University Missourian., 1914-03-13
POSTAL DEPARTMENT
BARS OZARK LOTTERY
Chicago Company's Scheme
on Reynolds County Land
Declared Illegal.
HAD CLEVER A d S
inquiries to Missouri Agricul-
ture Board Caused it to
File Complaint.
HAD CLEVER A d S

The United States Postal Depart
ment has barred the Railroads I'm
improved Land Association of Chi
cago" (the promoters of the New
Jerusalem of Industrial Hope i'm the
OZarksD from the mails on the ground
that it is considered lottery by the
government.
The Missouri State Board of Agri-
culture, since early in February, has
been queried by anxious hOmeseekers
from many states concerning the
Railroads UnimprOved Land Associa-
ton of Chicago, which has been offer
ing to distribute 5000 acres of new
land in Reynolds County, Missouri.
Owing to the growing interest and
the rapidly increasing number of let
in Columbia. an investigation of the
methods and status of the concern
was begun.
The heralded land opening" prom
ised that every person paying in SIS
would positively receive either a 10.
20. 40. so or 100 acre farm or 100
shares of stock i'm a new orchard al
legged to be worth S450.O00 when de-
velOped.
methods at once suggested that this
was an infraction of the lottery laws,
and the Secretary of the Missouri
State Board of Agriculture filed an
inquiry with the United States Postal
Department asking an investigation.
Stockholders All NOn.Resident.
The company, understood to be
composed entirely of nonresident
stockholders. had its offices on the
ern Building in Chicago, with agents
in many states. In st. Louis. Spring
field. Joplin and other Missouri cities
the proposition was attracting wide
attention, and a stream of SIS remit
tances was pouring in at its head Of
fees.
The advertising matter was clever
ly and cunningly written and well il
lustrated. Many midwest newspapers
and a few farm papers accepted the
copy which was a lottery scheme, and
the legal status of these publications
will doubtless depend on the liberality
of the Department of Justice, for all
publishers of this lottery scheme are
liable to prosecution.
The Daily Register and Leader of
Des Moines, Iowa. refused to accept
the advertisement pending report
from Columbia as to the methods and
reliability of the concern.
The company had bought up or Sc
cured options on a large body of
cheap land adjacent to the Missouri
Southern Railroad which extends
from Leeper in Wayne County to
Bunker in Reynolds County. Accord
ing to the breezy literature distrib-
uted over many states the new me-
tropolis was to be Fruit City, that
court house square had been set out
and that the county seat would soon
be moved-in fact, the announcement
modestly stated that a half million
dollars would be realized from their
sale of town lots in Fruit City.
Advertising Very Attractive.
The three column advertisement
told of the wonderful land opening
that would result in building a city
of five thousand in twenty-fOur hours,
and set forth the wonders of a half
million dollars orchard of three
thousand acres being set out and i'm
proved
Without taking up the matter of
the reliability or intentions of the
company, the Federal government has
at once put an end to the LAND
opening" drawing or by chance dis
tribution of the Reynolds County
lands by barring the concern from
the mails.
Reynolds County has until recently
been sealed up because of the lack
of railroad transportation.