Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-01-04
Frsud Orders.


In the days OF counterfeit coin the
people had Il protector In the govern
mept, which bore the brunt OF run
ming down the makers and utterers OF
bogus money. A meaner and more
iusduOus fraud than the substitution
OF stamped lead for minted silver Is
the swindle perpetrated by advertising
in newspapers and through the mails
schemes which promise something
for nothing" Uncle Sam has been
ION to" this business for some time,
and the postmaster general In his re-
cent report describes the admirable
and successful efforts OF the depart
ment to protect the people from traps
which It Is next to impossible for the
individual or even the community to
detect. Says the report:
In the two years closed June 80 1906,
the fraud orders numbered $50, exceeding
by seventy-one the total number issued in
the four years Immediately preceding.
The schemes suppressed represented al
most every conceivable variety OF fraud.
There were work at home propositions,
bond investment enterprises. medicinal
cure-alls, absent treatment schemes, de-
vices for the exploitation OF stocks and
enterprises offering something for moth
ing under the guise OF the endless chain
method OF investment all OF which upon
examination proved to be mere traps FOR
the credulous. Included in the total of
orders issued during the two year period
in question were fifty-nine orders against
lotteries or similar enterprises.
1t is encouraging to find in the re
port that numerous convictions Of op-
orators OF schemes to defraud have fol
lowed close upon the issuance Of fraud
orders against the offenders. The pub
lie should aid the government and the
local officers Of justice to bring these
contemplate swindlers to the bar. Pe0-
pie who are approached by shady
schemes and have no intention Of In.
vesting should not stop with mere re-
lection OF the offer, but warn those OF
more confding nature, who can i'll
afford to lose their cash. The report
continues:
The scrutiny of second class publica
tions and of circular advertising matter
| passing through the mails has been sc
close and unremitting that guessing auC
| similar prize contests, turf gambling en-
terprises and the like, which for years
under an erroneous Interpretation Of tn,
lottery statutes. had used the mails with
out hindrance, with much resulting mora
and financial harm, have practically gone
out Of existence.
Almost simultaneous with this report
there appeared the advertisement OF
stock I'm machine to cost few
thousand dollars for construction, and
Irresponsible parties" stood ready tC
take 1t off the inventors hands fol
twenty times Its original cost This
proposition was absurd on its very
face, for those responsible parties,
capable of getting together hundreds
of thousands of dollars to buy a ma
chine when completed, would certain
ly prefer to put up the few thousand
necessary to construct 1t and thus ge'
in ION the ground floor" Unfortunate
ly some worthy people are mad to in
vest, but schemes ought not to hav,
government sanction or federation il
any form. Gullible persons often ar
que that the projectors Of these temp
tati0ns would not dare use the Unit
ed States mails and the respectabl,
press II their schemes We're unsound
The bftterer the authorities make i
for the few who do dare" the sooner
this wretched business will cease.