Evening star., 1913-12-03

On-thc- dollar SelllnS tdiGc. hc NAeeihS
in-prospect are advised to remember the
story of Standard Oil. and hear again the
story of Mergenthaler. are grare!y toid
that here is a chance to plank GOWN an
honest dollar that ultimately VIII pring
in returns that will make Standard On
incomes look like starvation DIVIDENDS In
comparison.
The stock advertised may be tnat o.
an alleged gold mine, or or a iahd
company owning lands that seldom
peep above low tide. or of a company
holding the patent rights to any sort
of device from one guaranteed TO revo-
lutioDize the art OF transportation 70
one that will make diamonds out OF
egg shells.
The advertiser of fake medicines and
fake medical appliances usually finds
himself able to
Fake Medicine Men do land of
Do Big Business. nee 80,
insnector comes around and finds out
lust what he is doing. Some of them
advertise remedies which have just
about as much therapeutic value as
bread pills and red colored water. wniie
others expatiate upon the virtues OF
*appliances that are about as useful IN
effectin" a cure as string tied arouhu
the little finger is useful IN sta.ihs Oh
rheumatism. But they get business d
plenty in spite of 1t all
The fake produce COMMISSION nouSs
is a swindle that catches thousands OF
unsuspecting farmers. The house ao-
yertises for produce to be handed on
the commission basis. For niue
while things go along in hne shape,
the farmers getting good return In Tue
accounts of sales rendered, such COCO
returns, indeed, that the excellence OF
the business of the commission mousse
gets to be community household wofd
in divers rural sections But some hna
morning. after thousands of shipments
have come in. the house sells out and
the owners skip with commissions and
returns as well. leaving q tnousand
farmers in the lurch
Ordering goods under fictitious names
is another scheme for defrauding, ana
in spite of the best that Dun and
Bradstreet can do, thousands of firms
get caught by filling such orders. the
cor siSnee leaves between the setting
and the rising of the sun. and goes
elseW here to repeat his performance
Other individuals and firms order goods
and fail to pay for them. A still larger
number send checks with their orders;
the business houses fill the orders first
and deposit the checks afterward. \
little later the house filing the order
gets q note from its bank that the
check in payment therefor has been
returned By the bank upon which it
was drawn. and that it bears the
legend no funds.
One would think that as completely as
the gold brick swindle and the Spanish
prisoner fraud have been exposed that
no one would be foolish enough to bite
ct either of them, ana that consequently
no one would be likely to try to capi-
talize on either scheme again. Bus the
gold brick man still succeeds. and the
prisoner in Spain still gets his remit
tances, ard some of them have gone to
!
mails in plying their nefarious decep-
tiOnS.
There is a class Of advertisers who pa
tronize the want ad columns OF many
newspapers with
Make Capital of the view OF MAX
Want Ad Columns. ing capital ., out
spread idea among the uniformed that
a man can become a newspaper writer
by mail. and that all he has to do is to
take little course in a correspondence
school. and that thereafter he can make
at least a hundred dollars month dur
ing his spare time writing newspaper
stories. These advertisers catch thou-
sands of ambitious people. but sometimes
they get caught in turn. Clairvoyants.
tell YOU anything you want to know
about yourself, or about any one else,
fnd almost as many suckers ready to
bite as the "we-will-teach-you-ho -how-to-
Tn-a-hundred-5o d-5ollars-a-month'' journal
istic scheme. and the government anti
fraud net gets many of them in years
time.
Perhaps one of the worst of the frauds
is the advertisement of 'wOrk-at- home
schemes. You are told that if you order
an outfit from the advertiser you can use
it and that the advertiser will buy your
product in return. Usually the scheme
appeals to poor people who can i'll af-
ford to lose cent. and yet who hope to
supplement An all too meager family in
come by doing some little extra work
Fake detective agencies that agree to
make a detective otvA of you and to pay "A
good salary to you for your services as
their representative in your community
catch thousands of poor chaps who evil |
dence their skill III the detection OF crime |
by overlooking the case right before !;
them
The list of species of fraud perpetrated /
through the mails is a long one. 1mper-
sonatlng relatives, picture puzzle schemes |
fake fire insurance policies. advertising /
for travelling companions and obtaining a
deposit from each person answering the /
ad. advertising for partners and requiring /
a little earnest money. advertising that a |
young heiress wants to marry and adVis- !
ing the Woulu-D6 SWANS VINO answer that I
she needs little money for her transpor- 4
are but a few of the many /
kinds of frauds which use the mails as a !
The department finds it rather hard to |
combat these evils because The federal
courts fail TO realize the nation wide op-
erations of individuals brought before /
them through the work of the post office |
inspectors. In number of instances per-
sons who have robbed the people of mil
lions of dollars have received jail SEN
tences of only few months.
IL all the courts uphold the action of l
the district judge in the northern dis
trict OF Ili- !
Intent to Defraud" nois the Post
Sufficient in Illinois. ohiee Depart.
make short shrift of many of the people |
who use the mails for fraudulent pur-
poses Formerly it was held that il was
necessary to prove that some person had
actually been defrauded. But in the case
of Eugene NJ. Stockton the court held |
that conviction might follow If it was
the intent of the defendant that some
one should be defrauded,' and that gives
the department a means by which it can
drive out thousands of unlawful users
OF the mail.
There is a class of pettifoggng lawyers
" hose members make il a practice to ad-
wise their clients to ways and means
OF lodging the postal laws, and the de-
Dartment has pulled the penal code on |
them, calling their attention to the pro-