The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-07-15
YES, THEY'RE EASY
Hundreds of Topeka People
Are FIeeced.
Mail Order Frauds Find Ready
Victims.
GIVE UP THEIR ALL
One Crippled Boy Who UncOv-
cred Fake Scheme.
Truck Farmer Who Bought
Bogus Medicine.
I'VE UP THEIR ALL

Could someone determine the num-
Der of thousands of dollars which To-
peka people have invested in fraudu-
lent mail order schemes in the last 20
years, it would make a showing that
would startle the minds of advocates
of home patronage. Scarce a day
passes that some person does not call
at the federal building to inquire of the
standing of some worthless company in
which they have invested money.
Usually the persons who contribute
their savings to these get rich quick
concerns are aged men ard women and
persons of modest means who feel
deeply the loss of every dollar they have
invested. The scores of stenOgraphers,
clerks, school teachers and day labor
ers are the principal victims in these
fraudulent transactions. But not one
Of these persons ever thought to in
quire of the standing OF some COM
pany before they invested their money
and became anxious about dividends.
Much of the money has gone to the
officers of fake mining and promotion
schemes But the quack doctors have
reaped a harvest in Topeka that would
bring tears to the eyes o. local pill
merchants.
Only yesterday a grey haired man,
who owns a little truck patch near
"A. II.
ers the postmaster, to inquire as to the
affairs of a Kansas City medical COM
pany. 1t his hand the grey haired man
held a Graft which he had sent to the
company and which had been returned
to him by the Kansas City authorities.
For months this man had paid the
foreign doctors for treatTle nt that did
never a dollars worth Of good. One
! day the government found that the
Missouri doctors were making i'm
proper use of the mail. A fraud order
was issued and when the concerns
mail was opened thousands of dollars
were returned to victims living in every
part of the country.
I Last fall a Topeka bcy-a cripple
for life-uncovered a fake promotion
E, scheme in New York. He had received
| a block of stock in the concern as a
birthday present Gradually the boy
added a little money to his investment
/ One day he reasoned that the COM
pany was not paying the promised
dividends. He took the matter up di-
rect with federal authorizes in Wash
| ington. Two weeks later. on evidence
produced by the Topeka youth one of
the most gigantic promotion companies
in the country was raided. But the
company had already harvested its
I grain. 1t was ahead of the game sew
eraI million dollars.
Every day people go to the banks
I ana pOStpulce, WneTe JncV DuY drafts
and money orders payable TO unheard
of corporations and companies for blue
sky stock certificates. Invariably these
same people go to the district at
torney's Office a few months later to
ask questions about the return of their
hasty investment. But they seldom
get it.
Only recently a Topeka woman in
vested $4,000 on a mortgage covering
a tract of land on an Indian reserva-
ton. The person who secured the loan
disappeared. A few days ago the
woman was Mortified when she re-
ceived q letter from the government
stating that her mortgage was not
worth a dollar. as Indian land cannot
be mortgaged. The $500 represented
the womans life savings and she in
vested the money because the mort
gage called for a high interest rate.
Sometimes a person says nothing
when caught in the net of a fraudulent
promotion scheme. This is true of the