New-York tribune., 1919-03-19
Scalpers Here Reap
Harvest i'm Liberty
Bonds, Asserts Ruud
Director of Association
Warns Holders Against
Extortion Methods En-
ployed by ''B kers''

That there are hundreds of Libertv
bond scalpers operating in Greater New
YORK, having "a field richer than Klon-
dixie" is the opinion of Charming
Ruud, director Of the Liberty Loan AS
sociation, of this Federal Reserve Dis
trict, with Offices at 19 West Fortv-
fourth Street
Pointing to the ease with which
so-called brokers" have accumulated
their wealth, members of Mr.. Ruud's
large staff cited a case where one man
had made $4,000 in three months. An
other, it was said, had made $1,000 in
two months, another had opened an
office in the Grand Central Station
district, paying rental of $4,000 an
nually, and expecting to cover all ex-
penses by profits on bonds Still an
other had thrown out hints proposing
to share equal profits with man Of
Mr.. Ruuds staff.
There are nearly one million persons
in Greater New York, according to
Mr.. Ruud, who are paying for their
bonds on the partial payment plan of
~ down and 81 a week. While paying
under this arrangement they hold small
books with coupons, with which they
make their payments.
These persons, Mr.. Ruud says. arc
the prey of scalpers. At least 10000
people come to the associations office
daily, according to Mr. Ruud. Scalpers,
who have made known that they pay
the highest prices" approach their
victims and buy from them at Il loss to
the purchaser Of sums ranging from IS
upward. Ten dollars, Mr.. Ruud said, is
moderate sum for this form of eXtor-
ton.
The scalpers are of the mushroom
type, Mr.. Ruud indicates and among
them are included clothiers and jewel
lers. Their aids work in the vicinity
of the Liberty Loan Association, await
ing bondholders as they emerge from
the office.
Among the cases that have come to
the attention of Mr.. Ruud was that Of
a married couple who sought to dis
pose of their partial payment book,
They approached a policeman and
asked Where they could get the money
they had paid, and. according to Mr.
Ruud, the policeman produced an ad-
vertisement Of one of the "brokers"
They went to this "broker,' who forced
them to borrow IS, and then he sup
piled the remaining $25 and they were
able to take out the bond. What terms
the scalper proposed could not be
learned.
There was case of the theft of
partial payment book The thief dis
posed of the book to a scalpcr. Mean
while the bondholder had notified the
association and finally the thief was
caught. He is now svTving a jail sem
tence
Two blind men, one of whom made
his living by playing violin, had paid
SIT each on their bonds. They gave
their books to scalper. who was un-
able to obtain the bonds because of
the suspicion of one of Mr.. Ruud's
staff subsequently the blind man
came to the office with sufficient money
to take out the bonds, but they would
not tell what terms had been agreed
upon between them and the scalper.
There is no means of furnishing the
scalpers, according to Mr.. Ruud. Their
lawyers tell them, he says, that tney
are dealing In barter and thus they
may carry on their operations DESPITE
,iie We iiii6S " eiiIS once ana lNc DIS
trict Attorneys Office.
The Liberty Loan Association has
several detectives in its Offices every
day, Mr.. Ruud says, to prevent the
scalpers from getting bonds If a
bond clerk is suspicious he asks the
person with the book to write his name
and the signature is compared with the
writing on the original index card If
the writing is not the same the person
does not get the bond and check is
made against the owner of the book in
the office files. This is as far as the
government can go, Mr.. Ruud points
Of educating the people to keep their
bonds. Former Secretary of the Treas
ury McAdoo made an appeal some
months ago, Mr. Ruud said, asking
merchants not to buy the bonds from
the people.