The Forrest City times., 1911-02-03

night in cheap store leased from month to month, and stays until trouble occurs or the field Is worked dry
 New York city alone demands to be duped by ne less than eight practically permanent com panies of this only shifting their positions to greener fields as the crowds change
 There are three ways to tell legitimate auc- tion If the place is permanent and advertises sales on certain days, if the goods to be sold are caalogued piece for piece and if there are no outside men hired to control the bidding then 1t is certain thai the sale is genuine
 The fake auction game is played under the pseudo patronage of reliability The auetioneer's license, issued by the city. is hung consDicuousIy near the door and the goods are claimed 10 have been consigned from private sources or pawn brokers in nearby cities T. Is misrepresentation from the start. As matter of fact the goods were picked Up h job lots from novelty houses iobhers. Japanese stores and regular auction sup ply firms who handle job lots of trashy stuff and are 70 be found in all the larger cities The worries they handle are made Of cheap clay by shrewi laps who have scraped through the shell of American bluff and found the fabbiness of the flesh beneath. These antiques crumbe to pieces after six months in . heated apartment Practi- cay all the goods handled h these stores are made on the same principle and bought at from oneffth to one-dfteth of what they will bring at auction.
 There is nothing criminal In selling at an ex- orbitant profit if the purchaser gets the square deal But 2 fake auction company is primarily ring of cheats never intentionally giving anyone a square deal
 The proprietor is tae arch rogue His profit depends on selling an article at anywhere from fifty t7 tRo, three and sometimes GT= hundred dollars. The auction does not rav f run for the average buyer. f l. merely q trap q snlane for the occasional good thing uho happens in and Is quickly relieved os q iarga amount of money through an elaborate system he never suspects.
 l. Is 5ogless game, played on cut-and dried rules which admit of nc freshness or originality. The average cast-for they are al actors and play the same cheap show every day-is made up If one packer or proprietor two auctioneers. one pretty girl cashier. and from two to ten "shills' l the palefaced people with mushy moralsl, their number depending the size and situation of the store
 The packer usually Is a shrewd and unscrupu- ous man who rents a vacant store. fills f with a scattering of cheap. showy articles to attract teutiou and 2 number of large so-ealled works ot art" and antiques" which. on inspection prove to be minors. The range runs from foun- tain pens at ten cents deceptive worries" "hronzes" and paintings by the old masters" that bring from fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars and sometimes more. from the uniniuated The proprietor hires a pretty girl cashier and l counts her as an additional attraction He gets | one ur two auctioneers-they usually travel in aairs. to relieve another and the public-and | guarantees them ten per cent Of the sales. which | week
 -hC whole crooked business-the body of -shIs"