The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-10-22

| Another scoundrel, with get
rich quick scheme, has succeeded in
conjuring millions out of the pock-
cts Of the credulous with a PROPOSE
| ton that was 50 palpably q fake that
Il would seem that even blind baby
could have seen through 1t.
And, as usual in such cases, a large
proportion of his victims were wo-
men; for II sucker Is born every
minute, as the homely old adage al
| leEee there Is, the most of these suck
ers are OF the feminine persuasion.
And they are always the first TO nib
BILE at a \gilded hook, and swallow it,
line, bait and sinker.
One would think, considering how
important money is to a woman, and
how helpless and forlorn she is with
out It, and how hardly the average
woman earns what few dollars. she
possesses. that she would hold on to
her pocket. book with a death grip,
and that you would have to chloro-
form her to get II away from her.
So far from this being the case, how
ever, women are the champion easy
marks of the world, and living IL
Illustration OF the truth that fool
and his money are soon parted" +
For women are the widest specula-
tors. and the, most reckless plungers
on earth. They will risk their all on
a blind chance In a game whose first
rudiments they do not understand.
No proposition can be too wild. too
preposterous, too visionary to attract
them If it only promises some mirac-
ulous profit.
1t Is said that women never look
before they leap, and this is particu-
larly the case when they go into
business ventures. They do not even
stop to investigate the thing they are
asked to buy, II only some glib talker
presents the matter to them in a pic
turesque and optimistic light, or some
alluring prospectus lays before them
some utopian dream.
Boarding house keepers whose ev-
cry penny is red with their life blood:
school teachers, who have ,sweated
out a few dollars through long years
Of nerve racking slavery in forcing
unwilling children down the paths or
learning; women clerks and stenog-
raphers whose tiny saving bank &C
counts have been built up through
sacrifice OF proper food, clothes ana
heat; all these women will take the
money that stands between them and
the poorhouse and buy a corner lot
In some garden of Eden that~exists
only in the sellers imagination, or
sink it in q hole in the ground Wnere
the only prospect of gold or silver
that aver existed came from the coin
OF the idiot investors.
When a woman thinks about m
vestinE money, she never ASKS
whether the thing she is going TO put
L.. t.,
only interest Is the size OF the diVl-
1ends she ia going to get for 1T, ana
ANYBODY who will promise her DO per
cent can take her roll away from her
as easily as he can a stick or CANDY
from O sick child. -.y..
A few years ago a woman l know
inherited $4,000 in cash. she is
frail delicate creature. aosoluteiy uI-
fitted' either physically or tempera-
mentally, to make a living, and those
81 us who knew her were aware that
this was the last money she would
aver have. so we implored her TO IN
vast II In gilt edged securities that
were copper rivited and had millions
az I buy the bonds you advise
she asked, "how much income VIII l
get? ?" ..N -, ..,5 .hor
About $2,bOO year, We tolo ia
"Oh. I can't live on that" she salo'
81 must have at least 10 per cent OH
INV money, have so little that l
can't afford to take o small per cent
an nv money as yoh do.
"Rut YOU can't get high rate OF
irtsrest on anything that 10 saie'
we walled, "Ail OF the things that
promise these enormous returns are
fairy tales, and they end in smoke
like fairy tales" c.o
But she wouldn't listen to us. she
found q man who had a perfecty
marvellous mine in Mexico that Wa
going to pay at least a lbO per cen
Thep II got to running, and another
man who was boring for oil IN
Texas. and everybody knows what
fortunes have been made In OIL any
sofAebody else who was booming An ,i
In Florida and who was going 20 scLa
Of swamp lands that you pought iol
40 an acre for $40 a foot Tor clly
iots: and the poor trusting ereature
heI,eved them all and handed over
her money TO them, and in leAs than
t,vn wears she was swept Clean anu
hod 10 60 live with relatives VINO
imStlv resented being burdened with
tha support of one who had Literally
thrown her purse over the windmllt,
wiz women should be so dazzied
~. ths prospect OF getting big divi-
Ssods that they lose sight of the
danger OF losing their stake alto-
cether. is one OF the mysteries no
Scdy can explain. Certsialy any sane