The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-08

lhe strongest weapon the commit
tee has found with which to fob,
the dishonest promoter. As a rnls
he says, these promoters are shrews
enough to keep within the law even
In those states where blue slr,p
laws exist, designed to nrotact -.
I pocketbOoks of their citizens
The committee found that ,ss
methods of this WaIlingford tvns
OF promoter were usually the SAM
Rarely was the cost of foisfi2r
stock in the company on the nubf.e
less than 40 to so percent Of -
capitalization, booming the concer.
to failure from the start Fvor
/ bankers and conservative businas-
men-not in the moving pictnro
business. however - have baa,
drawn into investing in the fake
concerns.
During the past year the atter-
ton of the public has been calIe5
TO the danger of this sort of invest.
ment with such force that very few
If any. new producing companies
have attempted to sell stock with.
in the past six months" SAYS NJ,
Quirk in a report of his commit.
tees activities.
In not a single instance has on,
of the questionable concerns made
good financially, it was found, nor.
has one of these wildcat cumpa7-
les made a single real motion pic
ture production. The promoters
pointing to the glitterilg past of thaI
big concerns which have made for
tunes for many. and the supposed.
ly rosy future of their own scheme
have met notable sur.I
cess in coaxing not-tOo-reIuctant|
currency out of the pockets of their
victims and into their own.
Some Examples.
Not very long ago a promoter
of the shady sort, who had main
tanned an office in Washington forI
a long time and later in New York
had the attention of the countryI
drawn to him and his scheme when
he disappeared from New York. Dol
date he has not been located Be
fore he left, however, he viCtimizI.
tn people of those two cities to theI
extent of about half a million dol
lars. Another enterprise of this
sort in a western city, described by|
the vigilance committee of the NOV.
lie people as gigantic enterprise
had to be dropped by its promoters
when, after an investigation by he
1nr,-5tta1 Oh, B
Of commerce of the city and the
leading bank withdrew their sup-i
port of the scheme.
This committee even went out
side of the country in its work. Its
report describes as the most dar-
ng of these operations the work Of
)ne NJ. Himmel, who enjoyed a me-
.eoric career terminating a year
lgo. He was the organizer of a hun
lred million dollar motion picture
syndicate through which he pro-
posed TO control the moving pic
ure industry of the entire world
lie was going to permit" the Amer
can public to subscribe to half If
he stock in his venture, and Amer
can business men of excellent rep
ltation became interested in him
ind his plans.
The vigilance committee began
quiet inquiries in Paris and
Jew York. The information unCOy-
red was furnished to the newspa-
'ers. AS a result of what was shown .
was arrested in France. Re- .
emily he confessed that several Of (
he documents used by him to IT,
luce people to purchase stock in
lis company were fraudulent
The work of this committee is re-
iucing the numbers of this Few
rand of wildcatters, but it has
lot enntirely wiped out this Wa :
ingford of the film. Therefore, lie (
coral is: Investigate with care be
ore you buy film stock.