Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1918-05-16

'iSHSy uSAO iSPlSoeL1tSSife VI Vie ~
merican Fair Trade League, who
brought the charge. Through their
attorneys Reiter and Kaplan made a
formal plea of nolo contendre to a
charge of false advertising and their
counsel practically put them at the
mercy of the court.
The judge, however, did not sent
ence the defendants without hearing
the details of the case and the facts
on which the charges were based. To
give the Judge an indication Of the
character Of the offense, District At
torney Michael E. Stroup placed on
the witness stand Mr.. LaVigne, prose-
cutting the complainant, and Jacob
Jentleson, a partner in the firm of
Jentleson & Kaplan, wholesale jewel
ers at II Nassau ST., New York. It
was from Mr.. Jentleson's firm that
Max Reiter claimed to have purchased
the enormous" amount of samples
represented in their advertising.
Mr.. LaVigne's testimony was essen
TALLY to the effect that the two ad-
vertisements of Max Reiter & Co.
which appeared in the Harrisburg Pa
triot on Dec. and q were dishonest,
misleading and deceptive. The first
of these was published on Dec. 8, 1917
offering great bargains" to the pu-
bile because Of lucky purchase of
the entire stock of samples from a
famous New York wholesale house,
prices at half and less than half" The
second advertisement appearing in the
Patriot of Dec. a purported to give
an idea of the various lines of samples
purchased and the prices on which
they were being offered for sale
The advertisement which was sub
mitted in evidence by Mr.. La Vigne
is reproduced below and according to
the testimony of the complainant, the
entire advertising was based on pur-
chase made by Max Reiter & Co. from
Jentleson & Kaplan on Nov. %. This
consisted of II small articles, the total
value of which was $397O, to which
a three per cent war tax of $1.2O had
been appended.
Mr.. Jentleson, when introduced as
a witness, identified bill of sale as
being the one purchased by Max Rel
ter q Co. from him, said that his was
the New York jobbing house referred
to IN the advertisement as having sold
and shipped the samples. He testified
that he had not sold his entire stock
of samples to the defendants but had
only sold $3970 worth this time and
that this was the last bill sold to them
and that the goods had been given in
the store, that nothing at all had been
shipped as reported in the advertising
of the concern as being received and
, 'unpacked and arranged for selling '
The attorney for the defendants in
, making his plea before the Judge, while
admitting that the ads. were untruth-
t full and admitting that Max Reiter &
: Co. had received none of the merchan-
: disc advertised for sale on Dec. A, con-
tended, however, they did have that
: quantity of goods in stock in the store
from other houses and that, no actual
misrepresentation occurred in the ad.
as far as quantity, quality or prices
were concerned. "They had the goods
he said. He further contended that in
advertising this way no injustice or
fraud had been practiced upon the pu-
bic and that consequently no crime
or at least no serious crime had been
committed
Judge McCarroll answered the at
torney and made it clear that he took
a decidedly different view, saying that
this was matter such as the law in
= tended to cover. He felt that the
Legislature had taken particular cog
nlzance of just such acts IS had been
: committed and that it had treated
: them as acts to defraud the public.
: There had been misrepresentation of
2 the purchase (this being admitted by
, the attorney for the defendants) and
IN this the defendants had misrepre-
} sented the inducement used to bring
; the public to the store; Reiter & Kap-
Ian had therefore over-reached them
selves and had done wrong.
| The defendants having thrown them
selves on the mercy of the court. the
attorney asked for a suspension of
: sentence offering to give bail for good
conduct in the future. The District
Attorney opposed leniency to this ex-
tent, bringing out the fact that GER
? tain people, not the defendants. had
approached him with a proposal to
the effect that the defendants would
make a contribution of $500 or more
to the Red Cross if the prosecution
could be dropped, the purpose being to
keep 1t as quiet as possible. This at
tempt to cover criminal act by hid
ing 1t under the cloak of war dona-
ton seemed to deeplv incense both