The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-01-02

How the Mails of tho Country Are Delayed with
Schemes to Squeeze the Savings from
People Of Small Means.
By GEORGE B. CORTELYOU,
Secretary of the Treasury.

been built up because these men had
capital enough to swing the market
their way there has been no guess
work, no chance, no gamble about it.
for they had the ready money with
which to back their gigantic deals;
they knew the Irresistible power of
great capital in one controlling hand
and were able to make the whole coun-
try of smaller speculators-whoSe can.
ital, although immense in the aggre-
gate. was under scattered control
pay tribute to them.
1T is time the common people, the
small spectators, learned this trick
OF the captains of industry, concen-
trated their scattered capital in one
irresistible body, placed it in capable
and expert hands and recovered from
the kings of the pit some of the mil.
lions which for years the smaller
spectators have been contributing to
these swollen fortunes. Your avail.
able money, added to that of thou
sands and tens of thousands of other
ollldll VIII lUIItl a CGnIrdI-
lied fund of proportions which will
/ dwarf the available money of the big
gest speculator who ever operated on
the board of exchange; the manipu-
lation of the market by the means of
| this huge fund will be based upon the
| investigations of corps of the
shrewdest and most capable crop and
, market experts in the country, for
! the huge proportions of tile fund it.
self and the profits at stake not only
render the employment of the best
talent necessary but also easy, as the
proportion of the expense to the ag.
gregate profits will be trifling
For purposes of convenience we
have placed shares in this great Fund
W. at ten dollars. If you send me
500 you will get the profits on ten
shares from the moment your remit
tance is received-if a thousand dol
lars, the profits on 100 shares"
This is the gist of the appeal which
went out to the cities, towns and
farms of the country. The response
was instantaneous and enormous. AL
though the scheme was in operation
only a few months it took in over
$2,G00,000 In the mails of the day
on which Post Office Inspector Stuart
of Chicago, enforced the fraud order
against this swindle more than SIS,
900 in post office money orders alone
rnnniyn1 ~ hn "Ethn6 wv nff1Pa
The check books Of the concern
showed that this money with that re
ceived in other forms of remittance
was to be used to pay a dividend
amounting to $4,000 A further ex
animation into the affairs of tht
swindle established the fact that thu
current receipts from victims were
used right along to ray dividends
without any regard whatever to an!
deals on the board or any profits
therefrom-and these dividends
J were put out where they would do tn,
ncst good in stimulating those Wit
} received them to Increase their in
Vestments" and to spread the news o
) this quick and easy road to wealtl
among neighbors and friends Som
of these so-called monthly dividend
J amounted to more than IL per cent
Here was actual fulfi!lment, nc
promise! When the victims cashe
J those dividend checks" and foun
that they were honored, any misgf'
} ings they had harbored disappea:e