by the initiated, but the
average reader does not know 1t under
ths designation. Many little maya
zines. published at a very low sub
sciiption rate, have no other purpose
than to carry mail order advertise
mcnts. They are able TO work up an
enormous circulation because of the
how rate for subscriptions. The circu-
Aatiou brings them large prices for adj
vertising. The mail order people, not
only the large houses which do gen
pral business, but also the cheap skate
fake concerns and individuals. patron
lze he advertising columns They set
entcing hooks for suckers. They catch
many suckers. 1t behooves the reader
of these publications to do little
thinking befSre biting. In this connec-
tion the following article from the New
York Herald Is timely and helpful:
In these days of bunko and graft
Il man should look before he buys.
Thlt lie 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 1t
fifty fakes suggested by that law
spring up.
For instance, 1t would take a more
elastic clause than the famous one In
car constitution to cover this latest bit
Of mail order wit.
In almost any mail order magazine
you may pick up you will find adver
t1sements similar to this:
MAIL ORDER MEN. ATTENTION!
I have a bona fide business which pays
me 500 per month. Nothing to make.
nothing to sell. I guarantee results. You
car do 1t Just well as l. Five dollars Is
the price Of the secret. Money back II
YOU are not satisfied or If this advertise
fnent is q Misrepresentation.
II you are of the great e-bunkoed-
always bunkoed class, you might an
swer one of the alluring offers. If you
did, you would in all probability re-
Ceivc reply by the first mail The
letter would contain a clipping of the
advertisement you had answered, with
statement on this order:
One month from today l will withdraw
the inclosed ad. Place your name on it
and insert it in your mail order maya
zine or other advertising medium which
you use. l have made $500 month from
his You can do as well as ]. You can
readily see from my success with you
what your success will be with others.
During the bicycle rage some years
back a bluing concern coined money
from an advertisement similar to this,
accompanied by cut of handsome
bicycle:
BOYS AND GIRLS.
THIS BICYCLE FREE.
To every boy 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.
Ii is safe to say that thousands of
children shaved for those free bicycles
and turned in their money to the
Hnu broom bluing company. Their
WORK WIS, however, not without com
penSation, for each child who sold
gross Of the bluing received minia-
turr hicvcle, not two inches high, but
s perfect representation of the cut
This idea of toy fakes is old A part
ner III 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 COM
pletcly fit out one room for dollar.
CUT IF the articles were shown, and
the offer had the appearance of being
legitimate. For every dollar received
the sucker" was sent complete set
OF doll furniture.
Recently the law became aware of
the fact that there We're 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
"bor owed" music already written and
sent a letter Of acceptance to the per-
son who had sent in the song poem.
The letter stated that a preliminary
cost of from $40 to $50 would be nee
essary for making the plates. In most
instances the money was sent The
plates We're made cheaply, the publish
Ing house sent professional copy to
the author, and there the matter drop
ped. No effort at marketing the produc
ton was made. The law is gradually
getting after these publishers, but
there are many Of these wildcat insti
tutions still fourishing
Another clever and profitable mail
order fake Is that Of reading the char
Gcter 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.