The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1908-01-04

was instantaneous n enormous. Al
! though the scheme was In operation
only a few months 1t took In e
ST. 900, 900. In the mails of the day
on which Post Office Inspector Stuart,
of Chicago, enforced the fraud order
against this swindle more than $l5,'
900 in post office money orders alone
was received at the Fund w" office.
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 q dividend
amounting to $4,000. A further ex-
animation into the affairs OF the
swindle established the fact that the
current receipts from victims were
used right along to pay dividends
without any regard whatever to any
deals on the board or any profits
therefrom-and these dividends
were put out where they would do the
most good in stimulating those who
received them to increase their in
vestments" and to spread the news OF
this quick and easy road to wealth
among neighbors and friends. Some
of these so-called monthly dividends
amounted to more than IL per cent.
Here was actual fulfllment, not
promisei When the victims cashed
those dividend checks" and found
that they were honored, any misg1v-
ings they had harbored disappeared
and. they felt that their financial III
ture was more than assured. They
showed these remittance letters TO
the friends they wished to favor n
his process multiplied the victims In
a cumulative ratio besides drawing q
big increase of investments" from
the original victims. OF course the
number of the earlier victims was
very small in comparison with the
crop which this cumulative process
of culture developed when once Ihe
effect of the stimulant was reallzeo
from a broad territory. Therefore
it mattered little II the first or orig
inal crop of victims received a totai
of dividends" amounting to their
original investment with a good pront
added. So long as new victims null
tiplied in numbers with each incom-
ing mail and the older ones 10
their speculative contributions the
dividend" game could be played with
impunity.
Investors by the tens OF thou
sands poured an ever-increasing vol
ume of money into the treasury OK
this infamous ge~t-rich-Quick swindle,
and when the postofice department
shut down the iron gate OF the fraud
order, thousands of angry letters OF
protest were sent to the head OF
| the department at Washington. These
| protests demanding the inspectors re-
| moval we're SO strong and carried ey-
| idence of actual profits so plausible
| that the postofice inspector was sum
moned to Washington to explain the
| situation. The only explanation
which he made or needed to make
was to produce the proofs that the
| concern had been paying dividends
| from moneys received as investments,
not from profits actually earned. he
was told to go back to his work. SUD-
| s~eouently the case was turned over
to the department of justice for GRIM
| inal prosecution and the men in the
| swindle-or at least some OF them
| were convicted and sent to h peni-
| tertiary. But the work of these SWIM
| dlers has lived after them in thou
| sands c other schemes fashioned on
the pattern of the Fund w" in every
| essential feature.
Of course variations in almost In
| finite number have been devised, and
| some of them possess a degree OF re-
| 6nement which makes their likeness
to the original difficult to distinguish.
ant the possible investor will do well
TO consider that the actual payment
of or the promise to pay an excessive
rate of return Is sufficient ground for
the suspicion that the scheme Is
questionable and should be sifted te
the bottom before any money Is pu'
into 1t.
This nation has enjoyed a long pc
Rod of unexampled prosperity. AS q
result, thousands OF men who a Few
wears ago were either poor or only
moderately well-to-do have become
comparatively wealthy and have
made more money than they need In
the operation of their regular busi
nesses. In fact, there Is a great mul
titude of these new capitalists wn'
have retired from their former occupa
lions to live on their money.
This means that everywhere tner'
is an accumulation of capital seeking
investment at reasonable rates, ant
the man who has a proposition which
is essentially sound has only to maxi
proof of this fact in order to com
mand all the money needed whetne
the enterprise requires millions o
only thousands. He has no need 7
deluge the mails with circulars AM
form letters making appeals to tn
people" to come in with their savings
II his enterprise has real substance an
bottom he can get the money from
few capitalists with less trouble thai
is required to write one set OF circr
lars and form letters. And he doe
not have to promise 'big monthly dt'