Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-10
LATEST GOLD BRICK GAMES
NEW WAYS OF SEPARATING
EASY. MARKS AND MONEY.
sharpers Who Make Living by
Dipping Credulous Persons-The
Half-Interest Swindle.

From Pearson's Magazine. ?,
Americans are the cream of the credul-
ous We sometimes harbor the idea that
the Britisher is the most ready and will
Ing of all men to part with his money to
a sure-thing gamester, but when 1t comes
to competition against all corners the
average American hits the bulPs-eye.
The sure-thing men Of today dncor-
porated) know this. and build upon 1t.
One Of the biggest of them claimed not
long ago that If he were given time he
could sell worthless stock to three Amer
leans out Of every five, provided the
Rullible three had the money or could
raise 1t.
He actually counts upon ono victim
for every fifty circulars sent out through
the mails. The common average. as the
postal officials will tell you, Is one dupe
Tor every hundred circulars. Not bad.
considering the cheapness of printing
and postage.
"Sucker' Lists.
There is a firm IN New York that col
lects and sells addresses Of people who
buy things through the mails or VINO
have at some time evinced desire to
do 50. These addresses are sold at %
a Thousand. They are assorted under
various headings. II, for example, H.
600. men have gent in applications for
wives to q New York matrimonial bureau
that list is worth SOC to a three-dollar
diamond ring concern that Is setting up
q circular mill.
through various stages Of progress: The
now unsafe shell game gold bfick ana
ereen goods sw1ndles which he operated
with such profitable results In the eighties
and the early nineties made o wey aor t the
years aCo, and the employment game.
which 10 still going on. though not to Its
former extent.
: The -half-interest advertiser sold you
a partnership in anything from a peanut
bought It the next thing was to find It,.
ar II YOU found it you discovered that 1t
belonged to somebody else who knew
nothing about the men who sold 1t to
you.
opportunity to sell on high salary the
goods or the stock OF a company in which
you must first buy shares. Then when
YOU have paid over your money you are
assigned 8 territory. generally a long
distance from the companys office.
And You Wait.
After you have gone at your own ex-
pense to Milwaukee. Dubuque OF Kansas
City, there to await Geographic orders as
to what to do next, you take 1t out in
waiting. The orders never come. and
when you go back to the company's
office you find that the company has
fioated awey m the magic carpet, no.
body knows where.
But It was soon found by the swindlers
that these devices, like the green goods
game. were rather crude and almost
equally unsafe. So to the education Of
the man who ran the half interest or en-
ployment scheme was added a post grad
uate, course In high finance.
: 1t came to be recognized by the swind-
ling. gentry that there was nothing like
q corporation when one wanted to do a
really safe and prosperous business
Then, too, the corporation must have
something somewhere Il
If it is mining company It must have
a hole In the ground. If 1t Is a rubber
or coffee company. 1t must have some
sort of concession from the Mexican or a
south American government. which Is
always very easy to get. II 1t is cot
ton concern It must have fence corner
somewhere down south.
These things are actually necessary In
order to show In court when the time