The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1918-02-09
FORTUNES MADE
WITHOUT EFFORT
Profits OF Stockholders in Mail
Order Houses Stagger the
imagination. "A.
CUSTOMERS SUPPLY CAPITAL
One Man Makes More Than 4250,000
on s25, 900 Investment in Nine
Years-Hundreds Like
sa, Him. ~
tCopyrisht.)

NVbt itGht'P
There Is one way to make money by
dealing with the mail order houses but
1t isn't by buying goods from them.
The man who thinks he is making
money by buying his goods from mall
order houses has only to read Of the
amazing profits made by some of these
big corporations to realize that all the
money IL being made by the man on
the other end of the deal.
The stakeholder in n big mnil-order
spin, but he piles up his money SO fast
that II makes the ordinary mans head
swim to read about It. Here Is the
experience of the stakeholder in one
Of the large mail-or,ler concerns, ms
told by reliable financial journal. II
gives glimpse into the inside work.
ings of the mail-order business that
should be Of interest to those who
have made such things possible.
How the Game Works.
In 1908 this man bought 600 shares
of stock in the mnl-order corporation
in question when the stock was selling
around $40 share, the 600 shares
costing him little less than $4,000.
In 1911 the company declared stock
dividend Of 33 1-3 per cent. In other
words the company after paying cash
dividends regularly. had accumulated
surplus profit of onethird of the
amount of capital invested In the
business: but instead of distributing
this profit among the stockholders the
company kept the money In the bust
ness and issued stock for that amount
to the stockholders. BY this action
200 more shares of stock We're issued
to the man who had originally bought
GOO increasing his holdings to 800
shares. without his having put any
more money into the business.
Another stock dividend Of so per
cent was declared I'm 1915 and this
added 400 shares more to his holdings.
giving him 1000 shares In all. A third
stock dividend Of 25 per cent was paid
early In 1917. bringing this mans
stock holdings up to 1,500 shares. still
without his having paid In any more
money. On this 500 shares Of stock
cash dividends Of SO share are now
being paid. This investor therefore
is now receiving $4,000 year from
his original investment Of about S25.-
600, and rs the stock Is now worth
around S1GO share, fife present mar
ket value of his stock Is $240,OO0. Civ
ing him a profit of s215,O0O. In addi-
ton to cash dividends which he res
ceivcd during nine years. amounting
to many more thousands Of dollars.
Only One Of Hundreds.
This IL the story Of Just one small
stakeholder in one mail-order concern.
A profit OF more than $215,OO0 made
by one small stakeholder In nine years
on an investment OF less than $4,000 !
II reads like fiction but 1t IL financial!
history. There are hundreds of other
stockholders In this aud other mall
order corporations, some OF whom
have made millions while this man
made thousands. Add the profits Of
all these stockholders together and the
result Is sum that staggers the imag-
ination.
Small wonder that the men who own
the stock of the big nail.order houses
can live In palaces. ride In the highest
priced automobiles, own palatial pri-
vate yachts and buy 100000 paint
ings. But who has furnished the
money to pay for the palaces and the
automobiles and the yachts and the
$4,000 paintings? The people In the
country and the small towns who have
kept an endless stream of money flow
Ing into the Golfers of the mail-order
houses HIVE made all this possible.
Their millions OF dollars have gone to
the big cities to build up these great
concerns. Their millions OF dollars
have provided the automobiles and
yachts and other Injuries for the
stockholders In these corporations.
Present From MaII.order Buyers.
These men who have piled up such
big fortunes In the mail-order bust
ness have not even had to pay for
mudh of the stock from which they are
now drawing princely dividends. The
people In the country and the small
towns, generous souls, have bought II
for them. This Is shown In the case
of the stakeholder just mentioned, who
originally invested. The generous
mail-order buyers have made him d
present of $4,000 worth Of stock and
he has not had to turn his hand over
to get 1t. He has never even had to
so much as write letter to get 1t.
The generous mail-order buyers have
handed II to him on a golden platter.
There's money in the mail-order
business without doubt, but Its on
the side of the man who does the sell
Ing and not the one who does the
buying. II you must do business with
the mall-order house, buy some Of its
stock and let the fellow In the next
town buy you automobiles and private
yachts while he struggles with the
hard times that come from draining
his town Of tire cash that goes to keep
vof1 In 1uvtrv