Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-04-07
Easy Money
By Frederic J. Haskin.

| ago many people all over the country were
amazed to receive communication from an
obscure silk firm reading something like this:
ITO introduce and advertise our ready-to-
| wear goods in the least time, we give to anyone
| complying with conditions herein stated one 1916
model silk petticoat, retahed at $3.50. (Glve size
| Of band, length of skirt and color wanted). Make
| FIVE copies of this and send to five different
friends Then mail their names to the National
Order Broker, Glove building, Minneapolis, Mimi,
| and you will receive silk pettcoat. Enclose 10
cents to cover the cost of wrapping and postage"
While the Offices of the mysterious National
Order Broker, dispenser Of silk petticoats were
closed within two weeks by the United States
postal authorities, the letters, once set in motion
by some member of the trusting public, are still
going on. Women, young, old and middle-aged
throughout the entire country, are still trying to
take advantage of this remarkable opportunity to
get silk petticoat One woman even confesses
she wrote for the very largest size in skirts, SO
that she, being small woman, might cut it up
and make two out OF one. She was very much
disappointed when her letter came back to her.
Apparently, only few of the recipients of
these chain letters suspected the validity OF the
offer and the majority Of these were men, who
having no interest in the wearing apparel offered
were able to regard the matter with an uupreju-
diced mind and quickly pointed out its flaws to
the nearest postal authorities. But, on the whole
the trustfulness of the public in matters Of this
kind is almost incredible Here the swndle was
for only small sum-l0 oents-but there are
hundreds of such cases on the postoffice records
in which the investment is anywhere from $4,000
to $4,000.
Mr.. Barnum's historic remark concerning the
worlds population Of fools appears to be justified
by glance at the files of the United States post
Office and the authorities themselves will corrob-
crate it. Walk into the Office of the chief nspec-
tor Of mail frauds in Washington and you will
be greeted by tolerant grim @Poor devil"
whispers the Office boy to the stenographer, II
L. H..
IS known that the public contributes between
$6o00o0oo and $70000O00 to various more or less
clever fraudulent propositions every year.
1t used to be much worse before the govern
ment stepped in. Half the mail of the country
was made up of fake circulars and letters, until it
got SO you felt disappointed if you didn't receive
at least three mining frauds and couple of lot
terry notices in the morning mail But when sew
eral OF our most eminent statesmen were induced
to buy shares in an agricultural project which
existed only on emblazoned note paper congress
rose up in wrath and passed law making it
prison offense to send such offers through the
mail. Even so, however, it keeps the government
postal authorities extremely busy tracking down
violations Of this law
The Postofice department has secret service
bureau Of 40 inspectors, including some of the
best-traned detectives in the country. Expert
ence, expert judgment, strong nerves, keen eye
sight and sort of sixth sense which warns him
when new game is about to be pulled" are some
of the requisites of postal Inspector, but there
are many others. He must know the principal
criminals Of all the large cities, their personal
characteristics and their method of work; he
must know the "fences'-nen who buy the crimi-
nal goods-he must be an expert accountant, so
as to detect discrepancies in postal accounts and
lastly, he must be man of some Imagination,
for his work is primarily with the imaginative
and intelligent criminal. 7
Fraudulent stock schemes are, of course, the
most popular form of swindling in this country
Out OF the $70,000000 swnded out of the public
every year it is safe to say that at least $50000,
900 is obtained through bogus stock companies:
And the most unfortunate part about is that
the victims are not the afluent nor the people who
make money easily, but usually those who by
means Of much hard work and saving, have man
aged to accumulate small hoard.
As may be supposed, it is somewhat dis
couraging to the secret service men of the POST
Office department to exert every effort in appre
hending notorious swindler, perform the often
more difficult task of collecting sufficient evidence
to convict him, and then have him receive SEN
tence of comparatively small fine and prison
term of few months. 1t is not, however, the
purpose Of this article to encourage swindling by
first emphasizing the gullibiity Of the public and
then the impoteney Of the law in the matter of
punishment It is on the contrary, to warn the
public that no punishment yet devised will ever
stop man from swindling if he sees the oppor-
tunity. Don't give him the opportunity