The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1919-06-21
Fraudulent Promoters Offer
SO 1-3 Per Cent Commits
sion as a Lure.
INNOCENTARE The SUFFERERS
Regular SaturnaIia of Swindling is
Now In Progress-Publicity Is
Urged as Best Remedy
for Evil.

49, ~
"~conidential' letter received the other
day by a reputable New York Stock
Exchange firm, says the New York
Sun. The writer, an officer of a 'here
today and gone tomorrow" Western
taking corporation, was trying to get a
New York broker to put out its securi-
ties, and obviously thought he was adj
dressing a firm of traders as shady as
himself.
you know" he wrote, "the heavy
cost is in finding new clients. Your
profit is made in selling them repeated
" the same stock as the dividend and
price advance"
He then offered to pay a commission
of 33 1-3 per cent, under which agree
ment 81 of every SO paid by the in
vestor would stay in the hands of the
stock peddler. The generous "oil" man
continued:
1.-THE price of the stock is 50 a share.
1t will be advanced to 1925 within the
next 80 days, after which it will be
gradually raised to So. These addi-
tional raises are the best methods
huONn u SGll StOCh " (llcDISs
Shares Are ValueIess.
The stock had no value; there was
nothing behind it. The price was an
arbitrary figure fixed by the company.
The proposed raises would have been
arbitrary. If a buyer had tried to sell
the company would not have bought
the stuff back at any price. The COM
pany was merely intent on getting a
broker to go shares with it in kidding
the public into snatching at the securi-
ties by "the best methods known to
sell stock to clients" Reputable
brokers do not even answer such let
tiers. Nor will they allow their Gus
toners to buy stocks which have the
f~aintest odor of trickery if they can
prevent it. The other day a man who
lives in a suburb of New York got a
hot tip on a new oil stock recently in
trOduced on the curb but not Listed. He
hustled into town and asked a broker
whom he knew to buy 500 shares.
Cant do it," said the broker.
81 thought you could buy anything"
said the cOmmuter.
Certainly I can buy anything, but I
shall have to decline to take your or
der for this stock. l don't know any
thing positive about the company, but
it looks bad to me because 1 do know
something of the people who are put
ting it out"
The customer departed in some
thing of a huff, for he had splendid
information about the stock. He
found another broker and purchased
the 500 shares. That afternoon it
went up" nearly a point, which is a
lot for a low-priced curb security, and
the suburbanite tried to take his quick
profit. His new broker, however, was
unable to get a bid at the new price.
In fact he couldn't get any bid at all,
although the curb continued to quote
the high figure.
The buyer of the 500 shares still had
them recently and judging by the x
periences of others with oil companies
of the same stripe they eventually will
pass to his heirs as an interesting
souvenir, unless the waste paper man
gets them first.
Situation Is Dreadful.
The Sun asked a man of prominence
In the New York Stock Exchange how
it felt as an organization about the
swindlers' saturnalia now in progress
and what it could do to protect the
public.
"Of course" he answered, 1--WE are
more than Mortified. All the time the
most pitiful cases are being reported
to us-governesses, all sorts of poor
persons, losing all their savings in oil
investments The situation is per-
fectly dreadful. Outside of the suffer-
ing it causes individuals, what a repu-
tatiOn it is getting for the city of New
York. People all around the country
are being led to believe we are a nest
of swindlers. The government has
done something, but why it doesn't do
more l don't understand.
"a few years ago the New York
Stock Exchange put the bucketshops
out of business by taking our ticker
quotations away from them, an act
which the courts sustained.
1.-THE New York Stock Exchange is
doing all it can, and in cooperation
with representatives of the district at
tOrney has got action in several cases,
but we have no control except over
u own members. The most effective
remedy for these abuses is publicity"
Woman Has Old Lincoln Ballot.
n1 Anpa1ns Cal ATtse TaGCia NJ