Bisbee daily review., 1916-08-24
FRAUD ORDER MADE
 EFFECTIVE AGAINST AUTO SALES COMP ANY
Many People Who Have Been Victimized Will Rejoice That Organizations Were Refused Use of the Mails.

Automobile owners of the Warren
 District will be glad to hear of the
 action which has been taken by the
 post office department to eliminate
 the victimizing of certain accessory
 mail order houses which have been
 operating for several years through
 out the country. Many people in 1 Bisbee and in this section Of Arizona have been made to believe that the i local dealers were over charging them. They bought, as a conse- quence through mail order houses, | inferior articles and had no redress.
 The following news story, taken from the Los Angeles Examiner, will | throw considerable light on the op- ! erations of one of these firms, an ! agent of which was calling on the ! automobile owners here several days | ago.
 J. w. Sanger, chairman of the
 Better Business Bureau of the Adver- Using Club of Los Angeles, last week received from the National Vigilance
 Committee headquarters in Indian apolis, the copy of a Washington rul-
 ing barring from the use of the mails the International Automobile League Tire Company and the International Automobile League, Inc, of Buffalo. The company was organized in this State in 1912 The communication received by MT. Sanger was as fol- lows:
 Tn making effective a fraud order denying the use of the United States mails to the International Automobile League, Inc, and the International Automobile League Tire Company, of Buffalo. N. Y., and A. c. Bidwell, president of both concerns, the Post office Department has sounded the death knell of enterprises which Government investigations show have yictimized thousands of motor car owners in all parts of the country.
 For years this league has been using the mails to obtain money by false representations and pretenses from automobile owners, dealers and iobbers of automobile supplies, saia W. II. Lamar, solicitor general of the Postoffice Department. ''The order concludes one of the longest and most important hearings ever held by this office.
 "The hearing occupied 46 days ard revealed remarkable compleXity and variety of unlawful practices em- ployed by the president Of the league and his agents, in exploiting the pub lie.
 The inquiry by the Pcstoffice De nartment into the business practices of the International Automobile League was requested last March by ;he Associated Advertising Clubs of the World and the American Automo- bile Association to protect motor car owners as a part of the nationwide campaign Of the advertising clubs for truth in advertising and honesty in business.
 The facts disclosed by the Govern menrs investigations, reveal an eiab- crate scheme which has enabled Bid well. as president of the iItern2tion- al Automobile League, to amass a huge fortune. It is shown that oe employed agents who solicited mem bers for the league. representing that the league had contracts with manu- lecturers of standard automobile tires and accessories which enabled | it to sell members such articles at dealers and manufacturers prices The manufacturers of these products testified that no such contracts eX- isted. Through its agents, the league 1 also represented that it could sell certain cars to it's members at liberal discounts. The manufacturers oi these cars told the Government thaJ the league could not obtain the cars to sell at such discounts. To impress car owners with the leagues buying power. agents are said to have great ly exaggerated the number Of is members.
 'It is revealed by the inquiry Of the department that alleged 'manu- lecturers prices on standard automo- bile tires and supplies were adyer- tised merely as bait to secure a $1o | annual fee from members to whom the league might sell inferior tires and supplies at a stiff profit. League members testified that when they en- ! deavored to realize the biz savings l promised by the prices listed on stan dard articles, they were informed that | the league was just out but that aH | excellent article manufactured es pecially for the league could be sup | piled in place of the one ordered.
 When members complained, they were referred to clause in the mem Lership contract which specified that goods listed would be furnished when obtainahle. Crystal oii' was lu5 1icant listed in the leagues cataloe as being or exceptional quality Gov crument investigation showed that this oil came out of the same barre' from which orders were filled for a